Sunday Services in December …….

THEME: From Darkness into Light

December is a month of extreme contrasts. The days shorten in this clime to the point where night seems to rule the world. Our plant life goes dormant, and our natural rhythms slow. And then winter solstice occurs, turning the tide towards lengthening days. Slowly – oh so slowly it brightens.

In this month that contains Christmas, holiday lights sprout all over the city to light up the gloom, and there is a flurry of social activities, extravagant expenditures and family fun for some, but isolation and cold hard unsheltered winter for others. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” would be a fair summation of its properties in the western psyche.

In the four weeks preceding Christmas, Advent candles are lit to represent steps lighting the way to the birth of the Christ Spirit in the world.

The Christmas candle is lit signifying the Light of Christ Spirit, or the essence of creation. We will share the progression of darkness into light, a winter solstice celebration, and camaraderie around the spiritual fire.

The first week, we light the candle of Hope. We hold ourselves open to the possibility of transcendence.                                                                            

 The second week, Peace. The third week’s candle is lit for Joy, and the fourth week for Love.

Come share the Advent journey with us, each pre-Christmas week lighting a candle signifying a step in the process towards illumination. 

Submitted by Peggy Muncaster, SDC

 

December 1                 Preparing for the Light

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: D. Joan Thomas
•      Meditation: Dean Hutchings
•      Speaker: Cedona Holly
•      Greeter: Joyanna Wilkinson 

 December 8                Nurturing Darkness

Does the canvas inspire the artist ….. is darkness the canvas of life? Does darkness nurture our journey?

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Marvelous Trudeau
•      Meditation: Katherine Muncaster
•      Speaker: Zsuzsa Harsman
•      Greeter: Elsie Mary Poliquin

 December 15               Emptiness/The Silent Night

It is hoped that through the presentation of our personal experiences with darkness and light, we may be able to facilitate a deeper understanding of the beauty and power of the ’emptiness experience’.

•      Coordinator: Colin Lee
•      Moderator: Joyanna Wilkinson
•      Meditation: Raymond Pilon
•      Speaker: Margo McLoughlin
•      Greeter: Bernadine Sperling

 December 22               The Threshold

This is a special service marking the passage of Solstice.  We will sing, hold silence, be lead in chant and perform ritual to move from darkness into the light.  

•      Coordinator: Susan Blackwood
•      Moderator: Susan Blackwood
•      Greeter: Janet Taylor

 December 29               Illumination – Reclaiming the Light – Community Service

Exploring our relationship with personal epiphanies and transpersonal experiences and sharing how our love embodies enlightenment.

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Steven Pratt
•      Meditation: Dancing Wolf
•      Greeter: Anna Ghatt

 

Sunday Services in November …….

THEME: Remember

Remember what? Remember who? Remember where? Remember when? Remember how? Remember why?

What are we without our memories?

“Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind

Memories, sweetened thru the ages just like wine,

Memories, memories, sweet memories”

Songwriters: LEWIS, MICHELLE

During November our community will examine what it is to ‘remember’. The titles selected for examination weekly will catalyze, remind, challenge and relax. By November 30 we may sing like Frank Sinatra “I did it my way’.

November 3:  The Catalyst

There are so many catalysts that bless our Journey to the Divine. From everyday nudges suggesting maybe this, maybe that …. to the slap in the face with a frozen fish, perhaps suggesting “don’t blow it now buddy, it’s worth a leap of faith”. Of course then there are the catalysts that direct our thinking to “Who am I, What is standing here, sitting in this chair?”

November 17:  Remembering the Future

Now is the    moment of creation.

In this moment there is no past.

In this moment there is no future.

In this moment there is no creator.

In this moment, all is.

God is Now.

November 24: Memory Lane

Celebrating the Memories that we are grateful for regarding our Spiritual journey thus far and honouring those Ha Ha moments and experiences that have brought us to a greater understanding or appreciation of life, love and enlightenment.

Submitted by Colin Lee SDC

 

November 3           The Catalyst

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Marvelous Trudeau
•      Meditation: Laura Lane
•      Speaker: Junie Swadron
•      Greeter: Bernadine Sperling

November 10       Remembrance

•      Coordinator: Susan Blackwood
•      Moderator: D. Joan Thomas
•      Meditation: Renata Young
•      Speaker: Moneca Gabriel
•      Greeter: Janet Taylor

November 17        Remembering the Future

•      Coordinator: Colin Lee
•      Moderator: Brian Martin
•      Meditation: Lynn Gordon
•      Speaker: Esther Hart
•      Greeter: Elsie Mary McGeough

November 24       Memory Lane – Community Service

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Jennifer Sagar
•      Meditation: Pauline Karch
•      Greeter: Hendrik De Pagter

 

Sunday Services in October …….

THEME: Hallowed Mystery

Fall, colors, mist, shorter days, longer nights, rain, harvest, grey skies, apples and Halloween. Descriptive words for this time of year. The experience of fall may show a slightly different face but all the factors of it are inevitable. Seeds were sprouted in spring, grown in summer and now we harvest the result. It is a time to slow down, begin to go inward, reflect on what nurtured our lives.

The SDC chose the topic of Hallowed Mystery for October. There is the easy – to – make correlation with the topic and Halloween but can it go deeper?  Halloween is the day of the dead, the curtain thins and the living and dead are close together. The definition of Hallowed or Hallow is holy, consecrated, blessed, sacred and/or revered.

Is October not only the month of the thinning of the veil between dead and living but does it also offers us the opportunity to connect with the Holy in our lives? In the history of humanity, right up to the early 1900s, we would, as a species, follow the sun. It would dictate activities. Fall was definitely a time to prepare for the hearth. While the sun still shone, we would gather food, prepare shelter, stock wood or its equivalent. It was a busy time as how well we did; it would dictate our survival, our very existence. The lengthening nights would begin to prepare us for stillness, quiet and the silence of winter.

Today we have electricity, TV, grocery stores, IPads, books, restaurants etc. We do not have to slow down, prepare or acknowledge the deep transformation of the seasons. I appreciate all of our modern wonders but I also question what we are losing by not quieting.

This brings me to Hallowed Mystery. Sacred, profane mystery. How do we connect with this fundamental aspect of our existence? Many of us have moved away from traditional religion, tribal community of shared values and beliefs. For many of us, Hallowed Mystery is a concept, something we read about in countless books on the subject. We seem to have forgotten how to connect with elemental life, how to breathe it into our being, to feel it settle into our bellies, how to listen to its voice in our intuition. Do we know how to follow the seasons’ voice, to take the time to prepare our inner landscape for the deepening of fall and winter?

In the Church of Truth, Community of Conscious Living, we are part of a unique group. We do not follow one dogma, one belief system. We hold forth in welcoming all experiences regardless of whether we understand or practice them ourselves. Yet I believe that we are all looking for or resting in Hallowed Mystery.

Mystery is a great word. We do not know what the answer is to be in hallowed mystery, we do not know the path to our own hallowed mystery and we do not know the path another is on to their place of mystery. It is a relief to not have to know, the more I don’t know the easier it is to follow the seasons, notice the seeds that are being planted, to watch them grow and to see what they have reaped into my life. The less I know and am ok with that, the more the Sacred can work through me unimpeded.

So, consciously I begin to invite stillness, quiet, watching and listening into the deepening darkness of fall. Where it will take me, I don’t know. How will you prepare for this time of year?

Submitted by Susan Blackwood, SDC

 

October 6           Archetypes and Creation

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: Patti Huot
•      Meditation: Troi Lennard
•      Speaker: Greg Skala
•      Greeter: Jack Hyatt

October 13       Thanksgiving – Hallowed Harvest

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Bob Winkenhower
•      Meditation: Marie Logan
•      Speaker :Our Community Gives Thanks
•      Greeter: Joyanna Wilkinson

October 20        Masks of Illusion

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Hendrik De Pagter
•      Meditation: Stephen Graves
•      Speaker: Roland Guenther
•      Greeter: Paul Monfette

October 27       All Hallows Morn – Community Service

All are invited to step out in their finest interpretation of Halloween as we contemplate the deeper significance of this medieval practice.

These are some thoughts for the conversation at the community service:

How did hallo ‘ween become associated with ghouls and goblins, witches and wizards etc.? What are these mysterious beings in our culture? Is it time for the emancipation of the ‘underworld?

What is there to fear?  How can we individually bring about the ‘Morning of the Hallows/saints?

Is Harry Potter honoring the underworld (witches, warlocks, magic and magicians etc?

•      Coordinator: Colin Lee
•      Moderator: Ella Brown
•      Meditation: Laurence Beal
•      Greeter: Pauline Karch

 

Sunday Services in September …….

THEME: Colors of Life

Feeling in the “pink” and loving every moment, I am. Although I must admit that on the rare occasion I do feel “blue”, but then that’s “life”, right? Hmm, seems to me there might be a theme here.

There is, there is! September’s theme actually. And the perfect month indeed. The colors of our world changing, leading us into the wonder and magic of fall.

Yet there is so much more we can choose to be aware of: Colors of my Mind, Colors of my Heart, Colors of Sound, Colors of Magic, Colors that Bridge Spirit and Matter……

These, in part, are what we are going to explore in September. How Spirit graces, blesses our journey with Color and the Sound of Color.

September 1^st-Expression:  Brings to our consciousness the impending change of the season and the promise of a colorful fall. We cannot but be awed by the myriad ‘expressions’ of Spirit in all facets of life. This week’s facilitators will give us their interpretations of the ‘Expressions’ of life.

September 8^th-True Colours:  What value and purpose does authenticity have in our lives? In particular, what does it mean to be spiritually authentic? Is your authenticity acceptable in the greater community? Do you sport your true colours everywhere or limit yourself to certain circles? How do we divine and nourish our true nature and support others to do the same in a culture dominated by stereotypes? Does persona have a purpose or is it ego driven by trauma or culture? How does the authenticity, the spiritual vibration of the natural world speak to your higher self?

September 15-Pot of Gold:  To enhance the awareness of our connection to Mother Earth, the elementals, fairies and other beings that offer such a wealth (Pot) of abundance and blessing to us.

September 22nd  Colors of Fall: Equinox celebration. In this special service we will look back at the summer with its light and lightness. Equinox invites us also to look ahead at fall, embracing the many colors of fall and the opportunities and potentials that they hold for us.

September 29th  Rainbow Bridge:  Community Service – Contemplating Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Practice Diversity, and its melding into vibrant expression in our human universe.

Blessed to be upon a Grand Adventure, we are. Let us Journey Well!

Stephen Graves  SDC

September 1           Expression

•      Co-ordinator: Colin Lee
•      Moderator: Monica Gabriel
•      Meditation: Cedona Holly
•      Speakers: Marie Logan – Founding member of the Church of Truth &
  Cedona Holly- http://www.eternaloneness.org/bio.html
•      Greeter: Elsie Mary McGeough

September 8       True Colors

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Zsuzsa Harsman
•      Meditation: Dancing Wolf
•      Speaker: Brian Martin
•      Greeter: Jennifer Hastie

September 15        Pot of Gold

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Lorna Rennie
•      Meditation: Stephen Graves and Tanya Devine
•      Speaker: Tanya Devine –
  Ecological Landscape Design, Master Gardener, Permaculture Design, Artist,
  Didgeridoo Sound Healer and Performer.
•      Greeter: Joyanna Wilkinson

September 22          Colors of Fall: Equinox celebration.

In this special service we will look back at the summer with its light and lightness. Equinox invites us also to look ahead at fall, embracing the many colors of fall and the opportunities and potentials that they hold for us.

•  Co-ordinators: Susan Blackwood & Sanjara Omoniyi

September 29        Rainbow Bridge:  Community Service 

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: Paul Monfette
•      Meditation: Joyanna Wilkinson
•      Greeter: Elsie Mary McGeough

 

Sunday Services in August …….

THEME: Deepening Connection

As we find ourselves immersed in the magic of summer, the long days of warmth and wonder can have a very profound effect on us. Perhaps even more so for us living here on the island because we are not often overwhelmed with uncomfortable levels of humidity and heat.

As I bask in the sunlight, moonlight, inner light and your light something awakens or is profoundly affected deep within. You might think my next thought a funny idea given we are almost into August but I think of that proverbial seed under the snow and while most of my companion seeds are coaxed into the world by the miracle of Spring, being a late bloomer I am often beckoned from my slumber by the greater or increased warmth that summer brings. I find it can activate an inner warmth that I can dive into like I do when frequenting the local lakes. Immersing myself into the depths of divine nature is not something I have mastered, as one can always work to improve their technique, yet I prefer what matters over what’s mastered. In my case what matters is simply entering into that which brings me truly in touch with those parts of myself that make me fully human. I could say fully spiritual but that feels pretentious as I am not an angel, a saint or a mystic and have yet to meet one.

What I am is a man in true awe of the wonders of the outer world, the land that provides so many sanctuaries of peace and beauty, the other amazing beings we co-habitate mother earth with, the sky that infuses a sense of the infinite within me, the starry heavens that twinkle reminders of something more. Oddly it is this very awe of the outer that opens me to explore and receive the gifts of the inner.

The most wondrous bridges, for me, from the outer to the inner are love, music and community. Love in its most sensual form leads me to its most spiritual and indeed there are many fine folk who believe that Love and Spirit are one and the same. Certain kinds of music have an effect on me like nothing else, vibratory patterns channeled through human kind and dancing my mind and heart into a communion with my soul.  Community, or better still, our community, offers me so much in my quest for a deeper connection with the divine. From ways of being, ways of seeing, ways of doing. The support I feel and offer really affects and enhances my ability to dive deeper into the mystery.

It is from these depths or these hard found places that I can enter a kind of Spiritual wilderness.

Perhaps we will cross paths along the way and celebrate.

Happy Awegust

Submitted by Dancing Wolf SDC

 

August 4           Inward Journey

•      Coordinator: Sanjara Ominiyi
•      Moderator: Diana Kuch
•      Meditation: Diana Kuch
•      Speaker: Margo McLouglin
•      Greeter: Jennifer Sagar

August 11       Live Love

•      Coordinator: Colin Lee
•      Moderator: Troi Leonard
•      Meditation: Stephen Graves and Joyanna Wilkinson
•      Speakers: Cindy Thomson – From Disillusioned Nurse to  Compassionate Healer
•      Greeter: Elsie Mary McGeough

August 18     Soundness of Spirit

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: Brian Martin
•      Meditation: Katherine Muncaster
•      Speaker: Laura Lane
•      Greeter: Peggy Muncaster

August 25        Dive In   Community Service

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Marvelous Trudeau
•      Meditation: Laurel Circle
•      Greeter: Hendrik de Pagter

 

 

Sunday Services in July …….

THEME: Dog/God Days of Summer

The theme the SDC choose for this month is the Dog/God Days of Summer. As I write this, I am very aware that summer started officially two days ago. It was a brilliant start to hot sunny summer. Of course being Islanders, that lasted for 24 hours and then rain set in. How appropriate for us. Mother Nature likes to keep us Westcoasters on our toes, never knowing what weather she will blow in.

I am late getting this written. As a member of the SDC I was designated to submit the schedule of services for July. I was going along quite happily judging those in the committee who were late submitting and really, what did it take to send me some details. Really. Then the night before this was due to our newsletter editor (thanks Deb Hawkey for your service) I woke up startled. Yikes, I was supposed to submit an article about our subject for this month. Teach me to be so judgy. It always gets me into trouble.

So, late and scrambling to find the thread of an article, I turn to Google as my trusted ally when researching themes. Most hits were about dogs and their take on summer and then there was Wikipedia on the meaning of the term “Dog days of Summer”.

First a little dog poetry to set the mood for long slow relaxing days of summer.

Dog Days Of Summer – by Eric Paeplow

As the summer sun

Raises high in the sky

Noses lift to sniff the breeze

As it drifts slowly by

With squinting eyes

And twitching nose

And the warmth of the ground

Beneath our toes

We lie here and rest

And soak in the sights

Keeping a watchful eye

For squirrels and birds that fly

And as we lie and rest

In the long cool grass

We raise our eyes to the sky

And watch, as the clouds drift slowly past

As we warm our bones and feet

And spend the dog days of summer

Soaking in the sun and drifting off to sleep

Reading the poem, I feel the ground beneath my feet, the cool of grass, the warmth of the sand. Long hours soaking and filling, growing and stretching. No need to plan, to direct, it was all set in motion months before with the planting of spring seeds, spring dreams. We trust summer will grow them in ways we cannot imagine. There is nothing better than letting the day release our cares and worries and jumping in a lake.

Wikipedia, source of so much (even though it is known to lie upon occasion) took me on a journey into the history of dog days. For that we have to travel back into the time of the Greek and Roman empires (approx. 80 BC). Their beliefs were very different and they took them very seriously. They had a connection with nature and the stars above; they knew that the stars had an impact on their day-to-day existence. At that time the Star-Sirius (dog star) rose at the same time as sunrise. This is no longer true due to the precession of the equinoxes. We also changed to a Gregorian calendar and that messed with dates.

They strongly alleged that Sirius was responsible for the fierceness of the sun, so much so that they would sacrifice a brown dog at the beginning of the season to appease the rage of Sirius. They believed that dog days were an evil time; “the sea boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad and fevers and hysterics beset man. All in all it was not a great time to mess with the stars.

I have no idea when we humans changed our storytelling from the dire warnings of Sirius the star to long languid days of a dog’s life. We seem to have gone from one extreme to the other. I guess it offers us the opportunity to move between two polar opposites and find our place, our beliefs, or better yet, we go jump in our favorite lake and let it all go.

Submitted by Susan Blackwood SDC

July 7           Dog Days of Summer

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Zsuzsa Harsman
•      Meditation: Jennifer Sagar
•      Speaker: Marvelous Trudeau & Laurence Beal
•      Greeter: Elsie Mary McGeough

July 14       God Days of Summer ~ Spirit’s Hand in One’s Story

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: Junie Swadron
•      Meditation: Don Morris
•      Speakers: Peggy Muncaster & open mike
•      Greeter: Bernadine Sperling

July 21        Reunion – Proximity of Divinity…. How reuniting with love and loved ones can change our lives

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Bob Winkenhower
•      Meditation: Brian Martin
•      Speaker: John Van Buskirk
•      Greeter: Marie Logan

July 28        Re-treat   Community Service

•      Coordinator: Colin Lee
•      Moderator: Hendrik De Pagter
•      Meditation: Pat Miller
•      Greeter: Elsie Mary McGeough

 

Sunday Services in June …….

THEME: COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY

One of the definitions of “community” according to Wikipedia: in biology, a community is a group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment.

Again according to Wikipedia: Despite the difficulty in definition, many philosophers believe that there is a broadly shared underlying intuition about what consciousness is ……  “Anything that we are aware of at a given moment forms part of our consciousness, making conscious experience at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives.”

And lastly according to ….. a living species, one that is not extinct.

Community of Conscious Living

So now that I have outlined who we are, what is left?

I suppose that I could mention our diversity. That indeed we are a unique group of Beautiful Souls willing to share our impressions of the many facets this Grand Adventure. That by deed and example we honour the Loving Nature of our Truth.

And by listening to the experiences and concepts of others we are willing to honour that there be more to learn and more life to experience.

The intent of the SDC for June is to take a closer look at our community. How do we relate to it and how does the outside world relate to us. What can we do sustain the growth, maintain the mystery.

            After all is said and done, each of us contributes to the State of Our Being, to our Community. Each of us is a treasured, a valued facet of the Diamond of our Community Consciousness.

I am certainly grateful that we are establishing our own unique identity/definition.

We are not extinct, nor bordering upon. (little chuckle)

We abide in the Life of our Community.

We are blessed.

Stephen Graves SDC

 

June 2           We Are the World – Creating Community

•      Coordinator: Colin Lee
•      Moderator: Marvelous Trudeau
•      Meditation: Laura Lane
•      Speaker: Shivon Robinsong
•      Greeter: Elsie Mary McGeough

June 9       May the Circle Be Unbroken – Love: The Sustenance of Community

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Dancing Wolf
•      Meditation:Jennifer L. Taylor
•      Speakers: Louise Taylor
•      Greeter: Joyanna Wilkinson

June 16        Community in Service

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Junie Swadron
•      Meditation: Stephen Graves and Katherine Muncaster
•      Speaker: Kim Dixon (James Bay ~ New Horizons)
•      Greeter: Bernadine Sperling

June 23          Soulstice – A special ceremony to celebrate “soulstice” with ritual, poetry and song

•      Coordinator and Facilitators: Susan Blackwood and Sanjara Omoniyi
•      Greeter: Stephen Graves

June 30        Service in Community

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: Jack Hyatt
•      Meditation: Peggy Muncaster
•      Greeter: Janet Taylor

 

Sunday Services in May …….

THEME: Awareness

Awareness.  Advaita. Non-dualism. Presence. Sitting.

One-point meditation. No point meditation.

Self-Inquiry. Self-Realization. No-Self.

Sit.

Early in the new year, I called Bernadine Sperling to ask her to greet at Church and in that   phone call, and follow-up e-mails, the idea emerged that the SDC, with Bernadine’s help, put together a series of services with the general theme of non-dualism, or fundamental Oneness, Advaita in Hindu spiritual philosophy (a-dvaita, “not two” or non-dualism;  the a- as  indicator of “negative” or “absent” exists in fellow Indo-European language English: moral, amoral; gnostic, agnostic). As I engaged in a deeper learning about non-dualism, the centrality of “presence,” being fully present in the here and now, became evident. Surprisingly, the idea of techniques or tools to become present, doesn’t fit. It appears to be not about “doing” anything but about fully accepting “being,” and in that full acceptance expanding infinitely. I think.

There is nothing to learn, there is no path. Indeed, in my case it might be more about unlearning, a very useful tool for this being just sitting, with no agenda but to breathe and watch the mind play, without judgement, noticing the immense productivity of the restless mind. Sitting with Sally Ross and friends, I felt a comfort that after 45 minutes of awareness of this riot of endless thought and endless calm breathing, this had unfolded without judgement of self.  It just is me now, crazy mind and all. OK.  I suspect that with more sitting, my record of about 11.3 seconds of just breathing, without thought, may stretch out to the vast quiet of half a minute. From there I could dare to dream of more … I’ll sit on it.

On May 5, Sally Ross will sit with us and discuss “Facing Selfward.” In her gem of a book, “The Selfward Facing Way,” Sally Ross discusses the central illusion of separateness, the belief that “I am just my body.” This sense of separateness is like Buddha’s comments on desire: the source of our suffering. Through Self-Inquiry, “facing Selfward without any idea of what you are,” by surrendering concepts of what we are, we develop a Self-Knowledge of “forever hereness” as our true identity.

The “forever hereness” may also be called “God, the Holy Spirit, the Tao, Truth, the Universe, Eternity, Infinity, Allah, Buddha Mind, Egolessness, Brahman, the Self, the No-Self, Enlightenment, Emptiness, Unity, Advaita, Nirvana …”

On May 12, Greg Marian will lead us in meditation and discuss “Embodied Non-Duality and Self-Realization.” There is a direct path, and Greg will share it with us. Happily, this does not require “further spiritual practice or experience.” Greg’s long search through Zen, schools of Buddhism, Raja Yoga, Advaita philosophy and contemporary psychology and time spent with spiritual teachers, informs his understanding and continues to inspire him.

On May 19, Julia Day will discuss the “Many Paths Up the Mountain of Spirit” concept, and how an approach to and embodiment of Oneness Awareness can be available in one’s life. Julia is a long-time student of non-duality, A Course in Miracles, cranial sacral therapy, quantum healing and more. Check out her website Oneness in Oneness.

For the final service of May, on the 26th, the community  will discuss Awareness as it moves in each of us, who are One. ,”

My thanks and gratitude to Bernadine Sperling for her invaluable contributions to this upcoming month and to my colleagues on the Spiritual Directions Committee, who made this project a stimulating pleasure to help put together.

Submitted by Hendrik de Pagter, SDC

 

May 5           Facing Selfward

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Bernadine Sperling
•      Meditation: Sally Ross
•      Speaker: Sally Ross
•      Greeter: Joyanna Wilkinson

May 12          Embodied Non-Duality and Self-Realization

•      Coordinator: Hendrik de Pagter
•      Moderator: Paul Monfette
•      Meditation: Greg Marian
•      Speakers: Greg Marian
•      Greeter: Hendrik de Pagter

May 19          Oneness Awareness

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Meditation: Cedona Holly
•      Speaker: Julia “Jewel” Day
•      Greeter: Pat Miller

May 26          A Raisin in the Sun – Community Service

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Laurence Beal
•      Meditation: Pauline Karch
•      Greeter: Dancing Wolf

 

Sunday Services in April …….

THEME: The Holy Fool

Our monthly theme for April is The Holy Fool, and I must say right off the bat that I am not a ball, neither have Home Runs ever been my forte because I just get too far off base.. Okay, okay so it’s obvious I didn’t graduate from the School of Holy Fools, yet the strange truth is I never graduated from any school given my penchant for silliness and my aversion to discipline.

       The SDC (Spiritual Directions Committee) thought some silliness, sacred and otherwise, would be fun for a month, especially given the lightheartedness that often expresses itself in our services.

We wanted to delve into the different aspects of the Holy Fool from the Christian Archetype:

The “holy fool” type conceals a radical Christianity under the mask of foolishness and holds the truth of the gospel, in the disguise of folly, before the eyes of highly placed personalities: the worldly and the princes of the church who do not brook unmasked truth. This type, which frequently appeared in the Byzantine Church, has been represented especially in Western Christianity…  Encyclopedia Britannica

to The Trickster: Coyote, (among others)

Characterized by paradox, duality, cleverness, shape-shifting, duplicity, and a knack for survival, trickster figures are appealing in their ability to assert their individuality and shatter        boundaries and taboos…Native American trickster tales are similarly interested in the inversion of social norms and the breaking of boundaries; their tales of Coyote and other supernatural           characters celebrate the trickster as simultaneously vulgar and sacred, wise and foolish, but always surviving…The identity of the trickster continues to resonate in Native American culture             today… American Passages – Unit 8. Regional Realism: Context Activities”

Also to explore the healing power of plain old clowning around, something that is often overlooked in “places of worship” and “health: institutions.

When one faces life’s challenges heart first, often it can be very painful yet there is something to be said about “playing the clown” at times. Transmuting anger and sadness, even fear by utilizing humour, instead of brutalizing oneself or another because we don’t have adequate emotional release mechanisms, definitely has worth in our culture cracking at its seams and so in need of some sort of transcendence.

In my research for The Holy Fool I found some gems to be sure.

From the follow up book to Conversations with God’s Dog (by Rev.Webster Kitchell) called Coyote Says. Here is one

The Why Of Coyote (The author responding to criticisms of Anglos taking over Native     American mythic figures)

My response is that Coyote and I are not playing feel good games here. We are doing some hard work rethinking the mythic foundations of our culture. I know a lot of people think myth is something we have outgrown, that we should look to technology and rationality as guides out of our predicament.

 I happen to believe that is a myth. It may be a good and useful one but when we don’t recognize a myth for what it is, we are in danger of being fundamentalists, spending our energy defensively protecting the literal truth of our myth and ignoring the consequences of collective, human, willful ignorance of what is real.

 I find Coyote, The Trickster, an incarnation of all in me that is not rational, that still screams to be alive in a technically suffocating culture. I find coyote to be a magical animal, an incarnation of what I experience in myself as earthly spirituality.

A revolution is going on against the technological, rational and corporate sentiments that dominate our culture. It is a revolution saying “No” at a primal, spiritual, life and death, wounded animal level.

 The proof of the deadliness of our rational, technical, corporate culture is the depression that greets us when we open up our morning papers or listen to the news. We feel that it’s all too late, that greed and denial are at the controls. Well…we are all going to die anyway, so we might as well have fun whacking a few myths as we go. It’s a different path we are trying to discover again. We think it is a path to being whole, finding our animal nature. So I talk to my animal nature and it responds with a healing intelligence. I invite you to discuss things with your own animal nature and see if you find a wise voice you have overlooked…..Rev.Webster Kitchell

 Significance of the Trickster Figure and “Contrariness” in Plains Society

 Psychological anthropologists, especially those oriented toward psychoanalytic theory and depth psychology, point to the Trickster figure as a sort of important cultural “release valve.” He represents the “return of the repressed,” the Dionysian aspects of life only temporarily held in abeyance by the Apollonian forces of civilization. The carnivals and feasts held in honor of fools in Europe, suggest some anthropologists, are “outlets,” allowing people to invert the social order temporarily as a way of promoting its continuity in the long run (avoiding its ultimate collapse.) The ruler is dressed in peasants’ clothes, and some ignorant serf is crowned king. Symbols of authority normally held in extreme reverence are mocked and desecrated.

 Clowns and contraries in Plains societies do not just come out once a year, however. They are permanent parts of the society, and are seen as continual reminders of the contingency and arbitrariness of the social order. Long before French theorists came on the scene, the heyoka was reminding his own people about the social construction of reality. By doing everything backwards, the heyoka in a way is carrying out a constant experiment in ethnomethodology, showing people how their own expectations limit their behavior. Like a good performance artist, the shocking behavior of the heyoka is supposed to confront people and make them reconsider what they may have arbitrarily accepted as normal. It’s to “jolt” them out of their ordinary frames of mind. (Steward 1991)

More importantly, as a representative of Thunderbird and Trickster, the heyoka reminds his people that the primordial energy of nature is beyond good and evil. It doesn’t correspond to human categories of right and wrong. It doesn’t always follow our preconceptions of what is expected and proper. It doesn’t really care about our human woes and concerns. Like electricity, it can be deadly dangerous, or harnessed for great uses. If we’re too narrow or parochial in trying to understand it, it will zap us in the middle of the night. Like any good trickster, the heyoka plays pranks on others in his culture not to make them feel embarrassed and stupid, but to show them ways they could start being more smart……..from Thunder Bird and Trickster. Steve Mizrach

This final piece is by Peggy Andreas, author of Path of The Sacred Clown and although very long it is very revealing and includes a story about the shooting of a Sacred Clown here in the days of the Hudson’s Bay in Victoria.

Most every tribe had their Clowns. The Oglala and Lakota called them Heyoka (“crazy”), the Arapaho called them Ha Hawkan (“holy idiot”), and both peoples considered them religious specialists. The Salish people honor the memory of a Clown who (not so long ago) challenged a missionary. The missionary was enticing people to come to his church by handing out little mirrors to them while urging them to cover their bodies with white folks’ clothes. It is told with a smile that the Clown (a woman!) walked into the church one Sunday wearing nothing but a hat and old shoes!

 The Hopis protected their Sacred Clowns by incorporating them into their Katchina (“Cloud spirit”) ceremonies where the Clowns make a hilarious entrance from a roof, descending a rope ladder into the plaza where the Katchinas are dancing. “Look down there!” they exclaim, “Everything is bountiful and beautiful!” Their descent is very precarious, usually head-first, and causes much laughter as they tumble over each other and fall the last few feet. They do not see the Katchinas until they bump into them, and then they say “This is MINE!” or “This many are MINE!” They act silly, childish, greedy, selfish, and lewd. As they pretend to become aware of their surroundings, they mock tourists, anthropologists, neighboring Indians, even themselves! They beg for food. Their guessing games and balancing acts please the crowds. The dancing Clowns sometimes pretend they are invisible, heightening the joke.

The survival of these ritual clowns gives us a clue as to how important a Clown was to the community-spirit of each Native American tribe. Nothing was sacred to a Sacred Clown. She was a social critic of the highest order. Her funny mimicry and joking exposed hypocrisy and arrogance. Her portrayals of ridiculous behavior showed the people (in a very humorous way) their own foolishness and blind-spots. “A clown was like a newspaper, or a magazine, or one of those people who write an article to tell you if a book or a movie is worth botherin’ with. They made comment on everythin’, every day, all the time. If a clown thought that what the tribal council was gettin’ ready to do was foolish, why the clown would just show up at the council and imitate every move every one of the leaders made. Only the clown would imitate it in such a way every little wart on that person would show, every hole in their idea would suddenly look real big.”

 With the arrival of the “invaders”, this sacred office got to be a most dangerous one—maybe more dangerous than that of the Warrior. Perhaps this is why most of the Sacred Clowns disappeared from sight! As the Cree Medicine Woman says in the story, Flight of the Seventh Moon, “No wonder we never got along. . .my people and your people. They were all the time getting peeved at each other and much hatred grew between us. It was unavoidable, because my people had great pride and humor. Yours had the jitters and wanted to shoot those who were laughing at them. Yet I still find you white people very amusing. I have to laugh at you because you never let yourself go. Every word to you is a completeness or else a long way off. You like to bludgeon the meaning of something to fit your own stupidity. It would serve you well to quit being so brittle.”

 The Sacred Clown of the Salish people mentioned earlier made a trip to Hudson Bay, Victoria, to clown about the way her people were trading seal and otter skins for rum. The white company-men soon had enough of her, and when she was later found shot in the head, all her people figured that a white man did it. The Indians themselves strictly forbade doing any kind of violence to a Sacred Clown.

 These Clowns were dangerous to tyrants and exploiters because they were so disorganized and so completely honest. They could see with the eyes of a child, and because of this, could spot a phony a mile away. They were sometimes called “destroyer of heroes.” The white invaders hated them, of course, so it was either be killed or find a way to hide. Those who were killed are remembered with much respect by their people. Those who survived did so by learning to be Tricksters, to change their form, to become invisible if necessary.

A negative religious figure (such as the Sacred Clown) seems odd to most non-tribal people. Most Native Americans, however, LOVE the humor of it and tell stories about a mythic Trickster whose pranks and mishaps teach the tribe moral lessons. The Trickster takes many forms, but the favorites seem to be animals who are exceptionally curious, resourceful and adaptable—SURVIVORS, such as spider, raven, rabbit, owl, bat, coyote and crow. The stories are full of funny situations with the Trickster being mischievous, being in turn made a fool of, and even getting involved in obscene affairs. “Mostly, Trickster likes pullin’ antics and tellin’ dirty jokes.” Perhaps it is this appreciation for the Trickster that has given the Native American the ability to survive against all odds. The Trickster makes a lot of mistakes, and usually has a hard time learning from them. However, She keeps on keepin’ on. She doesn’t drown Herself in despair, doesn’t kill Herself in frustration. She survives.

 Trickster shows us how we trick OURSELVES. Her rampant curiosity backfires, but, then, something NEW is discovered (though usually not what She expected)! This is where creativity comes from—experiment, do something different, maybe even something forbidden, and voila! A breakthrough occurs! Ha! Ha! We are released! The world is created anew! Do something backwards, break your own traditions, the barrier breaks; destroy the world as you know it, let the new in.

 Sacred Clowns function as the eyes of the Trickster in this world: mirrors in which we see our folly as well as our resilience. As the Salish clown said to the people who were seduced into the missionary’s church by the pretty, shiny mirrors he handed out, “There are better mirrors—the mirrors in the eyes of the people you love.” We’re reflections of each other. When we begin to take ourselves too seriously, there is the Clown to give us a laugh! When we become too heavy with self-importance, there is the Clown to knock some of that load away and lighten us up! The power of the Clown is the power of life itself. Acknowledge the pain, then let it go. Don’t carry it around with you. Focus on the joy, the mystery, the happiness, the cosmic joke. When Clowns delight in eating and in sexual horseplay, they are showing this love of life.

It’s a little more difficult to spot a young clown than it is to spot a young warrior. Those who describe a child as being “too sensitive” need to be aware that the little one may be a Sacred Clown in the making. The child may be shy, or she may be a temperamental show-off, sometimes both in different situations. In any case, a young clown is an explorer in the world of emotions. She tests the limits of her feelings as surely as a young warrior tests the limits of her will. She can amuse herself for hours playing pretend games, exercising her fantastic imagination. She will often mimic animals in her play. Just as often, she will have an ear for music and a talent for drama. Physically, she will have an excellent sense of balance.

The initiation for a Sacred Clown happens as she realizes that even people who love each other can be cruel to each other, or that Life itself can be cruel. Her own intense reaction to a personal experience of abandonment, betrayal of trust, or shattered romance may result in extreme depression, emotional imbalance, a nervous breakdown, or (in extreme cases) a suicide attempt. A Heyoka remembers her initiation thus, “I didn’t care about my life or what happened to me. I didn’t realize it, but there is big medicine in that abandon.” If she can somehow find her emotional equilibrium, somehow go THROUGH the pain and come out on the other side, learn to dance on the knife edge of her own Soul, the experience becomes a gateway THROUGH the illusions of life and into the truth of life.

 What is truth? This question propels the Clown into the sacred dimension. The Truth the Clown intuits is the interconnectedness of all life. She KNOWS (although she cannot prove) that no part is more important than any other part—no matter how big or how small—and that the tiniest change in one part produces a profound change in the Whole. She SEES (although she cannot explain) that imbalance or blockage of the Life Force is the result of a person or group believing themselves to be more important than another. And she can’t help puncturing that over-blown self-importance with her sharp humor!

 A Clown becomes Sacred by opening herself. Like a child, she is vulnerable, fluid, and open to the Life Force. Unlike a child, however, she has learned to shield herself and move safely through an insane world by using masks, disguises, tricks and transformations. In a sane world, she might risk a bit more exposure.

Native Americans say that Sacred Clowns are great lovers of children, healing them and protecting them. In addition, one of their powers is to bring fertility to barren people and situations. If the Sacred Warrior personifies the Sun, the Sacred Clown personifies the Void—that great black openness of space, the great Womb from which we all are born. In the Hopi Katchina ceremony, it is said that long ago the Sun was given the responsibility to people the earth, but that “it failed to lift itself,”9 preferring instead to follow its own personal ambitions and desires without regard to the tribe. For this reason, the responsibility to carry out the plan of Life was shifted to the Clowns. In the Hopi ceremony, the Clowns do not appear until after noon, until “the sun reaches its zenith and is on its down slope.” “First here was the Sun, who was young once and is now a grandparent of many powers. But the Sun will one day go into the Void. That’s the power of the Heyoka—the Void.”

 

The power of the Void is the power of wombness in us all, the power of true creativity. The power of being open is sometimes regarded as a weakness, but the Sacred Clown gives us this paradox: The weakest can be the most powerful. The dumbest can be the most wise. “In a clown’s craziness, she can be obscene or test any of the existing structures and ideas to see if they are true and real—and she gets away with it. She herself is weak, but her very weakness is her power.”

 In modern times, Clowns sometimes emerge into the public eye as comediennes, actors in guerrilla theatre, critics, ritualists/artists/musicians who break the boundaries of “good taste” and aesthetics. But usually, they keep to the guise of normal, everyday people who know how to get other people to laugh at themselves.

If you decide to travel on this Path with a Heart, you’ll be traveling backwards! Remember, though, to look behind you (or in front of you) once in a while. It just could be that another Sacred Clown is clowning YOU up! And that could be worth a good belly laugh.

Submitted by Dancing Wolf, March 15, 2013

 

April 7           Fooling Around – Honouring Fun in Our Spiritual Space

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Marvelous
•      Meditation: Cori Ander
•      Speaker: Ella Brown
•      Greeter: Dancing Wolf

April 14          Truth to Power

•      Coordinator: Hendrik de Pagter
•      Moderator: Don Morris
•      Meditation: Cedona Holly
•      Speakers: Robert Arnold, Janine Bandcroft, Jack Etkin
•      Greeter: Jennifer Sagar

April 21          Magic Mystic, the Laughing Buddha

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Bob Winkenhower
•      Meditation: Gen Kelsang Zopa
•      Speaker: Gen Kelsang Zopa
•      Greeter: Daniel Quimet

April 28          Fool Hearty – Community Service

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Meditation: Katherine Muncaster
•      Greeter: Janet Taylor

 

Sunday Services in March …….

THEME: PHOENIX RISING Honouring Rebirth/Renewal

Phoenix Rising

The cycle of life, she renews, Halleluiah!
Phoenix rises from the grey lifeless ashes of the complete self-immolation of its predecessor.
How, you say?
First comes surrender to the process, peace within, a gathering of resources.
Potential shimmers under the surface, then bursts forth in new life full of colour and potential.
Firebird soars towards the sun, singing full-throated praise to life.
The cycle of life renews.
A gardening analogy: We till the soil, we discard the debris, we plan for the coming season, and we wait and watch and hold space. Then, when the time is right and sap flows and birds return and all is budding, quickening, livening –
Then we plant and water and weed and shape and delight in the life that has sprung forth.
The cycle of life, ah yes. Easter.
We have gone through a Lenten period of reflection, of quiet, of winter.
Now it is time to celebrate a resurrection, a renewal, a rebirth in spirit and the life all around us and within us. Halleluiah!
Respectfully submitted by Peggy Muncaster, SDC

 

March 3           Preparing the Path – The inward journey, tilling the soil, connecting with the silence

•      Coordinator: Stephen Graves
•      Moderator: Rebecca Kinsella
•      Meditation: Stephen Graves
•      Speaker: Susan Blackwood
•      Greeter: Jack Hyatt

March 10          Into the Dark: Creating Space for New Life – We shed what is dead in our lives to create
space for new life

•      Coordinator: Catherine Denison
•      Moderator: John Flowers
•      Meditation: Marek Losinski
•      Speaker: Stacey Campbell, R. C.
•      Greeter: Pauline Karch

March 17          Green Shoots Germinating – The force that nurtures, that helps us peak our heads out of the soil matrix of our rebirth

•      Coordinator: Peggy Muncaster
•      Moderator: D. Joan Thomas
•      Meditation: Stephen Kinsella
•      Speaker: Rebecca Kinsella
•      Greeter: Jack Hyatt

March 24          Garden Maintenance: Keeping the Wonder Alive

•      Coordinator: Dancing Wolf
•      Moderator: Dancing Wolf
•      Meditation: Susan Blackwood
•      Speaker: Rod Keays, Professional Gardener, Author & Community Leader
•      Greeter: Cori Ander

March 31         Easter Sunday-The Phoenix Arisen  – Spring is here, the equinox, Christ’s Resurrection. We too arise, in spirit and in purpose

•      Coordinator: Hendrik de Pagter
•      Moderator: Brian Martin
•      Meditation: Marie Logan
•      Speakers: Lorna Rennie, Trish Coleman & Gordon Thurston
•      Greeter: Bernadine Sperling

 

Trusting I am as this is being written on December 20th, oh well.

I would like to begin by honouring the West and the setting of the sun. The end of the day. And that perhaps this was represented by the event of the 12/12/12 celebration. Honouring the conclusion of a Grand Adventure, an adventure into and through the experience of duality.

And a moment to celebrate letting go. Letting go of the feelings of separation and the desire for the acquisition of personal power …. that I might be supreme.

The setting of the Sun, gifting us with a moment to reflect, as does the Moon. Knowing the Sun, the giver of life, is about to gift us with the dawning of a new day and another adventure. Perhaps a Grand Adventure into the awareness and experience of Unity …. of Community.

However we view these celebrations, the 12/12/12, the Winter Solstice and New Year’s Eve, this year there is an enhanced awareness of “New  Beginnings” Which brings me to the month of January. (do love it when the plan comes together)

The SDC has choosen for the month the theme of “Beginnings with Gratitude”

If I can say …. I Am Who I Am in this moment of my Eternal Now and I Love Who I Am …. then I indeed have much to be grateful for. I may still be a work in progress but I can, with heart felt courage, step into the dawning of a new day.

I shall also trust that the Sunday Services in January will offer moments to feel in our hearts the awareness of joy and gratitude. The awareness of “New Beginnings”.

After all is said and done … We Are So Beautiful ! …

Stephen Graves SDC

 

January 6                    Cherish the Challenge

•         Co-ordinator:                    Dancing Wolf
•         Moderator:                      Dancing Wolf
•         Meditation:                      Roland Guenther
•         Speaker:                         Pierre Morais
•         Greeter:                         Janet Taylor

Pierre Morais, B.S.W., M.C. is a psychotherapist specializing in Mental Health & Addiction Counselling. He has worked extensively with First Nations people and recently spent 5 years working with the Dene people in the Northwest Territories. He is a Sundancer and has been a Pipe Carrier leading Sweat Lodges, and other ceremonies, around the Island and beyond. He was also head helper for 2 different Medicine Men and spent a great deal of time working with inmates in the prison system and court mandated clients. He also runs a program called the Scared Straight Tour where he introduces teens at risk to the ravages of life for drug users living in Vancouver’s downtown east side.

January 13                   Attitude of Gratitude

•       Co-ordinator:                      Stephen Graves
•       Moderator:                         Lorna Rennie
•       Meditation:                        Jennifer Sagar
•       Speaker:                           Junie Swadron
•       Greeter:                           Stephen Graves

January 20                    Too Blessed to be Stressed

•       Co-ordinator:                       Trish Coleman
•       Moderator:                         Peggy Muncaster
•       Meditation:                         Laurence Beal
•       Speaker:                           D. Joan Thomas, Bob Winkenhower & Trish Coleman
•       Greeter:                           Ron Rayner

January 27                    Greatful in the Now

•        Co-ordinator:                     Hendrik de Pagter
•        Moderator:                        Laurence Beal
•        Meditation:                       Dodie Green
•        Speaker:                          Community Service
•        Greeter:                          Hendrik de Pagter