My Birthday Celebration - GreenSong!

Dear people,


I hope this posting finds you well in body and in spirit. I'm reaching out to you today to let you know about an amazing event we are planning for June of this year. It is called GreenSong, and it is a celebration of my 81st birthday, complete with music, fellowship, and workshops; all dedicated to one cause - changing our focus and shifting the future.

 I want you most especially to be part of this celebration, so please consider joining us by both attending and by helping to get the word out. Remember I will be 81 only once!

GreenSong's mission is to foster music that promotes a harmonious relationship between individuals, and between humans and the natural world. Our goal is to help the power of song play a more significant role in shifting human values and culture, leading to a greater compassion for all beings, a deeper acceptance of personal responsibility, and a more frugal use of resources.

I hope you are inspired to join us, June 2nd through the 5th, at GreenSong.

I also ask that you help spread the word about this exciting event by bringing the attached flyer to your grocery store, fellowship, favorite coffee shop, or bookstore. Hang it up on community boards where other folks can find out about this exciting event. And share this letter and flyer with all your favorite lists!

I’m excited about the opportunity to share this event with you, and I thank you for helping me share with others the news about GreenSong.



I hold you in my heart,

Grandmother Elspeth

Our Journeys

Week of Oct 18th to Oct 27th 2010


We had a lovely restful week at Duck - well, restful except for the fact that I was researching books for "The Feminine Divine." We saw the sunrise several mornings and shared the coming of dusk a number of evenings down by the ocean. We also had a few friends, Candy and her niece, visit with us there.

Right now, I am on the second of three nights of lectures here in the Charleston SC area. Last night did "Sticks, Stones, and Straw" - Had a group of about 26 or so - best presentation ever on this material .Very responsive crowd! This lecture uses stories to bring to attention some of the challenges we are/will be facing. Also we are encouraged to recognize our own power to alter the reality around us.

Our hosts are Tammy and Daniel have been wonderful to us, even to letting Nybor play with their computer!

Tonight will be the virgin offering of "The Feminine Divine." I’m very excited about it. We will also be doing this at FPG in Ocala for the Samhain Festival being held Nov 4th – 7th.

The Feminine Divine – Thought Forms and Archetypes

with Elspeth of Haven

For more than 2000 years the projective qualities of might-makes-right, competition, logic, and the-ends-justify-the-means have vastly overshadowed the receptive qualities of cooperation, compassion, justice, intuition and relationship. This has given us a world of constant war, public and private destruction of the earth, vast material gains of the few at the expense of our human and spiritual development.

This unparalleled spread of unconstrained power is most evident in western culture, where the balance of power is off so badly. Could that relate to the fact that in these "First World" countries the Goddesses, divine personifications of female attributes, have been left out of our culture?

Using Nybor's 13 Goddess paintings and some other images, we will seek them and call back some of the power and honor we have let drift away.

I will tell you more about the FPG classes later.

Bright Blessings to All

Blessing of an Infant

Here are some pictures made last July at Sirius Rising in NY. The young lady's name is"Ava Bo Anne," her Mother is Allyson, her father is Tobias, Fred Hatt made the lovely pictures, and I am the celebrant.

I'm sharing them with you, not only because she is a delightful child - isn't she beautiful! - but also because it made me think about why we, in the Neo-Pagan movement do this.

We are not saving the child from "Original Sin," and while the parents are charged to care for the child and give her/him the best care they can; that's not all that's happening.

Called a "Wiccaning," in those circles, a Wiccaning generally has a Wiccan format. However, the blessing of an infant might involve much more than simply a format.

Let me tell you how my manner of blessing came about:

At the second Stone's Rising, in 1996, we raised two stones, one with a perfectly round hole in it. Later that evening, a couple came to me. Their new baby had been conceived at my Birthday Party the previous August and they felt I was the one to make a blessing for him.

I said "Bring him to me at the stone circle at dawn." I didn't know what was going to happen, but I trust the god/desses for guidance.

The next morning, I met John and Maria with their son at the place of the stones. A number of other people were present. In fact Andre Arthen, founder of Earth Spirit, was there and wrote a poem about what happened.

I told the parents to remove the baby's clothing and pass him to me through the hole in the stone. As I took the child, I said to the parents, "Name this child." They gave me his name - (I can only remember "Corbin.") I called out in a loud voice, "A new man had been born to the tribe! We name him Corbin! Come all you spirit beings and attend!"

First I placed the baby on the ground and called upon to Mother Earth: that this child might know both the divinity and the relatedness of all beings.

Next, I raised him on high and called to Sky Father, asking for His blessings of imagination with no limitations.

Then, to each of the elementals in turn; Air, for the power of intellect and communication, Fire, for the will and drive to act, Water, for deep and strong feelings, and Earth, for the stability of being grounded in his own creative energy.

Lastly, I called to Spirit, the universal oneness, and asked a special blessing that he might grow strong in spirit as well as body.

After naming him again, I charged the parents with his well-being; physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. They did accept this stricture, and I returned the newly acknowledged Corbin to his parents.

Since that time, I have used this way of calling blessings on a child. It seems to me that we, as those responsible for incarnating a soul, need all the help we can! It is rather closer to Native culture, than to traditional Wicca, etc., but then, so am I.

As with any magical working, the words , while they must be chosen to express the sense of the working, are less important than the intent.

How does it strike you - this business of blessing infants?"

Please share your thought.

Elspeth's 80th Birthday Celebration

Elspeth and her beloved Nybor

80th Birthday Celebration

Convenience

This morning while I was waiting for some repair work on Harvey, the RV, I heard two of the mechanics talking about the weather - the forecasts have been predicting rain, thunderstorms, high winds, etc. for over a week now, though no rain had yet fallen, only a hot dry wind taunted us.
The conversation was mostly about "convenience"; how "bad" weather during the work day is SO very inconvenient, and the same happening during the night is "more convenient."

It started me thinking about how our culture is based on convenience almost as much as on consumption.

We have "convenience foods" ie, prepackaged, even precooked - just need warming.We have such efficient warming and cooling mechanisms that we never need feel the real weather.

We can move so fast in our cars that 100 miles is just a few hours travel - what if you were walking? How far could you go in a day? How important is your travel?

Having the "convenience" of electric lights allows us to avoid the darkness of night any time we choose, so that sunrise and sunset are no longer valued.

Most of us don't bake the bread we eat, nor make the fire (heat) that cooks it - we don't even know how to grow the grain that will be ground to make bread.

It occurs to me that like a muscle that atrophies from misuse - our inability to live in the world without these "conveniences" is making us flabby, physically, mentally, and, maybe, even spiritually.

Why do we join gyms and health clubs to "work out," go to ski resorts, or to tropical beaches for "recreation." If our lives offered enough physical challenges we wouldn't need to create them artificially.

If we made our own music, told our own stories, danced our own dances, instead of watching someone else do it - how would our lives be enriched?
To chop wood for the winter warms you twice - once when you chop it and then when you sit before a warm fire in cold weather.

When you grow that tomato, even in a pot on the windowsill, it will have a different taste. You tended it. You watched it become. Your food can become more than simply prepackaged anonymous vegetation.

I suggest that seeking out challenges where ever they may be found equals exercise - even if it is metaphorical exercise. Perhaps building our metaphorical muscles will bring us closer to awakening from our psycho-spiritual slumber.
What do you think?

Please share your thoughts.

Until next time....

First Virtual Council

Hi there,


I just signed up for the first Virtual Council with the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. It's an unprecedented gathering with some of our world's wisest elders in dialogue and prayer focused on healing our planet!


International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers Sign up today

The more people that join the call, the greater the power of the blessings we can send out. Should be fantastic, so I hope you can join in!


Elspeth

Teach At The Beach 2010

Teach At The Beach 2010
ELSPETH & NYBOR present......AN INTENSE WEEK OF ADVANCED MATERIAL

Where? THE BARRIER ISLANDS OF NORTH CAROLINA

When: OCTOBER 9-16, 2010

Elspeth-"Personal Myths" & Nybor-"Divination-Theory & Practice"
Kirk White, MA, LAc -"Heal, Hale, Holy - Elemental Healer Training"
Becky Shiningbearheart LMT - “Feeding the Mother of All Things”
Crow Swimsaway PhD -"Shamanic Cosmologies"
Evening classes-"Sacred Ritual"

ACCOMMODATIONS: A luxurious house on the beach in Corolla, NC, near fine restaurants, historical sites, wild nature.

LOCATION: One and one half hours from Norfolk International Airport. Thirty minutes north of the First Flight Memorial

Fees cover: Shared bedroom, 6 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 3 dinners, and all classes.

If you pay early, you get a great discount.
January 1 - March 15 - $450.00
March 16 - July - $540.00 after July - $630.00

Checks/Money Orders to: "Teach at the Beach"- Paypal to "Chrysalis"

Questions? call 304-788-6440 or email elspeth80@comcast.net

Mail to: "Teach at the Beach," 272 Spruce Drive, Keyser, WV 26726

Name__________________________________________________________

Address_____________________________________________

Phone ______________ Email_______________________________

Omnivore __ Vegetarian __ Food allergies? _____________________

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(You can copy paste this flyer is needed)
Please share with all your friends !