CREST13 Peace Garden Community Resource Center
English | Español
CREST13 Resource Center - Report #3
It’s winter here at the CREST13 Resource Centre. A time for going inwards, for reflection, for staying indoors and keeping warm. It’s also the Magnetic Moon, the first moon of the new Rhythmic Wizard year, a time for setting intentions for the next 13 moons. It’s a time when I ask myself what do I want to accomplish for the following year but also, what do we, here at the Resource Centre, hope to achieve during this time. We’re also looking at how the Resource Centre can be of greater assistance during this time of great transition.
My reflections saw me return to a video presentation Valum Votan (Jose Arguelles) gave to a conference in Germany last year. In this presentation Votan spoke of the evolutionary shift that will occur in 2012 and how we can prepare for such a shift. He spoke of the need to simplify. We will be looking into ways to further simplify our lifestyle and many of the processes involved in maintaining it. One option we are currently exploring is opening up a space for kin to come and stay with us for a period of one moon. We envision a reciprocal experience whereby we receive help with daily chores in exchange for an opportunity to retreat in nature, and where we can share our knowledge in exchange for the many gifts and teachings others have to offer. This idea is still in seed form but awaiting the right conditions to bring it into bloom.
During the last year it became really clear to Ishram and I that we both needed to spend more focused time in meditation. We decided to look into building a dedicated meditation space. Of course, living on this land and being in nature is, in many ways, a living meditation. The silence and stillness certainly facilitates healing and purification as it unlocks anything that’s hidden within the psyche. It has heightened the awareness of my mind chatter and what I may be unconsciously creating, bringing with it a sense of urgency to tame my mind! As we started to research and explore options a process unfolded where we ended up with two separate spaces – a ‘his’ and ‘hers’ meditation temple.
His:
Hers:
Blue Mountain Yurts (Australia)
Colorado Yurt Co (USA)
Much to our delight we’ve recently added
little cast iron wood heaters to our spaces.
We can now add ‘laying tiles’ to our
repertoire of new skills. Once our elusive plumber appears to install the flues we’ll be all cosy.
On a more practical note, the last moon saw us with a major rooster dilemma. Bruce, the rooster, was now really large and taking his role of ‘man of the coop’ very seriously. Imagine my utter shock when I let the chickens out one morning, and I turned to collect the eggs when all of a sudden Bruce turns into a fighter plane and dive bombs me from behind!! I almost hit the ground face first and when I regained my balance there was Bruce, in my face, neck extended with feathers standing on end ready to show me what he’s made of. This was the beginning of a morning ritual for Bruce with his attacks on us both becoming more frequent and more aggressive. I asked several people for advice and was disheartened to receive the same response repeatedly. However, I can’t kill anything! Thus, the big dilemma.
My relief came after a visit to our local farmers’ market. We spoke to one of the farmers who we buy our chickens from and who provides a wonderful service to the community. Apparently Bruce is an Isa Brown rooster and one of the most aggressive breeds. They are known to fly at you with the intention of poking your eye out (nice!). He also explained how to tell the sex of Bruce’s six young offspring. It was clear we had another three roosters at home. What to do!! Seeing my distress this lovely old farmer offered to take the roosters for us. I pray they each went to a loving home to breed happily ever after.
Bruce Young Roosters Ish taking them to Market
To be continued …
Ashani Tansley (Kin 97)
on behalf of the CREST13 Resource Center