The Unseen Hand:
Medicine from Antiquity
A Gathering of Physicians Artists and Scribes.
Hands in Trust. Custodians of Light.
Maine 2014
5 Element Taoist Medicine
Advanced Study Group
Sheepscot Hollow * Whitefield * ME 
with Laura Barnard Stelmok BA, M.Ac, NCCA Dipl. Ac
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"Little Gidding"The Four Quartets T.S. Eliot
With the drawing of this Love
and the voice of this Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always-
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
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Jade Flower * Ren.18
acupuncture point over the Heart on the sternum
In ancient China, jade was considered pure water which had come from the mountains and become solid. It was, therefore, identified with Heaven and thought to reinforce the vital spirits, preserve the deteriorization of the body and prolong life. Spirits were even thought to live on jade as if it were a food. Jade was considered to be particularly rich in De or virtue.
"Jade Flowers", in the form of peach blossoms and lotus flowers, frequently appeared in early Chinese art and symbolized the renewal of external life. Flowers were thought to be the pure and perfect part of the living plants, whereas jade was thought to be the pure, perfect and solidified Yin essences of Water. Because Water feeds plants, jade, as water in its perfected state, was thought to be the immortal form of sustenance. The hardness, durability and incorruptibility of jade combined with the impermanent, yet cyclic beauty of flowers symbolized the perfected form in eternal life.
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Bian Que, known as the bird physician of the 5th century BC, is the author of the Nanjing,
and first introduced the Song of the 13 Ghost Points and the 12 Heavenly Star Points to the medical world |
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4 Maine Gatherings
2014
Residential Intensives
Classical Theory and Clinical Application
CEU'S available for the entirety of all 4 workshops!!!
Location for all Gatherings
Sheepscot Hollow 28 Nilsen Lane Whitefield, Maine 04353 207.549.7733 Songs of Creation Spring * Summer * Autumn * Winter 4 Alchemical Odes from Antiquity 
To cultivate the Heart and Discipline of the Practitioner. That we are led to the Depths of OurSelves, of Creation and Our Time. Medicine for The Heart of Humanity. May we work without wake and hasten to our task. spring *Song of the 12 Points Shining Bright as the Starry Sky and Able to Heal All the Many Diseases* summer *Song of the 7 Dragons (Internal and External) * autumn *Song of the 13 Ghost Points* winter 2 Parts: *The Threshold: Turning Toward Light* & *Song of Heaven in 3 Notes: the Dark behind the Dark*  A physician is a human working as the arbiter of human destiny- If we are not determined there is nothing we can do! A needle follows the principle of depth through subtlety- We must be taught by the very best of men. First examine the source of disease, Next apply yourself to the points. At once you see results-in reply to the needle, immediate effect! Thereupon understand the dark behind the dark- And begin to reach into the mystery within mystery- This work is not exhaustive, Merely a summary outline of the essentials! Ode to the 100 Symptoms The Golden Needle 5 Sections of this Invitation (See below)
1. The 4 Gatherings/Intensives (4 Pages) a. TO SEE * Spring: Song of the 12 Heavenly Star Points
b. TO HEAR * Summer: Song of the 7 Dragons
c. TO FEEL * Autumn: Song of the 13 Ghost Points
d. TO ASK * Winter: Song of Heaven in 3 Notes
2. The Virtue of Heaven/Earth * Long Alchemical Tx's 3. Registration: Tuition and CEU's 4. Additional Programs 2014 a. The 3 Lights Project b. Maine Clinical Consultation Days c. All Hallow's Eve: A Treasure Hunt 5. Non-discriminatory Policy and The Queen Mother of the West and Her Jade Maidens Laura Barnard Stelmok's Bio A Prayer |
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1a:
To See
Spring * A 7-Day Intensive
March 22-29, 2014
Begin: Saturday 3/22/14 9:00am
End: Saturday 3/29/14 noon
 .
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Song of the 12 Points
Shining Bright as the Starry Sky and
Able to Heal All the Many Diseases
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The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot
#1: "Burnt Norton"(excerpt)
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden...
Other echoes
Inhabit the garden.
Shall we follow?
Quick, said the bird, find them, find them,
Round the corner. Through the first gate,
Into our first world, shall we follow
The deception of the thrush?
Into our first world.
There they were, dignified, invisible,
Moving without pressure, over the dead leaves,
In the autumn heat, through the vibrant air,
And the bird called, in response to
The unheard music hidden in the shrubbery,
And the unseen eyebeam crossed, for the roses
Had the look of flowers that are looked at...
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Didactic and Clinical Training
Theory and 2-4 Protocol Treatments
The Essential Skills for Becoming Teachable
by and for The Ancient Songs
An Emphasis on the Diagnostic Skill "To See."
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2-4 Patients/7 Days. Theory and Clinic every day.
Tutorials following all treatments.
Some of the treatments will utilize a portion of the protocol.
Some of the treatments will use the entire protocol.
There will be clinically varied uses of the protocol: directionality, gender, in conjunction with other points, time of day, and more.
Indications. Points. Point Location. Procedures. Vibrational Movements. Diagnostics and Assessment. Needling. Follow-up treatment. Treatment as Ritual.
This particular protocol utilizes choreographed "mudras" passed down from antiquity, in the shaping of practitioner and patient, the instruments of the Song. These shapes are not written down. The vibrational integrity of the movement of this protocol, point by point, will be remembered, to the best of our collective ability. The individual training of the practitioners will be rigorous, very personal, and will happen in the one on one relationship with Laura during and after the treatments.
Training in the Song of the 12 Points Shining Bright as the Starry Sky requires the Practitioner be willing to be changed. The Gathering will be structured for this change. The Vibrational Invitation of this protocol connects, by the will of the Divine, the Practitioner to the Density and Light of Heaven. This protocol reveals and can release the prisons that we live. A truth serum that dissolves, even shatters illusion, and therefore disease, "Like hot water on snow." And as the title of this Song promises it is 'Able to Heal all the many Diseases'. It is reknown for working with Gu Syndromes, and it is our intention to be able, through this protocol, to reach effectively into some of the severe Gu Syndrome Diseases of our time. The alchemical fire that is built within the movement of this Ode, at the hand of The Teachers who pass this forward, asks for the increased commitment and endurance of the Practitioner to her/his own development and to the Living Tradition of this Medicine.
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"With support use the rule of support; with severance, use the rule of severance. All 360 holes do not escape these 12 strange charms; healing a disease is like magic; A torrent whirling as wind-driven snow, the Northern Dipper sends down its true workings. The Golden Lock teaches us to snap it open. One truly clever can pass this on; the unfaithful have only restless talk."
The 12 Points Shining Bright as the Starry Sky and Able to Heall all the Many Diseases
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Summer * A 7-Day Intensive
June 21-28, 2014
Begins: Saturday 6/21/14 9:00am
Ends: Saturday 6/28/14 noon
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Song of the 7 Dragons Internal and External
* The Rooting of the Spirits *
The re-establishment of true qi.
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The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot
#2: "East Coker"(excerpt)
III
O dark dark dark.
They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,
The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,
The generous patrons of art, the statesmen and the rulers...
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,
And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama
And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away...
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about...
Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing-
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning
The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry,
The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy
Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony
Of death and birth.
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Didactic and Clinical Training
The Essential Skills for Becoming Teachable
by and for The Ancient Songs
An Emphasis on the Diagnostic Skill "To Hear."
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*Theory of the Song and the 7/14 points. *
*Working with the Earth and Her Majesty,
as well as the internal/external
and miscellaneous causes of disease.
*There will be 3-5 long treatments during the week.*
When the Earth rises to re-shape our Purpose.Calling to Heaven. A Love Story from Antiquity. Celebration of the Two 7's!
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To re-establish the deep relationships of the Spirits:
The Soul (Hun and Po)
&
The Central Axis (Shen-Yi-Shi)
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Causes. Points. Procedures. Diagnosis and Assessment.
A way In and out, safely.
Questions frequently asked by students
-Can you talk about the points for the ID's and ED's and the
functions of each? How exactly are they all tied together?
-What exactly is possession from a chinese medical point of view? How do you accurately diagnose the need for such a treatment and likewise how do you know when it has cleared?
-Can you talk a bit about how this might cover up the ability to
distinguish CF? Why exactly is this?
-Do you communicate with the person that their life is going to be altered? What is your responsibility to this?
We began to talk ethics when we started the conversation, and I'd like to hear more about that. Ethics and safety and vast unknown questions.
-Can a possession keep someone alive? When do you say "no" to doing this treatment?
-Can you diagnose the difference in origin of the xie qi? From internal, external or miscellaneous causes of disease?
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Autumn * A 5-Day Intensive
September 16-21, 2014
Begin: Tuesday 9/16/13 5:00pm
End: Sunday 9/21/12 5:00pm
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Song of the 13 Ghost Points
The Rooting of the Spirits
The re-establishment of True Qi
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The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot
#3: "Dry Salvages"(excerpt)
I
I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river
Is a strong brown god-sullen, untamed and intractable,
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.
The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten
By the dwellers in cities-ever, however, implacable.
Keeping his seasons and rages, destroyer, reminder
Of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated
By worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting.
His rhythm was present in the nursery bedroom,
In the rank ailanthus of the April dooryard,
In the smell of grapes on the autumn table,
And the evening circle in the winter gaslight.
The river is within us, the sea is all about us;
The sea is the land's edge also, the granite
Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses
Its hints of earlier and other creation:
The starfish, the horseshoe crab, the whale's backbone;
The pools where it offers to our curiosity
The more delicate algae and the sea anemone.
It tosses up our losses, the torn seine,
The shattered lobsterpot, the broken oar
And the gear of foreign dead men. The sea has many voices,
Many gods and many voices.
The salt is on the briar rose,
The fog is in the fir trees.
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Didactic and Clinical Training
The Essential Skills for Becoming Teachable
by and for The Ancient Songs
Theory and 4-5 13 GP Treatments
An Emphasis on the Diagnostic Skill "To Feel."
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4 Patients/5 Days. Theory and Clinic every day. Tutorials following all treatments. Some of the treatments will be done in traditional trinities.
Some of the treatments will be using the entire protocol.
There will be clinically varied uses of the protocol: directionality, gender, in conjunction with other points, time of day, and more.
Indications. Points. Point Location. Procedures. Vibrational Movements. Diagnostics and Assessment. Needling. Follow-up treatment. Treatment as Ritual.
Training in the Ode to the 13 Ghost Points requires the Practitioner be willing to be changed. The Gathering will be structured for this change. The 13 Ghost Points work with the undue influences of Earth upon us. Attachments. Addictions. Trauma. Emotional Habits. The programming of our culture and family. Our refusals as well as the haunts, personal and collective, that influence our capacity to live Heaven's Mandate. The Song of the 13 Ghost Points unravels these influences, transforms what is influenced by Earth back to its Source in Heaven. The alchemical fire that is built within the movement of this Ode, at the hand of The Teachers who pass this forward, asks for the increased commitment and endurance of the Practitioner to her/his own development and to the Living Tradition of this Medicine.
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Winter: A Gathering in 3 Parts
Winter Solstice 2013
December 17-22, 2014
Part I: 12/17-19 Begins Wednesday 4:00pm
Part II: 12/19-21 Begins Friday 4:00 pm
Part III: 12/21-22 Begins Sunday 6:00 pm
Ends Monday 9:00am
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3 Parts:
*The Threshold: Turning Toward Light*
&
*Song of Heaven in 3 Notes: The Dark behind the Dark*
&
*After the End: A Weaving of Light*
The Songs of Creation Together
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The Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot
#4: "Little Gidding"(excerpt)
IV
The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre of pyre-
To be redeemed from fire by fire.
Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire.
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Didactic and Clinical Training
The Essential Skills for Becoming Teachable
by and for The Ancient Songs
Theory and 5 Long Treatments
An Emphasis on the Diagnostic Skill "To Ask."
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Part I
The Threshold: Turning Toward Light
Before the Mysteries
To honor and complete the work of the year.
There will be 1 full treatment for
each of the 3 Alchemical Songs.
There will be teaching on the points of all three Songs, a rare opportunity to experience the distinct Shape of each of the three Songs next to each other.
(please note: It is not mandatory to attend Part I in order to fully participate in Part II/III.)
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Part II
Song of Heaven in 3 Notes:
The Dark behind the Dark
The Sound Of One Heart.
*
To Restore the Domain of Heaven that the Spirits Can Root.
The Light of the Divine
An Advanced Seminar in Becoming an Instrument of the Spirit
Training in To See, To Hear, To Ask, To Feel.
A Gathering of Friends:
for the Physician, the Artist, the Wayfarer,
the Servant, Seeker and most certainly the Child.
That we may aspire to exclude nothing from our Hand, Heart and Treatment Room which seeks guidance from this Tradition.
The Western Alchemical Tradition of working with the Dream will be utilized along with
traditional Taoist Disciplines of Transformation.
Learning to respond to the spontaneous Intelligence and Direction of the Spirits.
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Part III :
An Extra Night
After the End: A Weaving of Light
The Songs of Creation Together
One Treatment
7:00 pm Sunday-Monday Morning
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2.
The Virtue of Heaven/Earth:
the cultivation of the human heart to restore true qi
For those among us who are called to develop our capacity, as practitioners and human beings, to become finer and deeper instruments of the The Divine/The Tao.
We work by virtue of the ancient alchemical classics of Taoist Medicine.
From the Very Beginning. These ancient protocols, Songs left for us now,
have particular relevance to the deep transformational work of Our Time.
These longer and deeper treatments utilize ancient Taoist protocols for use in more rigorous clincial application and exploration of the spirit of this Tradition. Treatments on these days generally work with much longer segments of time and practitioner training is rigorous. The Art of Needling and Moxabustion, Treatment Planning and Execution, the Disciplines of 'to See', 'to Hear', 'to Ask' and 'to Feel'. The capacity to ethically and maturely follow the movement of the Wild Magic of this Ancient Tradition. To work with True Qi.
"Water is the manifestation of Heaven.
This power also falls within us, "in an equally silent thunder." We call it "Virtue." This Virtue brings to life, develops and maintains the movement of each being. Its gift and receipt can be an observable, visible phenomenon. In its invisible aspect, it is the mystery to be contemplated, as if we were standing before a latticed doorway. (In order to see through it, we must know how to position ourselves, and how to receive the image that comes to our eyes.) The expanding power that stops right here, to make me into a being, can be compared to the cascading of the waters from Heaven. Here and there this gushing can be seen. The continuity of the impetus (of the yang movement) can be perceived in the changes, appearing as transformations. Throughout all these transformations, water remains the Virtue that gives life.
The proud Virtue of Heaven consents to become the humble virtue of a man.
There are thirteen stages, thirteen initiatory journeys, to indicate the changes & transformations.
Where they meet-the theatre of exchange, the rendez-vous of the Spirits that hasten forth from Heaven is the place where my life is rooted.
This place is "I" wo, "my heart" wo xin."
Rooted in Spirit: The Heart of Chinese Medicine Claude Larre & Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee pp. xiv-xvi
The Virtue of Heaven/Earth is a very LIVING and precise training program, a Gift from The Ancients, to develop our senses and our capacity for conscious awareness. Rooting in the Spirits (Ben Shen) allows us to participate more consciously in the miracle of Heaven/Earth. The Ancients have left footprints and directions.
The Rivers can be safely and carefully navigated back to The Source.
This we know. With utmost care.
Deep Listening and the Intimacy of the Heart our most treasured Gifts.
The Virtue of Heaven/Earth, as a training paradigm, and practice, stems most recently from the living tradition of Classical Five Element Acupuncture as taught by Prof. JR Worsley. By Request of the Living Tradition of the Masters, the Golden Thread from the Beginning, Laura Barnard Stelmok begins now to pass these treasures on.
The Virtue of Heaven/Earth
is not a particular treatment protocol, rather an invitation into the rigorous cultivation of yourself as practitioner of and for Life. It is an internal and ancient process of practitioner development, often beyond conventional belief systems, to become a conscious instrument. The footprints are found in many ancient esoteric paths to Truth and the Immortals who travel with The Ancient Songs bestow us with Teaching Immeasurable.
Practitioners will participate in long alchemical treatments throughout the Gathering. Students will be engaged in the unfolding of ancient alchemical protocols, each one a Song of Creation. Insodoing the senses are opened, the mysteries of creation visible. These Songs reach where nothing else can. These protocols work with deep underlying obstructions, confusions and trauma, restoring Life. Each protocol also trains the practitioner in very precise ways in becoming a simpler and deeper practitioner able to work inside of the Mysteries.
WHAT IS A LONG TREATMENT? Guidelines, Information and Practitioner Self Care, please click here .
Current Practitioners in Training, some of whom have been working with us for over 5 years, come from different complementary/allopathic medical fields: acupuncture (5 element, TCM and Japanese), body work, cranio-sacral therapy, herbalism, massage, rolfing, hands-on spiritual healing, allopathic medicine for humans and animals. In addition to healers we also have among us working artists, sustainable gardeners, beekeepers and those who have washed up on this beach as patients and have stayed.
SELF CARE BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER GATHERINGS
For more information Please click here
VERY IMPORTANT!: All students of the Unseen Hand are asked to read
and comprehend the Guidelines for Self Care and the UH Code of Ethics.
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3.
Registration
Tuition & CEU's
Registration and Inquiries * Contact Noah Stelmok
phone: 207.594.9211
Registration
1. Please email Noah: noah@theunseenhand.org NO LESS THAN 2 weeks prior to the Workshop if you plan to participate.
Unless, of course you are hearing about us for the 1st time or are suddenly able to attend.
2. A non-refundable deposit of $100 is required upon registration, to secure your participation in the Gathering. Please respect this deadline as we purchase food and supplies well before the workshop begins.
Payment On-Line
1. All payments for tuition and room and board are to be made on-line through our website before arriving for the work, unless you are paying with cash (which is fine) and have confirmed this ahead of time with our office.
2. Any decision about payment plans is to be made before registration. (Refer to the left hand column of the page on our website for payment.)
3. All participants will pay for room and board. One fee. There are no partial food plans. Payment plans and financial assistance are for tuition only.
4. Please contact Noah if you do not have the means to pay on-line AND/OR special financial arrangements are necessary. We remain present to the economic challenges of our lives.
CEU's
1. CEU'S (10-12/day) issued by the State of Maine are available for the entirety of the Gatherings! Please let Noah know beforehand if you will be needing a CEU Certificate!!!!!
2. Each participant is responsible for filling out the daily forms with name, address, license number and number of hours. Certificates cannot be made without this.
3. Clinical Observation Hours are also available for Acupuncture Students.
 Tuition and Fees
Tuition Discount Rate for Whole Year The Four Seasons * $1950 paid in full by March 15, 2014 Spring and Summer (7 Day Intensive) * $650.00 each * Fall and Winter (5 Day Intensive) * $475.00 each * (Winter Part I or II/III separately * $250 each) Tuition Discount, for students, if needed (for students enrolled in any formal practitioner training program)
Discount Rate for Whole Year
The Four Seasons * $1200.00
paid in full by March 15, 2014
Spring and Summer (7 Day Intensive) * $400.00 each
Fall and Winter (5 Day Intensive) * $300.00 each
Winter Part I or II separately * $175 each
Fees Room and Board 7 Day Intensives * $350.00 5 Day Intensives * $250.00 3 Day Intensives * $150.00
Tuition for all 3 Study Groups
Jade Flower, Hidden White and Support and Rush Out
DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY OF OUR ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS LISTED BELOW on Page 3.
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$4650/year February through December 2014(To be paid in full by March 1, 2014)
STUDENT RATE (if needed): $3100/year February through December
(To be paid in full by March 1, 2014)
plus
Room and Board for the Residential Gatherings in Maine. $1200/year, payable by arrival day at each Gathering. Students will arrange their own housing and food in VT and NYC. If possible the Unseen Hand will assist in finding lodging.
Please contact Noah if special financial arrangements are needed. We remain present to the economic challenge of our lives. This Tradition remains available to All who seek its Guidance. |
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Additional Programs 2014
Offered by The Unseen Hand in Maine
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The 3 Lights Project
A 7-year Gathering through Time
3 Lights * 3 Locations * 3 Groups
Faith
The Ancient and Hidden Light Within: As Above, So Below
Meeting with Laura Barnard Stelmok
  
"Our way is that of group discussion. In solitude there is renown and in renown there is peril. Welfare is to be found in a group. Those who follow this way find great benefit and blessings in group meetings."Baha ad-Din Naqshband, Bead of Dew
* * * Streetlamp GreenLight Lantern New York * Maine * Vermont
3 On-Going Groups
Beginning One Light, One Group, One Year at a Time.
Her/His light may be compared to a niche
the lamp in a glass
the glass as it were a glittering star
kindled from a Blessed tree
an olive that is neither of the East nor of the West
whose oil would almost shine forth
though no fire touches it
light upon light
LIGHT SURA (QUR'AN 24:35)
Hope
3 Years to begin 3 Groups to kindle 3 Lights
3x3
2014: GreenLight
GreenLight
2015: Light #2
Streetlamp or Lantern
2016: Light #3.
It will depend upon interest and availability of a home for the work,
whether Light #2 begins in Vermont or New York.
***IMPORTANT: Though the life of each group will contract and continue for 7 years, each group will open every year for new travelers to arrive.
Much like in the past, when
PLACES
were held sacred
and pilgrims came when there was necessity,
we, the group, become a
PLACE
of remembrance, a
PLACE
where light may seed.
Beginning in April 2014 we will begin the 3 Lights Project in Maine,
for anyone seeking the guidance and company of this ancient Light of Oneness.
This Group will gather through Time and people will arrive from all directions.
This group will root its practice and presence in the ancient alchemical traditions.
The Groups will share a common purpose, but the culture of each place, that calls each group, will vary from one place, world, to another.
Each year the groups will gather together in the dark of the Winter, One Light, in the Wilds of Maine.
For millennia, the Immortal Sages of all Essential Traditions
have observed and watched over Life.
one
It is the presence of the Light of the Spirit that constitutes Life.
It is Our capacity to live in Service to this Light of the Spirit
that guards and governs Authenticity.
We gather to learn and to discipline rigorous and time-tested
practices of service and observation:
awakening the senses, cleansing the Heart,
the capacity to preserve and interact directly with the seeds of Life .
We gather to tend a diminishing light in
our People, our Planet, our Time and our Selves.
We gather to mend errors that have injured our own lives and the life of our planet.
We gather to preserve and watch over the Light. Reconciliation and Deep Listening.
These are Disciplines given to craft the human, disciplines that fire
the ethic and purpose of each individual.
Perennially passed, hand to hand, heart to heart.
These are Disciplines to purify and strengthen the Physician, the Artist, the Human Being
that, together we become able to reach to the Source of Life.
We come together in the ancient way of servants of truth: sharing food, time, conversation,
prayer, and a living tradition of teaching and companionship.
Love
Love is the single greatest Power in Creation.
The group has no religious orientation; it is open to all.
What is needed is the desire for truth and the willingness to work on oneself
in the company of others, in service to the Whole.
We will come together 4 times/year.
In 2014
April 12-13
July 19-20
September 6-7
November 22-23
An Invitation for this Project will be sent separately by 2/14/14 with more detail, and will include all information regarding logistics, tuition, times and place.
These groups will be residential, at Sheepscot Hollow, in Whitefield Maine.
We will begin at 12pm Saturday and finish by 5pm Sunday.
Most participants in the groups will live locally. The light of each group will work with the PLACE.
Some people will travel long distance to participate in these groups.
Some people will choose to participate in all three groups.
Please contact us, by clicking here if you are interested.
"I hoped to get instruction in Yoga, expected wonderful teachings, but what the teacher did was mainly to force me to face the darkness within myself and it almost killed me....until I had to come to terms with that in me which I kept rejecting all my life." -
from the Foreword by Irina Tweedie
Daughter of Fire: A Diary of a Spiritual Training with a Sufi Master
The Golden Sufi Center, 1995.
Courage
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Clinical Consultation
& Long Treatment Days
Rockland, Maine
Opportunities for Clinical Observation and Supervision in Maine
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For practitioners training in traditional skills of diagnosis and treatment, with a particular focus on the ability to accurately and deeply diagnose the CF (causative factor of disease) and CSOE (The 4 primary means of CF diagnosis: Color, Odor, Sound and Emotion). In addition, practitioners will learn treatment planning, point location, pulse reading, spirits of the points, working with the Seasons and Times of day. A special focus is put on the capacity for intimacy between physician and patient. This is the only means by which the spirits can actually be reached and followed. Laura, therefore places emphasis on the practitioner's ability to reach the patient.
Contact
207.594.9211
Location
22 Pleasant St. * Rockland * Maine * 207.594.9211
Time and Dates
Clinical Days will begin at 8:00AM and will end at 8:00PM
A tutorial will follow the last patient at the end of the day from 6:30-8:00.
Please click here for our website page with all the dates for 2014 Clinical Consultations and Long Treatment Days in Maine.
To view the 2014 Invitations for Study Groups
in New York and Vermont
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All Hallows Eve
A Treasure Hunt
2 Days
Friday Oct 31st 4:00--Saturday Nov 1st 5:00
CEU's Available for this Workshop!
Sheepscot Hollow
Whitefield, ME
A workshop on Acupuncture Points and the body of our Earth.
This will be a 2-day adventure as well as an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the 14 points of the Song of the 7 Dragons (Internal and External.)
An interactive workshop to deepen our understanding and capacity with these points. We will learn to find places in/on the Earth, Herself, that resonate with these points. A beginning, a training in the dialogue with the Earth, the Body, at this Threshold in the Year,
a time when the veils become so thin.
Tuition: $125 Student Discount, if needed: $75
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NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY :
The Unseen Hand: Medicine from Antiquity does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, physical or mental ability, or marital status in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, tuition assistance programs and other school administered programs as well as appointments to the board of directors, administration, faculty and staff.
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Do not worry. There is nothing to find or lose -
The moon will always rise, the wind will blow apart the clouds
and time will take you where you need to go.
You are the place where the two seas meet,
where love is uncovered, where silence is mirrored into sound.
Fragments of a Love Story * Llewellyn Vaughan-Le
Whitefield, ME December 2013 Ice Storm
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The Unseen Hand:
Medicine from Antiquity
Advanced Training and Treatment Groups
in 5 Element Taoist Medicine
New York, NY * Montpelier, VT * Whitefield, ME
 
Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West is one of the oldest deities of China. She lives in the Kunlun mountains in the far west, at the margin of heaven and earth. In a garden hidden by high clouds, her peaches of immortality grow on a colossal Tree, only ripening once every 3000 years. The Tree is a cosmic axis that connects heaven and earth,
a ladder traveled by spirits and shamans.
Xi Wang Mu controls the cosmic forces: time and space and the pivotal Great Dipper constellation. With her powers of creation and destruction, she ordains life and death, disease and healing, and determines the life spans of all living beings. The energies of new growth surround her like a cloud. She is attended by hosts of spirits and transcendentals. She presides over the dead and afterlife, and confers divine realization and immortality on spiritual seekers.
The oldest reference to Xi Wangmu is an oracle bone
inscription from the Shang dynasty, thirty-three centuries ago:
"If we make offering to the Eastern Mother and Western Mother there will be approval."
Three azure birds bring berries and other foods to Xi Wangmu in her mountain pavilion,
or fly before her as she descends to give audience to mortals.
The poet Li Bo referred to the three wild blue birds who circle around Jade Mountain as
"the essence-guarding birds." They fulfil the will of the goddess.
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The Jade Girl's Song Wei Ying-wu Flocks of transcendents wing up to the Divine Mother; With feathered canopies they arise, following the clouds. Above, they wander the mysterious extremes, inside obscure stygean realms; Below, they view the Eastern Sea as a single cup of water. By the banks of the sea, how many times have I planted peach trees? Every thousand years they open their flowers; every thousand years they form seeds. Jade complexions, so subtle and otherworldly-- where can their like be sought? While in the human world, without limit, people just automatically die. _________________________________________________________________________________
The Jade Maidens of Hidden Time are companions of the immortal goddess Xi Wangmu , Queen Mother of the West on Kunlun Mountain. They are dancers and musicians who play chimes, flutes, mouth organ, and jade sounding stones. They appear as long-sleeved dancers in shamanic Songs and poems. "Invocators...women who can perform services to the shapeless and make the spirits come down by dancing."
Tang poets describe the Queen Mother of the West herself performing such dances in rainbow dress and feathered robe with its winged sleeves. In The Declarations of the Realized Ones she dances while singing about the Great Wellspring; the Lady of the Three Primordials replies in kind.
The Jade Maidens act as messengers of the goddess and teachers of Taoist mystics. They impart mystic revelations and present divine foods to those blessed to attend the banquet of the goddess. But the Book of the Yellow Court warns spiritual seekers against "the temptation to make love to the Jade Maidens of Hidden Time."
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Laura Barnard Stelmok Received her Bachelor's Degree from Bowdoin College '83 in Religion and German. She studied Acupuncture with JR and JB Worsley at the Worsley Institute of Classical Acupuncture in Florida and the College of Traditional Acupuncture in the UK, receiving a Licensure, Advanced Licenciate and Masters Degree in Acupuncture in 1992. Laura continued her post-graduate clinical training with the Worsleys until 2001. From there she spent 5 intensive years studying Five Element Acupuncture and Rooting Shen with Niki Bilton. She has also studied with Jeffrey Yuen on the teachings of the 13 Ghost Points. * Laura has been in private clinical practice since 1991. Her practice, Stillpoint, has been in Rockland, Maine since 1996. She has been teaching post-graduate 5 Element Theory and Clinical Supervision groups in Maine, Vermont and New York since 2006. These diverse, highly interactive, and rigorous Clinics reach far and wide now. How to become a truer and more potent instrument of the Light of this Tradition. She roots much of her teaching in the taoist medical classics. Students now fill these groups from most every tradition of healing, as the disciplines from the Taoists and the Light of the Ancient Alchemical
Songs are applicable to all. The teaching reaches toward practitioners who are in school or thinking about entering acupuncture school as well as senior practitioners who have been in practice for decades.CLICK HERE to view the Unseen Hand's WEBSITE.
* In addition to the practice of 5 Element Taoist Medicine, Laura collaborates with working artists, the ones called to carry the seeds of what longs to be born, bringing the disciplines of ancient medicine together with the urgent call to the Muses of our Time. * Beginning at the age of 24, in addition to her studies and practice as an acupuncturist, Laura apprenticed and worked alongside of teachers Alexandra Merrill and Joyce Weir. The work spanned 20 years in small, highly interactive training groups of women, where the inner individuation work of Self was woven inextricably with the daunting political challenges of our time. Leadership Training that rooted itself in the forgotten body of the Feminine, routing out the habits of oppression and alienation between women. * Laura is the first President and Program Director of The Unseen Hand: Medicine from Antiquity/ A Gathering of Physicians, Artists and Scribes which is currently in the 501(c)(3) application process to become a nonprofit for the Preservation and Teaching of this Tradition. She currently lives in Rockland, Maine with her husband and son. They devote their life, labor and breath to the golden thread of Teachers that return this Medicine to Our Time. 
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Our deepest gratitude to you who sit with us at this Ancient Well of Learning.
Those who were here before, those who are here now and those yet to come.
Blessed Be.
To participate in the LIVING DIVINITY OF LIFE. May we, with grace, humility and careful labor remember and receive our Humanity,
that we remember our PLACE and our RESPONSIBILITY to our Earth and one another.
We gather as physician's, as patients, as artists, as teachers and students, as wayfarers. Our senses returned. Our minds disciplined. Our Heart utilized.
To become Teachable to this Living Tradition of Medicine, that we may become Servants to and for It.
The clinical training remains central
in our attention to both practitioner and patient.
There is no greater joy on Earth.
We encourage you to pass this invitation on to any colleagues, friends, fellow students/travelers in this Classical Tradition
that you believe might wish to join us.
With deep regard to each of you.
The Board of Directors @ The Unseen Hand.
To read our Mission Statement please click here
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The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:
For thy love is better than wine.
Because of the savour of thy good ointments
thy name is as ointment poured forth,
therefore do the virgins love thee.
Draw me, we will run after thee:
the king hath brought me into his chambers:
we will be glad and rejoice in thee,
we will remember thy love more than wine:
the upright love thee.
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