Blessings to you on the longest day!  I hope you're all well and enjoying the weather, wherever you are.

 

This newsletter focuses on articles about nature divination. There's a summer forecast reading describing the energies that will be available to us during the coming months.  I've included an interview with J.E.Williams, author of the  "The Andean Codex".  He describes the use of sacred coca leaves in ceremony and divination in the Andes.  I've also reviewed "The Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton.  It is a history of the modern pagan movement.

 

I hope you enjoy this newsletter. As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated!  Thank you for your support. 

June 21-September 22
 

Lesson: Dioptase/ Forgiveness
 
Dioptase is a beautiful green stone associated with the heart chakra and the water element.  It brings healing and allows you to let go of the connection between bullying, rage, and victimhood.  It fills you with peace and also allows you to flow with the events of your life.
 
Dioptase carries the power of forgiveness.  Forgiveness allows you to reclaim the energy that you have spent remembering people and events that did not serve you.  Karmic burdens are released because the anger and pain that keeps you tied to them are dissolved.  This happens because you realize that the other person is playing a role for you and you no longer need this in your life.
 

 
Gift: Amethyst/Divine Guidance  
 
Amethyst is the famous purple quartz that carries the energy of divine communication.  It is a wind element stone, associated with the crown chakra. This ally allows you to receive clear guidance and act on it. It helps you feel protected and have some distance from your thoughts.  It allows you to expand your psychic abilities so that you can really count on them.  It allows you to clear out emotions that may have trapped you and also heals addictive behavior.
 
Amethyst allows you to recognize messages from the universe and take action on them.  This stone heals the inability to take action because of unevolved spiritual beliefs.  It creates a channel to spirit that is anchored in your body and the earth.  Amethyst will give you conscious access to the Akashic Records and the ability to use this information when you plan.

 

 

How these two stones combine is based on the interaction between their elements. Wind energizes water.  This means that spirit will be energizing our emotions.  This is like wind moving over a pond or even the ocean to create waves.  Divine guidance is empowering our ability to release emotions through forgiveness (Dioptase).  Amethyst, with its powerful protective and transmuting energies, will release us from all the old cravings that have distracted us from our pain.  We will begin to see what we truly want and that it must involve greater connection to the earth and to one another.  This will feel more natural and right, instead of something that we should do. We'll be able to be a pure channel for others and for spiritual guides when we allow some of that energy to cut the bonds between victim and perpetrator. 
 
Dioptase indicates that Mother Earth is healing her memory of human cruelty and abuse.  We are doing this as well.  As she does this, she helps us to ground more fully in our heart chakras and connect to her abundance and nourishment.  The old rules that we have established for survival are falling away.  In their place, she is helping us to create a new heart-based connection to her and one another.  We do not have to deny injustice or wrongdoing, we're just being asked to allow it to fade into the past and see the new good things that are developing.

 

 

 

Dr. Williams has over twenty-five years of experience in integrative medicine specializing in rejuvenation and longevity medicine and is an internationally known expert in immunity. He is the author of numerous scientific papers and articles on sustainable medicine, ethnobotany, and biodiversity, and has written five books: Viral Immunity, Prolonging Health, Beating the Flu, and The Andean Codex on Peruvian Shamanism, and a Winter Rain, a book of poetry. Since 1967, he has lived and worked with indigenous tribes to protect and preserve culture, environment, and intellectual rights. His current work with the Q'ero in the Peruvian Andes includes building projects, education, and community health. He has been initiated into the traditional shamanic lineage of the Q'ero and is an adopted family member.

 

 

 

Yes. I was raised on an old fashioned working farm and was very close to nature since early childhood. The forest was my home and even now, I feel most at home in the deep forest. The trees and plants were my friends, and animals my brothers and sisters.

Mama coca, as we call the spirit of the coca plant, is considered the "bridge" between the human world and the spiritual world. It is the leveling ground, the starting place for communication where everyone has an equal voice. It is also the way the high mountain Quechua natives adapt to the extremes of living at altitudes above 12,000 feet.

 

Coca is not a hallucinogen. It heightens awareness and sharpens consciousness. In that way, it is unlike Ayahuasca or Huachuma (San Pedro), which are used in special ceremonies because of the intensity of the experience. You might say that coca is the mother of them all that confers the wisdom needed to guide our actions and thoughts.

 

The K'intu is composed of three perfect coca leaves. It symbolizes the three worlds of the Andean cosmosvision and the three dimension of time-space-energy. A k'intu is always used as a blessing and offering to Pachamama, the Apus, to the Awkikuna (nature spirits), and to fellow humans during ritual coca leaf chewing.

 

 

We blow our breath into the k'intu offering our soul, our life's breath, fully and completely during ceremonies.

 

 

Yes. Mama coca opens intuition and reason for wise decisions along the shamanic journey or on the high mountain trails. The connection is felt as a unity between heart and mind, emotion and thought. Nature responds synchronistically by sending an animal messenger or uniquely shaped clouds or rainbows.

 

 

Every important act, and all is important to the Q'ero, is begun and ended with the ritual group sharing of coca leaves. When we visit a paqo, coca leaves are brought as a gift. When we make a ceremonial offering, called a despacho, we include coca leaves. When disagreements arise, as in all human affairs, when coca leaves are present, no one raises his or her voice over another.

 

 

Coca leaves are used in this way and in all aspects of daily life in the Andes.

 

 

He consults Mamacoca by offering prayers for the individual in question, then letting the leaves fall like petals onto a ceremonial cloth called an uncuno. Unusually shaped leaves are selected from the bunch of coca leaves and are ascribed meaning according to their shape, size, and uniqueness. Sebastian then gives an assessment of what he sees, feels, and intuits all based upon his experience and what his guardian Apus inform him.

 

 

Divination can be performed at any time and for a number of occasions including during illness.

 

 

Yes, they are used to guide the community or during special ceremonies, for example when we go in the high mountains for shamanic initiations. They have not been used to guide humanity, but we are preparing for a large ceremony to take place in Peru specifically for this purpose.

 

 

The most profound thing is the most simple. We are to learn a new way of living on the Earth. During these planetary transition times, we are to hold tight to Pachamama's teaching of Ayni, the way of mutual reciprocity and spirituality guided by reason.

 

 

Come on one of our journeys to Peru. See the website: www.andeancodex.com 

 

 

(You can also contact him by email ) 

 

This book is a history of modern paganism, focusing on its beginnings and development in Britain.  The author is a history professor and claims that paganism is the only religion that England has ever given the world.  He is sympathetic but not a practicing pagan.
                           
The book begins with the British reaction to industrialization in the 19th century.  Many people became interested in secret societies based on Freemasonry.  Artists and writers became interested in the divinity of nature and pre-Christian traditions.  The basic idea of a pre-Christian god and goddess, worshiped in secret rituals involving initiations, was created during this century.  My favorite part of this discussion is the section on Victorian ritual magicians.  There are even some excerpts from their spell books.  He also discusses Aleister Crowley and his influence on the creation of paganism.
 
He spends a lot of time discussing and criticizing the work of Gerald Gardner.  As an historian, he points out several inaccuracies in Gardner's work.  He also emphasizes how effective Gardner was in communicating his message and how his students helped create important aspects of pagan ritual.  A talented member of his coven, named Doreen Valiente, created both "Queen of the Moon, Queen of the Stars" and "The Charge of the Goddess".  There's also a wonderful chapter called "Uncle Sam and the Goddess".  This section focuses on Starhawk and the development of pagan festivals in the United States.  He shows how a more feminist version of witchcraft completely transformed British paganism.  He then discusses how British academic pagans challenged the "burning times" idea and brings the religion forward to the present.
 
I feel that he ignores the pre-Christian survivals that influence a lot of modern paganism.  Modern pagan ritual is very different from the rituals practiced by ancient Europeans.  There is some continuity and even religions like Christianity have changed dramatically over time.  In this one respect, I prefer a book like "A History of Pagan Europe".  He also misses an opportunity to explore the connection between the modern pagan movement and neo-shamanism.  I think most pagans will enjoy this book, however, even if they disagree with Hutton.  I admire him for writing it because he is sympathetic and he took some chances as an academic to create this work.  It is very well-researched.
 
If you live in Sarasota, Florida, you can find this book at the Selby Library.  It is also available at Amazon.com