13 December 2010

Board members, volunteers, fiscally sponsored projects, and community members were represented at the Alchemical Holiday Gathering on Saturday night.  The highlight of the evening was the Angel Card Visioning Ceremony to clarify intentions individually for all present, for the Alchemical Nursery, and for the City of Syracuse as we move into a new year.

Angel Cards were created at the Findhorn Foundation ecovillage in Scotland, and are meant to:

"bring spirit into our everyday lives and to help us to find ways to stay in touch with our inner selves.  They deepened our exploration and understanding of our beliefs and assist us in reviewing automatic behaviors that may be extensions of those beliefs.  The Angel cards represent pure essences.  Meditating on them brings support to help you overcome obstacles and gain greater understanding of your inner self.Each card illustrates a keynote quality that can evoke your intuitive ability to discern the next step.  They are qualities of aliveness that can assist and encourage an experience of life at a deeper level."

The ceremony began with a call to form a circle initiated by the ringing of a Tibetan Singing Bowl.  As all gathered together, an invocation was offered as written by
Kristian Rodriguez, and read aloud by Kristian, Mackenzie Macner, and Dorothy Goodman:

"Join us in blessing this gathering, this day, this year. We stand here together at the northeast corner of the Finger Lakes Region on this nurturing land embedded deeply with the wisdom of Salt, shaped thousands of years ago by great sheets of ice.We gather tonight in the shelter of maple trees in the first phases of winter to acknowledge the blessings that have abounded us of this year. The gift of life and health, the sustenance of friendship and family, the challenges and lessons of our lives' work. Now in this winter time, when the earth is dormant, we take a moment to reflect and to rejuvenate our spirits for the coming year. We thank you for joining with us in the carrying out the vision of the Alchemical Nursery. Your presence has been a integral part in our work of planting the seeds for the fruition of a vibrant community in Syracuse. We hope that you will continue to nourish our project with your continued support."

The lights were turned down, participants were asked to close their eyes or concentrate on the candle's flame at the centerpiece, and a guided meditation interspersed
with periods of silence was carried out to enable the centering of selves and the recognition of intention for choosing an Angel Card essence.  Once all present chose
their cards, they were asked to share their essence with the whole group out loud, and the group moved on to a second period of silence, to focus energies and intentions on choosing the next two cards as a group. 

The next intention was for the Alchemical Nursery as an organization, and the card chosen was that of "Release", which represents an inner message of wisdom to "Let go of all that keeps you in the past or takes you into the future.  This may include expectations, inhibitions, control, worry, or an outdated self-image".   Perhaps this is a clarification that we are on the right path with our work, neither worrying about the many false trails we have headed down in the past to find our current vision and set of projects, or trying to fit into any box that might feel more tenable and accessible - instead staying integral to our unique and creative vision for true change.

The final intention was for the City of Syracuse, and the card chosen was that of "Education", which represents an inner message of wisdom to "Cultivate your ability to learn from life's rich patterns.  You may not be able to establish the curriculum, but you can elect what courses to take at any given time and how to apply your knowledge".  It feels as if this essence for Syracuse opens up many difficult challenges for the City in following an ideology that is often expressed, but not often implemented.  Perhaps the latest example of this is the Westside surveillance camera debacle where the City chose to ignore the rich patterns that underlay our ability to govern ourselves and create safe communities - patterns relating to living together in a neighborhood where neighbors say hi from their porches and look out for each other together, where they spend time outside because of the beautiful tree lined streets that would give them relief from summer heat, where jobs and plants and building resurrections should trump cameras in spending tax dollars.

However we interpret the essences of the Angels selected on Saturday night, they will be alongside us through the next year, providing an opportunity for dialogue and conversation, and we can only hope, true understanding of ourselves and our communities.

View some images from the Gathering in our Photo Gallery at: http://www.alchemicalnursery.org/photo-gallery.html

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