Saturday, September 30, 2017

Loca Religious, Loca Sacra

I found Peter Nabokos's description of the Roman's interpretation of sacred land in Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places interesting,
"The ancient Romans recognized two kinds of sacred places. First, were loca sacra, which means sites that were turned over to religious use through human acts of consecration and dedication to ritual practice, places such as temples, graveyards and areas for sacred dance. Second were loca religious  which referred to locations that were revealed to be intrinsically holy or endowed with invisible powers through  the miraculous events that took place." Page 52

What is revealing about this is that I focus on the imprints of a place. The positive vibe, impressions and memories created from religious and spiritual actions and thoughts done at a plac; loca sacra

I also look at the special aspects, or parts, of Mother Earth found at a particular location. For example, the Fields of Consciousness found in North Star County (America's Northeast) where Ley Lines originate from and has been home to so much in spirituality and social justice; birthplace of Democracy, the Women's Movement, America's First and Second Great Awakenings, Spiritualism, Seven Day Adventists, Mormonism, the New Age movement, conservationism that would lead to the environmental movement, and much, much more...Ultimately it is what it does for your soul, or psyche that matters most.





Friday, September 29, 2017

Danville Stone Chamber; Danville, New Hampshire

Friends,


I have been on a survey this past week in New England looking at various stone chambers.  I will be posting a detailed report of my findings with pictures in the next few weeks.

Below is a link to a video I did on the Danville Stone Chamber in Danville, New Hampshire. It is a sweet little place that has been able to maintain much of its integrity over the years.

Blessing,
madis
Danville Stone Chamber

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Sacred Sites Update--Peacemaker's Sanctuary, Onondaga Lake--The Bench is in Place

We moved the bench to its resting place across the culvert to right side of the sanctuary. It rests on a stacked (12) Field of Consciousness. The highest number that can be stacked upon each other. The vibe is very positive to extremely positive. A very powerful place.

I strongly encourage everyone to visit and experience the Peacemaker's Sanctuary; whether to take in its strong soul nourishing consciousness, find a resolution to a question or problem, or just find peace and healing. 

Here are the directions Directions for the Peacemaker's Sanctuary Onondaga Lake

If you have enjoyed the Peacemaker's Sanctuary please call Debbie Dennis of Onondaga Lake Park, 315-453-6712. It would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
madis

Here are some pictures










Earth Healers Gathering, Saturday October 21, 11 AM, Dewitt Library

Earth Healers Gathering

When:  Saturday, October 21st, 11 AM

Where: Dewitt & JamesvilleLibrary, 5110 Jamesville Rd, Dewitt, NY
315-446-3578


Free/Donation

Earth Healers looks to educate about our dynamic relationship with Mother Earth. To teach how to connect with Her and how to heal Her, through hands on experience.  

Our goal is to help people become stewards of the Earth. To empower them so that they have the knowledge to discern injuries and abuses done to our Mother Earth and how to heal them. Hopefully to become Keepers and watch over a particular place.

We believe it is imperative that we raise our individual and collective consciousness in order to make a better world. We do this through service, as we understand that when you give with one hand you get back with two. That is because we know that our spiritual development is contingent about our relationship with Mother Earth and the soul nourishing nutrition She provides us.

Preliminary Agenda

Geomancy instruction; we will begin with an informal teaching/practice of how to use dowsing rods (L-rods) to find Ley Lines. Several of us will be providing personal instruction. You should bring a pair of L-rods with you; however I expect we will have a pair for you to borrow. I will post on this within two weeks. It is not necessary to learn how to use L-rods, but it surely helps.

Overview of Earth Healing and what we are about.

Update--on the projects we have been working on since we last met and what we plan on doing.

Set Up Field Trip 

Group Meditation

Open Discussion--Questions, suggstions, input,...

Join others interested in healing Mother Earth and making a better world. Activities include Education, Lectures, Practice, Group Meditation.

There will be updates posted as we get closer to the gathering.





Friday, September 22, 2017

Sacred Sites Update, The Ledges--Stone Mound with Water Lines and Natural (Energy) Vortex--Amazing

Peter Shell and I finished up the survey of the Ledges Area of H igh Tor NYS DEC Forest yesterday. We will go back again and recheck and verify our original findings. We have completed photographing and marking up all of the stone mounds in the Ledges Area.

I am writing to tell you about an amazing stone mound we found close to the Welcome Circle. Staffs below mark Energy Lines and where the yellow tape breaks from an Energy Line is part of an Earth Chakra and its vortex is directly above.


 Staffs mark only a few of the many Energy Lines that cut through (intersect) the stone circle. We have opted out of showing all the Energy Lines because the photos become too busy and it is near impossible to catalogue all the Energy Lines. Call it one of the lessons we learned during our survey.

This is the only double dimpled, or hollowed out centered stone mound. Pepper (white dog) is in the larger indented area and just above and to the right of orange seat cushion is the smaller indented area. Again yellow tape indicates an Earth Chakra.

What is interesting is just to the left of the picture above (outside of it) is a large boulder pictured below. This is the largest boulder we found in any of the stone mounds. Several Energy Lines (10), sticks with yellow tape are Energy Lines that intersect at the boulder. See below.



What is so interesting about this mound?

All that has formed around it--that's what's special about it. In other words. things have manifest, been created since the mound was built. These structures, or features, where created through the prayers, ceremony, rituals, meditations and good thoughts of visiting pilgrims.

A Natural (Energy) Vortex--The orange cushion marks a natural vortex of what I call Cosmic Prana; it is the prana/energy we attract when we meditate/pray or do good things, or have positive thoughts. It nourishes your soul and raises your consciousness.

It is separate from the vortices of the Earth Chakras. As I noted in Vortices and Spirals when we love, give, heal, practice ahimsa... Mother Earth may bless us with a natural vortex.

It is a wonderful soul nourishing gift from our Mother. A very positive sign and strong indication that the mound was used for spiritual purposes.

Two Water Veins--The white staffs mark water lines, or water veins; underground water flowing below the surface of the Earth. They begin underneath the boulder. You cannot find them on the other side of the boulder.

In fact, I strongly belief that they, like the vortex, were also created from the prayers and rituals of visiting pilgrims.

Ever since my survey of the Whangtown Stone Chambers I have taken a greater interest in looking for water veins when surveying sacred sites. I have also reread Sig Lonegren's book Spiritual Dowsing and his website, Mid-Atlantic Geomancy; as well as Tom Graves', Needles of Stone Revisited

Water Veins are a good historical marker for sacredness.

Amazing to think that fresh water can be drawn, and even created, through right living and spiritual practices. 

Wow. We have the ability to create soul nourishing energy vortices and life sustaining water through our actions and intentions.

Mother Earth is Amazing!


Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Toxic Algae Blooms in North Star Country

If you plan on visiting North Star Country and one of its lakes be aware that the spell of warm weather has kicked up Toxic Algae Blooms in many bodies of water in NYS and surrounding states. I have reported on this before Toxic Algae Blooms In NorthStar Lakes Poses threat

BE aware that coming in contact with Toxic Algae can make you sick and kill your pet. Recent blooms in pristine Skaneatlas Lake, where Syracuse gets its water from, and Seneca Lake have raised concerns among many. 

Here is a link to the NYS DEC's webpage listing the bodes of water affected in NYS; many places are not reporting, so the list is not complete:

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) Notifications Page

Per the DEC

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)

BGA sign
Cyanobacteria, previously known as blue-green algae, are naturally occurring microscopic organisms that are similar in appearance to algae. The blooms, which may look like discolorations in the water, are typically a blue-green color, but may also be red, yellow, or brown.
Most algae are harmless and are an important part of the food web in aquatic ecosystems. Certain types of algae grow quickly and form large blooms, which can cover all or portions of a lake. While many of these blooms are inoffensive in nature, some species of algae can produce toxins that can be harmful to people and animals. Blooms of algal species that can produce toxins are referred to as harmful algal blooms (HABs).
HABs are difficult to distinguish from non-harmful algal blooms, so it is best to avoid swimming, boating, otherwise recreating in, or drinking water with a bloom. Please visit the DEC HABs Notification Page to learn which waterbodies in New York state have which waterbodies currently have HABs.
For more information on HABs, please visit DEC’s website.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Onondaga Lake--NYS DEC Update

Here is the restoration plan for Onondaga Lake. You can read my letter at, My Letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service

New York State and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Release Final Plan Outlining Projects to Restore Wildlife Habitat and Recreation on Onondaga Lake

Final Report Result of Years of Scientific Study and Public Input

Future Projects Fund to Provide Millions of Dollars for Additional Projects with Community Input

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) today released the final plan outlining projects to restore wildlife habitat and recreation on Onondaga Lake. The Onondaga Lake Natural Resource Damage Assessment Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment Final Report is a significant milestone in the revitalization of Onondaga Lake.
"Onondaga Lake continues on the road to recovery, and the habitat conservation and recreation projects outlined in the final plan will ensure the important progress to revitalize the Lake advances quickly," said Kenneth Lynch, Executive Deputy Commissioner for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. "The public comments we received were essential in identifying a comprehensive suite of projects that will continue to improve the ecology of the lake's environment and connect more people to the incredible opportunities to enjoy the Lake."
The final plan increases habitat quality and quantity, promotes habitat connectivity, creates new and improves existing public use opportunities, and benefits natural resources within the ecosystem. The final plan and additional information on the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process can be found online at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website.
The agencies selected 20 restoration projects in the final restoration plan. These projects, in total, will:
  • Extend the Erie Canalway Trail from Camillus to the Loop the Lake Trail (3.2 miles) and from the Honeywell Visitor Center to Harbor Brook (1.2 miles);
  • Improve preservation efforts, bolster habitat restoration, and increase public access to more than 1,400 acres along Ninemile and Onondaga creeks in the Onondaga Lake watershed, including public fishing rights and parking areas;
  • Install structures within over 275 acres of Onondaga Lake to provide habitat for fish, amphibians, and invertebrates;
  • Provide 15 years of funding to identify and remove invasive species within approximately 1,700 acres of wetlands, lake/river littoral zone, and riparian habitat;
  • Restore wetland and fish habitat within and adjacent to Onondaga County parklands;
  • Restore 100 acres of warm season grassland;
  • Construct a new deepwater fishing pier on Onondaga Lake;
  • Enhance jetties at the Onondaga Lake outlet to improve access;
  • Construct a new boat launch along the Seneca River;
  • Transfer the Honeywell Visitor Center to a public agency; and
  • Include a new Future Projects Fund.
The selected restoration alternative is the result of significant public contribution including several years of input from partner organizations, community representatives, and existing documents and plans, culminating in four public information sessions, one public hearing, and more than 230 public comments on the draft plan submitted during the extended comment period. A Responsiveness Summary is included with the final plan, which summarizes public comments on the Restoration Plan, grouped by categories, and provides the Trustees' responses to those comments.
Specifically, the Trustees changed the Restoration Plan in response to public comments to include information on the proposed projects, as well as those projects that were not proposed for implementation. All project suggestions submitted in response to the Trustees' request for project suggestions are included, and additional text was added to clarify assessment methodologies, explain the public participation process, and discuss the role of the Onondaga Nation. Alternative B was clarified as the preferred alternative of a suite of projects that best meet the regulatory criteria.
The Plan acknowledges that certain geographic areas (e.g. Onondaga Creek) are not represented in Alternative B, but the Trustees will consider projects in those areas, as appropriate, as planning for additional projects under the Future Projects Fund proceeds. The Trustees will continue stakeholder outreach and public participation to solicit additional restoration projects and develop proposed projects that satisfy all relevant criteria.
David Stilwell, the USF&WS Field Supervisor at the New York Field Office, commented "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service looks forward to restoring and conserving the natural resources of Onondaga Lake and its watershed, in partnership with the local community."

Next Steps

Implementation of projects in the Restoration Plan is contingent upon settlement of the Trustees' Natural Resource Damages claims. This settlement will involve the preparation of a Consent Decree subject to additional public comment. The settlement will be combined with the $2.3 million in proceeds from a settlement reached as part of the General Motors bankruptcy in 2012, so that numerous additional restoration projects can be implemented using the Future Projects Fund.

About NRDAR

As part of the Onondaga Lake Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) process, DEC and USF&WS assessed contaminant-related injuries to natural resources such as waterfowl and turtles, and quantified the lost use of natural resources to the public, such as fishing. The agencies then solicited restoration project ideas from stakeholders to identify the types and scale of restoration needed to compensate for those injuries. The ultimate goal of the process is to replace, restore, rehabilitate, or acquire the equivalent of injured natural resources and resource services lost due to the release of hazardous substances-at no cost to the taxpayer.
Under federal law, federal and state agencies and Native American tribes are authorized to act as trustees on behalf of the public for natural resources they own, manage or control. In this role, trustees assess and recover damages or implement restoration projects to compensate for injuries to natural resources due to hazardous substance releases (e.g. mercury). The natural resource damage assessment regulations encourage the participation of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) in the assessment process, and Honeywell agreed to cooperatively assess natural resource damages and identify restoration projects at Onondaga Lake with the trustees. Read more information on this process at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/press.html

Peacemakers' Sanctuary, The Bench has arrived

We finally got the new bench delivered for the Peacemaker's Sanctuary. Unfortunately the Parks dept dropped it and it still needs to be moved to its proper location. If you would like to help please post a comment on this blog.

We are also saddened to be informed that the wooden bench that was lost or stolen will not be replaced.

Currently the bench is sitting next to the old bench. We are going to move it to where the old wooden bench once was on the other side of the culvert. I will post again when we have moved it.

Here are some pictures.


 Currently the new bench is next to the old bench, to the right in the photo.
 The dogs are where the new bench will go.
 The inscription on the plaque.


Monday, September 18, 2017

Images of Stonehenge they don't want you to see

Wow. Just got this link from Neara. Incredible to think that Stonehenge was reconstructed.

Click to read the article


The images of Stonehenge they DON’T want you to see




Sunday, September 17, 2017

Pagan Pride Pictures

Yesterday was a fun day at the Pagan Pride Day at Onondaga Lake Park's Long Branch Park. The weather was great, sunny and in 80°'s. A few people got dressed up. Here are some pic's



 Here I am (far right) with Jim Wilson and his son. You may remember Jim; he was one of the organizers of the Fairy Festival in Watertown's Thompson Park.

Some people even dressed up their dogs. The winged dog is greeting my Pepper (white dog) and Jaeda Bear (black dog.)

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Upcoming talks and Events

Friends,

I encourage you all to attend the CNY pagan pride day this Saturday (9-6) at Longbranch Park in Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool (western suburb of Syracuse.) I will be tabling there. This is a great chance to gather with people that love Mother Earth in a nice environment. The weather is forecast to be a beautiful sunny day. Free. Please bring a food donation.

Tuesday (7PM) I will be in Herkimer talking to the the newest American Society of Dowers Chapter (Herkimer) about my Sacred Sites in North Star Country book and why vortices are important--particularly to sacred sites. 

I am tentatively scheduled to be on TV Sunday October 15, 12 noon, Channel 9 WSYR--Newsmakers with Dan Cummings. Dan will interview me about Sacred Sites in upstate NY, the areas rich history and why I believe that upstate NY can be the next Sedona, Arizona that draws 3 million tourists a year for their vortices.

There will be an Earth Healers gathering Saturday, October 21st (11AM) at the Community Library of Dewitt and Jamesville--the new Library. Learn about Earth Healing and our dynamic relationship with Mother Earth. Basic dowsing (finding Ley Lines) will be taught. Please bring a pair of L-rods with you, or buy a pair, if you are interested. Group meditation. More information coming--I will post on this separately in the near future. Free.

Blessings,
madis


Sep 16, 2017
9:00 AM
Liverpool, NYCNY Pagan Pride Celebration Festival/Solsltice Celebration;music, lectures, events, vendor booths and more http://www.cnyppd.org...
See details
Sep 19, 2017
7:00 PM
Herkimer, NYHerkimer Dowsers--Basloe LibraryAuthor Talk Sacred Sites plus why vortices matter.
See details
Oct 4, 2017
7:00 PM
Fairport, New YorkFairport Public LibrarySacred Sites in Upstate New York That Changed The World Author Madis Senner, Sacred Sites in Nort...
See details
Oct 15, 2017
12:00 PM
Syracuse, NYChannel 9 WSYRTV Interview-- Discuss Sacred Sites in Upstate NY and why they will become a tourism--We are the nex...
See details
Oct 21, 2017
11:00 AM
JAMESVILLE, NYCommunity Library of Dewitt and JamesvilleEarth Healers Gathering--Gather with rlike minded folk and learn about our dynamic relationship with...
See details

Monday, September 11, 2017

Bill McKibben--Stop Talking about Climate Change--It's Here

From the UK Guardian

Stop talking right now about the threat of climate change. It’s here; it’s happening



For the sake of keeping things manageable, let’s confine the discussion to a single continent and a single week: North America over the last seven days.
In Houston they got down to the hard and unromantic work of recovery from what economists announced was probably the most expensive storm in US history, and which weather analysts confirmed was certainly the greatest rainfall event ever measured in the country – across much of its spread it was a once-in-25,000-years storm, meaning 12 times past the birth of Christ; in isolated spots it was a once-in-500,000-years storm, which means back when we lived in trees. Meanwhile, San Francisco not only beat its all-time high temperature record, it crushed it by 3C, which should be pretty much statistically impossible in a place with 150 years (that’s 55,000 days) of record-keeping.
That same hot weather broke records up and down the west coast, except in those places where a pall of smoke from immense forest fires kept the sun shaded – after a forest fire somehow managed to jump the mighty Columbia river from Oregon into Washington, residents of the Pacific Northwest reported that the ash was falling so thickly from the skies that it reminded them of the day Mount St Helens erupted in 1980.
That same heat, just a little farther inland, was causing a “flash drought” across the country’s wheat belt of North Dakota and Montana – the evaporation from record temperatures had shrivelled grain on the stalk to the point where some farmers weren’t bothering to harvest at all. In the Atlantic, of course, Irma was barrelling across the islands of the Caribbean (“It’s like someone with a lawnmower from the sky has gone over the island,” said one astounded resident of St Maarten). The storm, the first category five to hit Cuba in a hundred years, is currently battering the west coast of Florida after setting a record for the lowest barometric pressure ever measured in the Keys, and could easily break the 10-day-old record for economic catastrophe set by Harvey; it’s definitely changed the psychology of life in Florida for decades to come.
Oh, and while Irma spun, Hurricane Jose followed in its wake as a major hurricane, while in the Gulf of Mexico, Katia spun up into a frightening storm of her own, before crashing into the Mexican mainland almost directly across the peninsula from the spot where the strongest earthquake in 100 years had taken dozens of lives.
Leaving aside the earthquake, every one of these events jibes with what scientists and environmentalists have spent 30 fruitless years telling us to expect from global warming. (There’s actually fairly convincing evidence that climate change is triggering more seismic activity, but there’s no need to egg the pudding.)
That one long screed of news from one continent in one week (which could be written about many other continents and many other weeks – just check out the recent flooding in south Asia for instance) is a precise, pixelated portrait of a heating world. Because we have burned so much oil and gas and coal, we have put huge clouds of CO2 and methane in the air; because the structure of those molecules traps heat the planet has warmed; because the planet has warmed we can get heavier rainfalls, stronger winds, drier forests and fields. It’s not mysterious, not in any way. It’s not a run of bad luck. It’s not Donald Trump (though he’s obviously not helping). It’s not hellfire sent to punish us. It’s physics.
Maybe it was too much to expect that scientists’ warnings would really move people. (I mean, I wrote The End of Nature, the first book about all this 28 years ago this week, when I was 28 – and when my theory was still: “People will read my book, and then they will change.”) Maybe it’s like all the health warnings that you should eat fewer chips and drink less soda, which, to judge by belt-size, not many of us pay much mind. Until, maybe, you go to the doctor and he says: “Whoa, you’re in trouble.” Not “keep eating junk and some day you’ll be in trouble”, but: “You’re in trouble right now, today. As in, it looks to me like you’ve already had a small stroke or two.” Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are the equivalent of one of those transient ischaemic attacks – yeah, your face is drooping oddly on the left, but you can continue. Maybe. If you start taking your pills, eating right, exercising, getting your act together.
That’s the stage we’re at now – not the warning on the side of the pack, but the hacking cough that brings up blood. But what happens if you keep smoking? You get worse, till past a certain point you’re not continuing. We’ve increased the temperature of the Earth a little more than 1C so far, which has been enough extra heat to account for the horrors we’re currently witnessing. And with the momentum built into the system, we’re going to go somewhere near 2C, no matter what we do. That will be considerably worse than where we are now, but maybe it will be expensively endurable.
The problem is, our current business-as-usual trajectory takes us to a world that’s about 3.5C warmer. That is to say, even if we kept the promises we made at Paris (which Trump has already, of course, repudiated) we’re going to build a planet so hot that we can’t have civilisations. We have to seize the moment we’re in right now – the moment when we’re scared and vulnerable – and use it to dramatically reorient ourselves. The last three years have each broken the record for the hottest year ever measured – they’re a red flashing sign that says: “Snap out of it.” Not bend the trajectory somewhat, as the Paris accords envisioned, but simultaneously jam on the fossil fuel brakes and stand on the solar accelerator (and also find some metaphors that don’t rely on internal combustion).
We could do it. It’s not technologically impossible – study after study has shown we can get to 100% renewables at a manageable cost, more manageable all the time, since the price of solar panels and windmills keeps plummeting. Elon Musk is showing you can churn out electric cars with ever-lower sticker shock. In remote corners of Africa and Asia, peasants have begun leapfrogging past fossil fuel and going straight to the sun. The Danes just sold their last oil company and used the cash to build more windmills. There are just enough examples to make despair seem like the cowardly dodge it is. But everyone everywhere would have to move with similar speed, because this is in fact a race against time. Global warming is the first crisis that comes with a limit – solve it soon or don’t solve it. Winning slowly is just a different way of losing.
Winning fast enough to matter would mean, above all, standing up to the fossil fuel industry, so far the most powerful force on Earth. It would mean postponing other human enterprises and diverting other spending. That is, it would mean going on a war-like footing: not shooting at enemies, but focusing in the way that peoples and nations usually only focus when someone’s shooting at them. And something is. What do you think it means when your forests are on fire, your streets are underwater, and your buildings are collapsing?
 Bill McKibben is a writer and the founder of the climate campaign 350.org