Dangerous Old Women Newsletter June 2006
Exciting Spiritual Controversies!!
By Sheila Foster ©2006
We are in a very exciting moment in the history of awakening consciousness, patriarchal religion, and western cultures organized around these religions. A deep questioning is arising in the collective consciousness with the arrival of the DaVinci Code book and film and the emergence of the controversial Gnostic Gospel of Judas.
What if: all/most of what we had been taught in our religious education as historical Truth is not historically, literally true?
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The DaVinci Code, Magdalen, and the Sacred Marriage
By Sheila Foster ©2006
The DaVinci Code has arrived and is shaking up the collective field right now. What if Jesus and Mary Magdalen were lovers, married, and had a child? What if she were the favorite disciple and was given entree to secrets and mysteries by Jesus that the male disciples didn’t get? What if the gospels we were given have not told us the truth? For some, this is fabulously exciting news, and for others it holds the threat of crumbling church structures and authority. In some circles, these possibilities are more threatening than war.
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Tools for Invoking the Sacred Feminine
The Da Vinci Code is bringing Mary Magdalene to the forefront for an inquiry into her place in Christianity and western culture. This is one expression of a rising interest in the Sacred Feminine and Her emerging presence in our lives. Mary Magdalen’s “great, great, grandmother," Eve, was also shamed, denigrated, and mis-represented for thousands of years by patriarchy. Both of these ancient, archetypal ancestresses can be seen through another lens that reveals the sacred mysteries of the Divine Feminine that each expresses.
In our film, Eve's Fire, we offer an alternate perspective on Eve and her eve-olutionary and revolutionary act of disobedience. Eve’s Fire opens the gates for contemporary women to recognize the beauty, mystery, and empowerment of the Divine Feminine that comes to us in our own lives on a daily basis. Our film, cds and the deep inner work we offer are here to support the awakening of consciousness and the emergence of the Divine Feminine on the planet and in the hearts of all people.
Meditations from a Women's Mystery School, Volume I, is a CD of guided meditations for invoking the archetypal energies of the Sacred Feminine, as these energies live and express themselves uniquely in each of us. Volume II, is an invocation of the inner Sacred Masculine in women, which is a next step after grounding in the feminine energies.
When you are ready to invoke the inner Sacred Partner, Ancestral Ceremonies can take you there via a deep, hour-long guided meditation accompanied by didjeridoo and nature sounds. This is in mp3 format and can be immediately downloaded from the website.
If you yearn for direct experience of the Sacred, Always at the Beginning, also mp3 downloadable format, is the first of a meditation series that offers instruction in the practice of Samyama, a yoga of direct experience that can be taken into every aspect of your life.
Yoga Drawing with Kirsten D’Andrea Hollander M.F.A.
Learn to See with Your Entire Body!
 Charm City Yoga, 107 East Preston Street, Baltimore, MD
Use your Charm City Yoga Pass! Or Drop-in for $14.00!
Mondays from 4:00pm to 5:15pm
June 4 through June 26
This drop in class will resume on September 11, 2006. Please inquire about other Yoga Drawing
activities happening this summer including private sessions and reservations for groups.
Yoga Drawing and Painting is an exploration of the connection between breath, movement and the instinctual creative response. Breath flows into movement and then into the marks, lines and strokes of the artist. Experienced Artists are discovering fresh sources of inspiration. Newcomers are discovering the joy of authentic expression, sometimes for the first time since childhood.
Wear comfortable clothes you can move in. Art materials supplied.
Beginners and experienced artists welcome!
Kirsten D’Andrea Hollander, M.F.A., teaches Drawing and Filmmaking at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She began developing the principles of Yoga Drawing and Painting 14 years ago as a means to stay fully present in the entire body while navigating the realms of drawing and painting.
Visit www.yogadrawing.com for more information.
Charm City Yoga at Midtown, 107 E. Preston Street, Baltimore, MD, 21202, 410.234.8967
www.charmcityyoga.com info@charmcityyoga.com
Beckie Laughlin is offering Process Painting for Healers
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Process Painting for Healers Workshop Participant |
Do you want to rejuvenate yourself this summer in a new way? Try Process Painting for Healers – it’s an evocative and enjoyable way for you to do your own inner work. You don’t have to consider yourself to be artistic to do this! All can be enriched and deepened by Process Painting.
Process Painting is about being present with yourself moment-to-moment. You can enter into, and flow with the Mystery as you paint. Transformation is the gift of Process Painting along with the creation of unique paintings that are deep expressions of your inner world! See flyer for more details…
Prayer Intensive: July 22 & 23rd
Come let diverse forms of prayer ceremony (Eastern, Native American, Peruvian) take you deeper into your heart. Come let your prayers of gratitude, surrender, awakening, intention pour from your heart to all of life. For more information contact Adhikari at 410-377-5135 or
adhikari@bcpl.net.
ATTENTION!!
Samyama: the Yoga of ATTENTION and Direct Experience
6 – 7:30 PM EDT , July 5, 12, 19, 26, 2006
Teleconference with Sheila Foster
 Now that I have your ATTENTION!!, I have a question for you: have you noticed where you habitually place your attention? Is it going to your mind, to your thoughts and stories, to the past or to the future? Does your attention go out to others, to things outside yourself? How often do you focus inside, on your heart, on what you feel, without the narration, judgments, or interpretations? Do you tend to focus on your feelings and tell yourself your stories at the same time?
If our attention is in our mind’s stories of suffering, fear, deficiency, deprivation, judgment, or limitation, that’s what we get. If we are focused in the past or the future, we are not present now. If we are there, wherever there is, we are not present here.
If our attention is focused in our hearts, we are present to our own essential self and we can draw from the deep well of spiritual nourishment and love that our heart offers. Reality shifts. We live in direct experience rather than in our ideas, stories, or interpretations of ourselves, others, and our lives. Focusing attention in our hearts, rather than in our mind’s stories, is how we can live an awakened life in the present moment.
This teleconference group welcomes beginners on this path as well as those who want to deepen their Samyama or other spiritual practices. We are always at the beginning.
All calls will be recorded and links sent to participants only.
Tuition: $150 if paid no later than June 15; $175 after that. Visa and MC accepted.
To register, please email Sheila Foster: temenosctr@aol.com
Refunds minus $50 are available only until June 15; tuition is non-transferrable.
Art Yoga with Nature:
Environmental Art Weekend
 Join Kirsten D'Andrea Hollander for an Environmental Art Weekend, August 5th and 6th at the beautiful Sophia Center in Lineboro MD. The Sophia Center is located in Northwest Baltimore County on 45 acres of land that has been placed in an easement and planted with native trees and warm season grasses for ground nesting birds. The Sophia Center also overlooks rolling fields and a spacious pond.
Come be inspired via partner yoga with the earth, trees, water and sky. Make art with elements only found in nature. The only tools we will use are hand held gardening tools and /or your handy penknife from your Girl Scout or Boy Scout days! The opportunities to partner with nature are unlimited! All work will be digitally documented for your memoirs! Tuition is $80.00 for the weekend. We will meet from10:00am to 5:00pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Please register by July 28th. Inquire about partial scholarships for full-time students.
Contact Kirsten at Kirsten@yogadrawing.com if you are interested!
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