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Peace Talk May/June 2011

from the editor

Welcome to this edition of Peace Talk. I strive to send this email to those who are interested in what is going on at the Center For Peace and to get all the information correct.
 
This month I want to make a few comments without having them buried in the articles.
 
Sweat Lodges:
  • José Gonzalez has asked to lead Evening Sweat Lodges on the first Saturday of each month. May 7th will be the first such lodge that he will lead at the Center.
  • At this time,there are no Saturday Morning Lodges scheduled in May or June.
  • From time to time there are other lodges available at the Center. I will get that information out as it becomes available. 
  • Those mailings go to subscribers for the Weekly Updates and/or Sweat Lodges and they will be posted on our Facebook page. (You can "like" our page by using the link in the right hand column.)
If you do not know what mailing lists you are currently on, click on the "Manage my subscription" link at the top of this page and check the box next to desired mailing list.
 
2011 Sun Moon Dance:
 
The Sun Moon Dance will be held on the 2nd weekend of July this year, July 8th-11th. This is one week earlier than normal. We changed the date due to the International Chamber Gathering which is taking place at the Birdsong Chamber in Pennsylvania.
 
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions or comments about the newsletter or weekly updates, please contact me.
 
Thanks,
Steve Citty
steve@centerforpeace.us

Power Animals Workshop

Power Animals, Totems & Guides Workshop
Facilitated by: Marti Ackerman
Marti Ackerman
 
Saturday, May 14 10am – 5pm
elk
birdCenter For Peace
$76 per person
 
Register
 
Every person has animals that protect them and act as guardians. By first identifying these animals and then listening to the (hidden) messages they bring, we can claim a higher sense of personal power and wisdom.
 
dolphin
horse
This workshop will take you through specific exercises to help you 
claim your individual Totem Animals, understand Power Animals,
and listen to your Animal Guides.
 
We’ll answer questions such as:
What is a Power Animal?
How can I find an Animal Totem?
Why do I keep seeing certain animals everywhere?
Why do I collect certain animals?
 
Please bring a blanket & pillow and be prepared to do some light walking. Bring your lunch or a dish to share for a community lunch.
 
Contact Marti at Marti@CenterForPeace.us
 
 

Women's Web of Life Dance

Jeanne RobinsonMargarita DiVita
 
WOMEN’S WEB OF LIFE DANCE
May 27 – 29, 2011
With Dance Chiefs – Jeanne Robinson & Margarita DiVita
Register Now
 
 
 
 
Spider is the Grandmother of creation; an ancient symbol of mystery, power and growth. We receive our first lesson from Grandmother Spider by contemplating her web. Just as the Spider weaves a web, so too must we weave our own lives. This serves as a reminder that our choices construct our lives. It is a message to be mindful of the choices we are making and ask ourselves:
How are my choices affecting my life?
 
How can my choices improve my life?
 
How are my choices affecting others in my life?
 
When we see our decisions, choices and actions as far-reaching, effective tools in life, we can see how we weave a web that can either serve us or enslave us. Grandmother Spider beckons us to be mindful of our behaviors; be smart about the life we weave for ourselves. 
 
The Women’s Web Of Life Dance is about looking down the threads of life, both forward and backward, and seeing all the possible consequences of our choices. It is about seeing, understanding, and ultimately taking responsibility for what we set in motion. It is about gaining understanding of how every single, little thing we do, affects the strands next to us, across from us and, indeed, the whole web of life. 
 
We create and dance in an egg-shaped arbor with 13 poles and a central fire. Although the dancers and crew are women, men are invited to support by helping to prepare the dance area on Friday, serving in the kitchen during the dance and participating in the feast on Sunday.  
 
In past years, the requested donation of the dance has been $295. This covers the expenses necessary to hold the dance. There is never a charge for ceremony.
In 2011 the Women’s Web Of Life Dance is offered on a donation basis.
 
For information contact us by email
 
 

"Messiah" Training

Tuesdays 7-8:30pm
 
"In September of 2009,  I began leading a weekly seminar at the Center for Peace around the subject of 'Messiah' Training.  These are on a continuing basis [until they are not] and everyone is invited to participate.
"If you have read and liked such books as Richard Bach’s ILLUSIONS and/or are intrigued by the teachings of A COURSE IN MIRACLES and/or follow the visionary path taught by people like Joseph Rael, you already may have been studying up on this subject – already a 'messiah in training'.  
"Please do not let the language throw you!  These times together are very little about doctrine, demands, or nice ideas and much more about self discovery, personal power, and mutual support."
 
Perry Robinson

More Information on Messiah Training

Fire Ceremony

7th of each month, 7 pm
           ~ led by Katy Koontz

The purpose of the FIRE CEREMONY is to heal and purify both the planet’s physical oceans and the oceans of cosmic thought.
At 7 pm local time, fire elders light ceremonial fires at  each of the Peace Sound Chambers around the world. Those present watch the fire in silence until it burns out, giving to it what we want to transmute in our lives and staying open to the messages and teachings it brings. All are welcome. We suggest you arrive around 6:45 pm.

Donations are appreciated.

Sweat Lodge

Sweat lodge
Saturday May 7th @ 6:30pm led by Jose Gonzalez
Thursday May 19th @ 630pm led by Steve Citty
 
A sweat lodge or "Purification Lodge", is an intensely rewarding experience. By entering the womb of Mother Earth (the lodge), we seek purification and a deeper spiritual awareness through prayer.
Generally speaking the experience is to deepen spiritual awareness. The steam, heat, and darkness intensify prayers and personal introspection. The lodge leader (pourer), with help from the fire tender, hold an energetic space of safety and security while setting the intent of the lodge. The medicine of the lodge leader and of each participant helps to enrich the lessons of the lodge.
There are composting toilets in the meadow. You may change clothes in these toilets or at the Peace Sound Chamber. There is no nudity in our lodges.

Suggested Items to Bring:
 
• Two Towels
• Men are requested to wear swim trunks, gym shorts or something similar.
• Women are requested to wear a skirt or dress. (Something for inside the sweat that is modest and you don’t mind getting muddy.)
• Change of clothes (Preferably long sleeve and covers all of the legs to keep from getting the feast area dirty).
• Covered Dish for the Feast.

It is appropriate to bring tobacco, a small gift, or monetary gift for the fire-keeper and lodge master, both of whom offer their services to the people as a gift.
Cash donations are used to support the Sweat Lodge.  We use lots of wood for the fire; supplies like herbs (sage, tobacco, cornmeal, etc.), drinking water, and more. If you are feeling abundant, a donation would be appreciated. 

There is never a charge for Ceremony. If you are not feeling abundant, PLEASE do not allow this to prevent you from coming.
 

More sweat lodge information

Drumming Circle

Every Friday @ 7 pm
~led by José and Tamy

Drumming is a powerful, sometimes dramatic, way to break into other levels of our mind.  Sensitive instruments can measure the way that drumming affects the brain waves.  That’s the reason for tens of thousands of years the shaman has journeyed with the drum.
This drumming is not specifically for journeying; but you get to use it whatever way you wish – including having a good time doing it!
So, on Friday of each week, bring your drum, and come join us.
Donations are appreciated.

Perry's Ponderings

 
Keep The Vision
 
By Perry Robinson
 
 
What I see is what I expected to see, as truly as if the universe is bent by the wind of my whims.  
One day a plant is a weed.  Another day it is a miracle, offering food, or healing properties, or floral essence – the same plant, what changed?  Something within me.  Perhaps.  But not entirely.
Everything I experience began somewhere inside me, I know. But then there seems to be a listening all around, which responds to who I am.
A ceremony in the meadow:  The hawks show up overhead and seem to ride the currents of the yearning, awakening, and listening, of those present.
Do the hawks decide to do the “fly-by” we “expected” of them?  I wonder if they know how richly they bless us from the air!
The bell rings in the neighboring church, as well.  The Christians, who probably think us rather strange, probably unaware how warmed we feel, when the peel of the bell accentuates a poignant moment, a visionary glimpse, or a personal block removed.
Who knows how much beauty I miss, distracted by TV, computer, or projects.  Even as I sit here typing, I can even smell the robust spring striding around outside, laying claim to the grounds of the Center for Peace, grass surging and seeding in the meadow, shrubs jumping up into trees along the edges, reclaiming the space for their kind, despite our earlier claims and efforts.
Wags will say, if humankind ceased to be here, fifty humanless years would erase all marks of our having been on this planet.  I doubt it.  We still do not know how many ancient pyramids and cities lie buried beneath the jungles of this world.  We have found a few.  Who knows what ancient civilizations lie hidden beneath our parks and ponds.
[From a distance Sugar Loaf Mountain looks like a green pyramid.- Mary Zollars, the benefactor of this land believed that it was so.]
A trail in the woods can be, literally, a former thoroughfare, where hotels stood and people gathered to play.  I know.  I have been there.   I would never have noticed, until someone told me.  Then I looked; I saw and walked that in place in a different awareness.
To see things differently!
Not to be contrary, but to make sure I am not blind to the gifts each moment offers, each place holds, awaiting my notice and awareness of grace.
I pray that the visitors upon the doors of planet earth will find welcome hands and open hearts, willing to share life; not dry bones lying in the waste of another human colonial experiment gone awry.
But . . . that ghastly image becomes a point, of sorts, of this meandering patter.
What I see is what I expected to see.
If I fix my mind upon that ghastly possibility and assert my energy to resist its coming, I make it real and build its form; and my fearful striving becomes twisted.  And all that I am feeds the very horror I thought to prevent.
Yes, let the ghastly holocaust be only a nightmare glimpse.  Let it only fuel my fervor to till my garden, encourage my people, and build the dream of the New Heaven and the New Earth.
This is promised; but it must be seen and welcomed.
I will see it where I walk, even if it is amidst the rubble of what was and is no more.
Keep the Vision!
Even when it is so dark I cannot see, Keep the Vision, O my soul!
 

Contact Perry

In This Issue (links)

from the editor

Power Animals Workshop

Women's Web of Life Dance

"Messiah" Training

Fire Ceremony

Sweat Lodge

Drumming Circle

Perry's Ponderings

Calendar at a Glance
May 7th 6:45 pm
Fire Ceremony
led by Katy Koontz
 
May 7th 6:30 pm
Saturday Night Sweat Lodge
led by José Gonzalez
 
May 8th 4 pm
Monthly Council Meeting
 
May 14th 10am-5pm
Power Animals, Totems and Guides
 
May 19th 6:30
Thursday Night Sweat Lodge
led by Steve Citty
 
May 21st 10am - ??
Work Day for Women's Web of Life Dance
 
May 27th-29th
Women's Web of Life Dance
Chiefs:
Jeanne Robinson
Margarita DiVita
 
JUNE
 
June 4th 6:30
Saturday Night Sweat Lodge
led by José Gonzalez
 
June 7th, 6:45pm
Fire Ceremony
 
June 16th 6:30
Thursday Night Sweat Lodge
led by Steve Citty
Facebook
 
Facebook logo
Work is Worship
“Work is Worship”
 
May 21st Work Day for Women's Web of Life Dance
 
Work/activity is one very clear way to celebrate our selves as part of the community by which we are being fed spiritually. And it is always a lot of fun. Time seems to alter into a process rather than a taskmaster and friendships are born and nurtured by our community participation.
Bring gloves, appropriate clothing, water and an open willing attitude. If you have any special skills, please let us know so we can best use your talents. Of course, we will first take care of the pressing needs, but there is a lot of work to be done and all your talents are valuable.
We provide lunch. (So kitchen help is also appreciated.)
Contact:
Perry 865-428-3070 or
Steve 865-300-4424
Chanting in the Chamber
The Peace Sound Chamber is available for chanting, vision quests and ceremonies of many different types.
You are encouraged to come to the chamber and chant, drum, meditate or simply sit (the chamber Spirits love it); please check first that there is not something already scheduled.
 
Please call at least two weeks in advance to reserve our facilities as usage requires council approval.
Council Meeting
 
This is the gathering of the board of directors to discuss new ideas, future projects, and events.  Feel free to come with suggestions and comments.
 
May 8th 4:00 pm-  visitors welcome
June - TBA
 
For more information, call the Center at (865) 428-3070.
Directions to the Center
Directions
 
 
Council Members
The Center for Peace is a non-profit religious corporation in the State of Tennessee. Donations to the Center for Peace can be claimed as deductions from income for income tax purposes.

Active Council Members of the Center for Peace:

 
Marti Ackerman
Belmont, NC
704-906-9464
 
Tamy Brown
Seymour
865-453-0447
 
Nan Citty
Knoxville
865-405-6809

Steve Citty
Knoxville
865-300-4424

Margarita DiVita
Jefferson  City
865-475-3799
 
Katy Koontz
Knoxville
865-693-9845

Colby McLemore
Knoxville
 
Dona Polero
Sevierville
865-805-8372
 
Jim Phillips
Knoxville
 
Barbara Rector
Knoxville
865-483-4510
 
Jeanne Robinson
Seymour
865-428-3070

Perry Robinson
Seymour
865-428-3070

Marcus Weseman
Clinton
865-463-1002
Center For Peace • 880 Graves Delozier Road • Seymour • TN • 37865

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