Archived Newsletter XIII - November 19, 2007

Dearest Friends:

Making a decision as to whom to train with defies the rational mind. I have found that those whom I study with first connect with me on an energetic level, and there is a resonance and an exchange of information that has no words. Rumi probably came close to expressing an aspect of this experience:

Something opens our wings,

Something makes boredom and hurt disappear,

Someone fills the cup in front of us.

We taste only sacredness. 

Sometimes it can be prudent to challenge the Western rational mind more often.

Last week I immediately connected with a couple of wonderful Reiki Masters from New Jersey who were attending the conference. Afterwards, it was amazing to meet with and listen to pioneers in the field of sound healing, most of whom I have only read about. It would take pages to mention them all; however, pre and post conference intensive workshops were spent with Layne Redmond, author of When The Women Were Drummers, and Silvia Nikkach, world renowned composer, singer and Clinical Psychologist who now focuses a great deal of her sound healing work with Hospice patients. Onye Onyemechi from Nigeria, founder of African Rhythms, demonstrated some amazing healing work derived from his African roots. Interestingly, he mentioned that in the West, doctors use forceps during labor and delivery, which can damage a baby. He said, “In Africa, we play our drums and sing and dance and beat on our chests. Babies do just fine with this.” At one point in time, he asked a question, and several people raised their hands trying to give rational answers. Interestingly, some of the comments were contradictory, and it was obvious that there was a wide range of opinion. Onye finally commented that he could not relate at all to such a rational and intellectual approach and said, “I’ll have to talk to my ancestors about this!” Then I thought about all of my children who were born via the utilization of forceps. One daughter’s delivery included a mid forceps rotation and my other daughter suffered multiple birth injuries because of the use of forceps. To this day she has large calcified hematomas on both sides of her scalp with the forceps indentations clearly identifiable. I have to ask myself why we accept some modalities in our Western world, assuming that they are the best available and most viable option? I sometimes wish that my consciousness didn’t awaken with a big leap at age 40. What we can do, however, is educate so that our children realize that truths can lie beyond our current mode of thinking and beyond the boundaries of the country in which we live. Afterall, truth is true, regardless of the variety of culturally tinted glasses worn by people around the world.

I must share one of my mystical experiences. The first day of the conference I saw a pile of embroidered cloths (song textiles) made by a woman of the Shipibo People who live up the Upper Amazon river, in the heart of the Peruvian jungle. There was a large 3x4 foot cloth that seemed to call out to me but my rational mind didn’t want to make a purchase; thus, I made an excuse not to purchase it. However, I realized that I couldn’t completely dismiss the possibility so I decided that if it was still there at the end of the conference I would take it home with me. Every day I saw the smaller embroidered cloths disappear. Even Silvia Nikkach purchased a medium sized one and put it on the podium when she gave her presentations. She understood its deep significance and healing power. Then, on the last day of the Conference, I saw that the one large cloth was sitting there—all by itself--- the one that I was obviously taking home with me. This is what I have learned:

The dark brown stain on the cloth is from mahogany bark and the other stains are from the Huito berry that changes color when exposed to air. The application is done with a nail or piece of bamboo. There are a lot of embroidered geometric designs. This design, specifically, is the Chant of Pachamama and Chacruna that has been woven into the fabric, which honors the earth—a symbolic story telling of the ability of nature to heal itself. There was a notation on the cloth that the chant raises frequency. I have learned that the pattern is not only an expression of the oneness of creation, the dynamic of light and sound, the union of perceived opposites but an ongoing dialogue with the spiritual world and powers of the Rainforest, which, of course, honors plant medicine. Thus, the visionary art of the Shipibo is brought into physical form as “visual music.” The patterns do not end at the border but extend and permeate the entire world.

Westerners do not understand how one can listen to a song or chant by looking at the designs and inversely paint a pattern by listening to a song or music. Yet, each design is unique and cannot be mass produced. A Professor of Ethnology Angelika Gebhart-Sayer wrote, “Essentially, Shipibo-Conibo therapy is a matter of visionary design application in connection with aura restoration; the shaman heals his patient through the application of a visionary design, every person feels spiritually permeated and saturated with designs. The shaman heals his patient through the application of the song-design, which saturates the patients’ body and is believed to untangle distorted physical and psycho-spiritual energies, restoring harmony to the somatic, psychic and spiritual systems of the patient. The designs are permanent and remain with a person’s spirit even after death.” Among other things, I appreciate the plant medicine component of this piece. I can honor that appreciation with therapeutic grade essentials oils and with a thankfulness that much plant spirit knowledge is being restored and acknowledged. We can move beyond the plant medicine power that we saw in our endeared children’s book, Jack and the Beanstalk. Few realize that Alice in Wonderland also developed such an awareness of plants.

SAVE THE DATE—Saturday March 15 (9am-6pm) and Sunday, March 16 (NOON-10pm) is the weekend for my intensive Sound Healing Workshop in Salt Lake City, Utah. I just returned from the International Sound Healing Conference in Santa Fe but no shopping or hot tub for me. I was absorbed in pre and post conference workshops, early and late evening workshops, and my meal breaks were spent downloading sound onto my computer or talking with marvelous healers. I feel closely connected with this international sound healing community—they are a real touchy-feely group who truly care about people. I can say, enthusiastically, that my upcoming workshop really is one of its kind. It gives an overview of many sound healing modalities, and there is no way I could have synthesized this workshop from such a huge, broad based body of sound healing research and knowledge if I had not been developing educational curriculum for over 20 years. Sound Healing I and Sound Healing II will be presented as one weekend workshop. The experiential group work—whether using the voice or sound instruments---is nothing short of cleansing, healing and transformational. A flyer will be forthcoming but info can be found currently at http://carolwilson.org/sound.html and http://carolwilson.org/sound2.html

Boundless Love-Light

Carol

www.carolwilson.org

Copyright © 2007, Carol A. Wilson