Date: Tue May 13 22:33:06 PDT 1986 From: vaxine!encore!ihnp4!hoptoad!newage (New Age Moderator) New Age Digest #38 Moderator: newage@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) uucp: {ihnp4,lll-crg,well,ptsfa,frog}!hoptoad!newage arpa: hoptoad!newage@lll-crg.arpa Tue May 13 22:33:07 PDT 1986 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tonight: Quote from Eckankar Founder Change in Locale/Energy Grove of the Unicorn Update (two messages) Is Everything Appropriate? Healing Energy Needed New Member Bio Shamanism Workshop Announcement Psychical Training Z. Budapest Book search -------------------- Subject: Quote Date: 16 Feb 86 09:34:24 PST (Sun) From: Jason Venner [Paul Twitchel, Rebezar Tarus] "Now the law of the world as we know it is this: If a person's attention is focused upon an object which gives them pleasure, they will have pain if it is removed. "So you see, this law of nature compels us to place the attention of many on a permanent object so that there will not be an unbalancing of the emotions too greatly through pleasure or pain. "Let me tell you here that the word detachment is too cold. What is meant in spiritual terms is this--we, as one with all, will have a certain amount of pleasure and pain, but will not let it affect our emotional balance too greatly to throw our minds into the extreme poles of joy and sorrow. The real control is detachment from fear. Once you have gained this important attribute of God, then you can enjoy greater life. Yes, you can have joy mixed with pain and not be affected to the same extent as previously. Only when fear is in control of those two poles is your life attached to its physical, mental, and spiritual possessions. Give up fear and you need never to give up another thing in your life. Great joys physically, mentally, and spiritually can become yours, balanced by what sorrows there need be in your life! "Of course, sorrow comes to you. If your parents pass on, your sorrow does not come from death taking them, but from the fact that they must go away. If fear has been cast out of your life, then this emotion is true sorrow, an emotion which belongs in the psychic realm. This is true of a mother who weeps when her daughter is married. Does she weep is sorrow? Perhaps, but mixed with joy! ---------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Apr 86 12:29:00 pst From: Andrea K. Frankel Subject: change in locale/energy I'd like to put a request out to the NAD list, for any information on the Reno/Lake Tahoe area. My S.O. has gotten turned on by the idea of moving there (probably related to his recent addiction to downhill skiing and an intense desire on both our parts for more mountains, trees, and water than can be found in Southern Cal!). This is also a byproduct of introspection on Right Livelihood during the winter (many thanks to those of you who responded with your views on it). I'd like to get some feel for what kind of New Age/Holistic Living activity exists around there. We have a couple friends there who assure us that there is a large and growing yuppie/professional population which has nothing to do with the tourist/gambling/sleaze energy of the downtown area, but they're not into the New Age community. Specifically, I'm looking for any information about, experiences with, reminiscences, or pointers to information sources in the areas of: - massage, shiatzu, bodywork, holistic healing, Jung groups; - Hatha yoga, Tai Chi, folk or other dancing; - organic produce, natural foods, herb/candle/oil/incense shops; - Sufi dancing, pagan/Earth consciousness, meditation groups. In San Diego, we have a bimonthly newspaper called "Wholistic Living News" which covers the spectrum of New Age body/mind/spirit in news articles, features, and advertising. Is there a similar newspaper or newsletter I can subscribe to, which will give me the flavor of what's available in this area? Please send me email, USnail, or telephone - any and all inputs welcome! Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 592-4664 ...searchlights casting for faults in the clouds of delusion ______________________________________________________________________________ UUCP : {hplabs|hp-pcd|hpfcla|hpda|noscvax|gould9|sdcsvax}!hp-sdd!andrea UUCP : {ihnp4|cbosgd|allegra|decvax|gatech|sun|tektronix}!hplabs!hp-sdd!andrea ARPA : hp-sdd!andrea@nosc.arpa CSNET : hp-sdd!andrea@hplabs.csnet USnail: 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA ---------------------------------------- Date: Wednesday, 16 Apr 1986 14:37:04-PST From: sun!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-cfig1!denham (Cthulhu for President--if you're tired of choosing the lesser of two evils) Subject: Update on the Grove of the Unicorn From: HYSTER::HITCHCOCK 16-APR-1986 15:28 To: CFIG1::DENHAM,HITCHCOCK Subj: Grove Of the Unicorn Update >From "Circle Network News," Spring 86 issue: GROVE OF THE UNICORN UPDATE Lady Galadriel and members of the Grove of the Unicorn went to court on December 13 in Atlanta, Georgia. They filed suit against some of the people who had trespassed on their ritual site and harassed them. This incident occurred when the Grove was attempting to cleanse the site from a previous desecration. Outcome of the case was mixed. The judge ruled against the Grove regarding their desire to collect damages, due to a technicality -- "No Trespassing" signs had been posted on the land but a "No Trespassing" form had not been filed in the courthouse prior to the incidents. However, the judge ruled in favor of the Grove regarding their right to worship as they choose on the land. When this was announced, loud cheers rang through the packed courtroom from the many Pagans present. The judge also ordered the men on trial not to return to the property and issued an injunction that stated that anyone harassing the Grove on that property in the future would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Lady Galadriel, on behalf of the Grove of the Unicorn, thanks everyone who aided them with magickal blessings, funds, letters, phone calls, and other support. The $100 left over after legal expenses were covered has been put in the Grove's land fund to finance the building of a fence around the site to help protect the site from trespassers and desecration in the future. ---------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 18 Apr 86 00:03:58 PST From: lll-crg!BERKELEY.EDU!lah%miro (Cmndr. RYN Leigh Ann Hussey) To: paganism%oz@mc.lcs.mit.edu Subject: More News from Atlanta Well, I got the newest news, from the mouth of Selene Fox of Circle, which she only just got today. It seems that the people who trespassed on the lands of the Grove of the Unicorn for the purposes of vandalism could not be convicted, because of insufficient signs warning Private Property (the Grove's land butts up against a public wilderness area). That's the bad news. The good news is that the judge ruled Wicca as a legitimate religion (pretty amazing for Georgia!), and said that if the parties involved were caught on the Grove's land again, they would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Also, the Grove folks got some positive press. So it seems to be going well down there. If you are interested in more info about Pagan Rights activities, here is the address to contact: Pagan Strength Web, Circle Box 219 Mt. Horeb, WI 53572 (608)924-2216 If you call and don't get them, leave a message; they really will get back to you! I was surprised... In other news, the Walker Bill, HR 3389, is still pending in Congress. It is a stand-alone bill that does the same thing that Amendment 705 would have done, namely, deny tax-exempt status to any group engaging in "Witchcraft". Please write to your Congresspeople and let them know of your opposition (I would hope!) to the Walker Bill and any other such legislation. Designating religions as "good" (tax-exempt) and "bad" (not tax-exempt) is one step away from prohibiting the "bad" religions. Emphasis might be placed on preserving the American tradition (and constitutional right!!) of religious freedom. Yours in militancy (:-), Leigh Ann ---------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Apr 86 02:06:43 cst From: ihnp4!seismo!ut-sally!ut-ngp!kjm (Ken Montgomery) Subject: Objections to "All That Is, Is Right" Someone (Owen Rowley, I think...) has put forth the notion that everything that happens is somehow appropriate. I simply can't buy it. Why not? I have several reasons. To begin with, it strikes me as a cop-out. If one can't explain why bad things happen, then simply find a way to label any- and everything as good, and all the trouble will vanish. Right? Wrong! I fail to see how relabelling something changes its nature. Thus the idea seems like the same sort of nugatory (but supposedly somehow "comforting") nonsense that one hears at Christian funerals. Secondly, someone else (pardon me, whoever said this, I can't recall your name) raised the example of mass murders, and asked how this could be appropriate. I seem to recall that the answer was something on the order of "well, we just can't see how it is appropriate". I'm unsatisfied. True, people probably know only a fraction of what there is to be known, but even this cannot justify such a blatant absurdity as considering a mass murder somehow "appropriate", for it smacks of an unwillingness to examine the consequences of one's ideas fully. Specifically, if anything is somehow appropriate, then what basis can there possibly be for any sort of ethics/morality? Finally, "appropriateness", being a notion, has true existence only in the minds of sapient entities. I fail to see why the physical world should necessarily obey some notion in the minds of one or more sapients. I'm aware of the possibility of forming the notion by observation; I've attempted above to refute that possibility. To Owen (or whomever put forth the idea): I apologise in advance if I have distorted your position. I'm doing this from memory. (Insert favorite cliche about memory and distortions here...) -- The above viewpoints are mine. They are unrelated to those of anyone else, including my cat and my employer. Ken Montgomery "Shredder-of-hapless-smurfs" ...!{ihnp4,allegra,seismo!ut-sally}!ut-ngp!kjm [Usenet, when working] kjm@ngp.{ARPA,UTEXAS.EDU} [Old/New Internet; depends on nameserver operation] kjm@ngp.CC.UTEXAS.EDU [Very New Internet; may require nameserver operation] ---------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Apr 86 20:17:26 pdt From: cybvax0!harvard!ihnp4!tektronix!reed!ellen (Ellen Eades) Subject: POSITIVE HEALING ENERGY NEEDED URGENTLY -- 4-29-86 Steve Mann is a neat person. He's a senior at Berkeley, with a double major in math and CS, planning to go to U of W graduate school next fall. He plays cello and fantasy games. He was a close friend of mine in junior high. I just heard from his best friend that Steve suddenly went into a coma this past weekend and was diagnosed as having encephalitis. I don't know any more than that. I would like to ask the people on this list to join with me in sending healing energy to Steve. I'll post updates when I get news. Followers of all paths, your strength is needed here. Ellen Eades (tektronix!reed!ellen) ---------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 May 86 15:15:13 PDT From: lll-crg!BERKELEY.EDU!lah%miro (Cmndr. RYN Leigh Ann Hussey) Subject: Self, etc. Hello! I should introduce myself. Pertinent info: Name: Leigh Ann Hussey Oster Use-name: Siobhan Birth-date: 31 July, 1961 (9:52 am, Berkeley, CA) Marital status: married 11 August, 1985 (let me tell you about that wedding some day!!) I am a first-degree NROOGD witch, of Firestar Coven in Berkeley. My interests are divination (runes, scrying, Tarot), folklore, and ritual drama (I write rituals). I have studied Japanese and European sword-forms, am a published author of fantasy fiction, write poetry and songs, and play 15 instruments (BA in music from UC Berkeley). My current mania is Pacific Northwest Coast Shamanism (and Shamanism in general) which I got interested in as a magical path through research for a book I am writing. How I got to be a pagan. It all started some years ago when I first got into Celtic Studies. It seems that many folk who are not strict scholars of Celticism (and even some who are) are also pagans. Mostly, though, I was interested in folk music, and a good friend of mine was a piper. He introduced me to someone who was later to become my fiance and even later die of cancer (a long story), and that person introduced me to the music of Holly Tannen. At a concert of hers, I got handed a flyer inviting me to a Vernal Equinox ritual, run by Firestar. There I met a number of neat people. I was a Buddhist at the time (Nichiren Shoshu, sorry Ellen -- by the way, I don't entirely agree with what you said about them, but they do have problems), and when Greg died, the Buddhists were unable to give me the answers to the hard questions I asked them about why he had died when they said he wouldn't. So I left them, and entered on the path that seemed the most interesting at the time, the path I am on now. I have been appalled lately by the events in Atlanta, involving the Grove of the Unicorn. So much so, in fact, that they have inspired me to go public and become active for Pagan Rights. I recently went public in net.religion.christian and net.games.frp in response to an astonishinly false posting by a christian gamer who had quit D&D because "a former witch" came to his church and told them that occultists used D&D to recruit and train new members. As I pointed out, not only would the quality of such recruits be low (what kind of members would xtians expect to get from D&D recruiting, really?), but the training aspect is non-existent as D&D magic is completely unlike real magic. I suppose that's enough for now. I would like to recommend a book, apropos of nothing. It is ALWAYS COMING HOME, by Ursula LeGuin. Some may find it prohibitively expensive, but by all means seek it out in your local library, or beg or borrow a copy. It is a wonderful book about whole people who live gently on the earth and in harmony with it. As my husband pointed out the other day, it is an interesting reversal of the traditional "Golden Age" fiction in which the past is more beautiful and healthier than the present. ACH puts the "Golden Age" in the future, as a goal to work towards, rather than an object of impotent longing. It has stories in it, cultural essays, and even recipes (some of which are very good!). I cannot speak highly enough of it; it is on my "ten best books of all time" list. Blessed be, Leigh Ann ---------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 86 13:27 CDT From: Brett Slocum Subject: Shamanism workshop announcement To: paganism@AI.AI.MIT.EDU The Minnesota Institute of Shamanic Studies will host the Michael Harner beginning workshop "The Way of the Shaman: Power and Healing" on November 8-9, 1986 in Minneapolis, MN. Harner will also present a new workshop on divination on April 11-12, 1987. (We plan ahead.) BTW, Minneapolis is one of the few localities to have Harner workshops twice a year. If interested, contact the Institute directly, or send e-mail to me. MN Institute of Shamanic Studies P.O. Box 11341 Minneapolis MN 55411 (612) 521-7910 --Brett Slocum --(Slocum at HI-MULTICS.ARPA) P.S. Hurrah! We (the Institute) just got our tax-exempt status from the I.R.S. ---------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 May 86 09:58:46 PDT From: sunny (Sunny Kirsten) Subject: PSI I'm interested in discussions of psychic healing in particular, and psychic phenomena in general. I've recently proposed on the net the formation of net.psi or mod.psi for this purpose, and yet somehow suspect that the majority of people who might so participate may already be participating in the new age digest. If you would prefer to see the creation of net.psi or mod.psi as the forum for this, please send me mail supporting such. Otherwise, how about some discussion here? I've recently started taking psychic training classes, the most noteworthy of which is taught by Laurie Schryver in Sausalito, CA. She and many of the psychics I know have graduated from the Berkeley Psychic Institute. The quality of psychics who have graduated therefrom seems pretty high... nice people, good ethics, clearly on the light path rather than the dark path. Yet most seem to be down on BPI as a place to be, political and power trips being often mentioned. I've noticed (and recently recommended in net.mag) the magazine Psychic Life, which is by and for psychics. I'd be interested in any recommendations for other publications both books and magazines or newsletters or papers which are psychically proactive (oriented towards learning and use of psychic phenomena) rather than debatatory (does it exist?). Most of the psychics I've come into contact with have suggested an experiential approach as an apprentice or student, and haven't had any book recommendations to offer, and there seems to be a lot of validity for this approach. The reason I've come to support that position, is not that books can't be helpful in the learning process, but that when you begin to practice what you know, especially as a novice, it's very easy to get into trouble, and find yourself in need of a more advanced psychic to monitor what you're doing, and get you out of trouble, and keep you from ignorantly causing trouble for someone you're healing. Since a signifigant portion of the things to heal in someone else are instances of other people either draining energy from the person you're healing, or trying to exert control over them, your stepping in to interfere and help the person you're healing own their own power and space and be independent, often provokes pretty extreme reactions from those who are losing control of the person you're healing. I had this happen in one of my first readings/healings, and got thoroughly zapped with a lot of dark force energy by the very dark-side person whose energy I was grounding from the person I was healing. NOT a pleasant experience, and it did take a bit of work to heal. It certainly taught me to keep my defenses up. Sunny ---------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 9 May 86 16:18:22 edt From: decvax!osiris!jcp (Jody Patilla) Subject: book search Does anyone know where I can order a copy of "The Feminist Book of Lights and Shadows" by Z. Budapest ? --------------------- End of New Age Digest --------------------- * Via Fido 100/51 21 May 86 05:02:42