Skyrockets in Flight-Green Witch Intensive
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2003 1:14 amHi cybersisters,
I just returned from the Green Witch Intensive, and it was really amazing. Although the weather was hot, the company of women were so [8D] that I barely noticed. The company of women due to the workings of the cosmological matrix put the number at 13. The food was wonderful although all vegetarian, so I was amazed that I was not ravenous as I had imagined. It is making me rethink my diet, I have been still eating this high protein diet left over from when I did excessive exercise. The women who took part were all very wise and knew a lot about herbs. I felt like a babe in the woods, literally. The weed walks were, as always, very informative and inspiring in me a new level of respect for the level of knowledge that Susun maintains as her herbal database. I think she reitterated that you need seven lifetimes to become a really good herbalist, which I assumed Wise Women. She must be close to completion. We went over a diverse amount of plant species, so very INTENSE. Definitely worth the cost of admission just for the science. Compared to college classes in biology you get quite a great deal, and hard science, something you can use even if you don't decide on being an herbalist. But the magic of the event for me wasn't just the fantastic primer I received, but the magic of the Wise Women Center.
I love the Mesa to sleep on because you can lie out in your tent and see galaxies spinning overhead, if the weather permits, and on July 4th weekend skyrocket strobes light the sky like a constant storm, which helped me to choose my magic name. It has rained for months so I was thrilled that we had clear skies with cottony clouds, but it was very hot, in the nineties and sunny. We all got to try some herbal sunscreens and natural repellants such as Lady B's tick repellant, and a yarrow mixture, but we still wound up dubbing ourselves the Mosquito Clan. We doused the afternoon heat in a nearby river on class days and then howled with the coyotes in our singing and dancing circles around the fire at night. A wide range of lessons were supplanted with the herbal ones, on astronomy, astrology, geology, animal husbandry, mythology, fairies and devas. The ceremony for initiation as a Green Witch was very magical and I knew when I saw the snake that I had stepped on a new node in the Spiderwoman Matrix, jumping from one strand to an inner one, towards the central void, towards the truth and it felt right, IT FELT GOOD. Although I think everyone is anxious about change, I have always found that change is essential to my personal evolution, and I have been stuck in a rut. I needed to leave a lot of baggage in the wicked cool winds of the Catskills so that I could clear my mind and make it empty, ready to be filled again.
On one of the magical nights the fairies came to my tent. The heat was getting to me, along with the bugs, and the goats, and the geese, and I was feeling pretty low because I'm so unsure about which direction to go in. I thought maybe somehow attending this intensive would unlock some gate into my inner consciousness that the monotony of existence was inhibiting. One of the coolest things on Susun's property is that she has all this shale, as it was a mine before. I enjoy working with rock and altars, and her property was just filled with altars created from the blueshale. In a maze of rock walls greened with moss I found this wild stone throne. It had an altar next to it I thought must be for the dwarven kings. I fixed up the altars in the area of the mesa and burned incense, made a sundial and went into the marshy woods where the Fairy altar was. I requested that I be given some guidance at the fairy forest altar and placed some mushrooms and offerings.
I felt like there was some sort of biting insect in the tent because I kept getting bitten or pinched, it woke me up. I guess I should be careful what I wish for, they are mischievous always. I was like, "O.K. fairies, I have got to sleep, meet me in the Dreamtime." And sure enough I dreamt I walked through the shale maze that was kind of spooky in the light of the Witches' sliver moon. But I continued and then I was kneeling before the elven queen of all fairy land who was sitting in the stone throne. She was beautiful, with long, curly, strawberry blonde hair and all these tiny fairies were sitting and alighting on her arms and legs, lighting her beautiful visage in the night. They were also either making or alighting on her tiara of flowers and then she engaged me in this long conversation. I wish I could remember what she said to me, but she did ask me all these questions that I just spoke truth on, and I think I answered them correctly. At the end of it I remember that my final answer was, "I make this commitment to myself." And then I awoke. Perhaps someday I will be able to access the rest of our conversation and understand it, but for now I feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful dream.
I want to thank Susun, all the apprentices, and the atendees including Marie for making it a awesome experience I will never forget.
namaste,
JB
I just returned from the Green Witch Intensive, and it was really amazing. Although the weather was hot, the company of women were so [8D] that I barely noticed. The company of women due to the workings of the cosmological matrix put the number at 13. The food was wonderful although all vegetarian, so I was amazed that I was not ravenous as I had imagined. It is making me rethink my diet, I have been still eating this high protein diet left over from when I did excessive exercise. The women who took part were all very wise and knew a lot about herbs. I felt like a babe in the woods, literally. The weed walks were, as always, very informative and inspiring in me a new level of respect for the level of knowledge that Susun maintains as her herbal database. I think she reitterated that you need seven lifetimes to become a really good herbalist, which I assumed Wise Women. She must be close to completion. We went over a diverse amount of plant species, so very INTENSE. Definitely worth the cost of admission just for the science. Compared to college classes in biology you get quite a great deal, and hard science, something you can use even if you don't decide on being an herbalist. But the magic of the event for me wasn't just the fantastic primer I received, but the magic of the Wise Women Center.
I love the Mesa to sleep on because you can lie out in your tent and see galaxies spinning overhead, if the weather permits, and on July 4th weekend skyrocket strobes light the sky like a constant storm, which helped me to choose my magic name. It has rained for months so I was thrilled that we had clear skies with cottony clouds, but it was very hot, in the nineties and sunny. We all got to try some herbal sunscreens and natural repellants such as Lady B's tick repellant, and a yarrow mixture, but we still wound up dubbing ourselves the Mosquito Clan. We doused the afternoon heat in a nearby river on class days and then howled with the coyotes in our singing and dancing circles around the fire at night. A wide range of lessons were supplanted with the herbal ones, on astronomy, astrology, geology, animal husbandry, mythology, fairies and devas. The ceremony for initiation as a Green Witch was very magical and I knew when I saw the snake that I had stepped on a new node in the Spiderwoman Matrix, jumping from one strand to an inner one, towards the central void, towards the truth and it felt right, IT FELT GOOD. Although I think everyone is anxious about change, I have always found that change is essential to my personal evolution, and I have been stuck in a rut. I needed to leave a lot of baggage in the wicked cool winds of the Catskills so that I could clear my mind and make it empty, ready to be filled again.
On one of the magical nights the fairies came to my tent. The heat was getting to me, along with the bugs, and the goats, and the geese, and I was feeling pretty low because I'm so unsure about which direction to go in. I thought maybe somehow attending this intensive would unlock some gate into my inner consciousness that the monotony of existence was inhibiting. One of the coolest things on Susun's property is that she has all this shale, as it was a mine before. I enjoy working with rock and altars, and her property was just filled with altars created from the blueshale. In a maze of rock walls greened with moss I found this wild stone throne. It had an altar next to it I thought must be for the dwarven kings. I fixed up the altars in the area of the mesa and burned incense, made a sundial and went into the marshy woods where the Fairy altar was. I requested that I be given some guidance at the fairy forest altar and placed some mushrooms and offerings.
I felt like there was some sort of biting insect in the tent because I kept getting bitten or pinched, it woke me up. I guess I should be careful what I wish for, they are mischievous always. I was like, "O.K. fairies, I have got to sleep, meet me in the Dreamtime." And sure enough I dreamt I walked through the shale maze that was kind of spooky in the light of the Witches' sliver moon. But I continued and then I was kneeling before the elven queen of all fairy land who was sitting in the stone throne. She was beautiful, with long, curly, strawberry blonde hair and all these tiny fairies were sitting and alighting on her arms and legs, lighting her beautiful visage in the night. They were also either making or alighting on her tiara of flowers and then she engaged me in this long conversation. I wish I could remember what she said to me, but she did ask me all these questions that I just spoke truth on, and I think I answered them correctly. At the end of it I remember that my final answer was, "I make this commitment to myself." And then I awoke. Perhaps someday I will be able to access the rest of our conversation and understand it, but for now I feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful dream.
I want to thank Susun, all the apprentices, and the atendees including Marie for making it a awesome experience I will never forget.
namaste,
JB
