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Wild Mountain Ranch, Queer Quest 2015
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SUMMER NEWSLETTER
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Dear Lost Borders Community,
Summer is here! Today, our month-long trainees are just coming off their 4 day fast while a June heat wave is blazing through our valley in full force. The Queer Quest, held in Colorado, concluded only a few days ago, on a beautiful piece of land that was made available to the school this year and the Colorado women's fast will begin in a few short days.
A busy time indeed, not just on the mountain but also in the office, sometimes jokingly called the 'Lost Borders Hotspot' with so many guides and participants coming and going... But no matter the fullness of these longest days, we want to share a few pieces from the hearts and minds of our community with you today, to mark and celebrate this solstice.
We are so grateful for the vision of our founders and for the ceremony that has sustained us for so many seasons around the wheel, and continues to spiral out beyond our borders, in so many magical and heart opening ways. But most of all we are grateful for the amazing people that show up at our programs. You continue to blow us away with your depth, commitment and courage to step out of old paradigms and risk a new becomingness.
In this newsletter, you will find a story on 'Sage Hopper', Steven and Meredith's old Rite of Passage bus, used for many of their early youth trips and how it went on to serve. You will hear more about our new land base in Colorado followed by the story of a woman marking the threshold to her cancer treatment with a medicine walk. Next is a quick update on the Owen's Valley Walking Waters Project and a great group reflection of the most recent Ballcourt Fast as well as a small piece on Earth Tones Art.
We hope you enjoy these offerings. May the richness of the season feed the richness of your soul, and remind us to give it our all. If not now, when?
Happy Solstice!!!
Petra and Joseph
School of Lost Borders
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The Magic Bus - by John Davis
Here's a "small world" story. I teach a graduate course titled Transitions and Rites of Passage in the online Ecopsychology program at Naropa University. Toward the end of the course this past semester, one of the students, a woman from South Africa, mentioned that her first connection with rites of passage was through a bus.
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NEW LAND AVAILABLE FOR FASTS IN COLORADO!
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We are delighted that some land has become available in CO for School of Lost Borders programs there. Ruth Wharton and Pedro McMillan purchased 35 acres of land adjacent to public land that is ideal for our work. There are rolling hills with lots of trees, ridges and valleys that provide awesome spots for would-be fasters. The first Lost Borders program held at the new land, known as Wild Mountain Ranch, was the Queer Quest from May 31 to June 11. The CO Summer Fast will also be held at Wild Mountain this year from August 2 -13.
The land is a 2.5 hour drive south west of Denver and just 2 hours from Colorado Springs. There is also bus service available from Denver International Airport (with a stop in Denver) to the town of Buena Vista where guides can pick up fasters. There is plenty of food and gear shopping available in Buena Vista as well, and that will make it easy and cost effective for participants flying or traveling in for programs. No need to rent a car!
For more information about Wild Mountain Ranch or the programs happening there this year, contact Ruth or Pedro at ruth@lostborders.org or pedro@lostborders.org.
Thank you Ruth and Pedro for making this land available for school use!
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Oops, there goes my hair! - by Jocelyn Macklin
Last week, with the encouragement of my dear friend and Lost Borders guide Scott Eberle, I went on a Day long vision hike with my 3 children. Scott had set up instructions for us. We started out at dawn, hiked up into Annadel State Park where several paths diverge.
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OWEN'S VALLEY NEWS: WALKING WATER PROJECT
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Walking Water is an invitation, and action, and educational journey and a prayer intended to bring together the voices of the many Peoples of the Eastern Sierra and Los Angeles watersheds through the act of walking together, following the waterways - natural and manmade - between Mono Lake and Los Angeles.
The first phase of Walking Water will begin September 1 - 22, 2015 with up to 50 walkers walking each week from Mono Lake to Owens Lake. With community leaders, tribal representatives, LA citizens and Global water activists, Walking Water aims to raise awareness of both the local and global water situation. With California in its 4th year of drought this action is relevant to us all.
To find out more about Walking Waters go to http://walking-water.org or click below for a short informational video about the project.
To support Walking Water please contact Kate Bunney: kate@walking-water.org. In particular WW is looking for people who could sponsor a walker.
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The Great Ballcourt Fast - by David Swetman
Once upon a time, not too long ago and not too far away, a rumor spread across the land. There was a place in the desert, a special place where one could transform, a place that would help one become a new self.
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EARTH TONES ART WITH EMERALD NORTH
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Artist, wild woman, guide and trainer for the school for almost 20 years, Emerald's paintings and ceramic artwork evoke the depth and mystery of light and shadow, and give testimony to the magical essence of true nature, within us and all around us.
To find out more about her artwork, workshops, individual mentoring and periodic newsletters go to: www.earthtonesart.com
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Sometimes I think I am more plant than people.
Not that I am smooth and mellow like the trees.
Or so gentle as the daisy.
I am more like the crocus.
Bursting color through snow.
More like couch grass,
A web of roots impossible to destroy.
How I love to feel the breezy sun day.
My skin opening,
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Fingers seeking the dark earth.
The community of green my home.
This is not the garden of bliss.
This is the garden of faith.
This is not the garden of reason.
This is the garden of the twins feeding each other.
Death and Life
One root, inseparable.
- Em North
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School of Lost Borders, P.O. Box 796, Big Pine, CA 93513
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