Last month we mentioned that seven women from Vessels of Peace and sister organizations were going to visit some indigenous people at Six Nations near Toronto, Canada. It was an amazing four days and you can read more below about some of the pieces of the puzzle we are beginning to look at and put together. We are very grateful all of you who held the Sacred Space for this beautiful meeting of hearts. You are all part of this journey. Thank you!
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Choosing Peace E-Course, June 19-September 21…register now!
Don't miss this opportunity to increase your capacity to choose peace all the time. Join others who have already signed up for this 14-week email course that will deepen your understanding of how to choose peace. The course is suitable for anyone who wants to increase their commitment to being a vessel for holding peace. Even if you’ve taken this course before, you may want to do it again, exploring deeper into that peaceful space.
The course was created by Vessels of Peace founder Lynda Terry in 2003 and has been offered several times. This summer session will be facilitated by the current VoP Core Circle, with 12 email lessons plus 2 bonus weeks and 3 group phone calls. It is organized around three themes: Choosing Peaceful Thoughts, Choosing Peaceful Words & Speech, and Choosing Peaceful Actions. There are practical suggestions with each weekly lesson.
For more info, click here http://lightpages.net/lp/board.cfm?login=463290 to read the full article. To sign up, send an email now to vesselsofpeace@vesselsofpeace.com. June 19 is only 8 days away! Make this investment in yourself and your ability to stay peaceful while the while the world swirls around you ($36-$72 donation for the course --you choose the amount).
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The Six Nations Visit—Pieces of a Puzzle
For the 7 of us who made the journey (Lynda, Laurel, Wende, Karen, Kathe, Diana, Starr) and for those who held space at home, this was a remarkable journey which only began to reveal some pieces of a gigantic cosmic puzzle we are all working on. This is an attempt at describing some of the highlights and what is beginning to show up for us.
Diane Longboat is a visionary Mohawk woman, a ceremonial leader, a healer, a teacher and the founder of Soul of the Mother. She and her council have a mission “to offer Ancient Indigenous wisdom as a means of awakening the true loving essence of the human spirit. We join with the natural rhythm of the heartbeat of our Mother Earth and we are governed by the sacred world of the Spirit.”
This sacredness is exactly what we experienced—love and deep connection with each other, with the earth and with the sacred fire that burns continuously within the lodge at Soul of the Mother. We honored each other as we shared our ceremonies and our visions for a more peaceful, loving world and connection with the earth, all beings and the spirit world. We experienced the beauty of their drums and chants, the sacred pipe, sweat lodge, and an expansive dialog.
They invited us to share our Darshan of Peace, which was a profound experience for all of us and we offered it in a new way with sound, movement, touch and holding space. It was after the Darshan that Diane acknowledged Vessels of Peace as a “tradition,” which was a beautiful validation of the spirit of our work and sent us to a deeper place in search of our ancient roots and practices.
Diane talked about the time when the lands on earth were all one piece (Pangaea) and all the races were connected by council fires. She sees this (now) as a time of coming together again to re-ignite council fires among races and her council is beginning to share their sacred fire with other places, such as at a ceremony in Greenland in July, which we’ll say more about in our next newsletter http://www.fireandice2009.org/ .
This visit felt like a rebirth for Vessels of Peace, a re-igniting of our work, but we don’t know specifics yet. It is alchemy, something new to be created, not just for Vessels of Peace, but for so many women’s organizations gathering globally now, a collective experience.
A few more pieces of the puzzle are: reconciliation…..more connection within the spirit of peace, the Iroquois story and the Great Law of Peace….gathering women globally…..a spiral expansion of what has already been given us …new forms of the Darshan….an exploration of the “Group Mind”….a vessel reactivated in a new way….the importance of holding sacred space as a very important part of our work.
From Core Circle member, Laurel Boyd, about her Six Nations’ experience:
It's very difficult for me to put into words the experience of being at Soul of the Mother. It felt like a coming home and at the same time I felt like an ambassador from another land. There was such a meeting of hearts and an embracing of all Vessels of Peace is. We were truly seen and heard in a way rarely experienced. This was a huge gift. And I came away knowing that this is how people must meet - with all parts of themselves wide open. Without judgment and without fear. By being truly met we meet ourselves. I was filled with gratitude for the wonderful gifts Vessels of Peace has been given by the Sacred Feminine and I saw their importance for the world. And I also knew that now the time is coming when Vessels of Peace will find its permanent home - a physical home - here on Earth. It will be another place where these types of meetings will happen.
Do you have a piece of the puzzle?
We know that this is a time when more and more women are hearing a call from within their hearts that is part of this expansion and alchemy. Are you having any experiences with dreams, visions or feelings that are related to what we have shared here? If so, please let us know by emailing us at vesselsofpeace@vesselsofpeace.com.
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Gather the Women, Seattle, August 14-16
Come and plant some seeds for deeper collaboration with like-minded women’s groups. For details and to register visit http://lightpages.net/lp/eventdetail.cfm?event=2681&login=463121. Register by July 10 for a discount. Register and pay either online or by mail. Arrange separately for lodging and meals through University of Washington: https://regstg.com/Registration/Registration.aspx?rid=00122d56-5b2d-4b1c-9701-8d7de1ddc634. For more info on Gather the Women, visit www.gatherthewomen.org.
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Blessings from the Core Circle of Vessels of Peace
In service to Humanity, Divinity and the Earth
Christina Brewer, Laurel Boyd, Wende Bartley, Karen Latvala
Thank you for sharing this news and our website information with your friends and other organizations.
www.vesselsofpeace.com
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