Soul Centered Homeschooling

 

My husband just finished a power-filled retreat with Bill Plotkin, and one of the insights he brought home with him is this chart of soulcentric development. It perfectly captures why and how I homeschool (or at least towards what ends I aspire). I see my toddler as an Innocent in the Nest, and my school age child as an Explorer in the Garden. Homeschool as a way for them to explore the garden in the context of family, community, and nature. It sets up ideal conditions for them to do necessary work as teens, when they need to create a secure and authentic social self, something that is very hard to do in most of today's high schools. With this ground work they will grow up to be authentic, strong adults able to do their work in the world in a meaningful way. And by work I don't mean being successful economic units, although that can be a part of it, too. I mean soul work. Inner work that translates into a calling that makes the world a better place.

Plotkin bases his wheel on the four directions of Native American tradition:

Which of course relates to the Wheel of the Year in Pagan and Celtic spirituality (this lovely one includes some other spiritual holidays as well):

For original, see http://www.rahoorkhuit.net/aeonic/hd/holydays.html

And evokes Susun Weed's Medicine Wheel of the Wise Woman Tradition (on page 81 of HealingWise - can't find an image of it online). Weed's wheel also draws on the four directions, but in a context of becoming a power-filled wise woman. If we apply it to child development, early childhood (SE)  is about Surrender: trust, flexibility and chaos. Middle childhood (what is often call "school age") is about Abundance: ecstasy, optimum, nourishment, and self-love. Teens focus on Commonness: simplicity, persistence, and protection.

Another frame that mirrors Plotkin's wheel comes from a totally different tradition, Leadership Education. The phases of learning (and development) that DeMille describes fit right into the soulcentric wheel. The phases according to age are:

• 0-12 Play/Family Work
• 12-16 Scholar Phase
• 16-20 Superb Education
• 20-24 Depth Phase (Liberal Arts College)
• 24-50 Build Two Towers (a Family and an Organization)
• 50+ Impact the World (Statesmanship)

These frameworks as guides for human growth and development, and therefore schooling, bring the focus off of economic and political power (as our current school system is focused) and onto soul development. We are here on earth to grow as souls. Plotkin writes, "When a sufficient number of contemporary people have reentered nature's soulstream and become conscious contributors to the unfolding story of the world, industrialized nations might mature into sustainable, ecocentric, and soulcentric communities, inhabited by people who are wildly creative, imaginative, adventurous, tolerant, generous, joyous, and cooperative members of the more-than-human world." (Soulcraft, 332) Amen brother.

So what does this "look" like? It looks like balance. Lots of time outdoors, but also (for our family) time watching tv or playing (non-violent) computer games. Time together. Time alone. Writing, reading, dancing, playing, arguing, making up, napping, dreaming, going to gymnastics, playing the piano, making smoothies, crafting herbal remedies, playing board games, and so much more. For some it will include a curriculum, like the lovely Oak Meadows on Enki guides. Others might be a part of a school community, but one that fosters and supports soul growth. Like a flexible Waldorf school or an alternative school. Some families will have found a faith community that supports soul growth. Whatever it looks like, the ideas named by Plotkin underlie all the family does. Having language for our intentions, such as Plotkin's wheel, can help us identify what sits right for our family and what we choose to move beyond.

Seed Packet Wedding Favors

Cathedral Bells

Planning a spring or flower-themed wedding? Consider giving seed packets as wedding favors. One of my favorite seed companies, John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds will give you 10% off 10 to 49 seed packets of any one variety, or 25% off 50 or more of the same variety. Need some ideas? What about Lemon Balm, a perennial herb that brings love, success and healing and makes a nerve-tonic tea? Or rosemary, bestowing love, protection, and healing? In the flower department, how about Forget-me-nots or Cathedral Bells? For a fall themed wedding, give your guests pumpkin seeds (John Scheepers offers ten varieties) - just remind them to not plant until the following spring.


For more nature-themed wedding ideas, see my ebook, Magical Bride: Craft an Interfaith Wedding for a Goddess, available now in all e-reader formats.

Learning to Trust Your Intuition

This past weekend I taught a class, the Natural Intuitive, to a group of lovely people in Pueblo, Colorado. What a neat little gem of a town! And a fabulous library that rivals any in Denver.

Anyway, the theme that emerged in the class was learning to trust yourself. Every single person who came to the class shared a powerful intuitive moment, whether they communicated intuitively with bears, the desert, their house plants, or their nursing patients. And every single person expressed a belief that their abilities were nothing special, that they would like to develop their psychic senses further and that they have no idea how to proceed. They doubted and down played their experiences.

I understand that feeling. Several years ago, when I was first exploring my intuitive abilities with both people and plants, I so doubted myself. I couldn't believe that I was actually getting accurate psychic information on my massage clients. Often what I reported made no sense to them. But every once in a while, a person would say, "Do you know me? How can you know that?" And bit by bit, I'd learn what an accurate reading felt like.

It's harder to get affirmation when reading plants or rivers or other non-human beings. But again, over time, I saw what my garden plants respond to. I observed plant behavior and was able to affirm my intuitive senses. Sometimes you can even research and therefore affirm or deny the information you get when tuning in to nature. Say, as happened in our class this past weekend, that you sense bedrock underneath you when tapping into the earth - the presence of bedrock can be confirmed by looking at geological maps. Over time you will get to know what an accurate reading feels like.

It takes time, and learning to trust. It takes accepting intuitive listening as real.

The best way I know to do that is to tune into your body. It's the same thing as knowing when someone is lying to you. You can feel it in your gut. When we don't pay attention to those messages, they burrow into our unconscious, where they continue to try to get our attention. Messages that are continually ignored can turn into illness. All of us can learn to listen to our bodies better, to heed and understand and trust our subconscious, intuitive messages.

Trust. Listen. Share with trusted people who get it. Your listening abilities will grow.

The Natural Intuitive Class Oct 2, 2011

I'll be in Pueblo, Colorado, this weekend for a class:

The Natural Intuitive
Sunday, Oct. 2 at 2 p.m.
Rawlings Library, Ryals Room - 4th floor
Awaken your psychic powers, talk to nature and hear her reply. Nature intuitive Clea Danaa gives lessons in building psychic awareness and communicating with plants, trees and nature spirits. This rewarding connection with nature offers healing, renewal, knowledge of your life and purpose and a spiritual oasis in a chaotic world.

Manifestation and Synchronicity

Things keep popping up in pairs and threes. Inconsequential things, mostly. Like Sears and Roebuck, specifically pointing out the now-defunct Roebuck part, appearing in two novels in a row. Little House on the Prairie mentioned in books and by people several times in two days. My dreaming about a person who out of the blue messages my husband (before I dreamed about him and without my knowledge). Three people posting Mary Oliver on Facebook in one day. Oh, and the day three unrelated Facebook friends mentioned drool in their updates. Silly things. Yet things that make you wonder.

Sometimes themes in my life offer a message, like the day a picture of my father, who passed away three years ago, appeared on Facebook (hmm, another theme!) (and, I should add that I bet there is a total of two pictures of him on Facebook, hard as that is to believe) and then half an hour later I get in the car and his favorite classical piece is playing on the radio. He's saying hello. But these little themes, like drool, really don't matter. Rather than making significance out of inconsequential things, I started to look at what energy lies beneath the pairs, rather than the pairs themselves. (Oh, I'm having a hard time making sense.) So, for instance, it's not the drool or Little House on the Prairie that matters, it's the energetic and emotional response that these images pull up for me that matters. An author mentions Little House on the Prairie, and while it's not central to the story, it's important to the main character. I remember being nine years old, sitting in our ratty burnt-orange recliner in the corner of the living room, reading for hours on end about Laura. A little energy burst goes off in my heart, tiny enough that I don't pay the burst any attention, but emotional enough that it creates a form in spacetime. Then that form pulls on the strings of causal reality, and a friend I'm hanging out with the next day casually mentions Little House on the Prairie.

A few years ago I entered to win a basket of natural and organic sundae fixin's from a natural food store. Chocolate sauce, natural sprinkles, an ice cream scoop, that sort of thing. As I filled out the form, I thought lightly and happily of my boyfriend's response should I win. He loves ice cream. Then, because it was such a silly inconsequential thing, I thought nothing more of it. I won the basket. Again - I felt an emotional response to this thing, but let it go. I think that is the key to synchronicities and to manifestation. There has to be an emotional response in order to create the thought form, as it is sometimes called, but it can't be clung to. And of course that is the challenge. If we really want something, it's hard to let go. As they say in Buddhist teaching, release all hope of fruition. Yet keep striving. Such a powerful dialectic.

So that has become one of my my meditations of late. There are a few things I want, and I am picturing them, feeling the emotional charge, and working to release any attachment or heaviness (another form of attachment) to them. We shall see how successful I am....... but then, clinging to "success" shoots apart the whole non-attachment bit. Oh, easy it is not. so I guess I'll just continue to observe, and see what blooms. I'd love to hear your stories of manifestation and synchronicity. Won't you post your stories for me? What is silly, hard, and fascinating about these energies in your life?

Planting Nettles in the Witches Garden

The title of this post feels like it might be a metaphor. But it's not. Yesterday, damp and cool, saw me duck down behind our wild roses, pull away the leaf litter, and plant stinging nettle seeds. They don't grow wild here like they do where I grew up, and it wasn't until I had moved away from the Pacific Northwest that I learned of their infinite value. I couldn't figure out where I would plant them in a suburban yard with two kids and their friends running about. When I discovered the seeds for sale through Seeds of Change, I bought some. When they arrived the spot occurred to me - behind the rose bushes, to the side of the garage. It stays slightly damp there. When it rains the hole in the garage gutter drools on that spot. It's shady. And out of the way. If we ever sell the house I'll have to rip them out no doubt, but for now I have my little witch garden - thorny wild roses and a tangle of stinging nettle.

Interview with Clea Danaan on Zen Chickens

My interview by Katya Quigley on raising urban chickens: