Rose on the Grave

Yucatan Mexico

For centuries, geography made it difficult for the Yucatecans to communicate with the rest of Mexico. As a result, architectural and cultural influences from Europe, the Caribbean and New Orleans were as strong or stronger in the growth of the city. To this day, the people who live here consider themselves Yucatecans first, Mexicans second. If you look carefully, you will see tshirts and bumper stickers proclaiming Orgulloso Yucateco, Yucatecan Pride.

The Yucatan is one of Mexico's most tranquil and safest states, with a climate resembles that of Florida or Cuba. Yucatecans are good, tranquil and hospitable people who have strong roots and traditions. They take pride in their city, known as "The White City", not only for the predominance of white limestone as a building material, but because of its streets, plazas and parks that are cleaned daily.

When I read this description of the Yucatan I realized the wonderful opportunity that had come my way. A chance to visit a long desired location in Mexico, meet local healers and stay with a family that still speaks the local Mayan dialect. This opportunity will add another layer of interest to my budding eco-travel business, Concentric Rings.

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Cut The Forests And Scoop Out The Rivers: correa and lula's plot

Correa and Lula plot to cut down the forest and scoop out the rivers

In yesterday?s el Comercio, as in the other major Ecuadorian papers, the headlines were Correa?s visit with Lula in Brasil, which culminated in the signing of fifteen economic convenios (agreements) ordered in three categories: (i) to widen the energy cooperation; (ii) widen the financial integration (in Latin American, one of Correa?s main points); and (iii) a commission that shall analyse the situation of a corridor from Manta to Manaus.

!these are not tree-huggers, but loggers!

The corridors - and the devastating effect it is likely to have on the environment and the culture and livelihoods of the people who live along the roads and rivers to be turned into commodity highways - has been a topic in previous entries and this entry shall serve only to reiterate where Mr. Correa is taking his neo-socialist movement: to the destruction of the forest while ignoring the land and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon..

Correa?s visit in Brasil, as already mentioned, concluded with the signing of fifteen convenios and should be understood as a longer process that began before Correa had even taken his presidential seat in Quito and which extends plans of previous Ecuadorian governments.

One of the main points on the exclusively economic agenda of Correa?s neo-socialist revolution in Ecuador is the Manta-Manaus corridor and it was agreed, between Ecuador and Brasil, to set down a bi-national commission to analise ?the situation?:

?Una comisión analizará la situación de la vía Manta-Manaos. Una vía que una el puerto de Manta en Ecuador con Manaos en Brasil y se convierta en la ruta de entrada para el Atlántico, en el caso ecuatoriano, y el Pacífico, en el caso brasilero, fue parte del discurso de ayer de los mandatarios Rafael Correa y Lula da Silva.

Ambos anunciaron que tomaron la resolución de formar una comisión binacional que se reunirá dentro de 15 días en Quito para empezar a trabajar en el proyecto, y que continuará con reuniones periódicas en ambos países. ?

The commission is to commence working in Quito within fifteen days, that is, by now, fourteen and counting?.

Hidrovias are a common Euro-American developmentalist paradigm phenomenon and is currently also debated in southern Brasil where evaluations of ?the hydrologic impact of the Hidrovia project on the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, that is, the changes in water and sediment runoff to be expected as a result of project implementation? has been carried out.

A fairly ?general? point made in the evaluation reads:

?# Channel modifications (straightening, dredging, and particularly blasting of rocky sills), will destabilize the river?s baseflow regime, and will demand future action in the river to continue to maintain the required minimum draft for navigation, i.e., it will set in place a vicious circle of channel interventions.?

The German ?Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit? (GTZ) has been doing studies for the purposes of scooping out an hidrovia on the Rio Napo already, since the projected Manta-Manaus corridor was an idea of the late Gustavo Noboa government.

Rafael Correa has adopted the idea and it is now a central element in his plans for economic development and financial integration of Latin America, which also counts a Brasil-China-Ecuador collaboration to exploit some of Ecuador?s major oil fields, including investments by Petroleo Brasileiro SA in Ecuador reaching U$1 billion by 2010:

?Brazil?s Petrobras today signed a memorandum of understanding with Ecuador?s state-owned PetroEcuador to propose plans to explore the Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha oil fields, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in an e-mailed statement.

Chilean state oil company Empresa Nacional de Petroleo and a unit of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia?s largest oil refiner, will bid with Petrobras to develop the ITT fields.?

¿¿So, yea, what?s left to say, other than, perhaps, to paraphrase an old hippie tune, Where do the children play in a neo-socialist economy?


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Woman: herb garden

Ideally, of course, each and every woman should have an herb garden- perhaps tucked amongst the vegatables and flowers, or a separate space, to wander in and dream of a babe's sweeet face.

Rosemary Sutton

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Death: 1994......it's just a dream?

1994 Death Dream

I just finished reading "Shakti Woman" by Vicki Noble. Her beliefs on life and death are very close, if not the same as mine.
Progress of the soul. Advancement to enlightenment. Using my physical body that walks the earth to move my soul body forward on it's journey home.

My dream last night was one of death. I found myself in a situation where I was going to be killed, dying didn't scare me, it was the method by which death would come that scared me. I don't want to be tortured, drown or have a violent painful death. I imagine no one wants that, if they had a choice in the matter.

I pondered the death dream and its meaning. What was happening in my life that needed to die. Would that death cause me pain? Would the transformation be violent or tortured? The death in my dream did not come swiftly, no it took more years for me to embrace it, to understand the purpose of this dream.

My egoic self was about to die. The part of me that manipulated, judged, blamed and all the icky stuff I did to get my needs met, but those actions were unsatisfying and shallow to my inner beings growth. For years after this dream, I struggled with my own self destruction all the time I was unaware that I was preparing for the death I had experienced in my dream years before......

In 2003 I traveled to the jungles of Peru where I met death face to face in a small hut deep in the Amazon rainforest. I had journeyed for two days to drink the "Vine of Death", Yage also known as Ayahuasca.

The experience of dying is an interesting sensation, I actually found it pleasant. The means to get there is less so, a brew from Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis make up the tea or brew that is ingested by the jungle tribes of the Amazon. Ayahuasca is a sacred brew used by many indigenous communities of the Amazon jungle for divination, healing and other cosmogonic or shamanic purposes. Physically a person can expect to vomit or have diarrhea as the brew winds its way through the intestional tract.

The mind on the other hand is aware of parallel dimensions within reality, a heightened awareness is stimulated as the brew transcends the blood brain barrier, the third eye opens through stimulation of the pineal gland, located at the base of brain. I found the experience of Ayahuasca to be a gateway into my soul, one that I could not deny was frighteningly alluring. For there, in that heightened state of awareness I met the dark shadow side of myself, the ego was her handmaiden.


I was seeking to strip away my false self, I wanted to live an authentic life, that part of this sacred work was painful torture for me. I realized I did not need to kill my ego only to understand its purpose and give it direction within that purpose, as one would do with a child. I received the unexpected gift of knowing unconditional love too. The connection to the realm of spirit through the "Vine of the Soul" is profoundly beautiful, enlightening and pragmatic. The inner work we each do toward our own self realization or living authentically is challenging, but I have found it to be worth all the adventures Spirit has asked me to take...... dreamtime or realtime its all about living authentically.

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The Soul: chemistry, intelligence or feelings

"Do you think it possible to dissect a human being, render it down into its constituent parts, feed them into a machine which measures such things and determine from that its ability to paint or create great music?"

"No?"

"Then why do you think that once you have done this with my body you know anything about me?"

Stephen Harrod Buhner

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Perfumes: floral communication

"Might there not be souls which bloom in stillness, exhale fragrance and satisfy their thirst with dew and their impulses by their burgeoning?"

"Could not flowers communicate with each other by the very perfumes they exude, becoming aware of each other's presence by a means more delightful than the verbage and breath of humans?"

Gustav FechnerThe Secret Life of Plants

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Awareness: could we?

Could we as a whole change our collective consciousness, and alter our present course of destruction to ourselves, each other and the Earth?

I believe it is possible and I sense it is the highest point to which all humanbeings can raise their awareness through thought.

" Seek then to create a change not because a thing is wrong, but because it no longer makes an accurate statement of Who You Are"
Neal Donald Walsh

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Resolve Your Selves to This

"We are the New Civilization

We are here.

We are waking up now, out of the past, to dream a bigger dream.

We are friends and equals, we are diverse and unique, and we're united

for

something bigger than our differences.

We believe in freedom and cooperation, abundance and harmony.

We are a culture emerging, a renaissance of the essence of humanity.

We find our own guidance, and we discern our own truth.

We go in many directions, and yet we refuse to disperse.

We have many names, we speak many languages.

We are local, we are global.

We are in all regions of the world, we're everywhere in the air.



We are the universe being aware of itself, we are the wave of evolution.

We are in every child's eyes, we face the unknown with wonder and excitement.

We are messengers from the future, living in the present.

We come from silence, and we speak our truth.

We can not be quieted, because our voice is within everyone.

We have no enemies, no boundaries can hold us.

We respect the cycles and expressions of nature, because we are nature.

We don't play to win, we play to live and learn.

We act out of inspiration, love and integrity.

We explore, we discover, we feel, and we laugh.

We are building a world that works

for everyone.

We endeavor to live our lives to their fullest potential.

We are independent, self-sufficient and responsible.

We relate to each other in peace, with compassion and respect, we unite

in community.

We celebrate the wholeness within and around us all.



We dance to the rhythm of creation.

We weave the threads of the new times.

We are the new civilization."

By Satya Waters

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