Newsletter Contribution for Change - Human, Social, Ecological, Creative and October 2014 Spiritual

The Parallel Community is a Parallel Community linking network and a platform where people can express and develop their positive Newsletter contribution for change - human, social, ecological, creative and October 2014 spiritual.

WELCOME! Welcome to Parallel Community’s October newsletter! We hope you will find plenty of items of interest in its pages. You will find items on dowsing, a pilgrimage with a horse, education, a conference on urban pilgrimage, bees, Samhainn, the human brain, book reviews, and much more besides.

We in the Core Team sincerely apologise to everyone for the delay in the appearance of this newsletter; this was due to circumstances beyond our control. Our former newsletter editor Frances is stepping back into her editor’s shoes, for the time being, until we can find someone who is willing to try them on in her place. If you think you might be up for the job, please drop Frances a line at [email protected] for a chat about it and what it entails. In the meantime, if you have written anything that you’d like to submit for consideration for our next newsletter, due out in early December, please don’t hesitate to send it in. Send it either direct to Frances, or to the PC email address at the end of the newsletter. We are all really looking forward to hearing from you.

MATTHEW MANNING HEALING CIRCLES Parallel Community has invited the healer Matthew Manning to conduct another of his healing circles next month, following the sell-out success of the last one organised by PC. This is PC’s next big event, and will be taking place on Sunday November 16th, at Marazion Community Centre, West Cornwall.

All are welcome to come and receive healing from Matthew Manning, the world's most scientifically tested healer, in one of his successful and popular Healing Circles. Matthew says that healing can be as effective in a healing circle as on a one-to-one basis, if not even more so, as the healing energy can feel amplified. Healing circles have also been found to be very effective for those wishing to attend on behalf of someone in need of distant healing. Anyone can benefit, whether you are looking for a healing experience, a sense of peace, or to recharge your energies.

There will be two separate Healing Circles, each seating up to 40 people; the first one will be from 11am-12.30pm, and the second from 2-3.30pm. You can register for just one circle or for both circles. This will be a very popular event and it will be necessary to take bookings and payments in advance, on a first- come, first-served basis. The cost is £30 per person, per circle.

To reserve a place, or for more information, email Nathascha Heijen at [email protected]

Walking With Lottie – A Pilgrimage with a Horse

By Janet Bradshaw In May 2014 I set out from Hopton on Sea, Norfolk to walk across England to Carn Lês Boel, near Land’s End in Cornwall, roughly following the ley lines of St Michael and St Mary, as mapped by Hamish Miller, founder of Parallel Community, and others. I took my horse Lottie (also known as Arwen) with me to carry my packs which included camping things. I also started with my little Border terrier Bridie; but her legs wore out after the first few days and she ended up being delivered back home!

We walked a total of 532 miles in seven and a half weeks, doing an average of 12 miles a day with rest days every 5 or 6 days. Mostly I tried to walk along small side roads and byways so as to avoid traffic as much as possible. Many of the byways and bridleways in the east of England were well maintained and peaceful, with lots of hares playing along the route and a constant chorus of cuckoos. However as we reached the middle of England and came through Oxfordshire to Wiltshire the tracks were often overgrown or muddy and sometimes obstructed by fallen trees or stiles.

I had tried to pre-arrange places to stop overnight before I left home, my priority being to have somewhere safe for Lottie to graze, as I could be more flexible about where I camped or stayed as long as I knew she was secure and happy. The vast majority of my stopping places were with complete strangers: people I had made contact with through lists of liveries, the Riding for the Disabled Association, Jacob Sheep Society, vets, churches and friends of friends of friends! I was so amazingly blessed by all the people who I stayed with: their kindness and generosity was immense. I arrived as a tired, dishevelled stranger, either Lottie, Jan, and Bridie leaving Hopton hot and sweaty or plastered with rain and mud, and left the following morning as a friend. My accommodation was different nearly every night and included camping in my tent in a remote field, sleeping in a stable or a swimming pool changing hut, glamping in a shepherd’s hut, sleeping in a café surrounded by donkeys, a school room next to a racehorse training track, comfortable bedrooms in homes or having the sole use of a luxurious holiday cottage, complete with cream tea provided. I was well fed on many occasions; my washing was done and people went out of their way to look after Lottie, Bridie and I. Once word had spread via my blog about my addiction to coca cola, I was often presented with a chilled can as soon as I crossed the threshold!

It took me a while to get used to being made so welcome over and over again by strangers; and, whilst I would never take it for granted, it became easier to accept as I travelled. It felt that many people enjoyed being a part of my journey and helping to make it possible, as much as I enjoyed undertaking it. People often commented that I was an inspiration to them; but after hearing their stories it was I who felt privileged and inspired. Life is often challenging and yet people are so resilient, finding ways to embrace the difficulties - emotional, financial, physical - and still have hearts and minds open to support others like myself on my journey. There were many angels I met on my travels: people who took my unannounced arrival as a drowned rat on their doorstep in their stride, offering me a bed, bath and supper as refuge from the storms, or who not only provided food, bath and bed one night but drove to meet me at my next night’s accommodation, bearing provisions in the form of a meal that was not only beautiful to look at but wonderful to eat, as well as my packs and Bridie. The day Lottie and I got stuck in a bog - luckily only briefly but long enough to be plastered in bog - I stayed in wonderful holiday cottage with use of a washing machine and was fortified with wine and a barbecue. Others had explored my route ahead of me and worked out points of potential difficulty, coming to meet me to escort us across mainline railway lines or showing me the best way across the hills or lanes to avoid traffic, rivers or other obstacles.

The process of walking across England was not always as easy as it sounds. I had not realised just how time consuming and complicated it would be to try and plan my route and arrange all my stops at reasonable distances from each other. Keeping everyone informed of my progress and estimated day and time of arrival took much time and effort. The wonders of modern technology in the form of a smart phone do enable ongoing communication once in transit; but I soon discovered the frustrations of blog posts not being posted, even on third attempt of writing and posting; emails that would arrive but which disappeared from my phone a day later; and although it appeared outgoing emails were being sent, it gradually transpired that they never reached their destination. And of course, crossing Dartmoor over several days I was totally out of signal range and unable to give or receive any kind of message!

There were days when our feet seemed to find a perfect rhythm and the miles passed easily, under a blue sky surrounded by beautiful countryside. On other days it was a struggle from the moment Lottie awoke in a bad mood after a night beside a busy road. Days when the packs would keep slipping one side then the other, my feet were blistered and sore, my Achilles tendon swelled up and hurt no matter how I walked, Bridie’s toe nails wore down and her feet bled, or the way was stony and Lottie refused to move. When it rained for several days and nights, it wasn’t just the falling rain that was a challenge, so much as the mud splashing up from below our feet and Jan with Ba at Carn Lês Boel causing us to slip and slide as much backwards and sideways as forwards. In the midst of too much sliding under her packs, Lottie pulled a muscle in her back so couldn’t carry any weight for a few days requiring more angels to transport our belongings onwards each day to our next stop.

We visited many beautiful places and enjoyed a variety of scenery as we travelled. We passed through the seasons of late spring to summer, seeing the hedgerows change from cow parsley to hawthorn blossom to elder flowers. Cuckoos were constant in Norfolk but a rare treat in Devon. Red kites were numerous in Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire but gave way to buzzards as we travelled west. Some places stand out in my memory as magical or peaceful: the church in Ousden and the adjacent beautiful gardens, the ruined church in Ayot Lawrence, Dr Bach’s home in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, the church at Farnborough, Dartmoor, Trencrom near Hayle and Carn Lês Boel.

The last mile was always the toughest: or so it seemed. There must be something psychological about nearly reaching your destination but not yet quite. It didn’t matter whether we had walked 6 miles or 16, the last mile always felt slower, steeper, wetter, hotter- harder in some way – as if the final goal post kept moving. And that also felt true the last couple of days passing through Cornwall. The point I came closest to nearly giving up was, however, the closest to my home! We had had a long day walking over Salisbury Plain where the tracks were often stony and painful for Lottie. Then, just as we were on the last leg for that day we were chased by a herd of cows causing Lottie to shoot rather too fast through a gate, leaving her Ceremony at Carn Lês Boel. Ba, Nathascha, Jan, Mario and Fiona packs attached to the gate latch and causing ripping and tearing to packs and saddle. After regrouping with things held together with string and prayers, the way was then blocked by fallen trees using up the last of our reserves of energy and enthusiasm. I felt that we had done enough: we had covered half of England and surely that was good enough for anyone. However, after several cups of tea and chocolate, reason came back and I realised that if I stopped then I would soon be bored and regret not continuing to the end.

From that point onwards, the process and experience seemed to shift. I started to shed some of the layers of physical and emotional baggage that I had been accumulating and carrying over the previous 50 years, and as I walked through Somerset and into Devon I felt a sense of lightening and uplifting. It still wasn’t quite the meditative experience I had naively imagined undertaking a pilgrimage would be; but it did feel that I was starting to breathe more deeply, and allow things to be and to unfold magically, rather than as a consequence of my trying to control them. We found a rhythm of sorts, and our routine was

3 simple, with one focus, that of travelling safely from one place to the next. All the things that normally filled my mind and days drifted further away and seemed less important.

It wasn’t until I reached Dartmoor that I was able to arrange stopping points across Cornwall, and by then I realised that I really wanted a gentle and supportive ending to my journey. I had been contacted by Nathascha of the Parallel Community near Hayle and I was made so welcome by them for my last weekend; having time to share my experiences and reflect on the processes that had evolved as I travelled was such a blessing. Nathascha, Mario and Ba Miller also came and escorted Lottie and I to the cliffs at Carn Lês Boel and created a ceremony to celebrate the end of our journey, to complement the one performed on our behalf at the start in Hopton on Sea, some seven and a half weeks earlier.

I could not have undertaken or completed my pilgrimage without the wonderful support and kindness and practical help of so many people – people who gave so much more than I asked for or expected. Thank you to all my earthly and heavenly angels who made it the amazing experience it was. I expected some kind of epiphany along the way; but I think that the shifts and lessons and altered awareness occurred more subtly; and are likely still ongoing. I am trying to hold onto the message I was given whilst sitting on Trencrom Hill that “you don’t have to know in advance, you just have to be open to receive what comes”.

Jan’s blog is here: http://walkingwithawen.tumblr.com

From the Bottom Up

By Ron Veronda Ronald Veronda is a long-standing PC member who describes himself as a “life-long educator (author and speaker) dedicated to making the world better by changing the way we raise and educate our young.” He has sent us the following article explaining the work he is doing.

There are billions of dollars and untold hours being spent by dedicated, well-meaning people who are trying to address violence, warfare, global warming and other serious social challenges. Most are attacking problems after the fact, from the symptom of suffering down. But there is a way to mitigate the same concerns with a single bottom-up focus, before they arise. This is done by raising and educating the next generation differently.

As our schools go, so goes our society. We all know this to be true, but we have been living this credo in reverse, passing on what is instead of creating what can be. With this confused pattern of thought, social ills not only repeat, they increase in occurrence and magnitude.

For over two hundred years, our industrial-age society has been influenced by a paradigm of thought that I call the “bodymi”— the physical reality (body) and the ordered half of the mind (mi).* This narrowly focused model lacks the breadth to see the larger order of things. It causes us to see disorder and disease around us: in our schools, in our medical centres, and, as a result, in our children. This view of the world excludes the intuitive mind, emotions, and spiritual consciousness. Without our awareness, this way of seeing fosters the violence and disintegration of much of our world. It also takes away the perception necessary to solve these problems. Attempts to create change over the last few decades have been reactive and superficial. They are the changing of the wrapping, but not the changing of the gift.

What gives us more than ample hope, however, is the knowledge that we know what to do to correct this two-century-long nightmare. For the last two decades, small groups of educators in the United States and abroad have been learning how to return the full mind, emotional connection and spiritual awareness to our societies through our children. This form of teaching, which I have come to call true education, studies the full range of human experience. It reduces violence and alienation by giving meaning where there has been none. Children are prepared for life (which may include a job) instead of simply for a job (which excludes life). Academics become the tools for education instead of education itself.

With “true education”, schools create the impetus for positive social change, instead of serving as an end-point for societal disintegration. We raise a generation willing to look inside for answers as well as outside. With this proven, more effective educational design, we foster a generation that not only understands what causes our challenges, but can tap the awareness necessary to solve them. To find out more about this promising work visit www.educationforyourlife.org or www.educationforyourlife.org/blog

URBAN PILGRIM – the Gatekeeper Trust Annual Conference

This year’s Gatekeeper Trust Annual Conference takes place on November 29 and 30, at Bouverie Hall, North Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5ES. The title of the conference this year is “Urban Pilgrim”.

Thomas Berry, Catholic priest, cultural historian, eco-theologian, and “Earth scholar”, wrote, “I think what has happened to the human community in our times is that we are talking to ourselves. We are not talking to the river, we are not listening to the river. We have broken the great conversation. By breaking the conversation, we have shattered the universe”.

Many famous routes of pilgrimage follow ancient tracks through beautiful countryside. Yet pilgrimage is equally alive in towns, with famous routes connecting historic towns and cities. As so many people live in densely built-up places, seemingly disconnected from nature, this weekend conference will explore what it means to be an urban pilgrim and how we can renew ‘the great conversation’ with nature.

 Sarah Dawkins, co-director of the Zoence Academy and founder member and Elder of the Trust, will talk on Urban Pilgrimage, exploring different ways to pilgrimage so as to cherish our towns, villages and cities.

 David Furlong, author and landscape healer, will speak on London pilgrimages and the underlying grid pattern of the metropolis.

 Karen Ralls, medieval historian and specialist in the High Middle Ages and Celtic history, will give a talk entitled “Footprints through time: Pilgrimage, Secular and Sacred”, looking at historical and modern-day reasons for pilgrimage.

 Story-teller and singer-songwriter Eric Maddern’s talk entitled “Telling the Land” will focus on the re-telling of the old tales that lie half-hidden in our sacred land. Eric has worked in Australian Aboriginal communities, and is the creator of eco- retreat centre Cae Mabon in Snowdonia.

 Landscape designer Jeremy Rye’s talk “Is it a question of Thinking, Feeling, or Listening?” will focus on what it is to be an urban pilgrim, and in service to a city.

 Christian Kyriacou is a composer and architect, who designs buildings incorporating architecture, sacred geometry, harmonics, geomancy, and feng shui. He will present a live audio-visual experiential session “The Music of Buildings”, allowing participants to hear and feel the emotion encoded in the proportions of sacred buildings, translated to audible harmonics.

 Writer, lecturer, teacher of drama and researcher in the field of subtle energies Sylvia Francke will speak on “Living Water in an Urban Environment”: an investigation into how streams, rivers, ponds and lakes enliven and bring healing to an urban landscape, and how pilgrimage and meditation along urban waterways can connect one with the original subtle state of the earth.

 Finally, Caroline Hoare’s talk “Awakening the Web of Albion” covers her inspirational and life-changing journey researching the Belinus Line, from the Isle of Wight to Durness in the far north-west of Scotland, which connects the ancient capitals of both countries as well as old and modern towns and sacred sites.

Talks will be interspersed with discussions, and lunch (a simple vegetarian soup) will be provided. The cost is £65 per person for the whole weekend, or £35 per person for one day only. For full details and a booking form, please go to http://www.gatekeeper.org.uk/annual-conference-2014.html

Holding the Light

PC member Angela Shaw has sent us a follow-up to the article about her art installation in May, described as “a collaboration of land, light and people”. She says, “I have completed my MA in Art & Environment at Falmouth, with work focused on the area and connections around St Michael's Mount, and am now returning to Surrey.” The MA show was held at Falmouth University in early September.

Images from Holding the Light

Several Parallel Community members took part in this light sculpture in the land on 8th May 2014. These are some of the resulting images which formed the collective memory of the event:

As we got up and turned round to the NW It felt like the threads of a light network were

we were greeted by a beautiful rim of bright being drawn together – an energetic circuit

sunlight, tingeing the top of the hills. It was spread out across the land.

a cheerful end to our ceremony.

At times the flames were like a dragon’s

breath.

It felt like the threads of a light network were being drawn together – an energetic circuit spread out across the land. TrencromAs we g oHillt up a–nd Ba, turne dJohn, round t oJill the NW we were greeted by a beautiful rim of bright sunlight, tingeing the top of the hills. It was a At times the flames were like a dragon’s breath. cheerful end to our ceremony. Marazion Beacon – Angela and Mo Marazion Beacon – Angela & Mo Trencrom Hill – Ba, John, Jill Angela has now returned home to Farnham, Surrey, but says she intends to keep in touch with Parallel Community members. She is so grateful for the warm welcome she received in Cornwall, and takes back many wonderful memories.

The Story of Light

PC Member Hannah Spencer has published a novel, “The Story of Light”. Lynn Forrest, core team member, reviews it.

This is both an old tale and one of current importance. PC member Hannah Spencer asks how we can live our Soul's purpose, staying true to ourselves and live this life well. The author manages to incorporate all the important spiritual lessons in a story of a modern woman, a scientist, trying to reconcile her spiritual awakening and memory of a past life thwarted by fear, with her fast emerging new consciousness. What could be a familiar story becomes a page turner of spiritual adventure. The wisdom behind the writing is evident as you find yourself on a journey with the heroine asking yourself what you would do under the same circumstances. I recommend this book not only because it is a good read but because it is a great reminder to us all to put our spiritual wisdom to action.

Contact Hannah at [email protected]

Letter from Norman Kjono to Parallel Community

Norman Kjono, from Washington State, US, recently joined Parallel Community, and has written the following letter to members.

Dear Parallel Community,

I write a brief note to express my appreciation for your organization, your efforts and what those are accomplishing.

My professional activities for the past 35 years in the USA have been that of an expert witness in securities (stock and bond) litigation. During that period I have also been a public policy researcher and advocate, often providing analysis and testimony before regulatory agencies and legislative committees. Needless to say, in today’s political environment, public advocacy that challenges the status quo presently enjoyed by an established order of things can be fraught with professional and personal challenges. My current advocacy project concerns high-rise apartment complexes in rural towns that severely damage the environment and culture of communities where they are constructed.

During an advocacy effort in the early 1990s I experienced many special interest factions focusing ad hominem attacks toward me. It appeared that the principal objection by most was that the recommendations set forth for consideration would solve the alleged problem, thereby removing each group’s ability to manipulate policy to their advantage at the expense of others. It became clear to me that preservation of power to manipulate public policy to achieve undisclosed agendas came before the quality of policy promulgated and consideration of its adverse impact on society at large or individual persons.

After confronting the above-described circumstances on repeated projects, I began to explore how one can make a positive, constructive change outside the prevailing political, legal and financial structures. I reached a few conclusions that have become increasingly important to me over the past several years. Principal among those conclusions are my beliefs that change can only – and therefore must – come from within each person individually; akin to Gandhi’s observation, one must become the change that he or she seeks; and, constructive public policy that impacts all necessarily becomes a joint expression of public beliefs. Therefore, to my mind, achieving constructive policy begins with each person who accepts responsibility for the quality of their life, and then sets about improving their circumstances through engaging in activities that support pursuing their passion in life, while leaving others to enjoy similar freedom. In such a cultural environment public policy becomes a natural and positive expression of those who come together in like mind for constructive purpose.

Having watched the several videos about Mr. Hamish Miller and associated persons published by Knights Rose web site it was a distinct pleasure to find Parallel Community. Now, considering on reflection that information, I feel as if I no longer may be out in the cold looking in, but rather enjoying the experience of looking toward a home port in these turbulent times.

Accordingly, I forward an excerpt from my book “Tree: One Life That Made a Difference” as a modest expression of my appreciation for Parallel Community’s approach and efforts.

Best always and with appreciation,

Norman E. Kjono BluestonePegasus.com

Tree Songs

Those who lived in the valley realized that they were indeed each other’s neighbor, and that what affected one, in truth, affected all in the surrounding area. It was obvious that one could not take from a neighbor without eventually taking from oneself. What applied to a neighbor also applied to oneself because all life was another’s neighbor in the valley. This thought developed itself into a theme carried on the energy waves of the valley.

Neighbors

My neighbor’s rights are more important than mine could ever be. Because, in fact, in truth, indeed, I’m someone else’s neighbor too, you see.

My neighbor thinks, my neighbor feels, my neighbor acts, just like me. Our neighbor needs, our neighbor wants, our neighbor hurts, as do we.

I’ve come to learn through thick and thin, through times that make one feel so lost, that not considering our neighbor too comes at a very, very high cost.

So, when you think you’ve got the edge, when you know you’ve got it locked, when you push your own new rule; if it’s at your neighbor’s expense, if it gives you something they can’t do, consider that, in fact, you are someone else’s neighbor, too.

When you think that you’re one up when you feel that “they” don’t count, just stop and think that “they” are you. Because, in fact, in truth, indeed, you’re someone else’s neighbor, too.

Photograph by Frances Watts

An owl, who lived at a bend in the stream where the hill met the valley floor, remarked that it was not possible to understand this thought if they looked at themselves separate from others around them. “If we do not see oneself as an individual part of a greater life cycle, then it is not possible to understand what the idea of neighbors truly means,” the owl said. The owl believed that if persons could not see that concern for others was the highest form of genuine concern for themselves, they were lost before they started. Excerpted From “Tree: One Life that Made a Difference 12th Anniversary Edition” Chapter 3 Hope, Page 27 Copyright © Norman E. Kjono 2010 All Rights Reserved

BEE AWARE – a workshop with Brigit Strawbridge

By PC Member Frances Watts might be pushing it a little, we couldn’t have been more Okay. So now I really do need another lifetime. Please? wrong. Brigit kept her audience utterly captivated from How else am I going to have time? Brigit Strawbridge, in beginning to end; and we left eager to discover more for her August workshop, opened our eyes to a whole new ourselves. Brigit is perhaps known to some from the BBC world, there right in front of us. I will never go out into my TV programme “It Isn’t Easy Being Green”, and also garden again without pausing at every buzzing sound I appeared on BBC Gardener’s World recently, talking hear, every little dot flying past. about gardening for bees (Episode 23, still available on i- player until the end of October – about 7 minutes in). Her The workshop, arranged by Parallel Community, took talk covered not only honey bees, but also the main types place at Marazion Community Centre. For those of us who of bumble bees in the UK, and the solitary bees, leaf- had thought that an entire day spent learning about bees cutter bees, mason bees, cuckoo bees and so on; she led

8 us through their different life-cycles, and also covered with our industrialised farming methods and reliance on how important they are to mankind, explained the chemicals; the whole of China is already entirely devoid of different factors which are currently threatening their bees. An incredible 85% of our food is insect-pollinated. I survival, and gave us ideas of ways in which we can help was shocked to learn the facts about neonicotinoids; a them. great many seeds, both for the farmer and the domestic gardener, are coated with this systemic insecticide. What Oh – and did you know that female bumblebees do have a systemic means is that from this seed will grow an entire sting but don’t like to use it, and will waggle a middle leg plant which is imbued with a neuro-toxin, which, quite at you as a warning? Or that male bumblebees have apart from the potential damage to us (they thought DDT skinny hairy legs and a little yellow moustache and don’t was safe), also poisons our bees, and any other insect sting? Female bumblebees are always busy, dashing from which seeks nectar from the plant; at best, they become flower to flower to collect pollen and nectar for the confused and lose all sense of direction and are unable to young; the males, meanwhile, don’t collect pollen, and find their way back to their hive, or nest, to feed their young; at worst, they eventually die.

There is much that we can do. Campaigning against neonicotinoids is a good place to start; but also growing the right things in our gardens (phacelia, viper’s bugloss, knapweed, and so on, especially blue flowers, and the importance of having nectar- and pollen-rich plants available at all seasons); and learning to leave rough areas, weeds, plant stalks, tufted grass, and suitable bumble-bee nesting areas. Managing an area of our garden – even a small area – as a hay meadow is also excellent for bees.

Much more information is available. David Attenborough has made a BBC film about the bumble bee’s life cycle; the Bumblebee Conservation Trust has produced an identification chart and has masses of information http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-us/ For plants, go to http://www.foxleas.com/ - the Pollinator Garden; also the book “Plants for Bees” by William D J Kirk. For information on natural bee-keeping, look up the ‘Barefoot Beekeeper’ Phil Chandler at http://www.biobees.com/ John Harding has written about saving the bees, and mentions geopathic stress – see Brigit Strawbridge and bee (Photo Frances Watts) http://modernsurvivalblog.com/natural-disasters/the- tend to laze around and fall asleep on flowers. Cuckoo honeybee-varroa-vibration-and-ccd/ for a summary of his bees behave just like bird cuckoos. They have evolved to views. Brigit also recommended a book called “The Buzz mimic their target host species, in appearance and about Bees” by Mary Kay Hushman; and “A Sting in the behaviour; they sneak into their nests, destroy the brood Tail” by Dave Goulson. Also mentioned was and replace it with their own. http://www.beehappyplants.co.uk/; the charity Buglife

http://www.buglife.org.uk/ ; and the Wildlife Trusts. Brigit’s partner Rob Howard is an expert on honey bees, http://www.bwars.com/index.php?q=home , the website and talked about ‘natural’ bee-keeping, where the bees of the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society, gives a are not exploited in any way, and the honey only removed great deal of information. And of course Brigit’s blog - if there is a genuine excess. The bees are allowed to make http://beestrawbridge.blogspot.co.uk/ their combs in whatever shape they choose; he brought along a comb made in this way, and it was a wonderful Brigit totally communicated to us her utter love of bees. elaborate construction, with the most beautiful shapes. Her enthusiasm for and delight in her beloved bees was

completely contagious, and held the whole room She emphasised the danger bees are in at the moment, spellbound. on many fronts; we seem to be waging war against bees, 9

Leaving the last word to Brigit herself ….

“Humans are amazing, resourceful beings. All we need to do is wake up to the reality of the damage we are causing, shift our mind sets a little and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! Ways you can help:

 Make your garden a haven for pollinators  Join Buglife  Get involved with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust  Become a Bees, Wasps & Ants recorder  OR.... simply spend some time lying in the undergrowth getting to know your local insects. They are utterly mesmerising. Once you're hooked you'll wonder how you ever managed not to notice them before and you will be motivated to do everything you can to help them survive.”

Huge thanks go to Brigit for a really enjoyable day – actually, a life-changing day. Frances Watts

The Spiritual Conspiracy

PC Core Team member Nathascha Heijen writes, On the surface of the world right now there I have come across a fabulous poem in the website of is war and violence Brian Piergrossi, author, spiritual teacher and life coach. and things seem dark It is called “Love Is The New Religion / The Spiritual But calmly and quietly, at the same time, Conspiracy” and the full poem is at something else is happening http://brianpiergrossi.com/tag/spiritual-conspiracy/ Underground Really well worth reading! It comes from Brian’s book An inner revolution is taking place and “The Big Glow”. If this intrigues you, Brian has also certain individuals are being called made a you-tube film of the poem which can be found to a higher light at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mndsMqz54aA It is a silent revolution From the inside out From the ground up

Ten Years After - Beltane 2014

It’s a bit difficult to grasp that a decade to the day has passed since Hamish Miller assisted Caroline Keane to breathe life into the Merrivale Beltane celebrations. It is, perhaps, even more startling to realise that the late Cornish Scot himself passed over more than four years ago - but many of us are carrying forward different aspects of the insights that he brought into the public domain.

The Dawn Chorus itself started out as a collaboration between Tavistock Sings (part of the annual music and arts festival of the Devon town of Tavistock, UK) and the Sacred Footprints series of talks, hosted by Plymouth University - in which both Caroline and Hamish participated.

Welcoming in the sun on May Day is always a bit problematical here on Dartmoor. On a couple of occasions, we have indeed seen it rise, which is actually quite exciting! This year, however, was rather more typical. We were promised heavy rain, but got away with persistent drizzle. So, on balance, not a bad result. Given the forecast, a surprisingly large contingent of local and localish celebrants turned out at around five o’clock, on a decidedly murky moorland morning, to acknowledge the start of summer.

As in previous years, those attending were a mixture of singers, dancers, musicians and their friends, accompanied by a couple of dog walkers, a small herd of rather bemused cattle, several joyous skylarks, a cuckoo - and a dowser.

I have often said that every time I go to Merrivale (and it adds up to zillions of visits by now) I learn something new. Every time. Today was no exception. Having dowsed during a couple of eclipses last month (neither visible from the UK), I was in the swing of measuring the effects of the movement of celestial bodies on natural earth energy lines. Today, I decided to add that line of research to my usual recording of the rising energy levels at the Merrivale stone circle during the Beltane festivities.

During the April eclipses of the moon and the sun, the earth energy lines in our home (and, by extrapolation, just about anywhere else in the area) contracted by around 20-30%. Similar types of line crossing the Merrivale circle more than doubled in width from a base reading taken before the start of today’s activities. The implication is that, on the basis of a small and not very scientific sample, the activity and intent of the May Day participants had a greater impact on everyday earth energies than the combined efforts of the sun and moon put together! Clearly, life is rather more complex than that, but it did give an idea of perspective. The actions and intentions of people do have a remarkably large (and perfectly measurable) impact on the natural world - and, by inference, on one another.

Following quite literally in Hamish’s footsteps, each year I have measured the radial lines of force entering and emanating from the circle, before and during the performance. This year the radial count on my arrival at about 4.45am was thirty four. By the time the event was winding down, around 6.30am, it had risen to 82. Even after all these years, I still find the scale and speed of the energy shift quite astonishing. In 2004, Hamish and I both noted a significant shift, and in similar proportions to one another, but every year it is different. Given the hopeless task of isolating variables, when dowsing in the damp and the dark on open moorland, all I can conclude is that while the base reading (the one taken before the start) varies considerably from one occasion to another, the input and/or intent of the dancers, singers and musicians always doubles, trebles, even quadruples the ambient energy of the site - at least, for a short while.

On every other occasion that I have been to the Merrivale complex, the circle has acknowledged my arrival by a quick burst of added radials. Today, there was nothing. However, before I felt too hard done by or neglected, I had to note that the radial count was much higher than usual at the start, probably due to the remanence of a ceremony held there yesterday evening. What we did get was a quick increase in energetic activity when the bulk of the participants arrived - and then again when the clockwise rotational dancing commenced. I had the impression that the spiralling energy of the ancient circle was literally being wound up by those present.

Again, following on from my recent eclipse work, I also looked for any sections of planetary grids that might run close to the megaliths. These phenomena seem to be natural, cosmic meshes, which could be interference patterns resulting from the gravitational or centrifugal pull of the earth on its neighbours (or vice versa!) I found one section of a ‘Moon Grid’ running through the stone circle, which was of interest in its own right, and a section of a Solar Grid running plumb through the menhir, which really set me thinking. It seemed to be angled towards the midsummer sunset notch in Middle Staple Tor, but in the ubiquitous gloom it was difficult to be certain.

However, my conclusions were that neither grid showed any sign of change - so, maybe human intent doesn’t hold much sway over inter-planetary gravitational attraction. In the same vein, I also measured two of the water lines entering the circle, one at five paces wide and another at four. Again, there was no noticeable change to either of these lines.

This year, Caroline had taken the opportunity to use the event to raise funds for StressCare (the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Association), with £72 being raised by the auction of her painting of masked dancer, Maggi Squire, at Merrivale Beltane 2013 - and a creditable £176 raised overall.

As we journeyed home, although the cuckoo was still cuckooing, what passes for rush hour in Tavistock was getting underway. A different type of reality was returning. But the dowsing had been enlightening and, for some esoteric reason, the energy at this year’s event made it a particularly enjoyable start to summer.

As ever, many thanks to all those who worked so hard to put on the Dawn Chorus, and for tolerating my dowsing eccentricities on this magical morning.

Nigel Twinn, Tamar Dowsers - May 1st 2014

Return to the Brain of Eden Graham Gynn is a Parallel Community member living near Mên-an-Tol. He writes to tell us that he and Tony Wright have had their book “Return to the Brain of Eden” published by Inner Traditions in July 2014, and has sent us an article about it.

The Bigger Picture There is an old adage: instead of pulling bodies out of a munching parrots have even been called honorary river one by one, it is better to find out where and why primates. In man this process went a stage further. A they are falling in upstream. Getting to the source of the biofeedback mechanism clicked in: an over-stimulated problem is a tactic we could use right now, as a myriad of pineal gland began to pump more internal hormones that issues that are afflicting us heat up. It’s easy to feel a sense compounded the effects of the forest fruit. The result was of hopelessness and just carry on making the best choices the most complex, flexible and expansive brain ever seen for ourselves and our families, with a on planet Earth; but it was a brain little charitable altruism thrown in to underpinned by continual chemical make us feel better. The problems are nourishment from selected tropical so big and so overwhelming; just what fruit. else can we do? This was lost when the forest massively If we take a step back from the contracted and we were forced to find a confusion and focus on the source for living elsewhere. We were successful, once, it is evident that it all comes eventually spreading to all corners of back to the mind of man: the the globe; but in the process our brains paradoxical mind of man that is clever changed. The expansion stopped and enough to see the problems, solutions our brain began to contract. It was an and the wisest way forward, and yet is odd quirk that one side of our brain, the unable to overcome the fear, anxiety, left hemisphere, was more affected by short-term selfishness and the loss of the chemical nourishment testosterone-fuelled aggressiveness than the right. It became more prone to that consistently and comprehensively a general anxiety, and as fear is an over- sabotage the best laid plans. Is there riding emotion, it became increasingly any hope at all? dominant as the processing of the two hemispheres diverged. A new theory of human evolution might just shed some light on this. In their recently published book 'Return to the The history of man could be written as a history of the Brain of Eden', Tony Wright and Graham Gynn convincingly increasing dominance of the anxious left hemisphere self. argue that our extraordinary brains went through a phase Religious rituals were devised to regain some access to the of rapid expansion before we left, or were forced to leave less damaged, more insightful and balanced right by a period of drought, our rainforest home some 200,000 hemisphere; but as the centuries and millennia passed, years ago. This expansion resulted from a symbiotic access became more fragmented and religions became association between man and tropical forest fruit that is more dominated by rigidity, fear and authoritarianism. The rich in hormonally active chemicals. This complex brain remains clever; technical development proceeds biological cocktail has the power to influence DNA apace but man's inventiveness has resulted in our ability to transcription, and elevate neural and pineal gland activity. destroy and plunder as well as feed, heal and give The brain, continually flooded with hormone mimics, an ourselves emotional succour. And now we have reached a array of flavonoids and related chemicals that inhibit tipping point: if we do not fix the glitch in our brain then monoamine oxidase which delays the onset of puberty, the outlook is bleak. Return to the Brain of Eden accurately was allowed an extended period of brain growth (which pinpoints the problem and offers areas in which solutions normally stops at puberty). It is evident that other species can be found; it is possibly the most hopeful and crucial of specialist fruit feeders have larger brains than their non- document of its time. But the first stage is realising there fruit feeding equivalents – fruit bats have proportionally really is a problem of the utmost gravity, not with the bigger brains than their insect-eating cousins, and fruit world but with us.

This article has been based on the book ‘Return to the Brain of Eden – Restoring the Connection between Neurochemistry and Consciousness’ by Tony Wright and Graham Gynn. The book is available now from http://www.innertraditions.com/isbn/978- 1-62055-251-3, or from Amazon, bookshops etc. Contact Graham on [email protected] 12

Samhain celebration at the Seed of Life

You are invited to join us at the ‘Seed of Life’ stone circle, at Treviscoe, on Friday October 31st, in celebrating Samhain, the end of a cycle and the beginning of another!

Samhain is the Gaelic word for November, and it heralds the start of the Celtic winter. It was believed that the veil separating this world and the Otherworld was very thin on the eve of Samhain, thus offering a window of opportunity to commune with the ancestors who have completed their life cycle, both recently and in ancient times. We intend to hold a beautiful skulls ceremony to honour our ancestors and listen to their wisdom when we look back on the completed cycle that we started last Samhain. The energy of the Samhain season is of a definite 'turning inward' feeling. The tree beings are withdrawing their sap from the branches and are storing all energy into the roots. Animals are preparing for the winter ahead; some fatten up, others are storing food away, some go into hibernation. In the coming months, every day the amount of sunlight will lessen, and the human world of the Northern Hemisphere will also withdraw from the outer world, in search of warmth and light. To guide us through the darker half of the year, we shall ignite our inner fire with a lantern ritual.

All are welcome; feel free to bring a friend! The event will also be suitable for children.

Please bring a lantern or tea light holder, some coloured leaves or typical autumn decorations for the ancestor shrine, finger food to share, maybe music, song, poems and stories for sharing around the fire. We will be outside, so please dress warmly. A torch is recommended, to find your way back through the wooded pathway. Meet at 7pm at the Hopi Circle in the gardens of Treviscoe, Lelant Downs, Hayle, Cornwall TR27 6NP. Any questions, please feel free to contact Mario and Nathascha on [email protected]

A Visit from the US to Ireland Jim Willis, long-time PC member and author from South Carolina, writes,

“My wife and I both have ancient ties to Ireland and we're going to visit next year for a few days. We've come to the conclusion that we just can't wait any longer. Neither of us is a fan of planned, canned and guided vacations, so we're trying to plan our own, open sort of trip, flying to Dublin, renting a car and striking off on our own, staying in B&Bs in the west. We want to visit standing stones, do a lot of dowsing, and try to find places of spiritual connection. We don't know anybody in Ireland to contact and the places we have found on the net are traditional tourist type agencies. If there are any PC members who might be able to help us, people who might have information, advice and connections or know about B&Bs, we would very much appreciate it. Please drop me a line on [email protected] or contact me via the PC Meeting Place.”

The Collective Evolution Nathascha, PC core team member, writes,

Don’t miss this brilliant film, which has made me aware that there are many more people who are changing and leaving the old systems to create Love and a harmonious world. Thank you: I no longer feel so alone!

"The Collective Evolution III: The Shift | Official Release 2014" Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAE6zX5wlt4

WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS! Meet the new members! As of October 9th, PC has 547 members on-line at the Meeting Place! When new people sign up, they are asked if they would tell us something about themselves, and share the particular skills and talents they could bring to PC. The following were responses from the people who have recently joined. If you want to get in touch with any of them – get on line, and make contact. After all, that is the whole point of Parallel Community: to bring people together who are doing amazing work, and to make them realise that they are not alone.

Lots of recent joiners come from the United States. Writer Natalie McCarvill, from Desert Hot Springs in California, says Norman Kjono comes from that, “It seems my greatest talent is my passion for researching Redmond, Washington State. He deeply whatever I am currently interested in. I'm open minded, says, “I am a writer of both so I can change my belief systems when new and better nonfiction and fiction; I have information comes in. I guess that means I'm educable. I intend broad experience as a public to learn how to grow vegetables, never did that before. I'm a policy advocate; I have extensive fairly good writer & cook. Am also a creative decorator; don't experience as an expert witness know how transferable those skills are. I have a dream of a in financial and regulatory greater sense of community which I currently don't really have. litigation. I firmly believe that I'm in sync with your goals and terms of service.” each of us should avoid arguing about what is wrong with Also from California, from Oceanside, is Mary Gorman, who "them", and commit to doing and accomplishing what is right writes, “I am a musician and teacher of music, love to work with and good for our life.” (He has put some interesting writings on children and encourage the individual to blossom. I also enjoy his profile page, and a letter he has written to PC members is working in the garden and being out in nature. I just watched featured elsewhere in this newsletter.) the movie and became so inspired by the knowledge that there Norman’s brother David Kjono and his wife Wanda, from other people who believe as I do!!! Working together alongside Atwater, California, have also signed up. David says, “I've been rather than working against....” an apprenticed tattoo artist since 1974. Besides owning and Alexander Kade is from Parsippany, New Jersey. He says, “I am operating several studios in the past, I also volunteered services a healer and teach people how to connect mind and heart to to under-privileged youth and Hupa Tribal Members to become conscious manifestos.” cover/repair bad dermagraphics for better employment opportunities or if court ordered. John Randolph Jones lives in New York. “I'm a semiretired actor My wife and I are both very much involved in spiritual energies who reads very well aloud. I'm a beekeeper, and have learned and works. We offer various forms of spiritual counseling. We to dowse the best locations for my hives. In New York, I did 51 maintain an active interest in all audio books. Speaking in front of groups is a breeze for me. things paranormal, supernatural Broadway, movies, etc-45 years in New York. I'm very and our family of five felines. interested in bringing back the American Chestnut (tree), which I am also an Ordained Minister and I work with. I know therapeutic touch and second-degree Reiki. offer specialty ceremonial services I've sung in choral groups all my life. I write as well.” to the pagan community. In 2000 I Jim M Jung lives in Leonard, Michigan, and has “a love of received a Fellowship within the peaceful spirits. A sustainable and storable energy source that is International Rune Gild and remain a practicing Runic Vitki available for everyone in the world as long as our planet turns (priest). I have published several short books on runic into the light every day.” divination, proper tattooing sterilization and care guides and remain active in my artwork.” Moving away from the New World to Europe, Lesley Grocock says she is “… about to move to Orgiva in southern Spain - so no Gayla Drake is from Coraville, Iowa; she says, “I am a master fixed address yet! I'm a practitioner of the Arvigo techniques of musician, songwriter, and Reiki therapist, now pursuing Maya Abdominal Therapy and Quantum Touch and a teacher of dowsing. Most of my songs have to do with weather, the Metamorphic Technique. I also gift the Munay-Ki rites. I am environment, social justice, Pagan worldview. I'd love to British, bought up in the Middle East and have lived for the last contribute what I can.” 40 odd years in France. After travelling quite a bit this last year I “Mumsy” is from Cedar Rapids, also in Iowa; she says she is a finally decided on Spain, and am now in the process of moving “Reiki Master/Teacher, eclectic path walker, animal companion there and learning a 3rd language! Looking forward to meeting and caregiver, not the last in a family of strong women.” Also members and either joining a group in Spain or creating a new from Cedar Rapids is Marilee Reinertson Torres, whose passion one.” If you’re in Spain, do get in touch with Lesley via her PC is for photography. (We’d love to see some of your photos, profile page. Marilee!)

Back in the UK, Ali Weetman lives in Caernarfon, Wales; “I have She is from Newton Abbot in Devon, and says, “Love the always loved being close to nature; I was brought up on a farm country, its history and magical landscape. We need to and have experience in looking after livestock as well as remember who we truly are and help others to do the same. growing fruit and veg. I trained as a teacher and taught small Keep up the good work of the PC.” children and later special needs children. After having two Phill Forester from Redruth, Cornwall, is interested in healing & children of my own I retrained as a chiropodist and reflexologist balancing, caring and nursing, and is “interested in and new to and later as a Reiki healer. I am now almost retired, and as I this way of thinking / understanding”. Also from Cornwall is love mountains and travel and have no particular ties I am Jesse G, who is proficient in dowsing. about to go to New Zealand for several months - somewhere I have always wanted to visit.” Graig from Portreath, Cornwall, says, “I'm a Shiatsu practitioner; my wife and I run and own the Oak Tree Wellbeing Giles from Norwich says, “Reading ‘The Sun and the Serpent’ Centre in Portreath. We have 3 small children so as they are (by Hamish Miller, PC’s founder) opened a whole new world to getting a little bigger and we have some more time I'd love to me.” get into meeting more people, learning to dowse and visit the “Sweep” from Warrington writes, “I'm a dowser and a musician. sacred places of Cornwall. I also write some poetry!” I also have a strong background in comparative religion and Janet Bradshaw from Bath, Somerset, writes, “I am a good psychology and have published articles in these areas.” listener. I like to inspire others to step out of their comfort zone Noela Ann Bingham from Camberley, Surrey, writes, “I am 65 and into their power; I love working with animals and the land / years old and have spent many years nature.” working within the care sector. I have Finally, a big welcome also goes to studied healing and shamanic Sulagna Samal from Bhubaneswar, drumming for healing. I know that true Odisha, in north-western India. She says, healing comes from Loving yourself “I like to sing, dance and paint pictures. I and all of creation. I have practised have a intense love for small children and Aikido for over 25 years and with that can teach them in my own way.” practice know that living in harmony really can create a beautiful relationship with all.”

Moira Jamieson is not a new PC member but has been with us for a long while; she has now signed up to the Meeting Place.

A very warm welcome goes to all these ‘new’ PC people!

Have you been meaning to sign up to the Meeting Place yourself and just not quite got round to it? It’s actually not difficult. Go to http://www.parallelcommunity.ning.com and click at the top right where it says, “If you’re not a member, click here to sign up” – (even if you have been a PC-er for years!) and follow the instructions, creating a new account, and click ‘sign up’. If you have already signed up to the Meeting Place but have forgotten your password, (we all do it!), that’s no problem: just click where it says “Forgot your password?” If you have any difficulty at all, email the main PC email address as below and someone will help you.

You can also join our open Facebook group, if you are already on Facebook: go to www.facebook.com/groups/parallelcommunity This now has 280 members.

PARALLEL COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Please send articles, thoughts, poems, photographs, ideas, etc to the address below, by post or email.

The next newsletter will be coming out early in December; the deadline is Friday November 28. Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to any friends you think might be interested.

The Parallel Community, c/o Treviscoe, Trencrom, Lelant Downs, Hayle, Cornwall TR27 6NP, UK [email protected] www.parallelcommunity.com