Hello Everyone...

Thank you Siona, for pointing the way for this timely seminar.  My name is Moni, and I am an advanced practitioner in flower therapies, nature photographer, writer and my main interest is earth and nature.  What a great opportunity to meet with like minded people under the skilled leadership of these women!

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Hi Moni and welcome to the group. I had a look at the Soul Food Silk Road Advent Calendar that you were involved in, wow what a remarkable project, how very inspiring it is. I look forward to connecting with some of your inspirational energy through this group, Women on the Edge of Evolution.
I too enjoy moments of solitude and silence, it is often during these moments that I find the answer I seek or the seed of an idea begins.
Let the soul connection grow…

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I stumbled on this and am grateful to be a part of something special with this much power.  Thanks!  I put a link on the Feature on Siona for others to find this as well and we placed your flyer in the Announcements.

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Hi KES and welcome. Isn't it exciting to “stumble” onto something new, and know it is so right?

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Thank you so much, Dianne, for these comments!

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earthheartconnection: Thank you for bringing Moni's project to my attention; after reading your words I had to go hunt it out too and you're right about how profoundly inspiring it is. I have a feeling that the connections woven as a result of this call will be lifechanging. :)

In silence, and appreciation…

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Hi sisters,
Well, I have dial-up and have just discovered that it would take me 2 hours to download each of the teleseminars (which probably means that my connection would get cut off during it) – so I am going to have to depend on what all of you say about them.

My name is Pashta and I have updated my profile, if anyone is interested in what I do.  One of my primary interests in this series is that I have M.E. and come to question whether such diseases aren't diseases at all, but the first steps in an evolutionary change (which is always marked as being a dysfunction at first).   I won't go into long explanations of that – but I have had a long-time suspicion that we are at a kairos point (Greek for 'ripeness of time' and similar to Marilyn Ferguson's idea of the Aquarian Conspiracy in our time) – not only culturally, but physically as a species – that we have come through a full spiral of development as humyn, and are ready to evolve beyond that. 
 I also believe that humyn development thus far can be seen – in metaphoric terms – as going through the same basic stages of that of an individual humyn being – earliest/Totemistic as baby, Goddess/Nature-centred as child, patriarcy as adolescent, and that right now we are just moving into the young adult stage.   Whether this means a physical evolutionary change or not, it does mean a very different understanding of the world/cosmos that we are part of .  Because kairos always makes changes that are not entirely foreseeable, I believe that we have only the tinyest glimpses of what that change will be.   However, I also believe that those of us who feel the kairos of our time can be, and should be, midwives to the change.
More later when I have a chance to read more of your responses to the teleseminars.

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Pashta,
The talk was so interesting that I actually took notes, which is rare for me.  However yesterday I spent 45 minutes writing to the group and the post was lost in the computer system.  So I'm going to just see if I can post anything, before I put a lot of effort into writing again.

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cbrouillet: Oh, I'm so sorry you lost your post… my heart always aches to think of work like that erased. I'd gently recommend that you compose any lengthy posts offline, and then copy and paste the writing into the text box here. That way if your internet connection stumbles, or if the site hiccups, you won't lose your masterpiece.

I took notes too. Next time I'll jot them on my computer instead of paper so I can more easily share.

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I would really appreciate any notes from the teleseminars (even if I do figure out how to hear them) being shared with the group.   It is always interesting to hear what connections other people (other than myself, and the speaker) are picking up on.   But as Siona said, probably is a good idea to get them into an electronic file first – I have also spent hours responding to something and then lost it, so I know the frustration!!!

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womynstar8: Oh, goodness. Let me see whether I can find some way of zipping up those files into a smaller package so that you can more easily download them. They're so worth listening to and I'm sure you'd enjoy. Otherwise, are you able to call in on Saturdays?

And I'm so glad you brought kairos into the discussion. I've been trying to consciously live more and more in that form of time than in the linear chronos sort, and it's been rewarding.  What I love is the way in which technology, oddly, is bringing this shift in conception of time about. After all, time is only a function of our location on the planet, our unique place on the Earth as she cycles 'round the sun. If the internet is non-local–that is, it's placeless, so that I can be connecting with someone at the same 'time' even though it's night where she is and daylight here–what does that do to the notion of temporality?

Also, what you wrote about kairos and change–how it's unforseeable–sent shivers down my spine. I agree; the changes coming are nonlinear and nonderviative from what might have come before. Rather, this is an emergent change, an unfolding or birthing of something wholly new and now-unknowable, and the more easily we can breathe and trust the better our ability to midwife its coming.

Thank you, deeply. I'm so glad you're here. And dare I ask what your background is, to have such a rich and nuanced appreciation of this time and the future?

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Hi Siona,
Thanks for looking into ways to make the teleseminars more downloadable.   I don't know if I can check in by phone – I have sent the main directors a request for advise on that.

As to my background, well – I have always had a feeling that something radical was going to change and needed to (I can remember hints of back to age 5 or 6); but of course, it took years for me to articulate that feeling (and yah – it was more than the changes that were happening in the 60s).   I was one of those people who came across Wicca and immediately knew that that was what I was – though I already felt equally 'at home' amongst Quakers (in the community and worship-style sense), I knew that I was not Christian.  And I have found Wicca to be the best 'religious Mother Tongue' for me to make sense of my wyrd senses!!  Then I came across Marilyn Ferguson's book 'The Aquarian Conspiracy' – and could only read the first chapter for years because it resonated so strongly (odd that I couldn't read the rest of the book for so long - never figured that one out).   Next was coming across the word 'kairos' (before it came into common usage), and recognizing that it was also a critical part of this long-time feeling: then the concept of polarity – as the necessary both/and tension of ex-IS-tense; which, in any moment in time, looks and acts like duality but is a radically different perception (very either-or).   As I mentioned (I think) before, struggling with an unknown (most of the time) disease all of my life (M.E. - variation of CFIDS – since age 6) and getting this unexplainable knowing that it was part of a necessary change (and not really a disease – although definitely a dis~ease!!!); and deciding to accept it if, in fact, it was one of the millions of 'first steps' needed to make the change for all.  Finally, despite not having a high school education (but going to university - World Religions and Jungian psychology – and a lay seminary, in later years), I found that the new physics, cosmology and even biology spoke to me deeply – though entirely in metaphorical terms.  So, I guess it is all of those things together – woven together; always digging deeper to try and make more sense of it/all, although never as clearly as I would like!!!!

Thanks so much for your response – it makes me feel like I am more of the community here, despite not being able to participate in the teleseminars as yet.   And thanks for asking – I hope that in responding, this helps others to talk about their 'weird' (read as 'wyrd' - meaning wise, but usually without any proof) feelings about similar senses.

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Your note, womynstar8, inspired me to create a new Room in this Group. It occurs to me that each of us here must be such a treasure trove of wisdom, and that many of us must have already secured an abundance of resources and secret discoveries on our paths. If you're so inclined, later, I'd love to hear your personal recommendations of other books (or schools or stories or circles). I'll certainly contribute some of my own as well.

And I'm linking to a definition of 'kairos' here, for those unfamiliar. :)

Your whole story makes me wish we could sit down, nestled in lush cushions, over pots of steaming tea, to share more. I love what you wrote about the fields that spoke to you (I feel the same way!) and I'd love to soak up more of your wisdom (be it learned in school or, more, a deeper embodied sort) around Jung and your years in seminary.

What a gift to have met you here. Thank you, deeply, for sharing, and for lending me one more crucial piece of vocabulary. 'Wyrd.' How wonderful.  

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Hi again, Siona – my name is Pashta (means 'she who leads the revolution' –  a bit daunted by that!!!).  My apologies to all, as I don't do blog-type things much, and so forget that my signature (with my name) doesn't get automatically attached!

The new Room sounds like a great idea.  Have the organizers of the teleseminars put together a reading list? – I can't imagine that they won't, since most of the speakers are also writers.  It is hard (for me, at least) to pick out particular recommendations,  as there is so much – but I will put some thought into it, and definitely contribute.

Re Kairos – the author of 'The Kairos Point' sees kairos happening every time someone says 'yes' to a new and/or more positive direction.  That is valid – but it is coming to have a more significant meaning as (in a sense) the 'turning of the ages' in humyn development; and in modern times (at least, for some writers – whether or not they use the term), the coming 'full circle' or 'full turning of the spiral' – that is, that we have returned to the basic position of the earliest humynity, but having completed a full process for the 'first full turning' (Matthew Fox might say 'having gone through all the stages – on the species level – of via creativa, via postiva, via negativa, and via transformativa').  

As I mentioned before, I see this as being possible to make parallel to the stages of an individual's early development: as 'young adults', we just about to become parents to the new cycle; with, of course, our paradigmatic children being the first step into the second cycle.   As such, we are then midwifing something that is beyond the simple (hah! – when has that ever been the case) 'next stage' in the development of our species.

Although I realize it is not quite the same, email/internet does allow one to cuddle up in a blanky (or the fuzzy socks I have on right now) and a cup of tea (right beside me), and share in ways that simply have never before been possible with people right around the world.   Someone mentioned that the internet has radically changed our reality already – and it has: there is (I think) no real parallel in our past, except (and only to some degree) the invention of writing and then when books became readily available (but remembering that the second was only in the last century).     We lose the body language, tone of voice, etc. of 'in person' sharing; but gain the ability to consider our words, the context in which they are chosen, and their effect on others before speaking – quite aside from being able to talk to like-minded folk that we might have never even know about (I am thinking of where I was raised – a very small Ontario town – most radical memory of it was that the priest rode a motor bike).  

And perhaps strangely enough, there is an openness that can come with the fact that we all might never meet in person – perhaps because few of us will ever have to 'live up to our words' intra-relationship-wise with each other!!!   That is a down-fall, in terms of being challenged by our 'in person' friends to do so – but otherwise, it can lead to a kind of sense of safety and confidentiality, allowing us to speak about things that we might not otherwise.

Siona – it is obvious that you are doing a wonderful job of moderating this group, and making us all feel welcomed and valued.  My deepest thanks for that!

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Thank you, Pashta! (And forgive me for not using your true name, rather than the site handle, to address you; I sometimes prefer the latter so that later readers can more easily follow a conversation, but If you'd prefer Pashta, well, Pashta it will be. It's a beautiful name. :)

I meant to spend more time in this Group earlier this week–there are resources I'd like to contribute and so many questions to ask!–but we were surprised by a tremendous snowstorm and the various must-dos that came up as a result got in the way of my computer time. I'm back now, though, so forgive that delay.

I do think there's something to the notion that Kairos bubbles up in every 'yes,' but I think there's something larger to it than that, as well, and that it can take up or sweep up entire nations and communities, not just individuals. So I appreciate what you wrote about the spiral or full turning.

Thank you, too, for your considered perspectives on the internet. I'm with you–it's both a wonderful, unimaginably magical gift to be able to gently reach out and instantaneously tickle the neurons of someone on the other side of the planet, and a bit of a distraction from the richness and wonder of the immediate world, the sensations of those fuzzy socks or the warmth of a dear friend sitting close. I don't think one outweighs the other; rather, technology just pushes us to new challenges and greater capacities as we work to offset the inevitable downsides.

And you're so very welcome. It's an absolute joy to participate. :)

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Hello Womynstar8
I have registered many times to hear the 14 women on the series and have not had any luck. I have received emails to other downloads but not this series. I will keep trying. If you find out anything please let me know.

I enjoy reading the discussions and what you are getting out of the course.

listening heart

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Hi Listening Heart,

So far, I have not received any response from my request to the organizers to clarify how I could participate from a dial-up connection.  If I do, I will let you and others know what they said.   Siona said that she would try zipping the downloadable teleseminars and see if that worked (at least for me) re getting access.   Of course, if you figure anything out, please let the rest of us know about it – the two of us may not be the only ones having trouble getting access.

Pashta Blessed Be

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I think for those of us with slow connections, the best bet is to call in early using the phone lines. Of course this means you have to make the time during the specific window on Saturday, but there is something uniquely wonderful about being on the live calls. I'll cross my fingers you can each make this weeks'. :)

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Oh, Moni… you're so welcome. I completely agree; I'm honored to be able to connect with everyone where, and so grateful to be a part of this.

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Thank you so much, Siona, for your comments about my work!!  Also believe the same as you, it is going to be amazing here.  Hello to everyone else as well, blessings, Moni