Gratitude and blessings

I have been enjoying watching interviews and film clips from Findhorn, many filmed this year during the the time we are connecting in-person less often.

Today this Interview by Thomas Miller with Sandra Ingerman, a modern day shaman, came through, and​​ is fantastic! Sandra survived a near death experience, which is often the precursor to shamanic awareness and training. Sandra comments that shamanic ideas and philosophies transcend individual cultures and traditions, and are part of our earthly birthright. 

Sanctuary at Breitenbush 1983-2020

If we would like to see more harmony in the world, and a healthy environment, Sandra  invites us to set our intention, to affirm the vision, and to:

• Express gratitude daily: get up and give thanks to the elements: earth, air, fire and water. 
• Give thanks for food and drink
• Appreciate moments of beauty.
• Shine your light - as we see ourselves as radiant beings, we become them
• Do your personal practices, and release the outcome - Tai chi, yoga, meditation, kindness, pay-it forward, ...
• Connect with like minded community 
• Invite children to ceremony - release fear by breaking a stick, beam rainbows into their water, dance their light. 
• Children are closer to the unseen realms, trust the power of ceremony, and can help us remember how to tap co-creative power
• At Color of Woman graduation, my Apache friend Carmen told me the drumming the day before had been so powerful because, "the ancestors are so happy for you all, and so glad you are doing your work! Won't you be glad when your grandchildren do theirs?"

A number of studies have shown gratitude practices enhance our personal well being and mood, and even reduce pain! This ripples out, and has a harmonious effect on the world around us. 

We each have gifts to share, and power to bring positive change and harmony in the world around us. 

Let us choose love and joy, and positive action.

 

Turmeric Lemonade Plus

Throughout the year, my friend Donna has been making a turmeric lemonade brew and shipping throughout the week. I've written before of its great properties for both inflammation, and effectiveness against depression, and though I don't make the lemonade as consistently, I do use turmeric frequently. We're lucky to have fresh turmeric available from a local organic farm, and I get well water from Donna, so I avoid our city's fluoridated brew.

Last summer, Donna began making up boron solution, and adding it to her turmeric lemonade, with even better results! In the fall, she and her husband spent much of two weekends filling the woodshed, and she said even after the second week, she felt just a little sore (rather than spending half the day in bed!!) 

After watching this talk to an oral health group by Dr Flechas' I increased my own boron intake to 10-20 mg daily (1 teaspoon of solution =3 mg boron) Since boron tends to be energizing, it's best to take in the morning. (3 mg boronTablets are also available)

This mourning I'm making a batch for my daughter, using my current recipe, inspired by the one on Lindsay Cotter's blog.

Turmeric Ginger Lemonade
4 cups spring water
1 Tablespoon fresh Turmeric, grated
1 tsp powdered turmeric
1 Tablespoon fresh Ginger, grated
A sprinkle of  black pepper (fresh ground if possible)
   ·  Bring water with ginger and turmeric to boil, summer 10 minutes
   ·  Add a handful of fresh lemon balm in season, steep (can refrigerate overnight)
   ·  Cool, Strain, then add
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of a blood orange (optional)
2-4 Tablespoons Maple Syrup or honey 
2 Tablespoons boron solution (optional)
   · Refrigerate, and drink a cup in the morning, garnished with fresh mint

In most of the USA, the daily intake of boron is 3-4 mg, and arthritis plagues over 25% of the population. In areas higher in boron, the daily intake can be 20-50 mg, and arthritis rates drop to 1/2 of 1%. 
In Western Oregon, where I live, boron tends to be low, and this article by our JMHart of the Oregon extension service gives suggestions for supplementing the soil in home gardens: 

A note about boron
Many soils in western Oregon are deficient in boron (B). Several crops (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, caneberries, strawberries, beets, carrots, etc.) can benefit
from an application of boron.
If the soil test for boron is less than 1 ppm, apply household or agricultural grade borax (11 percent B) at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 100 square feet where boron-
requiring plants will be grown. Apply the borax evenly and mix thoroughly with the soil. 
It may be easier to dissolve 1 tablespoon of borax in 1 gallon of water and apply the solution evenly with a sprinkling can. Apply 1 fluid ounce of solution per plant. You can find borax in the cleaning supplies section of most grocery stores.

Water

- Week of Water -

Yesterday afternoon I went with a circle of gal friends to see 'The Secret Life of Bees' - what a wonderful, powerful movie! My mama would have called it a '5 Hankie' show! Such rich images, dialogue, & chances for recrimination - I love the absolution of the black Madonna, & 'August's' words to Lili - that she can't blame herself for events she feels she's caused. So sweet - & what a good release of tears.

For a lot of years, my stories were so important to me - this is what happened, then this & this, . . . When I read Redfield's 'Celestine Prophecy,' I identified with the drama he framed 'interrogator' (I'll ask questions, & you'd better give the right answer!) balanced by 'aloof' (see if you can make me talk!) . . . but my version of aloof was 'drown them in information!' (see if you can find me behind the babble!)

I still like to talk story - I'm a harper, after all! But try to make the story pertinent to the people around me, & to make room for their stories as well. If I feel interrogated, I work on shifting the dynamic. My grown daughter & I learned to ask each other "What do you need me to hear?" if it feels we're talking in circles, arguing.

Water has also been an important healing place for me - I love baths, & have candles in a wall sconce, so most of my baths are candle-lit. For about 4 years I lived & worked at Breitenbush Hot Springs Resort - a psychic on staff commented that it was an intense place to live - in the cauldron, so to speak. That the Native Americans who used it time out of mind never lived there year round! & when folks didn't deal with their 'stuff,' it often bit them in the pants.

At about 9 I nearly drown in the Deschutes River, & had never really learned to swim. In 1964 before a flood closed the old resort, my folks & I visited my uncle Bill at the springs. I looked down at the swimming pool, & thought "I could learn to swim there!" In the intervening years, friends helped me get closer to that goal, & when I moved to Breitenbush, the goal was finally met, & I did learn to swim in the naturally heated mineral water open air pool!
A favorite memory, floating with a gal friend in a rubber boat, while her boyfriend fed us peeled grapes - Cleopatra on the Barge! Or floating on my back (much easier in mineral water!) under the stars.

The sauna, the meadow pools, the medicine wheel, Devil's Hole (between the resort & the 'summer homes' on forest service land), such sacred pools.

Here is a blessing, done with water, from that shared by another friend, Amorah. She tells that the Greek women would bless little girls at 7, anointing them with water. Yes, you can do it on yourself! I wrote a simple tune, & added a chorus. Many blessings

Always see beauty (eyes)
Always speak truth (lips)
Always hear only the truth (ears)
Always trust your instincts & knowing (throat & heart)
Trust your intuition (third eye)
Honor your body's wisdom (gently brush )down arms

Walk in beauty, live in beauty, in sweet harmony.
Walk with honor, live in beauty & you'll always be free.
Walk in beauty, gentle sister (brother), always be free.
Always be free!

My soul mission is to share beauty, to be true to my own wisdom & spark that in others.

Blessed Bee