2011 Earth Medicine Alliance Events
 Pantheacon Conference. This Feb 18-21st in San Jose, the Alliance will host a community gathering space/party room. The conference is great (www.pantheacon.com), and feel encouraged to let us know in advance if you plan to attend. Earth-honoring Ritual at Black Diamond Mines. On Sunday, March 27th in Clayton (East Bay) we'll gather from 11am-3pm to offer ceremony of healing and reconciliation with the spirits of place at this historically desecrated area just north of Mount Diablo. Site of over 300 miles of coal and silica mining tunnels, Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve is now in the public domain and in the gradual process of recovery. Alliance Art & Music Fundraiser/Celebration. Please save the date for an community celebration on Saturday, June 18th in Oakland, CA. This gathering will include participatory ritual, live music, dance, art, and just an overall fun time together. All are welcome and details will be available soon. Earth-honoring Ritual in San Francisco. On Saturday, July 23rd you're invited to join us for a family-friendly gathering somewhere in San Francisco. Details, including location, will be available in future newsletters and on the Alliance website, and the date is confirmed. Relating with Spirits of Place: The Second Annual Conference of the Earth Medicine Alliance. The weekend of October 22-23rd we'll gather for two full days of interactive sessions, interfaith dialogue, and ritual on the land. The conference theme is relating with spirits of place, those beings whose bodies are the natural world, and presenters will share from a diversity of earth-honoring perspectives. Registration will open sometime in the summer. Second Annual Alliance Members' Retreat. We'll gather the weekend of Nov 19-20th for an overnight at the Point Montara Hostel along the Pacific Coast between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. Spaces will be limited to 25, and registration will open in late summer/early fall. All Alliance members are welcome. The image is of an elder valley oak (quercus lobata).
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Ways to Get Involved with the Alliance
 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. The Alliance is a fully tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit. We are run entirely on volunteer effort, and we meet once a month or so to tend to events and other basic needs for the organization. To become part of our team see: www.earthmedicine.org/volunteer or just be in touch. We are committed to having fun and supporting each other in our efforts. Alliance Wish List and Current Needs:- Voices of the Earth Project. 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. We are in acute need of a webmaster and/or someone to help generate this newsletter or support other online aspects of our work.
- 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 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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The Glass Totally Full
Each Alliance newsletter features a reflection from a different member. This month's contributor is Paul Rubio. For info on Paul's work with ceremony or ceramics see: www.altarnativeart.com.
 Some see the glass half empty, some see it half full. I see it completely full, half with water and half with air. Both the water and the air also completely filled with spirit, that is what I see. Many of the old tribal cultures of the western hemisphere have an expression, which has been translated to, "It is a good day to die". This is a fairly good translation, but I see a little more. When we die it will seem like we have no more life to our human form, we have used up the animating life force that the great and mysterious universe has given us. Our glass is broken and our water will seep into the earth, our air completely free of its container to mix with all that was beyond it.
To die is to use up all of your life. When I wake in the morning, I think to myself that it's a wonderful day to make good use of my gift of life. When my day of humanly death arrives, I will know it's the right day to meet my destiny as a spirit, and I will have peace in the next reality that gives me peace in this one. It will be a good day to die. I choose to use up my life by honoring that which gives us everything. The ceremonies that honor the earth and its previous caretakers fullfill my heart. I see life to be a living prayer and our universe an altar to love and care for. That is why I sit on the Board of Directors of the Earth Medicine Alliance and support our efforts to give voice to our Earth Mother. Through ceremony and recognizing spirit in all our relations, we help to give a voice to our creation. I wish to thank all the Alliance board, volunteers, and members for their efforts. I have made many like-hearted friends. It's good to share the vision, walk, and pray together. Absolute harmony to all.
Paul
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