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Chi and Earth Wisdom
| Each Alliance e-newsletter features an essay from a different member. December's featured contributors are Elise and Kaleo Ching. They integrate Chi Kung, guided imagery, and art-as-transformation as a holistic journey to inner wisdom and intimacy with the divine. They teach at JFK University, the Acupressure Institute, and elsewhere and have coauthored several books including Faces of Your Soul: Rituals in Art, Maskmaking, and Guided Imagery with Ancestors, Spirit Guides, and Totem Animals. For more info see: www.kaleoching.com
Venus glistens as the salmon sky begins to awaken Gaia, the earth mother. Elise stands facing a giant sequoia. The roots of Chi from her feet mingle with its roots. The Chi from its tall straight trunk with its furrowed russet bark presses against the Chi of her body. Kaleo stands nearby facing the east where the sun begins to nudge its way above the hills, and he sends forth his chant to the sun: E a lä e.
Standing in Zhan Zhuang meditation, we drop our awareness into the earth's body and listen to her vibrations. She invites us to synchronize the vibrations, the pulses, of our bodies with hers. Above, a great-horned owl hoots, and the vibrations flutter, then settle again. Below our feet we feel the coolness of night and lingering shadows in the earth. From above we receive the warmth and light of dawn.
We invite you to join us:
Close your eyes and let your breath take you to a place in nature that you love. Are you at continent's edge where the ocean's body rolls the carpet of sand beneath your feet? Or in the shadow of a mountain? Or by a noisy stream that drowns out all thoughts but present moment awareness? Or in a meadow rumpled by the fresh tracks of night wanderers?
Stand in this place you have chosen. Understand that, wherever you are, the temperature, texture, and vibrations of earth are unique. Feel your connection with the earth beneath the soles of your feet. Feel yourself balanced evenly over each foot where the pads of the five toes, the two balls, the center of the outer arch, and the center of the heel touch the earth.
Be aware of the ancestors dwelling in the earth-their flesh and bones, their histories, their memories, their DNA. Feel the energy rising from Gaia, the mother. Understand how the earth's wisdom and the wisdom of those who have come before you nourish and support who you are and who you strive to become.
Feel the subtle movements of your inner body seeking alignment. Your bones stack, balancing from the ground up to the crown of your head. As you inhale, feel the joints of your body-feet, legs, pelvis, vertebrae, arms, ribs, cranium-opening and expanding. As you exhale, feel them relaxing and releasing. With each breath, your muscles and tissues energize and surrender. Feel the Chi of the earth nourishing you, supporting you, and recycling like compost whatever waste Chi you release.
As you inhale, feel nature's gifts all around you feeding you. As you exhale, feel yourself giving back. What do you give? Breath and bones, intention and connectedness, caring and custodianship.
Feel the tingling at the crown of your head, where your Chi and the Chi of the cosmos meet and dance. We do this awakening together. Even if separated by time and space, we are connected through the Chi beneath, around, and above, holding us in stillness, guiding us in movement.
Breath
by Elise Ching
A wave crests, tumbles
a long suck upon the shore before leaving
liberated by the sun
obedient to the moon
in gentle rhythm with deep currents
As the wild horse settles down for the last time
god dismounts and meets you at eye level
Taken in and held to touch each cell then released into the blessed atmosphere- wondrous membranes harvesting nourishment!
Messenger from one world to the other communion of mortals and immortals
One shared substance without form
What is known always ends in exhalation
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Greetings, I hope everyone has been enjoying a restful and joyful holiday. Here in the Bay Area we have been blessed with abundant rains, helping to further alleviate recent years of drought and creating a road of return for local salmon populations.
I'm pleased to share below our narrative of the rituals on the land that took place during Day Two of our conference this past November. The stories were a delight to help weave together, and they give a taste for the types of events that we plan to offer more of in the coming year. This newsletter also includes highlights from our first year as an organization and a preview of events and initiatives underway for 2011.
Finally, please check out the contribution (left sidebar) this month by Alliance members, Kaleo and Elise Ching. We're pleased to feature a different member's voice each month in our community newsletters.
Wishes for a safe and fun New Year's.
With heart,Daniel
The Earth Medicine Alliance is a tax exempt 501(c)3 non-profit.
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Narrative of Day Two Ceremonies from
First Annual Conference
 On the second day of our Nov 6-7th conference, Mending Our Relations with the Natural World, three groups gathered for concurrent earth-honoring rituals at different locations in and around San Francisco. Several individuals present at each of these ceremonies worked together to create a narrative of their respective gathering, and these stories were then edited and compiled into a single narrative of day two of the conference. This story is now available for all to enjoy: www.earthmedicine.org/EMA_2010_Conference_Day_Two_Narrative.pdf. Thanks again to the over 100 participants in our first public event!
Here is the archive for the annual conference, including a link to the day two ritual narrative: www.earthmedicine.org/conference. Dates for our 2011 conference are set for Sat-Sun, Oct 22-23rd in the San Francisco Bay Area (more details available soon).
Image is of a river otter returning to Redwood Creek at Muir Beach.
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2010 Earth Medicine Alliance Year in Review
 Aside from several community meetings in the final months of 2009, this last year was the first for the Earth Medicine Alliance, and it was a hugely successful first year of life! In these final days of 2010, we thought it would be nice to reflect for a moment on all that we've accomplished in this last journey around the sun, take a minute to toast all the hard work that has been happening behind the scenes to translate the ideals and vision of the Alliance into a practical and truly useful reality. - The Earth Medicine Alliance incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit in California in January, applied for our tax exempt status with the IRS in June, and became fully tax exempt in August.
- A talented group of nine stepped up to serve as the Alliance board of directors. Our board held quarterly meetings and an annual retreat, providing both practical support and visionary guidance on the development of the organization.
- A small group of Alliance members held a ceremony on Angel Island in March to plant the vision of this organization in the earth here and to ask for the support of the local mountains, waters, ancestors, and natural powers in realizing the potential of the Earth Medicine Alliance in a way that is heart-centered, effective, in alignment with the highest good for all beings.
- We launched the Voices of the Earth Project to provide free, educational interviews with diverse earth-honoring elders and wisdom-keepers. The volunteer staff leading this project produced our first interview with Malidoma Somé and is now technologically equipped to step up our efforts in early 2011.
- The Alliance organized and hosted a successful first annual conference and members retreat in November of 2010, setting a tone for our work to come, and bringing together people of different earth-honoring paths for interfaith dialogue, heart-centered learning, and co-created ritual.
- Volunteer staff offered countless hours behind the scenes to create our website, membership structure and database, community newsletter, Facebook page, and schedule of events going forward into 2011.
The image is of the altar from our first annual Alliance members retreat.
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 We are still confirming dates and events for 2011; however, we are happy to share a few that are already confirmed. In addition to these events, we are also looking for ways that the Alliance can actively help to forward the rights of nature movement (link here). If you have thoughts on that, please be in contact to share your ideas.
Pantheacon Conference, Feb 18-21 in San Jose. The Alliance will have a room and presence at the conference for the first time this year. If you haven't been the event is lots of fun. We'll have more details in our upcoming newsletter about this. (www.pantheacon.com).
Earth-honoring Ritual at Black Diamond Mines, Mar 27, East Bay. We will gather from 11am-3pm on Sunday, March 27th to offer ceremony of healing and reconciliation with the spirits of place at this historically desecrated region just north of Mount Diablo. Site of over 300 miles of underground coal and silica mining tunnels, the land is now in the public domain and in the gradual process of recovery.
The exact timing and description for other 2011 events is still taking shape. We know that the dates for our second annual conference will be Oct 22-23rd and that the dates for the second annual members retreat will be Nov 19-20th.
The image is of an elder valley oak (quercus lobata).
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Ways to Get Involved
 The Earth Medicine Alliance is a community-oriented endeavor focused on helping humans to heal and enliven our relations with the rest of the natural world. One of the best ways you can support our work is by becoming a member or, if you are already a member, by making a donation to support our efforts. As the Alliance is a fully tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit, meaning that any donations are likely tax deductible. The Alliance is currently run entirely on volunteer effort. To become part of our team of volunteers, see: www.earthmedicine.org/volunteer or just be in touch directly. We are committed to having fun and supporting each other in our efforts. Alliance Wish List and Current Needs:- Voices of the Earth Project. We have conducted two interviews so far (Malidoma Some and Orion Foxwood) and have several others in the works. If you have technical skills with conducting or producing refined interviews in a web archive format we welcome that support. We're also open to suggestions for earth-honoring elders and teachers in the Bay Area to interview.
- Board of Directors. We are a Board of nine, and we have space for up to thirteen members. If you have prior experience serving on a non-profit board, and especially if you have bookkeeping, fundraising, marketing, business, or other such practical skills, please feel good about reaching out to us.
- Web maintenance and refinement. Andrew (our webmaster) and I could use whatever time and formal skills you may have to offer for refining our site, getting it more out there for search engines, and generally doing all the necessary web things for a successful organization.
- Making new connections. Are there family or friends in your life or public figures (e.g., religious leaders, teachers, ritualists, earth activists) that you feel would benefit from knowing about our work? If so, consider letting them know. If there is any way we can support you in this sharing, please be in touch. We also have a Facebook page (search for Earth Medicine Alliance).
The image of is a Pennsylvania Dutch abundance hex.
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