Sunday Services in December ……

Theme:   Advent and the Coming of Light

In many traditions in Christianity, advent (“coming” in Latin) marks a period of waiting and preparation for the moment when the Christ child was born. Often each of the Sundays before Christmas is marked by the lighting of an advent candle and the celebration of a particular quality or virtue—such as hope, love, faith, charity, peace and/or joy. In certain esoteric traditions, particular angels, colours or planets are associated with the sequence of Sundays and qualities. In Celtic influenced traditions, lights were placed in trees to encourage the light to return, or a yule log was burnt as a reminder that the cycle of seasons would continue. Whatever spiritual tradition speaks to us at this time of year, the message seems to be the same: whatever way we choose, we must cultivate certain positive qualities so as to create the conditions for the return of light and the birth of new consciousness. Our ancestors believed that ensuring the return of the light required work, and however much we now know scientifically about the cycle of the seasons, the need for conscious effort at this time remains a spiritual and psychic truth. Submitted by Chris Bullock, SDC.
 

December 4:     Faith (Belief) and Charity (Action).   (Selaphiel, Violet)

Speaker:   John Vanden Heuvel *

Moderator:   Hendrik de Pagter

Meditation:   Catherine Muncaster

Greeter:   Jennifer Sagar

Coordinator:  Jennifer Sagar 

*  John Vanden Heuvel  is a member of our community (CoT, CCL) . From Spring to Autumn he returns to Nelson to tend to his orchard and gardens. He’s the founder of WWOOF Canada (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and a former Waldorf teacher. John has travelled extensively and will share some enlightening stories with us, weaving this Sunday’s theme of ‘faith & charity’ into his talk.

December 11:   Peace

Is peace the consequence of letting things be, or does it require deliberate and hard work? This service will examine various aspects of peace.

Moderator:   Marvelous Trudeau

Meditation:   John Vanden Heuvel

Speaker:    Stephen Kinsella *

Greeter:   TBA

Coordinators:   Bill Israel and Chris Bullock

* Stephen Kinsella  tries to live his truth, daily, through experiences with his divinity and through connections with those around him. Stephen is on the journey to knowing himself and others more authentically. As a stone mason, he has to be in the moment, even through dark times.

December 18:  Joy and Solstice Celebration     (Uriel, Turquoise)

Moderator:  D. Joan Thomas

Words:   Leonard Thornton and Laura Lane

Meditation:    Elsie Mary Poetry: Peggy Muncaster

Music:   Laura Lane, Marie Logan, Jennifer Sager, Linda Chan and others

Coordinators:   D.Joan Thomas and Leonard Thornton

December 25:   Community Service: A Festive Celebration     (Raphael. Magenta or Red)

Christmas day is actually on a Sunday this year. So let’s come together and celebrate this special occasion with each other. Join us in celebrating the light of hope, peace, joy, and love and the blessings of this special season. We will have a 4 potluck lunch as not everybody will have the opportunity to come for the Christmas dinner in the evening. Details will follow in the E-News.

Sunday Services in November ……

NOVEMBER THEME:  PLUNGING INTO THE CREATIVE FIRE:  FINDING UNION IN SEPARATION 

In England, November is a fiery month. There is of course, the burning of effigies of Guy Fawkes on November, but there are also traditions of burning tar barrels being carried through village streets, and, in the ancient town of Rye, a bonfire procession is capped by the burning of a ship, while celebrants dressed as Vikings, Cavaliers, Pirates, Dancing Girls and the like dance around the conflagration. November is also mainly under the astrological sign of Scorpio, and Scorpios too tend to have fiery personalities. Famous Scorpios include St Augustine (who allegedly prayed “O God, give me eternal chastity, but not yet”), the visionary Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the defiant Protestant leader, Martin Luther. Why this association of fire with November? One explanation is that November is a dark month, when winter is drawing in, and it is necessarily to call upon the fire of passion so as not to be overwhelmed by the darkness. To this opposition of darkness and fire, we can add a second opposition, the opposition between death (separation) and sex (connection, gathering) which is another theme in the sign of Scorpio. At the heart of creativity in November is the establishment of a relationship, a pulse, between these pairs of apparent opposites. Submitted by Laurence Beal: SDC

November 6:   The Mystery of the Phoenix

Speaker: Catherine Denison

Moderator: TBA

Meditation: Pauline Karch

Greeter: Jennifer Sagar

November 13:   Fiery Celebrations

What practices can keep the fire of life alight during dark times? These practices could include everything from traditional celebrations like Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night in England to dancing the tango with passion. These practices and many more can be considered “fiery celebrations.”

Coordinator: Chris Bullock

Moderator: Chris Bullock

Meditation: Michael Heaney

Speaker: Stephen Faulkner *

Greeter: Marie Logan

Dr. Stephen Faulkner has practiced both specialised and general practice medicine. Originally born in New Zealand, he has resided for many years in Duncan, where he has been extensively involved with local First Nations and with leading men’s groups. Stephen has also a deep and abiding interest in poetry, especially the poetry of William Blake, and, every year, leads a poetry day celebrating the return of the salmon on his property just outside town.

November 20:   Kundalini – Trancending the Separation

Many thousands of years ago, it was discovered in many parts of the world that there was an intelligence energetically connected to the body that was associated with transformation of the body and spiritual awakening. This creative energy or life force came to be called kundalini. It is the creative fire of life itself that moves up the central channel of the spinal column and awakens all the energies of the chakras from the base or 1st to the crown or 7th. As it move to the 2nd, or sacral/sexual center, for example, all the energy patterns in this chakra are activated and can bring either problems and misuse of this energy physically or can be raised to the 5th or throat center and expressed in great creative genius, as with Michelangelo or Mozart. In the tantric approach to sex, the energy in this center becomes transformed from a primarily physical experience to an experience of ecstatic spiritual union indwelling divinity and become awakened human beings.

When the kundalini reaches the upper centers, like the 6th and 7th, higher mental faculties are activated and spiritual awakening begins to occur. The experience of being a primarily physical being now is transcended and one sees, knows and feels connected to True Self and, ultimately, everyone and everything else. The journey is often a long and difficult one, taking many lifetimes, as we teach ourselves about who we really are and realize our indwelling divinity and become awakened human beings.

Moderator: Cedona Holly

Meditation: Cedona Holly

Speaker: Dawn Rabey PhD RCC *

Greeter: Marie Logan

Coordinator: Leonard Thornton

Dr. Dawn Rabey is a Psychotherapist and Registered Clinical Counselor in Private Practice, and a Kundalini Yoga Teacher. She specializes in the Integration of Spiritual & Kundalini Awakenings and Higher States of Consciousness into our everyday life. Her PhD research focused on Women’s Transpersonal Experiences with the Divine Feminine, which was inspired by her own Kundalini Awakening in 2008. She sees clients locally in Victoria as well as Worldwide, supporting the transformation of our experiences with trauma, relationships, eating disorders, depression, anxiety and more.

November 27:    Community Service :  Playing the Game of Life

The Community Service on November 27th is currently being envisioned and will take the form of a panel discussion.    Stay tune for further details in the next E-News.  We will also be celebrating the start of Advent on this day with love being the  quality which we will focus on in our songs and in our candle-lighting. (The celebration of Advent will continue into December.).   Post Community Service will be a finger food potluck – Contributions to this would be much appreciated;  Linda Chan will be making a vegan, gluten-free soup for all to enjoy.

Moderator:  TBA

Lighting of Advent Candle for Love:  Laurence Beal

Meditation:  Jennifer Sagar

Panel Speakers:   John Vanden Heuvel, Troi Leonard + TBA

Greeter:  Laurence Beal

Sunday Services in October ……

OCTOBER THEME: HARVEST AND THE SOUL’S JOURNEY: PART TWO

This month we continue to explore the idea that harvest is not a single event but a journey with dark and light sides, and physical, emotional and spiritual aspects. If September is traditionally the month when the gathering in of harvest begins, October is the month where this gathering is completed, and thoughts turn to assessing the harvest and deciding how to store its fruits for the winter. Part of assessing the harvest, is the experience of gratitude, evident in the celebration of Thanksgiving. In Thanksgiving dark and light can mingle; we may be grateful even for the gifts our life problems give us. The coexistence of dark and light reminds us this is the month where the astrological sign of Libra is mainly dominant. Libra is the sign of balance, the quest for fairness and the importance of relationships. Libra is followed by Scorpio , and Thanksgiving is followed by Halloween, a festival celebrating the loosening the boundaries of the self, and of the division between the worlds of the living and the dead. Chris Bullock, for SDC.l

Oct 2:     Balancing Light and Dark

In our world of time and space, the fundamental duality of light and dark enables virtually all of our experience.  A simple change in the tilt of the earth’s axis relative to the sun creates tremendous changes in our experience of light and dark, heat and cold and much more. At the all-important human thought and feeling level, where our experience is essentially created, light corresponds to love and dark to fear. As we move through the seasons of earth and the seasons of our lives, our journey is primarily about balancing these two polarities, the one on the outer physical level and the other on the inner spiritual level. Our fundamental challenge on all levels from physical to spiritual is the achieving of balance in how we choose to live and recognizing that our greatest problems/challenges can also be our greatest gifts.  In doing so we can enjoy the harvest and ultimately experience the purpose of it all…to follow our bliss and enjoy ever greater happiness, freedom, peace and joy!

Moderator:  Leonard Thornton

Meditation:  Ocian Flo …crystal bowls*

Speaker:      Lorraine Jasmin

Greeter:       Peggy Muncaster

Coordinator:  Leonard Thornton

*Ocian Flo will also be playing the bowls for 10 minutes before the service starts and will be coordinating with Brian and Jennifer, as she would like accompaniment on drums.

Lorraine Jasmin has been a professional counselor for 21 years and has worked in counseling settings for over sixty years, having a life-long interest in people’s emotional well-being.  In her life and work, Lorraine values confidentiality, discretion, ethics and diplomacy.  Lorraine also enjoys sophisticated humor, although her first love has always been dogs, especially German shepherds and wolves and they genuinely return the affection given.

Oct 9:     Thanksgiving Pearls : Giving Thanks for our Problems

This day we may reflect upon our hard won realizations which set us ever more free, and give wholehearted thanks for the challenges in which the pearls of realization were formed.  Says Diana, “I’m all in. Comedy celebrates imperfection.”  Says Junie, “I’m all over it, Laurence … thanks for opportunity to share with the community

Moderator:   Diana Kuch

Meditation:  Jennifer Sagar

Speaker:  Junie Swadron

Greeter:   Laurence Beal

Coordinator:  Laurence Beal

Oct 16:    Good Communication in Relationships

October 16 lies under the sign of Libra, the sign emphasizing relationship, and this service focuses on the role of good communication as part of harvest. How can we speak and listen so that relationships can have qualities like balance, fairness and honesty?

Moderator:    Jennifer Hastie

Meditation:   Ariel Lade

Speaker:  Renee Lindstrom

Greeter:    Bill Israel

Coordinator:      Chris Bullock           

Oct 23:    Eat, Pray, Love: Stone Soup for the Soul

No matter where we are in the cycle of our life journey, we are drawing on the soul lessons we have harvested along the way.  Just as we are what we eat, we harvest insights from the choices we make of what and how to nurture our awareness of the Sacred in our lives. Like the story of Stone Soup – many people have contributed to our awakening as we have negotiated the twists and turns in the road. We may have discovered that “harvest is not a single event, but a journey with dark and light sides.” What soul lessons are we harvesting? Eat, Pray, Love will offer a personal reflection on the universal journey of harvesting the insights of our soul’s awakening –  and invite you to do the same.

Moderator:   Moneca Gabriel

Meditation:  Eleanor McKinnon

Speaker:  Joy Emmanuel

Greater:  Jennifer Sager

Coordinator:   Jennifer Sagar – assisted by D. Joan Thomas

Joy Emmanuel is a life-long spiritual seeker; a nomad from away; a lover of life, beauty, Mother Earth and the deep silence of the stars.  Coming from the far off lands of the Atlantic Coast, she appreciates that all parts of Canada have their own beauty, but it is “one coast of the other” that captures her heart. Since arriving in these lands she has been introduced to the world wide co-operative movement, had the opportunity to edit a book on co-operatives and peace, lived at an ecovillage, and worked on issues of homelessness and housing.  She is passionate about all things that contribute to a just, caring, sustainable world for all.

Oct 30:   Community Service:  Celebration of Our Human Mortality

Sunday Services in September….

 SEPTEMBER THEME: HARVEST AND THE SOUL’S JOURNEY: PART ONE

September is traditionally the month of harvest, the gathering in of what the summer has produced.  The autumnal equinox in mid-September –when day and night are equal again—is a reminder to balance the external life of daylight with the internal life of night. However this balancing is not something that can be achieved in a single day, but rather something that may be achieved in the course of an extended and challenging journey. In other words, harvest is not a single event but a journey with dark and light sides, and physical, emotional and spiritual aspects. In many ways, September marks the beginning of a process that finds its full ripening in the month of October.

SUNDAY SERVICE  SCHEDULE

Sept 4th:   The journey without distance to a goal that has never changed

Autumn always ushers in a most beautiful time, where every leaf becomes a flower and our lives seem to bloom as if the Spring was arriving once again.  We find there is so very much to be grateful for as if the flowering of the trees reminds us of the unending rebirth we all experience with each step of our lives.  This step has been called the “the journey without distance to a goal that has never changed”

We begin this journey once again and I AM so very grateful we always do it together. Our harvest is the fruits of our lives whose seeds were planted in spring and show us more of who we really are now.

Moderator:   Marie Logan
Meditation:  Laurence Beal
Speaker:     Laurence Beal
Greeter:       Ella Brown
Coordinator:  Leonard Thornton

About Laurence Beal:  Laurence has great interest in the  individual and the group processes, developments that we humans invest in.   A bachelors degree in philosophy gave him a grounding in the history of western thought, politics and religion.  With a family steeped in many aspects of education and psychology, the years of counseling and tutoring were a natural course of action.  Active  fitness and dietary routines are also key interests.

September 11th : The Inner Harvest

We will explore the idea that harvest is not just an external phenomenon but also an internal one, and that, as the year moves towards fall, going inward and keeping a balance between inner and outer are essential for the soul’s journey.

Moderator: Chris Bullock
Meditation: Marvelous Trudeau
Speaker: Sue Clough
Greeter: TBA
Coordinator: Chris Bullock

About Sue Clough: In her previous life in Toronto, Sue was a high school and adult educator for 35 years whose area included teaching Math as well as being a Chaplain and a spiritual guide.
Her decision to uproot from the East and move to Victoria was the best decision in her early retirement. For the past 9 years, Sue enjoys being so close to the beauty in nature, loves photography, poetry, and being with friends and family. Sue continues to offer workshops and retreats on several topics relating to the human-spiritual journey.

September 18th:  Soul’s Journey

Too soon the august light fades as the sun makes an earlier and earlier exit. The Incas used beaten copper mirrors to harvest and bend light around corners and so illuminate the darkest passages leading to the centre of their sacred places. Fishermen of old used to trap the moon in their nets and so seduce the fish to follow. We too could bend our inner light around the dark passages of the heart, allow the seduction of our senses, let go and believe in spirit’s journey and the sweet harvest of the soul.

Moderator: Marvelous Trudeau
Meditation: Brian Martin
Speaker: Bill Israel
Greeter:  Linda Chan and D Joan Thomas
Coordinator: D Joan Thomas

September 25th Community service: Celebration of the Equinox

Members of the Women’s Circle will facilitate a celebration of the Equinox. Expect a creative and participatory event! Details currently TBA.

Following our Community Service will be a Finger Food Potluck Lunch.

Sunday Services in August….

SOLAR POWER THROUGH YOU

The main astrological sign for August is Leo the lion, who is associated with the sun. August is the month the sun’s power is most present, and most hoped for by the farmers who wish to bring in their grain in a dry condition. The sun symbolizes the power of light and directness, just as Leo personalities are known for speaking their minds, and it thus becomes also a symbol for full expression. This is the month when it’s time to be who you are and express that in the external world, and this expression should convey the gifts of harvest to you and the world. Behind the joy of expression and harvest is also a little melancholy. August will not last forever, the summer will not last forever, and extroversion will eventually be followed by introversion. – Chris Bullock

Pursuant to what Chris has proposed for August re the Sun in Leo, I would like to add that since 2016 is the year of self-mastery, we deal with this theme in terms of the following: week one could be physical self-mastery; followed by emotional mastery, mental mastery and spiritual self-mastery.  Leo represents the self’s ability to aggressively pursue and get what it wants, to be seen, known and to shine in the world, very outgoing, but August ends in the last week with Virgo, a much more humble expression, devoted to service.  They are not incompatible, but represent our desire and need to express ourselves in the world on all levels, in a positive yet balanced way, develop a strong positive ego and use that to serve others and the world– -true self-mastery,  me thinks..

August 7:   From Sport: Ego vs. Egotism, Egocentrism

From tracks of symbol use in the past, representations of the sun have been used to refer to the egoic monad of the individual. In old Greece, Hercules was a solar hero. In these hot summer months, sport heroes are born out of the competitive arenas, each having the challenge of maintaining balance with new scopes of social interchange, hero worship. What balance can be found in such heat? What is identity, what is character, what is personality, what is social integrity?

Moderator: Don Morris
Meditation: Linda Chan
Speaker: Laurence Beal
Greeter:  TBA
Coordinator:  Laurence Beal

August 14

Moderator:  D. Joan Thomas
Meditation:  Norm Smookler with various flutes
Speaker:  Maria Escude
Greeter:  TBA
Coordinator: D. Joan Thomas

About Maria Escude:   A singer, composer, and long-time member of CoT, Maria was a  member of our first choir and later choir director.  She was also a writer of the early history of the Church, Producer with DJoan of A Night in Spain in 1993 with comedy routines involving members – Marie Logan, Bob Winkenhower, Brian Martin and a host of others no longer with us.  She also collaborated with DJoan on providing CoT services for a period of five years with a wide range of speakers, including Rev. Greg Skala, Rev. Joan Hopper and the Rev. Gordon Thurston as well as speakers from other faiths and ideologies.  The success of those services enabled the CoT to remain in situ and membership rose from less than a dozen to a healthy number.

August 21:  Solar Power and the Mind

This week we will focus on the power of the sun as it manifests on the mental plane and influences our minds, individually and collectively.  Clearly the sun is a great physical center of light and power;  it is also a powerful luminary on the mental plane.  Mighty Helios, the God of the Sun and the great solar lords, radiate great waves of illumination and wisdom through great temples in the electronic belt (spiritual aura) around the sun, which extends for many millions of miles into space.  Light strikes our retinas and has many physical effects in the body; light also floods our mental bodies and all our chakras with many different frequencies of prana at different times during the day which effect each of us in different ways, depending on our openness and receptivity. As our minds expand and grow, we receive greater and grater mental light, illumination, understanding and wisdom, which need to blend with the love-wisdom and knowing of the heart, governed by the Goddess of the Sun, Vesta. This week, let us endeavor to be truly open-minded so that we may receive more of the brilliance of our spiritual Sun and become even more shining bright, illumined and free!

Moderator: Jack Hyatt
Meditation: Leonard Thornton
Speaker: Peter Tongue
Greeter: Joanna Wilkinson
Coordinator:  Leonard Thornton

About Peter Tongue: Having spent thirty years in two top ranking Independent schools in Canada and the UK, Peter uses his wealth of experience to gain a profound understanding of the complexities of the human condition. For the last ten years, Peter has been engaged in counseling individuals and groups in resolving their difficulties in life as well as assisting them in awakening to their own spiritual path. His heart-centered understanding of science and spirituality offer a vital and powerful pathway to successful living in this chaotic and confusing time. For five years, Peter hosted a weekly radio show, “Awakening to Conscious Co-Creation”, on the 7th Wave Network of Voice America. He interviewed experts in their respective fields within the central theme of understanding higher consciousness. For the last two years, Peter has been helping people gain an understanding of the Gene Keys process through one on one counseling sessions and group workshops and this morning will provide us with an insight into this fascinating transmission providing us with a profound opportunity to reveal our inherent genius and deepest potential-to fulfill our life’s purpose!

August 28:  Community Service: “Father Sun: The Father Experience”

Members of the Men’s Circle will offer all those present an opportunity to go deeper into the father experience, in whatever way it has been present in their lives. Expect a creative and participatory event!  Details currently TBA.

Sunday Services in July….

Most of July is ruled by the water sign, Cancer, the crab whose planet is the changeable moon, and this month we explore the significance of water. Throughout the world, there is an
increasing concern with water, as climate change brings dangerously drier conditions to many parts of our planet. Internally, water is often taken to symbolize the feeling function of the
psyche, the workings of the heart. Since feelings, like the moon, are changeable, respect for feelings involves respect for change and mortality. And like water itself, feelings are not much
respected in a world where the mind and the market are dominant. To explore the significance of water, services this month will focus on its physical, emotional, spiritual and social dimensions. Water has a physical being, and a deep connection with human emotional life. Spiritually, water can be seen as a being with its own sacred personhood, and this respect needs also to be translated into social action on its behalf, raising a question that belongs to July, considered astrologically: how do we integrate idealistic vision with concrete action? — Submitted by Chris Bullock on behalf of SDC

July 3: Water: the physical dimension.

Moderator: Troi Leonard
Meditation: Pauline Karch
Speaker: Laurence Beal
Greeter: Daniel Ouimet
Coordinator: Jennifer Sagar

July 10: Water: the emotional dimension

Moderator: Marie Logan
Meditation:  Laura Lane
Speaker:  Sanjara Omoniyi
Greeter:  Joyanna Wilkinson
Coordinator: Leonard Thornton

This Sunday we explore the relationships between human emotions and water.  Since our bodies are composed of around 70% water and water receives, stores and transmits information, especially emotions, the way we deal with emotions not only affects the flow of energy through the chakras and meridians, but also the body fluids like blood and lymph.  We use the expressions, blocked emotions, repressed or denied emotions and frozen emotions to describe how we deal or don’t deal with emotional energies.  Just like stagnant water can create grounds for disease, emotional issues can create dis-ease in the body and interfere with our ability to express and communicate. This week we will focus on developing a healthy emotional life and allow the waters of life to flow in through and around us and let ourselvesgrow into ever-expanding life expression!

July 17: Water: the spiritual dimension.

Moderator:  Linda Chan
Meditation: Marilyn Smando
Speaker: Marilyn Smando
Greeter:  Laurence Beal
Coordinator: Laurence Beal

Marilyn has been meditating with the Wed night “Meditation Circle” at the COT. With a personal spiritual experience with water and some insights with that and other collected thoughts on
this watery view, Marilyn may bring us to new insights for ourselves.

July 24: Water: social issues.

Moderator: Hendrik de Pagter
Meditation: Jennifer Sagar
Speaker: Barbara Mitchell Pollock
Greeter: Elsie Mary Poliquin
Coordinator: Chris Bullock

About the Speaker: Barbara Mitchell Pollock has been a social activist since participating in street theatre against the Viet Nam War.  She has been a board member with the Victoria
Chapter of the Council of Canadians since her arrival 10 years ago, and is committed to working towards having safe, clean drinking water for all people, and having water protected and not
privatized.

July 31 Water: Community Service (Please note different format)

Moderator: Pat Miller
Meditation Circle with Water Theme – Coordinated by Pat Miller and Laurence Beal plus members of the Oneness Wednesdays “Meditation Circle”
Offerings by Community Members including Laurie Beal, Troi Leonard,  Louise Taylor, Brian Martin, Marilyn Smando, Elsie Mary Poliquin and Linda Chan
Greeter: Jessica
Coordinator: Linda Chan

At this Community Service, members of the Oneness Wednesday Meditation Circle share and open up our Meditation Experiences in relation to the theme of the month. Following our Community Service there will be a finger food potluck with our soup prepared by Troi Leonard.

Sunday Services in June….

COLOURS OF GROWTH:

Hurray! Summer is here. Colours are brilliantly drawing us into our sunlit celebration. As the summer rainbow of color shows us pathways of potential growth and development, we may be reminded of our spiritual paths. Corresponding to the array of approaches and lessons to be worked on, we have, in the West, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and this is a reflection of a more ancient ayurvedic system in India outlining the same general hierarchy in the chakras and their psychological characteristics.

We’ll be growing from the bottom up, first chakra, then… erps! Since there’s only four weeks and a ripping seven chakras, we had to pare it down to four presentations.

Submitted by Laurence Beal, SDC

June 5     Red

• Coordinator:   D. Joan Thomas
• Moderator:   Laura Lane
• Meditation:   Sharon Shroeder
• Speaker:   Laurence Beal
• Greeter:   TBA

First chakra – Red is the energy of vitality and the earthy, biological foundation of life. A drumbeat introduction to silent meditation will be followed with Laurence giving a short introduction to chakra system of understanding self in spirit terms. Then a bit more on the first chakra most relative to grounding and the personal reality check.

June 12    Yellow

• Coordinator:   Jennifer Sagar
• Moderator:   Linda Chan
• Meditation:   Katherine Muncaster
• Speaker:   Brian Martin
• Greeter:   Jennifer Sagar

Third Chakra – Yellow is the color of sunshine and it is the core of your being.   The energy of yellow is vibrant, optimist and full of energy. It is the colour of youth, new beginnings, birth and re-birth.  At the same time, yellow is wise and knowledgeable.  The spiritual aspects of yellow energy is instinctual knowing and growing into spirit. The developmental task of the solar plexus chakra is autonomy and the development of self.  However, on the spiritual level, we must always remember who we truly are and not get lost in the “self” identification.  Strong third chakra reflects the ability to move forward in life with confidence and power. It reflects the ability to make conscious choices to choose and to act.   The message of the third chakra is: You have the power to choose.*

*Source of chakra description for yellow:  http://www.chakra-anatomy.com/solar-plexus-chakra-colors.html

June 19     Green

• Coordinator:  Leonard Thornton
• Moderator:   Cedona Holly
• Meditation:   Leonard Thornton
• Speaker:  Soren Russow
• Greeter:   Marie Logan

Fourth Chakra – Green  is the energy of balance, harmony and growth, as that energy expresses through the heart center, with growth and transformation through love in a balanced, harmonious way.  Perhaps emerald green is the vibration that best embodies this energy. Sunday, June 19th is Father’s Day and two days prior to Summer solstice on the 21st.

Speaker Bio:  Soren Russow is a loving husband and father of 3 girls; aged 10, 8, and 6. Being a resident of Victoria for 28 years, he spends his summer month’s pedicabbing tourists around this wonderful city. Also he owns a Videography business and loves to capture events and tell life stories through video production. In addition, he excels at sports such as beach volleyball, tennis and cycling. Just prior to the birth of his first child 10 years ago, he was diagnosed with a heart condition called Atrial Fibrillation. Since then he has made it his goal to alleviate the symptoms through proper nutrition, heart-centered meditation, exercise and laughter yoga. Being a father of 3, his improved connection to the heart has become essential to his family’s well-being.

June 26   Purple  – Community Service –  ** Please note different format

• Coordinator:   Linda Chan
• Moderator:   Sanjara Omoniyi
• Purple ceremony:  Troi Leonard with members of Community Committee plus Brian Martin and Louise Taylor
• Greeters:  Members of the Community Committee

Please wear something purple and bring something to share with others for our Finger Food Potluck Lunch post Community Service

Seventh chakra – Purple relates to imagination and spirituality; Imagination is sparked and high ideals are inspired. Spiritually, it is soul transforming , allowing us to expand our awareness and connect to higher consciousness.

** On June 26 we will try out a different format for our Community Services with the Community Committee taking the lead in co-creating this service. Attendees are invited to wear something purple to this service and bring something to share with others for our Finger Food Potluck Lunch post community service. In this community services, we will experience purple in a ceremony and in a variety of ways via aromatherapy, toning, music, meditation, poem, chant or song. Purple is the energy of transcendent states, bliss, beyond separation as being itself.

Following our Community Service will be a Finger Food Potluck Lunch.

• Coordinator:  Don Morris
• Moderator:  Pat Miller
• Meditation:  Katherine Muncaster
• Speaker:  Panel Discussion
• Speakers:  Sanjara Omoniyi, Peggy Muncaster, and Marie Logan
• Music:  D. Joan, Laura and a special piano performance by Brother Joseph Martin
• Greeter:  Linda Chan