Newsletter XVI - Archived Newsletter - The Ferris Wheel of Life

Dearest Friends:

I just returned from viewing the Monet to Picasso Exhibit at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts from the Cleveland Museum of Art. I have heard that the University of Utah spent $5 million for this exhibit to be shown here, and it ends this Sunday; thus, I wanted to write this newsletter now because a few of you might be inspired attend this event. I doubt that we will see one like it again here in Utah. For more information visit www.umfa.utah.edu 

I love to visit cemeteries. I used to teach my Death and Dying class at the cemetery near Ft. Douglas on the University of Utah campus. Some people thought it was rather strange, and at the time I didn’t realize why I was compelled to do such a thing. It was only years later when Evans-Wentz mentioned a yogi practice called “cemetery frequenting” that it made sense to me. Yes, “cemetery frequenting” is an exercise in the Law of Impermanence, reminding us that all extrinsic phenomenon is impermanent. If we realize and understand this on a very deep level, we will not grasp or cling or become attached to those things that have no lasting permanence. The big pay-off in avoiding this attachment is that we will avoid a lot of suffering from what we perceive as loss. Here in the west it is quite easy to get stuck in this phenomenon called loss without acceptance--all part of what we call life. 

I realized how difficult it was for people to accept loss when I showed the movie “Fall of Freddy the Leaf”, designed for elementary school children as a tool for death education. During the movie, the audience grew fond of animated Freddy through his birth in the spring and his joy in the summer. However, as autumn came and the leaves on Freddy’s tree started to fall, which included his friends and family and neighbors, there was a hope that Freddy would not fall but rather, that he would hang on and and remain the happy, animated Freddy that we had grown to love. Yet, the leaves on Freddy’s tree continued to fall one by one, and sometimes in clusters. Finally, Freddy, all alone, clung to the limb that he had called home. It was difficult to accept that he, too, would fall to the ground even when suddenly, a huge gust of wind came and threw him upward, past the highest limb. Freddy fell…and fell….and fell….until he finally rested on the ground. As I observed the sadness of the audience in seeing this, I saw how pervasive it is in our society to deny the certainly of death rather than honor and celebrate the cycle of life where death only brings rise to re-birth.

Thus, with this discourse as a prelude, my son, Colby, and I, attended the exhibit of Monet to Picasso at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts on the campus of the University of Utah. Many years ago, as an English teacher, I knew that many of our greatest writers were true Bodhisattvas in that they gave us messages to awaken and enlighten and thus, help to alleviate what is known to us as suffering. I also feel the same way about so many of our great artists who never experienced fame and fortune during their lifetime as Hollywood celebrities or successful entrepeneurs. They were not motivated by, nor did they experience this fame and fortune but rather, they were driven by purpose through their own passionate expression. When this expression portrays the cyclic nature of the human condition as a ferris wheel going around and around and around and around, it can actually motivate us to step off---and in an "ah-ha" moment--hold a higher and thus, liberating view.

I might as well have been in a cemetery yesterday, with the Law of Impermanence staring me in the face. Not only did so many artists experience an untimely death but their deaths represented a spectrum of how one leaves this existence. My favorite artist, Paul Cezanne (French, 1839-1906), died of pneumonia. It can be comforting for those who have lost a loved one in this manner to know that illness and disease cuts across all culture and ethnic groups and does not discriminate the rich and poor, male and female, young and old----

I studied “LaVie”, a painting nearly 2 meters tall, which depicted the onset of Pablo Picasso’s (Spain, 1881-1973) melancholy “blue period”. Picasso, at the age of 21 painted this when a dear friend of his, Carlos Casagemas, committed suicide after being rejected by his girlfriend. This piece portrays a woman holding a baby, Casagemas and his girlfriend, a nude couple and a single, grieving woman---I saw it as representing a cycle of life. I remembered that despite Picasso’s life of much hardship, poverty and desperation, which included the devastating death of his 7 year old sister, Conchita, who died of diphtheria, Picasso died while entertaining friends with his wife, Jacqueline. He seemed to be celebrating his life in death, and this is what I admire the most about Picasso.

I could actually feel the emotion in the canvas of “The Red Kerchief Portrait of Mrs. Monet” by Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926). Isn’t that what makes art so great---when it arouses emotion? Mrs. Monet is outside, walking in the snow and glancing in through a window. Claude Monte never sold this portrait of his wife but kept it close to him throughout his life after she died 18 months after giving birth to his second son. What is the message as she is passing by this window? She is doing exactly that---passing by. But the intriguing question is--did he know on a clairvoyant or claircognitive level that their time together would be brief in their present incarnation?

I have been amazed at how many artists were botanists as was Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1960) prior to painting "Vase of Flowers". True, Gary Young has brought essential oils out of the dark ages, but so many artists love plants and flowers and trees and nature, and thus, they share their beauty and meaning with us. These artists recognize the power of the earth, water, fire, wind, and space elements and depict them in their art. They don't call themselves healers or Shamans but their art exudes some undeniably shared fundamental and universal truths. If you have an opportunity to see “The Poplars at Saint-Remy” by Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890) you will feel the communication between the poplar trees in the foreground and catch a glimpse as to why Van Gogh was so moved by their spirit. It is he who stated, “The way to know life is to love many things.”

I was surprised to see so many sculptures by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), including “The Thinker.” Throughout his tenure as an artist, he was criticized and rejected for his work, but he never changed his style. He was true to himself, despite the unfavorable opinion of others. 

I have only mentioned a few of the deeply moving pieces I was fortunate to see yesterday. And, although I certainly do not claim to be an artist, I do appreciate those who came before us and those who will come after us---those whose experience and expression offer insight into the many lessons we are here to learn.

Love-light,

Carol

www.carolwilson.org

Copyright @ 2008, Carol A. Wilson

Archived Newsletter XV - July 7, 2008 - Believing In What You're Doing

Dearest Friends:

I will never forget my father saying, “If you can’t do it right the first time, don’t do it at all.” I used to think that his perfectionist attitude was the result of attending military schools his entire life —first at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville Georgia, which included all grade levels, and then at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland where I was later born when he was teaching physics there. However, I have recently found myself telling students, clients and friends: “If you don’t believe in what you’re doing, don’t do it at all.” Hmmmmm---

The truth is that I’ve been in the healing trenches with people long enough that I have accumulated some anecdotal observations. One of those observations is that when people believe in what they’re doing, the outcome is positive. However, it is often difficult for people to believe in much of anything when it comes to healing, particularly if they have had negative experiences in regard to their health care, which is often impacted by their own painful life experiences. So, they “kind of” hope and “kind of” wish and “try”---but believing---well, believing can be such a stretch.

As for myself, I concluded a long time ago that I wasn’t going to waste a minute of my time doing anything that I didn’t believe in---as in “be true to yourself”. It also didn’t matter what people thought about that, either. I am making an analogy here because I honestly see people who are concerned and even fearful about what their family, friends, doctors and peers will “think” if they realize they are into “alternative” and “complementary” methods of healing such as Reiki. After all, they might think Reiki is rather whacky despite the fact that Reiki has gone mainstream medicine.

I actually believed in Bhutan’s Drukpa Kunley (1455-1570) fertility wang (blessing or empowerment) when, in 2005, I asked for a fertility blessing for a student of mine who had just experienced her 5th miscarriage. I believed that this blessing would result in a child, and 11 months later she delivered a healthy baby boy. Thus, when my own son and daughter-in-law were unable to have children after nearly four years of marriage and beginning to accumulate some serious medical expenses for infertility work-ups, I wanted to return to Bhutan earlier this year and ask for a fertility blessing for them, also. Believing in Reiki and some other healing modalities is rather conservative when compared to appreciating the life mission of the beloved Drukpa Kunley, also known in Bhutan as “The Divine Madman”, an enlightened Master, recognized as the reincarnation of the great Mahasiddha, Saraha, and from the Kagyu Buddhist lineage of Tilopa, Niropa, Marpa and Milarepa. Born in Tibet, Drukpa Kunley was precocious as a child and had a full memory of previous incarnations; however, after his father was killed in a family feud, he became disillusioned with the world and became a monk, dedicating himself to a spiritual life. Then, in his early 20’s he discarded his robes and became an ascetic wanderer or neljorpa (yogi) who discovered and gained control of his spiritual power. His behavior, exploits, songs and humor were outrageous, wild, and often obscene--an example of the Tibetan tradition of “crazy wisdom”--but never for personal gain or self-aggrandizement, but rather with a spontaneous desire to benefit and Enlighten others. Often viewed as irreverent when he mocked “the establishment” and man-made rules and prescriptions, he developed an unorthodox teaching style that shocked people out of hypocrisy, greed, stiff and rigid ideas, religious dogmatism, attachment, and egoistic self-possession—things which he felt kept people from learning the Buddha’s true teachings. His miracles were undeniable; i.e. turning a small quantity of tea into amounts for thousands to drink; exorcising evil spirits, transforming demons, and instantaneously transporting himself to far away locations. He never killed an animal for meat without restoring the animal back to life. He is even credited for the creation of a species of animal, the takin, by putting together the remains of two different animals (a goat’s head and a cow’s body)!

To honor Drukpa Kunley, Drukpa’s cousin built a yellow-roofed monastery in 1499, known as Chimi Lhkhang, near the town of Punakha, Bhutan in the valley below Metshina, which was dedicated to fertility. Each year hundreds of childless couples come from Bhutan (and now from around the world) to pray for children and receive a fertility blessing, which includes having a lama bless the couple on the head with a large wooden and bone phallus. Yes, I want you to know that I went through this ritual in proxy for my student and more recently for my son and daughter-in-law, making a donation and giving the lama their names written on a piece of paper.

I believed in what I was doing. I hiked once again for about 20 minutes across rice fields to the monastery that sat afar on a hill…past many modest, Bhutanese homes in Pana with a white flag on the roof swaying in the breeze—an indication that their home had been blessed by their lama, past a white chorten with prayer wheels, following a tiny stream downhill to Yoaka (“in the drain”), across an archery ground, past more wind tattered prayer flags jutting more than 40 feet into the air, and finally, finally—a short climb to Chimi Lhakhang monastery with monks playing in the yard without a care in the world. Once inside, we were able to view a central statue of Drukpa Kunley with his beloved black dog, Sachi.

Not once did I “hope” or “wish” that this blessing would be effective, nor did I want to “try again to see what happens.” I never even considered that it was quite absurd for an educated person as myself—trained to respect reason and rational order---to travel thousands of miles once again and go to such lengths without concern for any one’s opinion. I just believed in what I was doing….totally....100%….not even half a bubble off.

My dear friend, Elka, from Bulgaria, also received a fertility blessing for her youngest son. And yes, just so you know---both Elka and I are both going to be a grandma in February---11 months after our sons received a fertility blessing from Chimi Lhakhang, the monastery of Drukpa Kunley near Punakha, Bhutan.

Our lives are blessed with miracles; yes, I love the word miracles (considered Judeo-Christian) even when I hear people say that they cannot stand the word. I say that I love the word miracles because it is the world in which I live. But, we need to believe in order for them to manifest, even when our lives get so chaotic and complicated that the simplicity of that principle gets lost somewhere. Another wonderful miracle in my family this month is that my youngest daughter just returned from a trip to Italy with her boyfriend—ENGAGED. Yet, before she believed this could happen, she joked about writing a sequel to the book How To Lose a Guy In Ten Days.

Finally, to those of you (over 200) who attended Lama Ole’s teaching and received so many blessings here in SLC, thank you. There are many of you whom I wanted to visit with but I was multi-tasking beyond my capabilities, I’m afraid. I was fielding phone calls from Europe and doing dozens of other things that I hadn’t planned on, including the fact that I needed to be the tech person during the lecture even though I had hired a tech person for the evening.

Boundless Love-Light

Carol

Copyright @ 2008, Carol A. Wilson

Archived Newsletter XIV - March 23, 2008-Pilgrimage

Dearest Friends:

Happy Easter. I am safely home. A few of you were closely following the international news while I was gone, and a couple of you emailed me with great concern. I regret that I did not have access to my group email address book or I would have sent a group email to assure everyone that I was fine. It is true that a helicopter crashed in Kathmandu, and everyone was killed. I had mentioned to a few of you that I would be going to a Himalayan region from Kathmandu in a helicopter; however, it was a United Nations helicopter that crashed, and the loss of life was tragic. Also, the New Delhi airport strike was horrific but ended a couple of days before I was to depart although the strike affected some of our group members. The hotel I was to check into in New Delhi had to shut down because of a roof collapse or other problem but those of us who were scheduled to stay there managed to find other accommodations. However, the biggest concern was the situation that is ongoing in Tibet. Two days before I left New Delhi I came across a protest near the Tibetan market, and I am including a 182 picture slideshow of that protest. Picture 66 is Erin, my roommate from Norway, who is holding a sign “Stop Killing in Tibet.” As you watch these pictures, try to understand the frustration that the Tibetan people feel after near 50 years of Chinese rule in Tibet http://www.pbase.com/khandro68/delhi_tibetan_protest&view=slideshow

I would like to ask you to please join the growing world support to take action against the atrocities committed by the Chinese. I have been closely following this situation for years, and I do not believe there is one living Tibetan who feels there has been any advantage to Chinese rule in Tibet. A few months ago the Chinese military shot and killed a young Buddhist nun who was bringing children to Nepal so they could live in religious and cultural freedom, which was captured by mountain climbers on film. I believed at the time that this event that would be a catalyst for action; however, more recent events and just prior to the Olympics in Beijing, has created a momentum that might truly see some positive outcome results. Please take a few minutes of your time to complete the following petition, and I thank you in advance from the deepest place in my heart: http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/

With a pilgrimage comes endless blessings, and it was such a joy to see Maggie again and my friends who went on pilgrimage with me in 2005—Elka and Nikolay from Bulgaria. As far as the challenges and obstacles I faced and the suffering I experienced, it was a wonderful opportunity to purify karma. I want to share this with you because so many of you suffer, and it is a difficult concept to understand the fact that we live our karma. There are no stray bullets that strike us, and we are not victims. There really is fairness in the universal law of karma or as John stated, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

While our pilgrimage group of 51 people was in Bhutan, a man from Argentina discovered that he had a very large tick on him that was embedded underneath his skin. I didn’t realize what a serious situation this can be and that people can die when a tick is not completely removed; thus, Maggie and a few of us took him to a hospital in Bhutan. I have several pictures of this tick, and I thought it was a rather gross situation. We were at the hospital for quite some time, and a 74 year old medical doctor from Germany proceeded to remove the tick. Of course, by that time I was thinking that any tick that got near me was asking for death….so of course, there was one near me in my room that night, and in human response, I did kill it. I was already sick from an all day trek that we had taken in the snow and rain to the Tangui Gompa of Tulku Tenzin Rabaye Rinpoche, whom I met two and a half years ago in Bhutan when he was with Je Khenpo, the spiritual head of Bhutan. When Tenzin Rabaye Rinpoche was just two years old he began talking about historical events of 15th century Bhutan and was recognized immediately as a reincarnation (parents—just imagine what this would be like). Now he is about 14 years old and not only received us in his private quarters but also gave each of us an individual blessing. Any way, the trek was not ordinary climbing. We were climbing up rocks, and I had no rain repellent gear on (only a shower cap, and yes, it did look ridiculous). 

That night I could hardly move from physical pain and discomfort but the itinerary moved forward, and that night I was at the home of the Princess of Bhutan, Asi Sonan, in a dress and tortuous high heels. It was an evening of tea, food, and conversation but what was most special was that we were invited to sit in the beautiful gompa in their home where monks and their lama chanted special prayers for us. Their lama also did individual MO divinations for us until midnight. Please understand that Maggie is very close to the Royal Family of Bhutan, which is why we have seen Bhutan from the inside and visiting places owned by the Royal Family that are not on the tour circuit. A couple of you have asked what tourist agency I have worked with, and there hasn’t been a tourist agency. For both of my pilgrimages to Bhutan, I was invited by Maggie who was the personal translator of Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche for 15 years, who was the Uncle to the Queen of Bhutan. 

Back to the tick. The lesson I have learned from this is to travel with a jar to “catch the insect in.” There was also a spider in the toilet in Bhutan. My roommate, Erin, had gone to the bathroom and noticed a spider in the toilet so she ran into the room to tell me. We stood over the toilet as she tried to build a bridge with toilet paper so the spider would come out but it was not an effective strategy (he went in the opposite direction) so we both starting saying mantras for this spider. I have to tell you that it was probably the most humorous thing that happened because everyone was waiting for us at the dinner tables, and we were standing over the toilet saying mantras for a spider. Finally, I looked at Erin and said, “Let’s not think about this now”, and I closed the lid. I truly experienced some karmic suffering for both the tick and the spider. I not only got “near pneumonia”, suffered from altitude sickness (we were at 10,000 feet but I have never had altitude sickness before), but also got carbon monoxide poisoning from riding in an open 3 wheeler for a few hours in New Delhi, a very large city with much traffic). One night I decided that I either had to call Maggie, go to the hospital or come home to America. I ended up doing none of those things but I will say that I have never been so ill. My attitude, of course, was that karmic seeds I had planted had now come to fruition, so I did what I could, with all of my tools, to alleviate as much pain as I could and embraced the process with gratitude because I was paying a debt now that I wouldn’t have to pay later. 

When some of my friends and students have karmic diseases, they often tell me that they have done nothing wrong to deserve such suffering so I am here to tell you how imperfect I am in that I, too, suffer from unvirtuous actions such as killing a tick and giving up on a spider; however, I will never do such a thing again because I will be prepared with my insect jar.

The highlight of my pilgrimage was to spend eight days with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Trinlay Thaye Dorje, at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI). After meeting with our group and giving us each an individual blessing, he gave a four day teaching on the “37 Practices of a Bodhisattva”. He first taught it in Tibetan and then translated the teaching himself in perfect English. He said that he first received this teaching when he was 12 years old and talked about how precious this teaching was to him and how much it has helped him. We also received teachings from Khenpo Tsering Samdrup, the main instructor at KIBI and also, Professor Sempa Dorje, a renowned Buddhist scholar, who has been teaching the Karmapa in Kalimpong since he was 10 years old. The Karmapa told us that it has been a “luxury and a joy” to learn from him; thus, for Professor Dorje to teach to another audience was such a blessing for us. Also, Tsultrim Namgyal gave several days of teachings about his experiences with His Holiness the 16th Karmapa. Tsultrim Namgyal is often seen in pictures holding the Karmapa’s Black Crown. The Karmapa then gave three days of initiations (empowerments), and when I learned that one of those initiations was Medicine Buddha, I realized why I was there since Medicine Buddha greatly enhances the healing work that I do, and I had only received the lunge from Lama Ole a few years ago. 

What was most meaningful to me, however, was when the Karmapa talked about all of the blessings we had received and then said, “These blessings will remain with you until you reach Enlightenment.” Because all extrinsic phenomenon is impermanent, and the happiness that we cling to in this world is a temporary happiness, to know that those blessings would remain with me was deeply meaningful. For more information and 48 wonderful pictures, please see http://www.karmapa-news.org/?id=443

In many of the sacred and powerful holy places on our pilgrimage, Maggie told us to make strong wishes; thus, I made strong wishes for all of you---that you will be free from suffering and that you will have devotion to your spiritual path, whatever that spiritual path might be---Buddhist or non-Buddhist.

Finally, those of you who asked that I purchase singing bowls or malas for you, yes, my luggage was lost but it was delivered to me at 2 am this morning. Please email me and let me know if you can come by this week. Those items traveled with me on my entire pilgrimage, and the malas were blessed by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa (I have a dozen extra for those of you who want one, and in fairness to everyone, it is best that I include that information in this newsletter rather than pick and choose whom I might wish to have one). The weight of the singing bowls (85 pounds) was not easy to work with as far as transporting, including the ride back to my hotel on a motorbike. My purse was swinging on this kind man’s motorbike, and I was holding 85 pounds of singing bowls between myself and his back. As you know, the traffic is quite crazy in Kathmandu, and at one point in time, we were trapped between a car and a bus, and just as I thought the bus was about to take off my right leg, he HIT the side of the bus very hard. I learned that hitting the side of a vehicle is an emergency signal for “STOP.” I am very grateful for that.

A few of you have asked me to give a talk about my pilgrimage; thus, I will not share further stories here but will hopefully plan for a presentation sometime in the near future.

Boundless love-light,

Carol

www.carolwilson.org

Copyright © 2008, Carol A. Wilson

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

Archived Newsletter XII - October 7, 2007

Dearest Friends:

I was prompted to write this newsletter now because of an experience I had yesterday when I telephoned one of my former students who now lives back east. At one point in our conversation he said, “I don’t mean to change the subject, but do you remember the crystal you gave to me?” I had to think for a second but yes, I remember the day he moved away. He came by to say good-by, and I told him that I was going to give him a book. He said he had no where to put it—he was flying, and his suitcases were bulging—all he had was his pocket. Thus, I went into the other room and found my Reiki crystal grid that I had empowered for so many years. I picked up one of the quartz crystals, carried it to the living room, and gave it to him. “Yes”, I said on the phone. “I remember.” Then he replied, “I have slept with that crystal every night. I sleep with it on my chest. It helps me.”

Later that night, as I was falling asleep, I was so touched at his deep appreciation for this crystal—this powerful and living consciousness--that I felt tears welling. Then I reflected upon the enigma that is characteristic of so much of what we know as human behavior---how people can deeply appreciate a very small gesture but yet others will appreciate nothing, even when enormous efforts are taken. Attitudes are certainly influenced by values of our society, I thought---the instant gratification phenomenon, and the “keep up with the Jones’s” mentality, due in part, by the power of our media. However, I also concluded that much of our literature doesn’t encourage the value of gratitude and appreciation. For example, look at Shel Silverstein’s beloved book The Giving Tree. The story begins, “Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.” “Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk . . . and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave.” 

Teachers, mothers, caregivers and children themselves read this book and admire the self- sacrificing and generous nature of the Giving Tree. However, the reality is that she gave the boy all of her apples, and he wasn’t happy. He wanted more. She gave him all of her branches that had provided climbing and shade, and the boy still wasn’t happy. He wanted more. She gave him her trunk so he could build a canoe. And, he still wasn’t happy. At the end of the book, he is a disgruntled, unhappy old man sitting on her remaining tree stump. The moral of the story is supposed to be that we are able to have serene acceptance of another’s capacity (or shall we say incapacity) to love in return. But, what is this story really about? My perception is that The Giving Tree is about enabling and co-dependency! If people would view the book in this manner, it provides an astute, insightful, and educational message. The Giving Tree did nothing to discourage what eventually developed into a man’s selfish and narcissistic behavior. Rather, she actually encouraged, enabled and reinforced that behavior by continuing to give him all that she had, believing that extrinsic “things” could make him happy. However, the proof is in the pudding: nothing she gave him created happiness. She unknowingly got involved in his pathology, and sadly, his problem soon became her problem. The book doesn’t disclose how truly devastated she must have felt at the conclusion of the story unless she was a Buddhist practitioner tree who transformed all of that trauma into wisdom during her meditations.

As you remember, when Jesus returned to Nazareth during his ministry and people were offended at what he had to say, he simply dusted off his feet and left. He didn’t waste his time with disgruntled people who didn’t appreciate him. Thus, too, the Giving Tree did not have to invest all that she had into someone who didn’t appreciate what she had to offer. In retrospect, she could have provided much for other people. There would have been others who would have appreciated her apples, her branches and her tree trunk. There surely who would have been another boy or old man who would have appreciated one of her apples. In fact, he might have even taken it home and slept with it on his chest.

AND, that moment would have been a memorable moment. You know, a moment that you will cherish when you look back and reflect upon your life--the moment after moment that soon accumulates to become collectible moments, of which Elisabeth Kubler-Ross spoke:

It’s very interesting when you look back at hundreds of dying patients—young and old. Not one of them has ever told me how many houses she had or how many handbags or sable coats. What they tell you of are very tiny, almost insignificant moments in their lives—where they went fishing with a child or they tell of privacy in an interpersonal relationship. These are the things that keep people going at the end…they remember little moments that they have long forgotten and they suddenly have a smile on their faces…they begin to reminisce about little memories that make their whole lives meaningful and worthwhile.

Therefore, as we near the Holiday Season, I look forward to collecting little memorable moments that I will hold near and dear to my heart--- like hearing that one of my students sleeps with my Reiki grid crystal on his chest. I also hope that we can continue to encourage others to collect memorable moments, also, recognizing the fine line between when someone else’s problem starts to becomes our problem and thus, an even bigger problem. We are of little use to others as healers if we are like the Giving Tree and our well goes dry with nothing left to give. Let us re-write her story. Afterall, there’s a whole world out there waiting for more light and love to dispel of the darkness. There might even be a disgruntled old man or other individual just waiting for you to not attempt to fulfill selfish needs but rather, to point your finger at his own Divine Essence so that—hopefully--hopefully--he might recognize it. 

Love-Light

Carol

www.carolwilson.org

Copyright © 2007, Carol A. Wilson

Archived Newsletter XI - September 2, 2007

Dearest Friends:

Our Reiki Clinic was an amazing success. Our Community, as a group, raised the power of our intention and the power of Reiki. We manifested that intention with focus, and some incredible healings occurred not only for those who were present but for those whose names were placed on the Reiki empowered Crystal Grid. Every Reiki practitioner who channeled Reiki that day came from the heart. 

Those who felt obligated to come in order to support me, I told them not to come if it was from a place of obligation. Healing work really does need to come from the heart. It’s a heart thing---not an obligation thing; thus, we worked from the heart. As a result, it heightened our commitment to healing, and it developed our appreciation in being with like-minded people who “support” our path in improving our own lives and the lives of others. The sacred, morphic field we created was not punctured nor deflated by a single person with a negative and/or judgmental thought or comment. We were focused in unity and wholeness with a group intention of healing, and that kind of focus is necessary in order to manifest a powerful and desired outcome.

Our Reiki Clinic will be an annual event. One of my Master students in San Diego, Mike Simms, won the 13” crystal bowl in our raffle drawing. I said that whoever won it would really need it, and Mike has wanted that bowl for quite some time! Mike is a cancer survivor. He is among many of us who suffer a death and is reborn onto a spiritual path. Thank you again to everyone who participated and to Susan, Ric, Kimberly, Denise, Craig and Cindy for bringing Reiki tables. About 20 of us ended up at Thaifoon’s after the Clinic, and just so you know how MUCH we love Thaifoon’s: Lilian’s boyfriend PROPOSED to her in Thaifoon’s, and they were married in July.

Another Lesson

We could have had a disruption in holding sacred space at our Clinic, however, and I wish to share this experience with you because a lesson was learned. I had recently told Andi Goldman, Jonathan Goldman’s wife, that at Jonathan’s Healing Sounds Intensive in Colorado in July, Jonathan drew boundaries quicker and faster than any one I had ever seen. When he teaches and with the exercises that participants engage in, a sacred vibrational space is created. Behavior by someone that doesn’t support the resonance of the group is “nipped in the bud” very quickly. Although I have years of managing classrooms and groups, which started as a Middle School Teacher in the Public Schools, I realize that there have been a couple of occasions when I have tried to work at length--tirelessly--with disruptive people to “keep them in the fold” but sadly, at the expense of others. I left Jonathan Goldman’s healing intensive feeling that what I had learned most from him was the importance of drawing boundaries more quickly when a boundary needs to be drawn. Well, you know that when we think we’ve learned a lesson, the Universe will test us to determine if we really learned that lesson. Thus, the test: I wasn’t told what this situation was all about until the next day, but a woman followed her boyfriend to our Reiki Clinic. Her energy might have been perceived as equivalent to a nuclear bomb that had been dropped into our event. As soon as she arrived in the entrance hall where I was multi-tasking, she was very confrontational about who my students were, what they were doing, if they lived in the building, that invitations should not have been distributed throughout the building, and even picked up one of my Reiki brochures and challenged the Reiki principles, stating that they were from the 12 step program. Dina was on her way to the bathroom and heard this comment, so she quickly jumped in with her Russian accent, “They’re from Japan!!!!!!” While this was going on about 10 people were arriving every 15 minutes—some who were sick and others who were grieving. I asked this disgruntled woman if she wanted to make an appointment and she bluntly replied, “NO!” A man came out of the Reiki room beaming after his session and asked this woman if she was going to go in for a session, and she again replied, “NO!” I later realized that the reason she was looking through the closed glass door was that her boyfriend was on the table and one of my most gorgeous students had her loving hands on him. Although the woman’s behavior only lasted for a couple of minutes, it did seem like an eternity. I then walked over to her and said very firmly, with my hands in Gassho in front of my heart, “This is the deal. You can either get on a table, or you can leave.” She left. 

I can honestly say that two months ago I would not have acted so quickly, and as a result, this woman would have had even more of a negative impact on others who were in the hallway waiting for their appointment. The Universe gave me a real test on drawing boundaries. I took yet one more step into my own power, although one of my students who is quite a big guy felt that I could have used him as a “bouncer.” Yes, I have compassion for this woman who was so miserable in her own suffering that she had no qualms about making others miserable and putting a dent in the quality of their experience; however, my first responsibility was to facilitate a positive and healing experience for the more than 100 other people who were in attendance. It is important in the healing work that we do. I hope that this event will be remembered so we are reminded that we need to be protective of those who are truly depending on us to help facilitate their healing, recognizing that we must first do no harm. In a way this reminds me of my work as a researcher. I have to control extraneous variables or those variables will confound my work and thus, contaminate the outcome results to the point where the results are not worthy of publication and thus, of no use to anyone! A researcher’s mantra is, “Garbage in---garbage out.” If you want good outcome results, look at the energy (intention) that is going into the process.

I have studied and been involved in Reiki Communities for many years now. I have seen few that thrive and survive. Reiki is pure and whole but often people are not; thus, when human elements get involved (i.e. ego, competition, gossip, judgment—essentially when a sub-social group forms whose intention is no longer focused on healing as a group), the resonance of Reiki can be derailed and thus, not sustained. It makes sense---why would Reiki choose to function in a dissonant field? Thus, it’s not Reiki—but people—who can get sidetracked. The resonance of Reiki needs to be supported--and with pure intention. The additional power behind Reiki is in the intention in which it is practiced and channeled, which, in my opinion is one of the distinguishing factors between a so-so Reiki practitioner and a powerful Reiki practitioner. 

As I have been saying for years, in the future we will be called upon as a cohesive community to do some very important work, not only on an individual and group level but on a planetary and universal level. The ALL appreciates you and appreciates the fact that you recognize the significance of our sacred and much needed healing endeavors.

MUCH Boundless Love and Light,

Carol

www.carolwilson.org

Copyright © Carol Wilson 2007

Archived Newsletter X - July 22, 2007

Dearest Friends:

Among the many amazing metaphysical phenomenon I have experienced during the past month, I was able to enjoy the unicursal, single Eulerian path labyrinth at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado during Jonathan Goldman’s 9 day Sound Healing Intensive. The first time I entered the labyrinth last week, 

I lost track of direction and of the outside world. Immediately, a strong wind arose that stirred the leaves of the trees around me with the sound of rain sticks, and Spirit spoke to me of the many things I knew but had forgotten. I continued to step slowly through the labyrinth, bare feet pressing on rough grass, until I paused at the center, facing the direction of West, which among other things, honors the Bear—the same Bear spirit that I came to know recently in the Catskill mountains. A golden spiral then appeared in front of me and around me, and like a cork screw, the spiral penetrated the soil, reaching downward until it touched and connected me with the heart of Mother Earth. I then realized, with greater awareness, the significance of my spiral and heart logo that I told my daughter to design many years ago----the significance of that journey to the heart, which connects us in love. We have been blessed with so many powerful tools to assist us in this journey, and sacred sound is one of them, because it can activate and accelerate our vibrational ascension. 

I have known and worked with many sound healers over the years, and it has surprised me that they are not teaching. I honestly believe it is because the body of knowledge of sound and sound healing is overwhelming and yes, even intimidating. I remember when I was asked to teach the HIV/AIDS course for the College of Nursing at UNLV, and the tremendous pressure I was under to quickly develop an expertise in a field that was changing as fast as the HIV virus itself. But, “diving in” and developing curriculum was what I was trained to do, and I became accustomed to such arduous assignments. On the contrary, I have spent the last seven years integrating sound healing into my work but have shared little of that knowledge with my students in Reiki classes and individual sessions. I have emphasized that sound healing, like Reiki, is being integrated into mainstream medicine. We have Mitchell Gaynor, MD, Director of Oncology at the Strand-Cornell Cancer Prevention Center, to partially thank for this awakening in our society of the oldest healing modality known to mankind.

The Universe has never called me to do anything at a time that I would consider “opportune.” When Reiki found me, I was immersed in an 80 hour a week job, and did not have one minute for a new endeavor; however, I was enrolled in a Reiki class the next week and have been committed to healing ever since. A few of you who have come to me for individual Reiki sessions lately have noticed that I have been accessing other healing tools in addition to Reiki and broadening my use of sound; however, because I have been a member of Jonathan’s Sound Healer’s Association for the past five years, I decided three years ago that I would participate in Jonathan’s intensive training and become "official” before I would formally teach Sound Healing. I finally stopped procrastinating. Not only was my time with Jonathan beyond my expectations, I also studied with other brilliant sound healers, individually and in group, including Laraaji, Lama Tashi who was nominated for a Grammy Award for his CD Tibetan Master Chants, and Kimba Arem, whom you may recognize because of her recent sound healing work with Dr. Andrew Weil. Therefore, after years in the making, my Sound Healing courses are now developed and scheduled in Salt Lake City with San Diego scheduling to soon follow.

I. Sound Healing Class Content and Schedule

A. Sound Healing I and II will be held on a Saturday and Sunday,

Sept. 28 and 29 (NOON-10pm). Sound Healing I will consist of:

Principles of Sound Healing

Psycho Acoustics & Sonic Entrainment

Shamael-Angel of Sound Initiation

The Healing Power of Sound

Intentionality and Silence

Breath and Sound

Vowels as Mantras

Toning

Toning the Chakras

Name as mantra

Mantra and Sound

Sawawati-Godddess of Music and Healing

B. Sounding Healing II will include:

Introduction to Harmonics

Tuning Forks

Tibetan Singing Bowls, Tingshas, and Bells

Sound and Crystals

Crystal & Alchemy Bowls

Vocal Harmonics

Overtoning for Healing

Mantras: Tools for Healing

C. Sounding Healing III on Saturday, Dec. 1 (NOON-10pm) will consist of:

Sacred Ceremony

Tantra of Sound

The Divine Name

The Way of the Shaman

Tools for Sound: Drums, Rattles & Didjeridu

Sacred Drum Healing Ceremony (as taught to me by Brooke Medicine Eagle in the Catskill Mountains at the Society for Shamanic Practitioners Conference)

Note: The reason why the break between Sound healing II and III is that I am spending a day with Layne Redmond, author of When The Drummers Were Women: A Spiritual History of Rhythm, in November, and I want to acknowledge her in my Sound Healing III class along with MANY other profound and revered healers, sound healers, and Shamans who have touched my life in ways too numerous to express at this time; i.e. being in ceremony with Bhola Nath Banstola, a 27th generation Shaman from Nepal, was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Bonnie Horrigan had told me “He’s the real deal”, and he is. (Thank you, Bonnie, for getting me to the Society’s annual conference this year.) These healers have inspired me, challenged me and left me in boundless gratitude. I learned via experience that traditions are often passed on via encoded sound, and if we tap into those frequencies at a subconscious level, they teach us.

Sound Healing I, II and III contains more information than you can possibly imagine, and I believe that a week could be spent on every class. If I offer Sound Healing IV, it will probably be a day of silence in retreat with sound. We actually did this at the intensive for 12 hours, and I’m still not quite back on the planet. Also, until I am convinced otherwise, I will continue to cap my classes; thus, my sounding healing classes will be capped at 10 students so please register early. Registration forms are on my website under Classes, Sound Healing I, Sound Healing II and Sound Healing III. 

II. My individual healing sessions have evolved into not utilizing one single modality; rather, they arise from intention and intuition, and I offer frequencies that I feel will be of benefit to the uniqueness of the client, whether they be essential oils (yes, I have about 200 different bottles on hand), sacred sound or channeling Reiki or Karuna Reiki®. I have many new tools, sound instruments, lessons and uplifting stories to share with you during classes and at healing circles. The final highlight at the healing sounds intensive was our graduation, and farewell when Jonathan taught us a song that we sang individually to every person in the group, “Listen, listen, listen to the song of my heart…I’ll never forget you...I’ll never forsake you….” We were in tears. 

We are all unique, vibratory beings, and the more we understand and utilize vibration as a healing tool, the better we can bring love and harmony to all sentient beings, to Mother Earth, and to the ALL of the Universe where we are ONE. When the task seems overwhelming, I am always reminded of the Essene Gospel of Peace: “And one day the eyes of your spirit shall open, and you shall know all things.”

Love and Light,

Carol

Copyright @ by Carol A. Wilson 2007