Sunday, December 31, 2017

Technology Kills--WHO to declare new malady--GAMING DISORDER

CBS reports that, "The World Health Organization is considering designating "gaming disorder" as a mental health condition if it consistently disrupts other aspects of a person's life."

This is just another example how pernicious a force technology is in our lives:

  • It is addictive.
  • It isolates us.
  • It makes us less empathic.
  • Diminishes our sensory perceptions.
  • Dumbs us down.
  • Robs us of spiritual nutrition from Mother Earth.

Not surprisingly the voting for the YouTube video is almost 2 to 1 thumbs down. Clearly the Internet/YouTube/FaceBook/Gaming worlds, like anyone addicted to anything cannot see that they have a problem.

Watch the Video:


Excessive video gaming may get mental diagnosis





Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Gossamer Wood, Please Donate to our Effort to Buy this Sacred Place and Protect it for Perpetuity

Friends,

We have initiated our effort to purchase the grounds of Gossamer Wood Retreat Healing Center in Canandaigua, NY for our not for profit Jubilee Initiative and protect it for perpetuity. To make it a refuge for  seekers and lovers of Nature to enjoy Mother Earth at Her best. Until we purchase Gossamer Wood it will only be open for special events. PLEASE DO NOT VISIT AT OTHER TIMES.

The grounds of Gossamer Wood have been a sacred site for millennia. We wish to keep that tradition going. Please consider donating to our effort by visiting the Gossamer Wood website, or by clicking on the Donate button on the upper right.

We will be putting a big push on in the spring when the snow melts  with visits and more. Some have been already donated for tax purposes this year; that is the reason for the donation request at this time. In case you were looking to make a year end donation. 

The Gossamer Wood website has a plethora of information about Gossamer Wood:

  • A writeup of Gossamer
  • A trail Map
  • information about Jubilee Initiative
  • A DRAFT of the survey Map and Conservation Easement to protect it
  • information where you can send money if you do not want to donate online.
  • more...
Thanks for your time and consideration. Some pictures to follow (click the title above to see them if you are getting this message as an email.)

Blessings,
madis
http://motherearthprayers.blogspot.com/2017/

Bill Dewey standing on the bridge that takes you to the "Other Side" and the "Tall Oaks" area.

The original trail system on the north side of the grounds.

One of the many sacred areas that have been marked off for Pilgrims to experience.

Trail System on the back southside near the creek in early spring.

The old welcome circle. Over the years all the meditating, smudging and prayers done before entering caused an energy vortex to form. Magic!

The new Welcome Circle on the north side in the "Ancient Area." This is where you will enter and smudge yourself before entering.

One of many Manitou Stones on the grounds. This one marks the intersection of two Ley Lines in the "Ancient Area." All the Manitou Stones on the grounds are a pretty good indication that the Gossamer Grounds date back to at least the Early Woodland Period (1,000 BC to 0AD) if not earlier.


Kareen and Brooke sitting in what they have dubbed the "Women's Circle" if I memory is correct. It is located next to the main trail in the "Ancient Area" and not far from the new Welcome Circle. They kept telling me they felt such warmth and love there; Feminine Energy they called it. They were right as the next photo shows.
The black oval over the large stones in the "Women's Circle" mark a formation of Mother Earth. There are no other large boulders, or any other rocks of any size, close to this area. So the question were the stones welled up by Mother Earth or did an ancient Native American culture place them there? If the later, then it was done thousands of years ago as I discussed in an earlier post, Sacred Sites Update--Gossamer's Sacred Stones The water dome below the formation is a very good indication that much praying and ceremony took place at the "Women's Circle."







Monday, December 25, 2017

Why I Can't Celebrate Christmas

Like many of you I grew up celebrating Christmas. I always cherished Christmas and the spirit it brought.That feeling only grew when I moved to NYC and began my Wall Street career. Coming home for the holidays was a chance to spend time with my mom and a great joy. When I got married I would travel to Syracuse to spend time with my mom and catch an early morning flight Christmas Day to St. Louis to spend the day with my then wife and her family. 

However, things began to change after I left Wall Street and accepted God's call.   Leaving Wall Street began my disconnection from its group think of money and materialism. As I noted in Vortices and Spirals, the circles (groups we belong to) in our life exert a tremendous pull upon us; and I was breaking free. Committing to being God's servant began a long journey of exploration and introspection. It also had me spending hours a day doing spiritual exercises and reading sacred texts and spiritual books.




A Season of Commercialism
While I had long been concerned about the commercialization of Christmas those feeling only increased. The Back Friday melees, the updated reporting of Christmas sales, all the nonstop commercials, everyone taking about things, things and more things.

This ongoing barrage began to wear at me.

Within a few years I stopped putting up a Christmas Tree. No decorations.

I stopped making  Christmas Day Dinner. I would however still go to friends for Christmas and exchange presents.


A Stolen Holiday
As I grew closer to Mother Earth and began to read about Her I learned about the origins of Christmas. That Christmas was an attempt to thwart the celebration of the Winter Solstice and that Jesus was actually born in the spring time of the year. You might want to read How the Winter Solstice was stolen by Christmas.

It became increasingly clear that Christmas was an effort by the church hierarchy to supplant the solstice celebration. 

I began to celebrate the solstice. Not as an act of rebellion, but as an act of love for our Mother.




Usurped Again
In some ways I have come full circle and now see that Christmas has been usurped by commercialization/materialism/capitalism the same way that it usurped the Solstice. Karma.

While I do not celebrate, I miss that sliver of kindness, generosity and joy that was able to   survive and not be overwhelmed by the world of things and commercialization. If you can grasp and hold on to that divine light, I bless you.

I cannot celebrate Christmas because to do so would be an affront to our Mother that I so love.





Thursday, December 21, 2017

Celebrate The Solstice

The winter solstice occurs at 11:28 EST and the days begin to get longer. Please say a prayer, give thanks or honor this day in some way.

As darkness turns to increasing light take this time, in the midst of a hectic world, to stop, to listen and to be. Honor Mother Earth and give thanks to Her. See the beauty of Nature and renew your connection with the universe. Behold the wonder and beauty of our Mother.

Celebrate. A new birth is upon us. A new start. A new Journey is about to begin. Rejoice!

Look forward to winter’s hibernation and the introspection and soul searching it brings. A wonderful time to reflect and digest what has been and what will be. Take this time to plant the seeds of what will be.

As the days lengthen and the light shines evermore we rejoice that new birth of understanding of the integrity of creation  will soon be born. 

Go outside and give your Mother a Big Hug.



Thursday, December 14, 2017

Fracking--Moms Living within 3KM of a Frack Site have lower weight babies

A new study shows that Moms living  within 3 KM of a Fracking site have a 25% greater chance of giving birth to a low weight baby. Fracking injects harmful chemicals into Mother Earth, it is not surprising that people living close to a fracking site suffer.

Hydraulic fracturing and infant health: New evidence from Pennsylvania


The chart below is of births and fractured wells in Pennsylvania. The ones in the northeast are very close to NY's southern Tier.





Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Arctic Melt

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reported yesterday that the  Arctic saw 2nd warmest year, smallest winter sea ice coverage on record in 2017

The chart below from this years Arctic Report puts the sharp decline in sea ice in perspective (bottom chart.)


Some of the findings of its 12th annual Arctic Report were,

Warmer air temperature. Average annual air temperature over land was the second highest after 2016 in the observational record, with a temperature 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 Celsius) above the average for 1981 to 2010.  

Declining sea ice. This year’s maximum winter sea ice area, measured each March, was the lowest ever observed, while this year’s minimum area, measured each September, was eighth-lowest on record. Sea ice is also getting thinner each year, with year-old ice comprising 79 percent of coverage, and multi-year ice just 21 percent. In 1985, multi-year ice accounted for 45 percent of sea ice.

Above average ocean temperature. Sea surface temperatures in August 2017 were 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) above the average in the Barents and Chukchi seas. Surface waters of the Chukchi Sea have warmed 1.26 degrees Fahrenheit (0.7 Celsius) per decade since 1982.

Arctic ocean plankton blooms increasing. Springtime melting and retreating sea ice which allows sunlight to reach the upper layers of the ocean, continues to stimulate increased chlorophyll as measured by satellite, which indicates more marine plant growth across the Arctic. This increase has occurred since measurements began in 2003.

Greener tundra. Overall vegetation, including plants getting bigger and leafier, and shrubs and trees taking over grassland or tundra, increased across the Arctic in 2015 and 2016, as measured by satellite. The greatest increases over the last three decades are occurring on the North Slope of Alaska, Canada’s tundra and Taimyr Peninsula of Siberia. The annual report on vegetation is based largely on data from sensors aboard NOAA weather satellites.

Snow cover up in Asia, down in North America. For the 11th year in the past 12, snow cover in the North American Arctic was below average, with communities experiencing earlier snow melt. The Eurasian part of the Arctic saw above average snow cover extent in 2017, the first time that’s happened since 2005.

Less melt on Greenland Ice Sheet. Melting began early on the Greenland Ice Sheet in 2017, but slowed during a cooler summer, resulting in below-average melting when compared to the previous nine years. Overall, the Greenland Ice Sheet, a major contributor to sea level rise, continued to lose mass this past year, as it has since 2002 when measurements began.



Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Technology Kills--Facebook is Destroying Society

Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society

‘No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth.’

You are being programmed

Another former Facebook executive has spoken out about the harm the social network is doing to civil society around the world. Chamath Palihapitiya, who joined Facebook in 2007 and became its vice president for user growth, said he feels “tremendous guilt” about the company he helped make. “I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works,” he told an audience at Stanford Graduate School of Business, before recommending people take a “hard break” from social media. 
Palihapitiya’s criticisms were aimed not only at Facebook, but the wider online ecosystem. “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we’ve created are destroying how society works,” he said, referring to online interactions driven by “hearts, likes, thumbs-up.” “No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem — this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem.” 
He went on to describe an incident in India where hoax messages about kidnappings shared on WhatsApp led to the lynching of seven innocent people. “That’s what we’re dealing with,” said Palihapitiya. “And imagine taking that to the extreme, where bad actors can now manipulate large swathes of people to do anything you want. It’s just a really, really bad state of affairs.” He says he tries to use Facebook as little as possible, and that his children “aren’t allowed to use that shit.” He later adds, though, that he believes the company “overwhelmingly does good in the world.”

https://youtu.be/PMotykw0SIk

Friday, December 8, 2017

Winter Is Coming

Friends,

With winter coming I thought it would be good to reflect on the article i wrote for the American Society of Dowsers Digest last Winter. It tells how winter is a time for reflection and contemplation and can be a time of  great solace. Find time this winter to look within.

Winter is coming.

Blessings,
madis

Winter’s Solace

While many see winter as a time of bitter cold, being housebound, limited activity, snow shoveling and other dreads, I see it otherwise. To me it is a time of reflection, inner growth and spiritual development. It is time to look within, at the journey of the past year and prepare for the time ahead. Winter is a refuge for our soul that brings a quiet beauty and serenity.  

We have become so disconnected from Mother Earth, at so many levels. One of which is the diminishing of  the  powerful impact that Her seasons have upon us. We have heated and air conditioned houses, trips to different climes whenever we wish, or we can eat foods out of season. We are increasingly less and less at the mercy of seasonal changes. 

Winter brings shorter days and colder weather. It is a time of hibernation, of drawing in and solitude; which unfortunately many see as loneliness. So instead we turn to our savior of technology and surf the net, or call friends. But are we really connected and what does this bring us—little good. Technology disconnects us. Punch up  “technology disconnects us” on the Internet and you will get a slew of articles and books.

It is that solitude that winter forces upon us, if we let it, that I so much appreciate. I long for wintry days that make me housebound and force me to meditate more, disconnect from technology and explore and reflect. It is a gift from our Mother and Great Spirit.

Have you ever spent a day not talking, or using technology?

The Hindu mystic Meher Baba spent the last 44 years of his life in silence. He often fasted and took long secluded retreats. He achieved the meditative state of Samadhi and was considered by his devotees, to be an avatar, or incarnation of God.

Ask yourself, “Am I afraid to be alone and in silence?... Am I afraid to give into to the direction our Mother wishes to lead me?”

I have spent many winter days in solitude, days when I would spend all day in my pajamas in front of my altar meditating and contemplating and asking God for direction. Only taking time out to read sacred texts. I imagine everyone else complained about those bitter cold days; to me they were a joy, as I vacationed from everyday life with God and great souls.

Take a day, a weekend and see how long you can remain silent, not use technology and put yourself in a contemplative mind. 

Years ago I read a quote from a Transcendentalist, Thoreau or Emerson, I forgot which one. It was a quote about the fellow who got 12 to 13 letters consistently with each post office delivery, many more times than anyone else. But the author questioned whether the person knew themselves, because they spent so much time writing and had little time for solitude and reflection. Change letter to technology.

Even before I began my spiritual quest I subconsciously knew the benefits of solitude. I would annually take solo canoe trips to Canada’s Algonquin Park that would last a week, or longer. I would often go in the spring to reduce the chances of seeing others; it even snowed one spring when I was there. I would run around with my backpack and canoe on my shoulders like a mad man and push myself on the water. But I always dawdled and spent hours for breakfast and after supper reflecting upon my current state and life in general. I would always be healed on those sojourns, no matter what my travails were. I look back at those trips with great joy.

While many great mystics and teachers who lived in warmer climes did not have the Master of winter to guide them, they understood the transformative power of solitude. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness before he began his ministry. Buddha roamed as vagabond, often in solitude and meditated for long periods.  It is said he mediated underneath the Bodhi Tree for seven days before he reached enlightenment. Native American’s would go into the Wilderness and Cry for a Vision. Great Buddhist and Hindu sages would spend years in solitude meditating in caves and achieved the highest states of Samadhi and enormous spiritual gifs. The cave where the Tibetan Buddhist Milarepa meditated for years in solitude still contains the imprint of his hand where he plunged his fist into the wall of the cave.

Winter is trying to guide you, to nudge you toward that solitude that will transform you and elevate your consciousness. The great sages have shown you the fruits of solitude. Say thank you to your Mother. A great gift has been provided to you. Embrace it.


Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Serpent Mound--AGain its more than 2,00 years old

I came across the following report while working on my next book on Adena Ceremonial Sites. It is the most recent reporting on the dating of Serpent Mound, the world's largest effigy mound in Peebles, Ohio. Using radiocarbon dating they have confirmed that Serpent Mound is 2,300 years old, so it was made in the Early Woodland period and the Adena Culture.

First you might want to read my writeup and pictures I took in May of 2016 while visiting Serpent Mound.

Serpent Mound (Ohio, Pennsylvania) Trip and Survey; Part 2

Radiocarbon Dates Reveal Serpent Mound Is Morethan Two Thousand Years Old
William F. Romain, Edward W. Herrmann, G. William Monaghan & Jarrod Burks
To cite this article: William F. Romain, Edward W. Herrmann, G. William Monaghan & Jarrod Burks (2017) Radiocarbon Dates Reveal Serpent Mound Is More than Two Thousand Years Old, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, 42:3, 201-222, DOI: 10.1080/01461109.2017.1371871
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01461109.2017.1371871

Friday, December 1, 2017

Earth Healers Gathering January 20, 2018 11 AM

Earth Healers Gathering

When:  Saturday, October 21st, 11 AM

WhereDewitt & Jamesville Library, 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 will begin with basic dowsing for Ley Lines. Instruction will be provided. Bring your L-rods if you have a pair, if not you can buy or borrow a pair.