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Note from the editor
Something a little different:
Following is a list of events this week. For more information on any event, look in the column to the right and under "In This Issue" click on the article of choice.
Last month I got involved in preparations for the SunMoon Dance and for the International Chamber Gathering in Pennsylvania and no newsletter was sent out for July. Hence, I am sending out a one month newsletter for August.
For some time I have been considering sending out the newsletter on a monthly basis as opposed to the once every two month format that the Center has used for many years.
- When the newsletter was mailed out, it was a cost saving to send out once every two months. That is not an issue with the electronic newsletter format.
- The paper newsletter could be saved and referred to easily. Not so sure that people keep the electronic email around.
- Some events could be 7-8 weeks away from the time the 2 month newsletter was sent. Something that may not have been of interest then, may be valuable for you now.(Not everyone who gets the newsletter gets the weekly update.)
The weekly updates will continue to go out during the month to those who have signed up for them. Then once a month the news for the month will go out to both the weeklyupdate list and the newsletter list.
Please let me know any thoughts you may have on this new format.
Steve Citty
news@centerforpeace.us
Email Us
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This Week
Tuesday 7pm - "Messiah" Training class
Friday 7pm - Drum Circle
Saturday 10am - Workday for the Star Dance
************ NEXT WEEK ************
August 19th thru 21st Star Dance
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Chamber Repair
The Peace Sound Chamber is in need of repairs (roof, walls, steps, railings) and we need your financial support in completing them.
The Chamber provides a sacred space for singing, chanting, drumming, meditating, teaching and other forms of celebrating the abuncance of the Earth, the grace of Creator and the unity of all people.
Joseph Rael, Beautiful Painted Arrow, was the visionary father of these chambers which are located all around the US and the world.
Please help us with the renovation of our Chamber- Tu Tah - the Center for Peace.
Donate through PayPal here.
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Workday for Star Dance
Hello Wonderful, Willing Workers! We have scheduled a WORK DAY on SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST, 2011 for the upcoming STAR DANCE! The fun begins at 10:00 a.m. in the meadow. We hope to see you there!
As always, there is a lot that needs to be accomplished prior to the Star Dance and we could use your help! Here is a list of some of the things that need to be accomplished.
- Split and stack firewood
- Clean the composting toilets (sweep, empty trash, replenish supplies, clean seats, look for wasp nests etc)
- Get sawdust
- Mow meadow
- Clean up drum stand area & arbor
- Weed eat around toilets & inside the arbor
- Sweep and tidy up chamber
- Wipe down coolers used for watermelon & such
- Clean & organize kitchen (inventory paper products, trash bags, stables etc)
- Clean & organize garage area
Please bring gloves, water to drink, any tools or cleaning supplies you might find helpful and your good humor to assist on SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST, 2011. A light lunch will be provided. Thanks everyone, your suppor t is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Marti Ackerman
Star Dance Coordinator
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Star Dance
The Star Dance
August 19-21, 2011
Dance Leaders: John Pehrson & Margarita DiVita
Location: Center For Peace, Seymour, TN
This is a call for Dancers for the STAR DANCE, a sacred dance for All People given by Spirit through personal vision. This three-day event is about bringing balance to the land through fasting and prayer in movement. The dance renews our connection to the Star People and our cosmic heritage. It is also about gaining personal inspiration, breaking out of the stuck places in our lives, and moving into alignment with our Life Purpose. Many have found it to be a way to accelerate their progress on the path to greater spiritual awareness.
It is clear to all who are “awake” that the Earth is in the process of giving birth to something new. The outer chaos we see in the world is akin to the contractions that push the baby through the birth canal. But, we are all part of this process of birth and genesis. We can assist the process by choosing to walk a spiritual path, or we can go into resistance. The choice is ours, but it will have a great deal to do with the quality of our experience in the coming months.
2011 is a watershed year, a “breakpoint in time” when the old age passes away and a new level of consciousness is born. It is an exciting and important time to dance. The Star Dance can help each of us to step up to a new level of awareness. And with all the earth changes taking place, it can also help bring balance to the Earth. Come dance with us!
To those ends, we are offering this dance on a donation basis to any and all who are drawn to dance.
If you are new to sacred dance, go within and seek to know if you are one of the Star-Dancers. Although there are many ways to serve, few have a greater personal reward than dancing. We would love to have you dance with us this year!
For more information, contact the Coordinator for the dance, Marti Ackerman at:
You can also contact the Chiefs via e-mail at:
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Men's Hollow Bone Dance
 Sacred Dance is a way to step away from Ego for a time. It’s a time to retreat from the perceptual reality in which we live our ordinary life. It is a way to move beyond the ordinary and begin to make our life “extra ordinary”.
The Hollow Bone Dance is danced with no drumming, no singing, and very little support from outside the dance arbor the entire dance is contained by the dancers. This encourages the dancers to learn to depend on others who are dancing the dance of life with them in the time they are dancing.
We are the Hollow Bone through which Spirit moves as breath. The arbor with the central tree is a representation of the world (matter) and the Dance is movement. The three are Wah Ma Chi, the act of creator creating.
Like the sacred Sun-Moon Dance, the Hollow Bone Dance is about bringing peace to the land through fasting, prayer and movement. It is also about gaining personal inspiration, breaking out of the stuck places in our lives, and moving into alignment with our life purpose.
A dance for men to recognize the ways in which men are like one another and to remember that we as men are here to serve, the Hollow Bone is open to all men who seek the inspiration to live a life of greater spiritual awareness and service.
Many dancers will find a new vision for their life in the Dance. Many will find that their life is profoundly changed by the Ceremony, by reaching new levels of intuition and spiritual energy. The Dance will challenge your endurance - mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. It will stretch your limitations and bring you growth.
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"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
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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.
Fire Ceremony Information
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Sweat Lodge
 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
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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.
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Perry's Ponderings
Moving
By Perry Robinson
I have thought and written a great deal about our judging the things and circumstances of this world as good or evil, about the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” being at the end of its life.
Recently another idea was seeded in my consciousness by way of a book: A STORY WAITING TO PIERCE YOU, by Peter Kingsley. [Jeffrey Goldwasser brought it and gave it to me at the Sun-Moon Dance. Thank you, Jeffrey!] In this book, which describes the shamanic origins of western civilization, the author blows open the whole area of the possible and the impossible, suggesting that it is now time to look more closely at the “impossible”.
Do not blame the author for the observations I shall make, although I am sure he seeded what is sprouting here:
First: I suspect that “possible” and “impossible” are simply judgments people have made and, like “good” and “evil”, are only as real as our limited minds wish to make them. If I decide something is impossible, it is – to me. If I decide something is good, it is – to me. My decision does not phase the infinite intelligence of THE IS or the real resourcefulness of myself or of this world. It is merely a decision I have made, on the same level as: I think I will brush my teeth. The decision determines the actions I shall take. That is all.
As a decision, however, it is at least a little superior to the decisions we make about such things as the name of “God” – as if “God” would not know Its name without our input. We have fought wars over the name of God, and . . . well I guess to go there is to digress. . . .
Secondly, I suspect it is no accident that the study of shamanism has become more and more popular over the past twenty-five years. [I pulled that number out of my own head, simply because I had hardly been introduced to the term before that time, to say nothing of knowing what it really meant!]
The word “shaman” comes from Siberia, as does – according to this author – the seed of western civilization.
But let us return to thoughts about “possible” and “impossible”. I think the dances have been a source of help in this. I keenly remember the time when the idea of my dancing . . . in the rain . . . all night . . . in the cold of December was just beyond my reckoning. It was “impossible” simply because I certainly would not have entertained the idea of doing it that first Saturday in December, 1993.
But Joseph said, “You can do it”; and then we just didn’t know any better than to believe him; and we did it!
I know that many of you have had the experience of the hot Saturday afternoon of a three or four day dance – de-tox time – when you dance until you cannot possibly move another step . . . and then you start dancing!!!
As long as I was aware of my body, its misery, its limitations, and what is possible, I could not dance another step. Then I became the dance; and all that stuff fell away . . . and my dance truly began at that moment! I dance my complaints, misery, and impossibility until I become the dance.
Now, the point is to recall that moment in your dance and remember how you THEN danced. Many of you who have never danced a ceremonial dance may remember another time in your life, when it looked as if you hit a brick wall! Splat! And you thought you might be a goner! Then you found that brick walls are merely diversions! Here you are, walking a different direction, pursuing different possibilities.
These are but glimpses of who we are and what is before us.
Hear me: Creator did not create impossibilities . . . any more than It created evil. These arose out of the inventiveness of the human mind [with a lot of help from out friends, by the way].
These times are not “John Wayne” times, when we look “impossibility” in the eye, utter a manly grunt, and shoot it! These are “Forrest Gump” times, when we just have no better sense than to keep running until we become the run!
We have been in training to become those who, if necessary, could and would stand amidst the rubble of a fallen civilization and see the rubble as building blocks for a civilization more like the promised “new heaven and new earth”.
“New Jerusalem” will probably not be dumped [“blap”] into our laps, a surprise, against our will. It will be welcomed by those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, who await and assist its coming. It has already been seeded. Jesus and Joseph [Rael, too] and Mary . . . and every person who has dared to “journey” for spiritual guidance in the way of the shaman or medicine man or kahuna or otherwise have been watering that seed.
The glimpses usually come to us in “dream time”. That means that the seed is already there. In my way of thinking Creator placed it there when humans became beings. Being human IS the template for true humanity. [Remember in “Dances with Wolves” the medicine man telling the soldier, “You are becoming human.” And we went, “Yey!!”]
What I call “the constipation of our government”, manifested recently, is an apt metaphor for the blockages in the present course of western civilization.
Yet the simplest human being knows that everyone can have a place in the sun, food, clothing, shelter, family, and a passel of friends. The simplest human being practices the fact that “there is really one person here”. Most of the problems seem to be with the “civilized” people – that is, with those caught up in the machinations of western “civilization”.
There is civilization that is human. It arises naturally from the human heart open to this place, this moment, and loving what is here right now.
As sure as it is my fingers tapping these keys, I know that, if we are ever cornered, broke, trapped, marched, and even slaughtered, there will be those of us who shall dance right into new heaven and earth which awaits us!
Maybe Beautiful Painted Arrow is right: God is Breath, Matter, and Movement.
My feet – and the feet of many others – remember walking safely through fire and I have danced into Saturday evenings, don’t talk to me about “hopeless” or “impossible!”
[Do I hear some “amen!”s out there?]
Contact Perry
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Calendar at a Glance
AUGUST
August 13th, 10am
August 19th-21st
August 25th, 6:30pm
led by Steve Citty
SEPTEMBER
September 2nd-5th
September 7th, 6:45pm
led by Katy Koontz
September 10th, 6:30 pm
led by José Gonzalez
September 15th, 6:30pm
led by Steve Citty
September 17th 10am
September 23rd-25th
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Work is Worship
“Work is Worship”
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
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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.
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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.
November 7th 4pm -Annual Corporate Meeting visitors welcome
For more information, call the Center at (865) 428-3070.
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Directions to the Center
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Directions
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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
Sandy Palmer
Seymour, TN
865-304-0765
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
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