Kundalini Splendor

DEAR FRIENDS,

I AM GOING OFF LINE IN A FEW MINUTES AND WILL BE BACK IN A FEW DAYS.  MOVING TIME.

HAVE A GREAT TIME IN THE MEANTIME!!

LOVE TO ALL.

DOROTHY

A Message from Andrew Harvey, offering a workshop in San Francisco:

Dear Friends,

I am thrilled to be returning to CIIS for a conversation with Sean Kelly and a workshop August 3-5. CIIS has been a deep inspiration in my life, I loved my years teaching there and so look forward to sharing what I’ve learnt and inspiring vision of how to go forward in difficult times.

Below are the links to the website and Facebook event pages to learn more, I do hope you will join me.

https://www.ciis.edu/public-programs/public-programs-event-calendar/harvey-andrew-convo-ss18

https://www.ciis.edu/public-programs/public-programs-event-calendar/harvey-andrew-wks-ss18


Love,
Andrew

This a rare opportunity to experience the wisdom and power of  Andrew Harvey, world renowned spiritual teacher and writer.  He is one of the most amazing people I have ever met.  A spell binding teacher, he always speaks eloquently of  issues that truly are relevant to today's world.  If you have never heard him, this is your chance to be in the company of a master teacher.  If you have heard him before, this is a great opportunity to renew your acquaintance with this unique human with a message for humankind.

A Story About a Sunflower

"When I was 12yrs old I grew an enormous sunflower in the centre of my parents' garden. It was twice as tall as I was, and surrounded by Dahlias, Roses, Crysanthemums and Fuschsias. It stood alone as a towering radiant golden and yellow centrepiece and I adored it. Every day I would come home from school and rush out to stare at it. Every day, that was the first thing I did when I got home. Then one day, bizarrely, it stared back at me... This was no illusion or imagination. There was a definite entity looking down at me, something kind and loving beyond all comparison. I was stunned, didn't know what to make of it, and just filed it away in memory and never spoke to anyone about it.
Seven years later, in 1977, I was playing a self-hypnosis tape someone had loaned me, and on the tape it asked me to imagine a beautiful flower and to keep focussing on it and merge with it, so I did. Naturally, I chose my beloved sunflower as it was so strongly embedded in my memory. But what a surprise I got when I fully merged with it and found myself as a plant, feeling a newfound total freedom, swaying in the breeze - as that sunflower - in a sea of floral beauty, rooted to the spot... and then along came this boy and stared up at me... and so I naturally 'merged' with him too. The love I felt for him was and still is indescribable, because I was in a state of deep relaxation/hypnosis so there were no inhibiting factors. It was my first experience of pure, unconditional 'self-love', even though the boy was not able to process what he was seeing - which was himself - and could only accept it as 'deep connectness','wonder','awe' and perplexity. That was also the very first time I can remember being conscious in two completely different times simultaneously... which is when and how I discovered that pure consciousness exists beyond the mind and outside of time."
Chris Bartel

via Yana Castle "Thank you for this story, José Luis G. Soler!"

Dear Dorothy and Gloria,

Even though we have been here for 5 days, not much happening yet. I am eagerly awaiting thunder and lightning storms that are predicted almost everyday but even though the sky turns quite dark, nothing. I read today there is a Romanian Saint Ilie who is directly linked to thunderstorms and is the most fierce enemy of the devil whom he pursues and tries to destroy with  lightning and thunderbolts. St. Ilie is celebrated on July 20th, the same day as Perun, the Slavic storm god. So luckily, I will be here for that. I can’t help but notice the name ‘Ilie' is curiously close to the term used for fairies here, ‘Ielle.' I am going to ask a folklore scholar friend who lives in the University town of Iasi what he thinks about this. I would not be surprised that this saint’s earlier incarnation was a woman. Ielle of Romanian lore, for instance, were the extremely beautiful but injurious fairies. Said to reside in the forests and dress in white, they could cause general mischief, illness and STORMS.

In the meantime, I have also been researching the Cucuteni culture, reviewing what I had explored 5 years ago, the last time I was here. Chris, my husband, is cataloging his quite shamanic interpretations of this ancient culture. He has a way of communicating with the spirits of the place and rendering the patterns and energies of the land.

The weather here has been chilly, the opposite of what I expected in July. In Romania, they refer to July as 'the hot as an oven month.’ Of course, I brought all the wrong clothes and just one sweater. But, I do expect it will get hot during the time we are here… a month to go and adventures await!

Love to you both,

Yana

"The Time Before Death" by Kabir

Friend! Hope for the Divine while you are alive!
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think... and think... while you are alive!
What you call "salvation" belongs to the time
before death.
If you don't break your ropes while you're alive,
do you think ghosts will do it after???
The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten --
that is all fantasy...
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment in the
City of Death.
If you make love with the Divine now, in the next
life you will have the face of satisfied desire.
So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is,
Believe in the Great Sound!
Kabir says this: When the Divine is being searched for,
it is the intensity of the longing for the Divine
that does all the work...

(Don't know who the translator is for this version.)

Note:  Yana Castle is an amazing woman whom I have recently met through the internet.  A graduate (Ph. D) from CIIS in San Francisco in women's spirituality, she presently lives year round in Nepal.  She is now with her archeologist husband Chris in Romania where he will study the ancient goddess cultures initially written about by Maria Gimbutas, whose compelling work has more or less been dismissed by mainstream scholars as too radical.
Here is an e-mail I received from her a few days ago.

Chris and I are in a small remote, very green village in Northeastern Romania where the only sounds you hear are birds, the rustling of leaves—signs of a big storm approaching, and the occasional clip clopping of horse's hooves and a rickety wagon passing by. Thunder and lightning are predicted and I want a ringside seat! This is my 4th time here and Chris' 8th. Our plans are to continue our investigations into the Cucuteni culture (See Marija Gimbutas' work). Chris will paint and do some printing. Great to see him again from a long absence while he was in San Francisco and I was in Nepal. I am finding this peaceful, sometimes deafening silence here so deeply soothing and plan meditate and read, maybe do some writing. What a contrast to my life in Boudhanath where there is a flurry of Buddhist activity... the sounds of mantras, cymbals, horns, drums, bells from the stupa, not to mention the lively day to day activities of the Nepalis and Tibetans, and street dogs howling to the phases of the moon. Soon I want to visit the old local church where there is a toaca. There is nothing like hearing this sound live. Here is a video of someone playing it. Amazing! Now, I remember when the thunder and lightning is in full force, the bells of the church are rung as a form of protection.

Dear Dorothy,

Mystic teacher Andrew Harvey’s online event this morning was, in a word, electrifying...

Andrew, who has already touched and inspired so many lives through The Shift Network, gifted us with a humble and passionate appeal to bring joy into the center of our spiritual lives.

If you missed this compelling online event with Andrew, you’ll have another chance to listen in during the encore presentation this Tuesday, July 10, at Noon Pacific.

You can join the encore event here:The Sacred Practice of Joy with Andrew Harvey
Andrew’s teachings, which draw from ancient wisdom traditions while framing them in a modern context, clearly convey that engaging in sacred practices can ground and anchor you in joy — even during times of great challenge.

As Andrew explains, that’s vitally important because joy is the most telling symptom of deep spiritual realization AND paradoxically its source.

Indeed, joy is the nectar that feeds us on every level, from body to mind to other planes of existence.
During his virtual event, Andrew also shared details about his transformative new 12-week course, Living in Joy: Sacred Practices to Deepen Your Relationship With the Beloved & Express Your Divine Purpose.

This essential training will guide you to do deep inner work in a way that brings lightness to your being... that opens and expands and deepens and frees you to live in your fullest and highest vibration…

This enlightened, joyous consciousness will then be expressed through how you show up, how you serve, how you are in relationship with others, and how you navigate these times that we're in.

In other words, everything you do can be an expression of the deep and lasting joy that bubbles up from the very core of your being.

And that, says Andrew, is how we end suffering, both individually and collectively. If you want to uplift the world, you first have to uplift yourself.

If you choose to enroll, Andrew will share a series of powerful spiritual practices with you…

These timeless practices are designed to give you the heart-force you need to stand in your freedom, truth, and love — even when real darkness is descending and casting shadows on the future.

And joy is the most powerful spiritual practice there is.

You can find out more about Living in Joy — and enroll — here.

Ben Hart
With love,

Ben Hart


P.S. In Andrew Harvey’s special encore event, The Sacred Practice of Joy, which airs this Tuesday, July 10, at Noon Pacific, you’ll:

See how to approach life like a dancer, as a living expression of Divine Love
Access and feel the sacred heart of the universe and its overwhelming love
Remember that you are the beloved of the Beloved and that your life is blessed beyond your imagination
See how to become a “humble secret agent of the light” in the larger transformation of our time
Access inner peace whenever you truly want it
Face what is happening in the world without being consumed by it
You can join the encore event here:
The Sacred Practice of Joy with Andrew Harvey

This is a fascinating youtube video showing how Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and other ancient monuments could have been constructed using available techniques of the time.  Wally Wellington, a construction worker in Flint, Michigan, demonstrates how it is possible to lift and put into place massive stone blocks.  Apparently the ancients had construction techniques lost to us over time.  Thus some long standing mysteries are explained about these early builders.

"Simple building. Stonehenge Reloaded by only one white man!!!"

Published on Sep 9, 2007
Wally Wallington has demonstrated that he can lift a Stonehenge-sized pillar weighing 22,000 lbs and moved a barn over 300 ft. What makes this so special is that he does it using only himself, gravity, and his incredible ingenuity.

And here is a second youtube presentation describing how sound can be used to perfect holes in hard rocks, to levitate the stones,  and also to trim blocks so they can be fitted  perfectly into place with virtually no space at all in between, This achievement has long puzzled modern viewers.

"Acoustic Levitation in Egypt - Ancient High Technology | Ancient Architects

The Goddess Kundalini

Of all the goddesses, Kundalini is the greatest.  She is the goddess of goddesses, the life force itself, the ultimate quintessence of the divine feminine.  She runs through every living creature and keeps them alive and sensitive to the ultimate connection with that which is real.  She is indeed everywhere and no where, within and without. When she visits, she grants us profound ecstasy or possibly its opposite, when our energies fall out of alignment.

She is the unseen essence behind every representation of the goddess, whether as archetype or human embodiment.

Kundalini awakened is the gift of the soul's journey, the jewel hiding in the within, the ultimate prize that returns us to our original nature.

She may arrive swiftly, sometimes without any apparent background or preparation on our part, or she may unfold quietly, slowly, after years of devotional practice.  The taste of her bliss will vary from person to person and again within the same person from day to day.  Her presence is known in every culture and society, though given many names.

Kundalini is the great mystery in which we all are embedded.  She is not a thought form nor an idea.  She can be known only at the feeling level, for she is the ultimate connection with Source.  She is the raw, perfect, longed for experience that unites our awareness (finally) to what we are.  At last, we encounter our true identity and our purpose and mission on this planet, as we move together into the next stage of our human evolution.

This volume is dedicated to Kundalini, the enigmatic bestower of inner wisdom and joy.

Note: I am currently preparing a new collection of poetry, presently entitled "The Kundalini Poems: Radiance and Joy."  This piece will be included as part of the Preface.

Questions

No matter how many times
I tell myself
That things will be all right,
That everything happens for the best,
That all is perfect just as it is
Some strange anxiety remains,
An inky beast lurking
At the bottom
Of a dark well.

We can, of course,
Hold hands and sing hymns
As the sinking ship goes down,
Arrange the chairs
Into a more established order.

Even though I have been informed
That all is going in the right direction,
That we are moving toward enveloping brightness,
The realm where issues no longer exist
And we are one with all that is,
Still there is the feeling
That nothing is guaranteed,
Things could go
One way or another
According to the whims
Of the time,
That the rescuer will not
arrive as promised,
That dust will be the answer
To our prayers,
Our supplications
To “whoever may  listening.”

¥et, to be honest,
good things keep happening to me.
I have collected many years,
stored in a memory box
of all I have known,
find myself now
at the center of all I would yearn for,
friends a circle of love,
allowed to do
what I would most yearn to do,
things unfolding
the way they should.
Trust that I and the hidden world
are both headed
in the right direction.
Even kissed by the Goddess
now and again.

Dorothy Walters
May 21, 2018