9/19/10

Our Story: Herstory and History

~ by MARY McGILLIS, Courtesy of FengSHe.org

History became legend and legend became myth. There was a time of legend when King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table lived on our planet. Myth? When something so resonates with you that the truth of it is felt in your bones, that your hair bristles on your arms and you tingle, you must pay homage to this knowing.

Fact? Whether myth, legend or fact, this planet is a planet of storytellers and our purpose here is to create our story. Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon tells the story of King Arthur from the perspective of the women and showcases the transition of the very different worldviews when they collided over 1000 years ago.

In her acknowledgments, she speaks of the complexity of the sources for her work: she virtually memorized the Sidney Lanier edition of the Tales of King Arthur by ten years old and skipped school at fifteen to hide in the library of the Department of Education in Albany, New York, to read a ten-volume edition of James Frazer's The Golden Bough and a fifteen-volume set of books on comparative religions, including an enormous volume on the Druids and Celtic religions. Her reading list before she was 16 ~ whew!

Zimmer Bradley's Merlin, recognized that it is the belief of mankind which shapes the world and of all reality. He explained that his time was a powerful pivot in time, a moment to change the world. Merlin saw the change begin with the arrival of the followers of Christ: "...the views they hold are altering this world; not only in spirit, but on the material plane. As they deny the world of spirit, and the realms of Avalon, so those realms cease to exist for them. They still exist, of course; but not in the same world with the world of the followers of Christ. Avalon, the Holy Isle, is now no longer the same island as the Glastonbury where we of the Old Faith once allowed the monks to build their chapel and their monastery." As her story goes, she sees "the world once again come together, a world with room for the Goddess and for the Christ, with a leader to make us one. " A world of balance? The double scales even? The sly grin of some, the knowing grin of another ~ each soul adding weight to one side of the scale or t'other or both. The plot thickens in all of our stories.

Fast forward to 2010 and visit a new Lady of Avalon, Madeleine Marentette, holding sacred space in Canada at her retreat, Grail Springs. Read her story in the best selling Grail Springs: Holistic Detox for Body, Mind & Spirit

The day before her fabulous 7-day first annual Grail Lady Faire , Madeleine hosted a Pachamama Alliance's Awaken the Dreamer symposium. On a rainy morning beside the pristine, spring-fed Chalice Lake at Grail Springs she invited over 100 people to be seated and quieten themselves. Under a canopied tent, the Goddess-like Marentette announced her first guest speaker would be joining on the screen monitor behind her, his first ever attempt at Skype. Right on cue, Neale Donald Walsch, author of the Conversations with God series, greeted the delighted room.

In 15 minutes, Walsch summed up his take on the God conversations: when God first asked him to write a book and call it Conversations with God, he thought "ya, right", but knew he had to do it. After 27 books, he understood what God was saying: "You've got it all wrong". Walsch noted that he has already sold 7 million copies of his one book The New Revelations , so he wasn't trying to sell any, but highly recommends that everyone read it, as God offers possible and powerful answers to the questions facing the world. Walsch understands that it is okay to give money to third world countries to help them in their terrible plights; it is okay to open a homeless shelter in a big city; it is okay to try to help anyone and everyone, but in the long run, this aid will not make a difference. Neale Donald Walsch said that the only way we are going to evolve to a peaceful, happy race is to change our worldview. We must look to the indigenous populations around the world to understand why. Humans are connected with the animals, the oceans and the earth. What we do to the animals affects us. What we do to the environment affects us all. We are all interconnected and dependent upon each other. Humans must keep in balance with the planet.

Moving out of the despair felt by Merlin, into the concern understood by Walsch and finally we are all beginning to feel the sheer excitement of Grail Springs, where there is an understanding that the balance is shifting to a kinder world in which each individual is aware of their impact on the worldview. Go forth and Be (man/woman) Kind!

9/12/10

Heaven's Kitchen Reports: Top Chefs, Hotels and Restaurants Go 'Meatless'!

Halleluiah.

World renown chefs, hotels and restaurants are joining the meatless movement by offering vegetarian and vegan dishes in their establishments. This is welcoming news for the health and wellbeing of people, animals and planet.

Casino owner Steve Wynn announced that he has made vegan options mandatory at all of his Los Vegas properties which predictably will have a domino effect all the way down the Vegas strip. His vegan menus are not your typical 'salad greens with bottled dressing', but a substantial and sophisticated choice menu for any foodie.

I was also over-the-top delighted to hear that Iron Chef Mario Batali has joined "Meatless Mondays" campaign, offering vegetarian dishes in all of his restaurants from Los Angeles, Las Vegas to New York. His logic, "to reduce meat consumption in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet."

Tal Ronnan, aka 'The Conscious Cook' who created Oprah Winfrey's vegan based 21-day cleanse, was invited to train upcoming chefs in vegan cooking at the famous French culinary school Le Cordon Bleu in St. Louis. Now that's a shift!

And there are so many other chefs, too many to mention, who are making the shift from carnivore to vegetarian to vegan. Once a chef has seen the shocking videos of what animals endure at factory farms and slaughter houses they rethink their role and impact. It is hard to turn a blind eye from the devastating impact animal factory farming has on climate change unless you are completely void of conscience. 'Old school' is quickly becoming 'extinct'. which is exactly what needs to happen before we do.

Hell's Kitchen Gordon Ramsey take note...Heaven's Kitchen is heating up!

9/7/10

A Call To Conscious Evolution: Our Moment of Choice

On August 31st my son Michael and I attended 'A Call To Conscious Evolution: Our Moment of Choice', an event hosted by the Evolutionary Leadership Council at the UCLA Campus. Founding members include the likes of the intoxicating Rev. Michael Beckwith of Agape Spiritual Center who did not disappoint, Dr. Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Jean Houston, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Ashok Gangadean, Lynne Twist, Lynne McTaggart and Gregg Bradden just to name a few. You can imagine what a powerful energetic vortex of creative mind stuff that was generated under the roof of Royce Hall.

"So what exactly is an Evolutionary Leader?" some have asked.

An evolutionary leader is a person in tune with the divine impulse, listening very closely to the collective conversation rising up on the present state of humanity and our world. It is those who act on the impulse coming from the supra-intelligent universe; the pressing need for solutions for environmental sustainability now and social justice for all sentient beings; people and animals alike.

An evolutionary leader is someone who has observed and studied the path of evolution and can identify the process and patterns that have emerged in the past and has a fairly good concept as to what's coming next using both logic and intuition. There are millions tapping in to this collective impulse as a time of choice, thought and conversation and this group is growing exponentially every single day. Perhaps you are one of them.

This recognition of the present imminent reality has led to an influx of potent creative thinking including a shift from the business-as-usual model of 'competition' to that of  'collaboration' (governments and politicians take note). This shift is a monumental leap in human evolution, and a prerequisite for success in rebuilding the vision for a new sustainable, peaceful world.

While the grassroots movement is making major strides, what is required next and quickly is a major shift in big government and world banking arena. Big investment needs to up the ante and  quickly move dollars into the hands of the problem solvers and creative thinkers who have come up with ingenious and sustainable solutions to save our planet. The solutions are there. And the money exists.

For the first time in history we are on mass, conscious of consciousness itself and as we move from the fourth kingdom known as the human kingdom, into the fifth kingdom known as the soul kingdom we will begin to discover a new and bountiful resource for creativity and group cooperation. For the first time in history we can precipitate our future and consciously create and manifest the sustainable and peaceful world we want with a fairly accurate, calculated outcome. I hope it is indeed the next chapter in the story of human evolution.

What I took away from the event on a personal level was a deep satisfaction knowing that the flames of this movement are catching fire. People do care, they are making major life commitments. As I stood on the impressive open air veranda at the post reception with my good and most elegant friend Professor Ashok Gangadean, a founding member of ELC, both of us taking in the palpable buzz of energy and feelings of hope for humanity, a brilliant shooting star arced over a perfect end-of-summer twilit sky. It was an auspicious sign, like a telegraph from the supra-intelligent universe..."MESSAGE RECEIVED...CARRY ON".

Michael Marentette, Dr. Deepak Chopra, and myself Madeleine Marentette

If you'd like more information or would like to join forces with the 'Evolutionary Leaders', visit the website. They also offer a down loadable 'Evolutionary Leadership Tool Kit'