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FALL NEWSLETTER
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Dear Lost Borders Friends,
Fall has long begun and temperatures in the Valley have dropped significantly in the last few days. The two week training is just returning from basecamp and the new course for women elders is in full swing. These two are the last Big Pine programs for this year, though we still have two more programs in Death Valley before our 2015 calendar is complete. As we turn toward the end of the season, we want to share a few random stories with you that were born from the ceremony, from time on the land, this summer and early fall: * There is Meredith's reflection on her time with Ukrainians and Russians in the Carpathian Mountains this summer, made possible by the many generous donations from our community, for which we are so grateful. The theme of forgiveness had a special meaning in Ukraine, a country torn apart by political conflict and ideology.
* Next, check out Emerald North's last painting (inspired by guiding the vision fast of August month-long training) and an inspirational list of 'Best Practices' that the June month-long group came up with. Both groups were amazing, and their participants, coming from from all over the world, were deeply inspiring.
*Then, we are sharing a tribute to Derham Guiliani, an old friend and neighbor of Steven and Meredith, called "Down from the Mountain Top' (previously published in 2013 in the Magazine).
* And lastly, we are including some heartfelt writing from Geoff Dalglish, about the Walking Water Pilgrimage in September, which Gigi Coyle, Will Scott and many others were part of as well. Go to the WW website for more stories. As the days grow shorter, summer has turned into the memories that will feed us as we draw in toward the marrow. The word fall comes from the Old English word feallan which means "to fall or to die." As the leaves are falling all around us, may we find sweetness in our surrender and trust the oncoming darkness to help us die to all that no longer serves, individually, and collectively, in these precious and precarious times. With heart and soul, Petra and Joseph
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Ukraine, 2015- by Meredith Little
In the absolute beauty and remoteness of the Carpathian Mountains of SW Ukraine, I sat with 20 Ukrainian and Russian people in the late light of early summer. Some I knew from two years before when I came to guide Dying as a Rite of Passage in an old Russian youth camp in the mountains of Crimea.
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The dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep.
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2015 June Month-Long's BEST PRACTICES -
compiled by Kika Panaitescu
It's become a lose tradition in our month-long trainings to co-create a best practices list in the group during our last days together, to help live the ceremony forward and anchor and remember some of the collective wisdom gathered.
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DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP!
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Having helped Steven and Meredith find their home in Big Pine in 1981, next door neighbor Derham became a friend who shared the love of the wild, and especially the desert lands. Entomologist, and a true recluse, he thrived in the solace of the Owen's valley and spent weeks at a time out in the mountains up and down both sides of the Owens Valley to study and document migration patterns of beetles and butterflies.
When he was diagnosed with cancer, he decided against invasive therapy. And when the cancer had moved into his bones, years later, he put his affairs in order in his usual quiet way. He passed away in his little cabin in August of 2010. Apart from the inspiration of living a life of true calling, he left behind a very tangible give-away: he gifted the school with his GMC Sierra truck, that a supporter of his work had bought for him only a few years earlier.
Derham's 4-wheel drive truck, lovingly called 'the beetle', has been a godsend for us. If you have done a program here in California in the last 4 years, you will have most likely gotten to know its amazing capacity to haul all the gear for a full size group. It might be just imagination on our part, but somehow we feel the beetle delights in carrying Derham's spirit back to the special places in the desert that he so loved.
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Trail of Tears- by Geoff Dalglish
As Walking Water passes the midway point between California's iconic Mono Lake and the Owens Lake dustbowl, our community-on-the-move has settled into a reverential pace that invites a deep and intimate connection with our surroundings. Our world has slowed to a speed familiar speed
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School of Lost Borders, P.O. Box 796, Big Pine, CA 93513
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