Musings From the Deer Spirit

Hola Relatives - 39 year old James Shane McConkey, a family friend,
went into the Italian Earth at 120 miles per hour on Thursday March 26th.
He couldn’t get his skis torelease when he did a back-flip off a peak in the
Dolomites while filming a movie.

He went into an upside-down spin where he couldn’t open his chute. He finally
succeeded in releasing his skis, then spread out his wing suit one second before
the impact that took his precious life. He died in full flight, living his integrity
right up to the very last moment.

Shane was a world champion extreme skier who loved life, who loved pushing
the envelope - going for it - to see what was possible. He loved laughter, his family, his
friends. You can learn more about him and read tributes to him at
http://shanemcconkey.org/.

Shane left his dear wife Sherry and little girl Ayla, three years old. Saturday
afternoon a group of us hiked with Sherry to the top of Brockway Summit.
Far below Lake Tahoe shimmered in surreal beauty in the clear sunlit day.
Above only blue sky, a soft wind - the Breath of the Great Spirit. Three
ravens circled nearby. Fifteen of us sat on the rock outcrop taking it
in.

It was a gorgeous place to be alive in. We shared Shane stories. Laughed
and cried together. I led a prayer. We gave thanks for Shane’s life. It was
good to be together sharing the heavy burden of loss and grief.

A large public memorial service was held outdoors Sunday at Squaw Valley
on another gorgeous sun-dazzingly day. Snow covered cliffs, magnificent
in their majesty and beauty, offered silent tribute along with the large crowd there
to pay respects to one of their own. Squaw Valley was Shane’s home base.

Throughout the tender and touching sharing from Shane’s parents, friends and
wife Sherry, a butterfly, symbol of transformation, swooped and darted,
weaving in and out through the crowd. Shane’s spirit was alive and well,
still flying, enjoying his loved ones.

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your
eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long
to return.” - Leonardo da Vinci

Monday morning before an Easter egg hunt in the snow that my wife Andrea and
daughter Nicole put together for Shane’s three year old daughter Ayla and a
bunch of the community kids touched by Shane’s death, I went for a hike up
nearby Shirley Canyon. I climbed up to a ridge overlooking the valley. The
snow was firm and crisp. I didn’t sink in at all. Only the sounds of the
wind in the trees, the rushing creeks fed by snow melt in the burning hot
sun, birds greeting the coming of spring to the mountains. So peaceful,
so beautiful, so home.

Something shiny caught my eye. I bent over to pick it up. It was a pin, a
rhinestone star. I brought it down the mountain and gave it to Ayla, a gift
from her Daddy I said. Sherry put it on her daughter’s sweater. They smiled.

I gave Sherry a God’s Eye I had made. The Huichols have a shaman make a
God’s Eye and put it over a newborn baby’s bed where it hangs for five years
- God’s eye watching over the little one as it grows into its life path. In
the middle of the God’s Eye was yellow yarn, symbolizing the light that
Shane was/is and how he touched people around the world with his joy, his
generosity, his spirit, his love. Now his eye, joined and one with the
Spirit’s eye, will watch over little Ayla.

Shane’s death touches many people. He lived, and died, in his full
integrity, going for the fullest experience of being alive that he could
find. He lived his dream. He died doing so as well.

“There comes a time when one must risk something, or sit forever with one’s
dreams”. - Trevor Peterson

I feel the stirrings of new life as I look within to see what wants to live
more fully in my own exploration and dreaming. May Shane’s life and passing
feed new possibilities of “going for it” in ways that enrich your life as
well.

With love and gratitude for family, friends, community, and this precious
gift of life we are privileged to share.

Tomás

——————————————————————–
Wakan is a non-profit, spiritual organization that offers products and
services for healing and creative expression based on indigenous wisdom
teachings

We buried our last remaining dog yesterday. In the moist earth twenty feet
from our garden. I planted corn and tomatoes and peppers and broccoli and
parsley after burying her. It was Wednesday afternoon. Her name was FLOWER.
She was a sweetie, a little “lovie” Tibetan Terrier. She follows her brother
into the spirit world who left a few months back.

Her body goes into nourishing the Earth which in turn nourishes us with
gifts of new life. New life pouring up from her wet dark Mother Earth Womb
bringing a wisdom power that knows how to blossom flowers and open buds on
fruit trees. Prayers for the Bee People to do their mojo which brings forth
the creation potential of fruit. The Bee People, like many of us, are also
struggling for life in these challenging times. Prayers for their survival
and well being.

This morning I went out into the garden to do my prayers. I offered
thanks-giving for the life of our dear little doggie - FLOWER - her spirit
now released from suffering body, free to merge with the Mystery Light of
Infinite Love. I then turned to give thanks to the blossoming flowers all
around me. I was touched by the juxtaposition of death and life, right there
at my feet. FLOWER AND Flowers.

I turned toward the Sun, offering thanks-giving when I noticed - two deer
grazing peacefully on the hillside before me. Then a wild turkey boldly
gobbled its song from the trees behind them. Stunned, I paused to take it
all in. Suddenly a Peregrine Falcon burst out of the trees where the deer
and turkey were. It flew no more than twenty feet above me moving north to
south - from the place of wisdom (north) to the place of faith, trust and
surrender (south) - the place where new growth comes from; the growth that
comes from death, letting go of the old so the new can come through.

I miss our little FLOWER; the love she brought to our home and family. But
grazing Deer, gobbling Turkey ( the animal who named the Sun in the Huichol
tradition) and power-filled Falcon told me that it is all working. The
mystery is alive and well. FLOWER is ok. Life IS.

It’s SPRINGTIME.
HALLELUJAH!
AS HAS HAPPENED FOR MILLINIAS OF TIME, REBIRTH EMERGES ONCE AGAIN IN THE
MAGICAL WISDOM CYCLES OF THE COSMOS BRINGING FORTH LIFE FROM DEATH.

ITS IN US. WE ARE IN IT.

HALLELUJAH AGAIN. AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.

MAY THE BLESSING OF NEW LIFE, NEW GROWTH, AND NEW BLOSSOMING FILL YOU AND
YOUR LOVED ONES WITH CREATIVE POWER TO MEET YOUR CHALLENGES IN WAYS THAT
BRING FORTH YOUR GREATEST GOOD. MAY IT BE SO!

HAPPY SPRING EQUINOX. LOVE, tomás

Ho relatives - thoughts to ponder.

Why, with all the media coverage of the “stimulus package”, with all the concern about the economic meltdown , with all the discussion about what is happening, who is at fault, what the future holds, etc., there is no discussion about the underlying premise that increasing consumption is the way to solve our problems?????

Why no questioning the idea that the crisis in global capitalism requires “rehabilitating” the purchasing power of the consumer in order to rush out to the mall to get “more and newer stuff”, the majority of which we don’t even need?

Why do we take the brightest of our youth, pay them good salaries to use their creativity, intelligence and drive in service to media inundation that cops our minds into believing we need the products they push in order to be happy, make our lives work, get laid, be a success??

Why not use this resource and all our resources to raise consciousness about what is needed to create a sustainable world that works for all beings?

The real bottom line? Happiness and meaning can not be bought. The soul can not be fed by the material. I am no fan of capitalism but I am open to the possibility that elements of it can be used in a social and environmentally sane manner - IF - it is put in its proper place, i.e., to serve the well being of people, community and the natural world. Instead of manipulation, greed, exploitation, and fabricating false need, why not bring it into relationship with service to bringing through the greatest good for all??

Howz about creating an economic system that works to bring more peace, justice, beauty, healing, harmony and love into the world? You know, one that welcomes each child born and provides health care, housing, nutrition, education, meaningful gainful employment, and full social security throughout the life cycle? That
nurtures cooperation, caring, community? That encourages and supports the fullest realization of each person’s unique gifts and contributions?

and, how about - 12 ATTITUDES THAT NEED CHANGE IN HOSPICING THE DEATH OF THE OLD “EARTH-POISONING DREAM”, IN ORDER TO HELP BIRTH THE NEW DREAM THAT RECOGNIZES AND HONORS THE SACREDNESS OF OUR INTERCONNECTEDNESS”.

Gotta go - Adios - Hit the road jack!

1. Everything is separate.

2. One person can’t really make a difference.

3. Western society has nothing to learn from non-western people.

4. Science and technology will save us.

5. Nature has to be controlled.

6. Unregulated global capitalism is the best economic system.

7. Re-energizing consumer capitalism is the way to solve our problems.

8. People have always been violent, it’s in our genes.

9. White is right.

10. Nothing good to be gained from responsible use of entheogenic plants.

11. There is nothing to be done about the genocide of Native Peoples & the enslavement of indigenous African Peoples. Its all in the past.

12. Control, incarceration and punishment are the best ways to ensure safety.

May our collective “ponderings” fuel creativity, innovation, survival-based intelligence, new dreaming, new story, new paradigms and new actions, all in alignment with the Flow of the Great Tao for Peace in the World, Peace in our Hearts, and Peace for All People.

may it be so. tomás

Hola Relatives - many thanks to all of you who sent out your prayers for those of us on Quest. I deeply appreciate it. I am so happy to share that my back, with help from other questors carrying various items from my load, did fine. I emerged from the hike out with absolutely no problems. Un mil gracias a Spiritu, to the healing power and wisdom that lives within us all and to all who helped out in so many different ways with my healing. IMMENSE GRATITUE!

The Quest itself was blessed with beautiful warm weather starting with clear sky Monday night under full moon as we slept on smooth granite slabs as large as a football field. The medicine was strong, good, insightful, inspiring, healing and illuminating as we worked, and were worked by, contemplative thought and vision around what is trust, what is authentic being, what is deeper intention, how can we heal wounds of old, how to build courage, achieve balance, and how can we live our spirituality in a world emphasizing materialism, fear, and ignorance of our true nature?

It always amazes me to experience the gifts that come from putting ourselves into situations where we can live intimately with the sanity of our ancient heritage - a natural being in a natural world. Perceptual membrane boundaries of ego-based separation begin to dissolve, consciousness opens to the interconnectedness of the cosmic web we live in and through which we are related to All, dreams bring power, wisdom and guidance, and the “non-human people” that are alive and conscious, manifest themselves in all their wonder and intelligence. Sure works for me, and that is why I keep doing it.

We spent our last night in beautiful Tenaya Valley sitting in circle around Grandfather Fire sharing the teachings, testings and “touchings” from our time on quest, then ceremonially spreading the ashes honoring the life of a recently departed spritual brother Gene Kunitomi - “Gino”.

We returned to the Season of Fall, gathering the crops of summer and releasing what needs to be released with faith and trust that the winter season which we now move towards will provide its magic that results in the renewal of life in the spring.

With prayers for you all and for good snow in the Sierra so the Trout People will live another season. Thank you for all you do, all you are, and for all you contribute to the Healing of the Sacred Hoop we are Privileged to be a part of for the time of our Life Walk.

Long, healthy, happy, meaningful and fulfilling lives to you, your loved ones, gratitude to our Ancestor Spirits and To All Our Relations.

Love, tomás

Hola Compadres -

I got back September 30 from my thirty-fith year of vision questing filled with gratitude for so many gifts of grace. Six of us backpacked into a magical valley with easier entry but no less spectacular than the Sweet Medicine Valley I have been going to for so many years. The valley is surrounded by towering granite cliffs, a creek running through a granite channel filled with pools to wade in, some deep enough to swim in, trout darting to and fro, mother bear walking by with cub, eagle and hawk and falcon overhead.

It was just magnificent, filled with many great sites for individual questing. With a shorter and easier hike in, it opens up the doorway to continue doing the quests as my body ages for a longer period of time than the previous site would have allowed for. It also opens up the opportunity for others of you to go on quest without having to climb over a mountain as was necessary with the previous site. Some folks have already begun signing up for the 2008 Quest and with space limited to eight people, its not to early to reserve your place if you feel the call to go.

The major part of the quest medicine for me was taking in the power, beauty and wisdom teachings of the mountains, the ancestor spirits there, the clear night sky with full moon, the sacred fire, the animal spirits, the Earth itself. I also went deeper - with dreams, ceremony, meditation and journeying - into the work I initiated with my presentation on “A New Vision of Conscious Aging” just before departing on quest.

I gained richer understanding of the “Five Developmental Tasks for Conscious Aging” which I will be sharing through future workshops, retreats and individual Life Enrichment Coaching. Give me an email buzz if you are interested in hearing more about it and weren’t able to make to the presentation.

Blessings to you all from the Heart of the Sierra and my heart to yours’.

Love, tomás

Trout wants to learn the song. The one I sang around the fire a few nights ago. I sang it again when we stood in a semi-circle around Guadalupe’s grave site. There on that Mexican soil. In Huichol country. The native people of Nayarit, in the mountains outside of Tepic, the crowded city three hours north of Puerto Vallarta where the gringo tourists don’t go.

“Sing it again” he said. ” Its’ a good song but I’m terrible at learning it. I just have to groove it into my brain.”. Trout, some of us call him “Trucha”. He calls himself that some time. He’s a good man. He does good work helping teenagers and their families in pain. People who have been hurt really bad with the way life can go sometimes. He helps them. So I sing the song again.

I really like to sing. Songs that have heart. Songs that tell a good story. That open you up and make you feel good inside. Songs that make you think about things its good to think about some times.

I sing it slowly and Trucha sings along with me. I sing when I feel like it. Sometimes I sing because I don’t like how I’m feeling. So I sing. I know an Apache medicine woman who long ago told me that when she was upset she would sing. Those were some good words. They stuck to my ribs. So now I sing to help re remember that I can use a good song like a tool that you use to fix something that is broken. Or to make something new.

I didn’t used to sing out loud with other people a round. I was ashamed. Embarrassed. Afraid other people would make fun of me. That my voice was so bad. I had a teacher in 10th grade. A music teacher. I signed up for a chorus class but I quit the first day. I just walked out. She made me feel bad about myself. About my voice.

I didn’t sing around anyone for a long, long time after that. But now I do. I breathed life back into my voice, into my spirit. Now I sing a lot. Its one of my favorite things to do. When I feel like it. I like to song those
songs that make me feel good inside and maybe help other people feel good inside too. Beats feeling bad. There a lot of that going around these days.

“I take delight in the peace of the river, flowing so gently to the strength of the sea”.

We’re singing together now, Trucha and me. He’s getting it. He slips up with a few words so I correct him and we’re off again. He catches the current and downstream we go.I think about the people he will share this song with in his life, in his work. That makes me feel happy.

“I take delight in the love that is flowing, just like a river, between you and me.”

It’s hard for me to get that last word the right sound. Somebody who knows better than I would say the “right key or note” or something like that. But I keep singing it anyway. Even though it’s not all perfect. But its not
about entertaining. I’m not an entertainer, somebody with a great voice that other people pay to hear sing because they have the gift of a beautiful voice. No, that’s not me. Nobody is gong to pay to hear me sing.

I sing because I’ve got too. Sometimes I feel all talked out in my life. So much talking over so many years. I get tired of it. I’d rather be quiet. Or sing.

“I think I’ve got it!” says Trucha.

“Yes, I think you do”.

The two energies in the song are about peace and love. The river. Flowing. And the ocean. The place of big strength.

Then there’s delight. Like an old black blues singer. Singing about “de light”.

The song is coming alive in Trucha now. We’re driving down a narrow, curvy mountain road on our way back to Vallarta from visiting our Huichol friends. We’re singing about the river and it’s flowing in us, through us. “The love that is growing….” Yes indeed, growing that love. Yes sir. Yes indeed. Growing that love.

Makes me think of one of my favorite sayings - “In the game of life, the one who loves the most wins!

We’re in the river now, growing that love. Between you and me.

It’s sweet. The road is real treacherous here at night. Trucks roar bye leaning heavy into the other lane, our lane. The one we are in. There are no lights on this road through the mountains that run up and down this
part of the coast heading south. I’m hoping and praying a burro doesn’t amble out into the road. Or somebody passing where they shouldn’t be. Happens all the time here. Grave site memorials dot the roadside every couple of hundred yards or so. But hey, I got no control about what burros
or other drivers do.

So I sing. It smoothes out the road. Eases out the tension building up in my hunched up shoulders and tight belly. Can’t beat singing. Sure glad I started singing again but hey, that’s another story for another time. Right now we’re grooving the song deeper into our brain’s river bank.
A man could do worse.

****check out new cd from tomás — 25 CEREMONIAL HEART SONGS AND CHANTS — see Shopping Cart for more information.

Hola Relatives–the first day back from our Journey south to Huichol land I saw a rainbow, a spirit bridge between the Earth and Sky. Now I seek to make a bridge also, from the Heart of Mexico and a People who still seek to follow their ancestral shamanic wisdom ways, into our mainstream culture of modernity here in “el norte”.

First off, thank you for all your prayers, your Prayer Arrow offerings, your financial gifts, and for your caring and support of our venture. Each of us, Rosie, Vita, Trucha, Gary, Mark and myself thank you deeply. Without the support of Wakan and your generosity this trip would not have been possible. Soon you will have a visible record of our time there through the beautiful pictures that were taken. We hope to have a slide show and maybe even a DVD made up for you. Stay tuned.

For now I use words to begin the bridging process.

It was eight years ago that a group of us was last with our extended Huichol family in Mexico. We gathered around Grandmother Guadalupe as she moved closer into her “Death Lodge” work sharing with us her final medicine offerings knowing that we would not see her again in this world. She died May 9th, 1999. Her body lies buried at her rancho outside Tepic, two and half hours north of Puerto Vallarta in the mountains from which she came.

We met the whole gang at the rancho - Maria, Guadalupe’s niece and the one who Grandmother passed her Medicine Bundle on to when she died, her children and grandchildren and Dona Manuela, Guadalupe’s sister, the elder who is in her mid-80’s now, frail and ill, living in what we would call poverty on another rancho, raising her 10 year old step son by herself. Despite poor health, Manuela still carries on the spiritual and ceremonial functions of the Elder of her familia and we were blessed to take part in a number of ceremonies that she led.

I went to Mexcio with second-hand stories that led me to believe that the rancho would be in a state of disarray, and the family as well. Times have been hard for the people since Guadalupe’s death. But to my surprise and delight, the rancho looked great, other than some thatched roofs needing repair. Beautiful flowers were blooming, trees in full growth, the “Tuki”, or Spirit House, was full of good “kupuri” (energy), and the other structures were all in good shape.

With the exception of one of Maria’s daughters and her young son who were back in the family house in the Huichol barrio of Tepic, all the others were there in a delightful potpouri of babies, little kids, teenagers, young adults, husband from the neighboring Tepehuano tribe, Maria and Manuela. It was a very special treat to see how youngsters I have know all of their lives have now grown up into young adults. Their warm and loving reception of us all made me feel right at home again, the same thing I felt when I first journeyed south to meet the Huichols twenty one years ago.

We pitched our tents close to the Sacred Fire and spent our nights with the Huichols sitting around its light — singing, talking, drumming, rattling, joking, in silence. No tv, no email, no computers, just the stars above us, soft nights and warm, good sharing around the Fire. Manuela led us in pilgrimage to San Blas, a holy site for the Huichols where the Gods and Goddesses first landed here in the Middle World and began the first pilgrimage to Wiricuta to find its center. She also led us in a very touching ceremony at Guadalupe’s gravesite. Different people from the family shared different healing medicines with us in ceremony and informally during the day as we interacted with them in the course of eating and various chores around the rancho and trips into Tepic (the nearest city) where Maria has a dilapidated house in the Huichol section of town. The whole family lives in the two bedroom cinder block house when they are in town for work and the kids going to school.

There were many touching moments for all of us with one coming to mind as I write: mark and I were sitting around Grandpa Fire late one night as Cundo, the Tepehuano man who married into the tribe and who is a serious student of plant healing, tried to comfort his young daughter crying on his lap from an injured foot. Cundo, loving and patient father that he is, wasn’t able to calm the little one. I suggested mark pick his flute and play which he did, and which calmed little Brisa down. After he stopped she started up again so I picked up my drum and began to sing and play and she fell asleep in his arms. Cundo went and put her down for the night and then came back and hugged us warming for helping him out. We noted that each of us was the father of two daughters and embraced the gift of our children and our shared comraderie of fatherhood.

It was wonderful working with our team of gringo’s, each of whom brought their special gifts to our adventure. Great cooperation, sensitivity and collective wisdom in decision making. Thank you fellow pilgrims one and all!

I was especially pleased to hear that the family is picking up the Wiricuta Pilgrimage trail again and will be leaving April 2nd for the journey. They asked for our prayers and for Maria picking up the Medicine Bundle in a good way. We will be fasting and praying for them while on their journey . The family plans to go back again next year and perhaps a group of us will go to the rancho to help hold space while they are gone. This is important work as the Fire and Prayers must be continuous to protect the pilgrims and help assure a safe and fruitful trip.

Due to legal situations it might be several years before we are able to join them on the actual pilgrimage. Nevertheless, it feels wonderful to see them pick up The Path again and see how we can support them in maintaining their age old traditions that have so much to offer us in the west as we face the challenges of life styles that have polluted Mother Earth and caused so much violence and suffering in the world. Through our week long discussions and explorations we learned more about their specific needs and how we might be helpful to them in meaningful ways. You will be hearing more about this in the months to come but for now, I thank you all once again for your support that made this trip of reconnection possible. We are reunited with the spiritual roots of Wakan and it feels great.

A final personal note in closing — lying in my sleeping bag one night it suddenly struck me that when Manuela dies, I will be the oldest one left of the extended family who began working together in 1983 when I first met Guadalupe. Three of the shamans I have worked with have now crossed over, as well as some other elders. When I was doing my closing prayers in the Tuki before departing to Puerto Vallarta, two of the older girls came in to be with me. I was so touched as they looked to me to be included in my prayer. I did a blessing for them and I was brought to tears when I saw how they took it in. While not a Huichol of course, I have known them all their lives. I am indeed one of their elders and I saw how they look towards me in some ways that my own daughters do. It made me realize on a deeper level my debt of gratitude for how the path of their ancestors has helped me find my life and what I owe the next generation in support for their lives to go in a good way.

The web of interconnected relationship through time and space, of love and caring, of family and community, dropped several notches deeper into my soul. I give thanks to the Great Mystery for bringing me together with these special people that have taken me, and the other pilgrims, so warmly into their lives.

I hope and pray that we all can honor what we have been so fortunate to have been gifted with that truly serves living a good life for the greatest good of all. May it be so. Love, tomás

One of the great challenges facing our world today is the challenge to transform the impulse to violence so the power within it can be used in a constructive fashion to sustain and honor life, instead of destroying it. Wars, violence towards women and children, gang wars in the inner city, suburban violence in the schools, the list goes on.

Most of the violence comes from men. With the testosterone that makes us men physiologically, also comes the impulse towards violence that indeed was a survival mechanism when we had to defend our families and ourselves against saber tooth tigers and the like. But in today’s world this impulse to act out violently towards that which we feel anger or threatened by, brings us to the brink of catastrophe.

Outside of a lobotomy, or castration, testosterone is with us to stay, so the task is to find a way to access the power of the impulse to violence in males and use it for good in the world. My life has been a journey of exploration, first of the violence and what it can do when acted upon, and then, seeing the havoc it wrought, trying to find a way to create a new relationship with the impulse, to befriend it and use it skillfully in expressions that truly honor and protect life, that nurture life and help it grow in a healthy and peaceful way.

Towards this end I have been called by Spirit, or whatever you want to call the creative power of the universe, to create a theatre piece and what I call “heart songs”, which addresses the challenge. I was born into violence and its aftermath, I lived out violence through juvenile delinquency and gang fights, and I have traveled around the world for over thirty-five years studying with indigenous wisdom elders from different traditions how they handle the challenge. Through shamanic journeys with these people I was gifted with vision to see another way, a way of love, a way of peace.

I was gifted again by being asked to help start the second hospice program in the United States and then helping to start the Center for Attitudinal Healing where I have served as clinical consultant for over 30 years working with children, adults and families facing life threatening illness. In the dire situations of life and death I was able to put the visionary teachings to real tests, to see if and how they showed up in response. The teachings passed the test. It is the fruits of those teachings, those potentialities that are in all of us as human beings that offer an alternative to violence.

I am in the process of recording the songs with professional musicians who are interested in the material, and working with an internationally known theatre figure to develop a one person play that brings the teachings to a larger audience than those I see individually or in my groups or retreats. I believe this work has the ability to touch people in their hearts, open their minds and inspire them to access their own creative potentials for meaningful expression in the world.

What I am talking about is the use of sacred theatre, story telling, music, and song to help the waking up process that our planet is struggling to do so that future generations might have a safe, sane and healthy world in which to live. The theatre piece will be filmed and made into a DVD which along with CD’s of the songs, will be made available to schools, youth groups, social service, and mental health agencies to aid in their violence prevention and treatment programs.

I am seeking financial support in the form of donations, gifts, grants (I am director of a non-profit organization eligible to receive grants for which the grantee gets a tax benefit) benefactor, etc. by which I can have the time and support to bring these projects to completion as high quality finished productions.

Expenses include: theatre coach, musicians, recording studio time, materials and production costs, filing and editing costs, and time off from my work responsibilities for six months to focus on bringing the project to completion and ready to go.

This is inspirational work that sheds light on another way to use the power of male energy, and all people’s energy, in a creative manner that short-circuits violence and promotes peace, healing, dialogue.

For more information, contact Dr.Tom Pinkson at thomas@microweb.com
Www.nierica.com
Contributions can be sent to 710 C st. #211 San Rafael, CA 94901 and are tax deductible if made out to WAKAN, INC.

Thank you
Tom Pinkson (tomás)

Hola relatives–the below words came through a few days ago so here they be.

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO A HEALTHY AND PEACEFUL WORLD

WITH ECOLOGICAL BALANCE,

LIBERTY,

AND SOCIAL/ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR ALL.

MAY IT BE SO FOR ALL MY RELATIONS

WITH PEACE IN THE WORLD

PEACE IN OUR HEARTS

AND

PEACE FOR ALL PEOPLE.

MAY YOU ALL HAVE A WONDEROUS HOLIDAY SEASON

FULL WITH THE LIGHT, LOVE AND PROMISE

OF THE LOOKS-WITHIN TIME.

MAY YOU ALWAYS KNOW HOW MUCH

YOU

ARE LOVED.

tomás

Hola relatives–last night was dark and rainy as I turned off Lindero street into a driveway when my car was smashed into by a speeding motorcycle. I never saw it coming, only a sudden explosion-like crash. I had no idea what happened. Shocked, I got out of my car and looked behind me. I saw a motorcycle on its side and to my horror, a man sprawled out in the street lying motionless. “Oh my God, I’ve killed him!” I thought.

No one else was there. I rushed over to him and bent over close to his face to see if he was breathing. To my huge relief, he was alive! He was able to talk. I asked him where he hurt the most, checked him for external bleeding and ascertained that his neck and spine were ok and he could move his hands and legs. Hallelujah!

By now some folks had come out of the nearbye building to see what had happened. I told them to call 911 and get me a blanket to protect him from the rain and cold. I told the young man that I too, rode a motorcycle and had been in an accident similar to this one and that the bad news was that it had happened, but the good news was that he was going to be ok. (may it be so!). I guided him in relaxing and doing slow healing and releasing breaths and he gratefully thanked me as I stayed with him sending him love until the police and the emergency crew got there and took him to the hospital.

I sat down in my car, front end smashed but still able to drive, and realized I was in a mild state of shock. I gave thanks for the gift of protection for the young man and I, given what could have happened to both of us. Whoa, what a trip. And I never saw it happened. Just like that — BAM! CRASH! Out of the night comes a power that can take away life in an instant.

Then I remembered a dream from the previous week. In the dream it was night time and I came across someone lying in the street who had been in a crash. I stopped to offer whatever help I could and that was the end of the dream. So looking back I see now some part of me knew what was coming. Ah, the mystery, the sacred great mystery.

So relatives, I am very grateful to be here this morning with only my car banged up and not me. I pray for complete healing for this young man who wasa very nice guy. And I pray for all our safety, all ways. May it be so.

Love, tomás