It would seem that every day we hear of more pollutions, chaos and sufferings. It would appear to be, because the great collective believe it to be so, as part of our collective dreaming. Dreaming born out of largely unconscious dynamics, urges and power relations. That which is manifest is mirror of our mind, mirror of our emotional state and physical state. We dream out nightmares into being until we awaken.

Our sanity is being tested by our creativity, our creativity not born in balanced relation and love but a mix of curiosity, fear,  desperation, destructiveness,  and the love of power. The earth once pristine offered sanctuary amidst her wild beauty. Yet everywhere our kind has stepped, have we interfered with the natural order and wrought our own creations of destruction.

Coming out of the dark ages into scientific realizations and now consciousness realizations demands that we own our ability. If we do not start exercising wisdom born from experience, we rent our own demise. The way is clear...........choose to create sanctuary of lose our sanity.

Sanctuaries of sanity are needed which are complete zones/ spaces protected at a mineralogical, biological level, electromagnetic level, and sonic level. All life within must be held sacred and remain untouched or rehabilitated so that the minerals can serve their function as the strata upon which the plant world resides, which supports the animal and provides a rich tapestry of being for all life to co exist, where,  for us  we can come  to heal, reflect, learn and realize. In times gone by this function was served by sacred sites. SANCTITY HAS BEEN DEFILED.

National parks are not enough. They are sold off to mining explorations, or forestry operations, World heritage listings undermined. Collective agreements violated, action wrought with no consequence but for short term gain, no thought given to the decimation of species and ecological balance. Once gone the breath of a thousand years no longer transpires, the branches are gone which gave home to many.

Increasingly disease and  stress, are manifesting within us, within all species. We are constantly tuned in to the great grid umbilicus, the electromagnetic age.  For biological integrity and balance we need to disconnect from our devices and connect in to  at the biological level with other living beings, and the planets magnetic field, We are severing ourselves from it and believing if we acquire the knowledge we can go to other planets when this one fails us. We are out of our minds, behaving with insanity. Only insanity would sabotage the integrity of the whole. The corporate monster will permit us to bite off our own tail.

Our pollutions span the waters, the earth, the air and even the region of fire with the use of energy/ transformative power of the electromagnetic spectrum, and subatomic and nuclear force, and disregard oftentimes for spiritual teachings and truths. Our pollution is of the mind and emotions, the body and spirit. Mind is the correlate of air, emotion of water, the  body of earth, spirit of fire. Our pollution seeks  the ether, the force level of all things and penetrates the realm of sound. The cacophony deafens, irritates, drives us crazy, scares  away other life forms. Our symphony is changing, the voices of the living being replaced by machines and devices, Industry and mechanization. We seek peace, to retreat. Sometimes we go into these zones to stimulate, other times we seek retreat. We do not question what we hear, because it is normal to us, but we must examine the nature of that normal. What is it? Where is the balance of systems? IS it life supporting, or a son of Industry seeking to further conquer the world?

STOP- LISTEN!

WE NEED SANCTUARIES OF SANITY

SONIC SANCTUARIES

WHAT ARE WE HEARING?

WHAT CAN WE KNOW?

ARE WE LISTENING?

DO WE NOTICE?

Change is every day, some within our  control,  most beyond us, within this ceaseless movement we must create rest, we need to create space within and reclaim without. Sanctuaries of Sanity, places of repose, reflection where all can come, where all is sacred, where a global convention protects the Integrity of that which we are so rapidly losing, the FOUNDATION OR LIFE SUPPORT ITSELF.

And yet such a  planetary sanctuary begins with a reclaiming our own mind and body. Our body must become Sanctuary for our soul, not slave. A welcome home, not a place of torment. Our mind, one with spirit, at one with the greater universal being that permeates all. We must realize  we are the sanctuary and extend that sanctuary field to all life, lest we all fall together into the decimation of souls, of which there is no return, no return to the state of the garden where we were.  We would instead leave survivors to inherit the corridors of nightmares and scavenge amidst the waters of our old ways. We need no less that a COMPLETE REVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS, a turn around, to an enlightened humanity where we cast aside the toys of war, and the playthings of ignorance and grow into our becoming one with, again, in The Sanctuary of Sanity.

There has long been a link to hearing, listening and prophecy and the failure to take heed. Native prophets, Christian mystics, nature mystics, daoists, Buddhists, all speak about relationship too. He who has ears let him hear. (I use the translation given not politically correct adaptations), Jeshua (Jesus), knew even then that hearing , perception, attention and comprehension are selective, albeit within a varied time, culture and worldview. Truths are eternal and translate down the corridors of time. He knew that people choose according to their context/ culture ‘what’ to give their ears to.

The fact that the ear is linked to the limbic system , to survival in it’s most primal form, has been viewed as late as an evolutionary throw off, something we are beyond ,in our sophisticated technological age, by virtue of cognitive capacity and mind over matter rationality. But the body does not lie. Yet, we ignore these auditory signals all around us at our peril. There exist tales of the gods bringing great destruction because the cacophony of man grew too great in times before, it was making even the gods crazy.

Lack of, disappearance, excess and cacophony are just as important to take head of as are lions, in the jungle, corruption in the cities or violence in the hearth.


I invite you to explore aspects of this in upcoming workshops 

1.       ‘Music and Sound in the Healing arts- What you need to know’. June 28 St Kilda

2.       ‘Healing Persons, Healing Communities Healing Planet’ July 26 St Kilda

Please check the ‘What’s on’ tab under ‘Workshops’  in coming weeks at   www.creativetherapeuticencounters.com.au

Sincerely with love Catherine

THE SONIC SANCTUARY LOGO ABOVE IS THE NAME OF MY AMBIENT MUSIC LABEL WHICH WILL FEATURE ALL MY SELF RELEASED MUSIC, AVAILABLE SOON, SEE LINK BELOW 

http://www.catherinemeeson.com/

“Seek and ye shall find...the kingdom of heaven is within”.J.C

What is meant by Arts Eco Therapy? Creative Therapeutic Encounters use this term (it may have been used before, the author is not certain), to describe Arts Therapy based practises with a focus on Environment; - relation with and to the natural world.  So it is essentially any process engaged in or engaging with natural world systems, in an artistic, or creative capacity. It can include site specific work, going out into nature and assembling found object sculptures,  that are temporal or permanent. It can include stone, wood, earth, water, fire, air elements. There is an awareness of the objects one uses and leaves, with respect to the ability to bio-degrade . One often works in a semi ritualised context, ever mindful of the present and the focus of the moment. It can also be bridging elements of nature into spaces where it does not feature, such as the growing of seeds and tending of small community gardens, plants in nursing homes,  or the incorporation of objects into artwork and education in cross curricula in  schools, with tactile learning and sensing, and stimulating imagination and metaphoric thought.

By engaging with and  the sounds, smells, feeling  and tastes of the natural world, we learn by vibrational affinity and experience aspects of our own nature that may be dormant or little used,  those often silenced by mental activity, cultural conditioning, and choice. The dominant state of consciousness and activity of the forty hour work week in the urban domain often inhibits access to subtler states of awareness, intuition and empathy. It is important we connect in to deeper instinctual and ancestral forms of knowing, to experience kinship with all life.

Tactile sensing is often a neglected area of learning and knowing, one that once upon a time was much more the norm. Learning by doing,  the way of action, of body/ mind unity. Being and experiencing, rather than ingesting words and data from outside of one’s own localized consciousness. Nature based Creative Art Therapy processes are also a way of tapping the collective indigenous roots of a person’s heritage. All cultures have sacred practises and relationship with the earth, and all people cannot exist in health unless our environment, our earth, our air, fire, and water is pure. By interacting with nature and natural themes, we reinforce our positive animal nature, our instincts, our corporeality, whilst safely giving form to the inner worlds of soul. This does not mean regressing into primitive states, but sharpening our sensory apparatus and our instinctual wisdom, our body wisdom. This deep wisdom of the body and matter is often deliberately ignored at a conscious mental level, sometimes as a form of practise as in meditation and training, but often as a form of denial and ignorance.

The primary therapeutic element is always expression; expression in relation. Expression mobilizes the psycho spiritual force (also known as chi, subtle energy, life force, orgone, etc) which in ill health, trauma, or disease and distress often indicates a blockage in the human energy field.  There are no quick fixes in such work, there is only process. Patterns need to be mobilized and released, assisting them to shift and be re-patterned into a more desired state, or feeling outcome. Sometimes the trauma one works on is not localised but can have its origin in other life lifetimes.

This year I have been able to learn about a field called Acoustic Ecology, which has some similar philosophical leanings to Deep Ecology, another field I am also learning about, due to the fact that many authors are saying similar things to my own writing  in these fields.  Whilst we are considering the use of all the senses in learning and knowing, I feel it apt to mention Acoustic Ecology. Acoustic  Ecology is the study of the sound of place, from all domains, geophony, biophony and anthrophony (earth sounds, animal, sounds, manmade sounds). It explores the health of place by examining the  acoustic profile, which reveals a great deal about relationship and local ecology. Combining Art Therapy with Acoustic Ecology notions is a particular passion for me.  This focus is not new however, indigenous cultures have what is called Deep listening practises whereby, listening is a highly active meditative and contemplative practise whereby we learn  via sound about relation, to other. If we do not listen deeply we are only on the surface. One involves the listening to and perception of the health of local ecologies and earthly environments, the other involves the listening to and voicing of the persons creative response to health, healing and expression, in relation to all else.  So sound can be used as a doorway into greater realms of knowing, carrying immense archetypal  and relational information.

As genetic and ancestral light bearers, we enter and stand for all people in our timelines and can heal the pain of our ancestors as expressed and carried forth in the dna by evoking our I am presence, our higher Self, also known as the Overself , the forces of greater light and love, compassion and forgiveness, then we can bring about great change and healing.

At the Platypus festival this year I decided to host the making of a Community Mural. It was themed “Celebrate the River of Life”, ‘join in the making of a community mural to celebrate water, life, and the relationship between persons and the place they live. Also learn about the Earth charter & Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth, and ways you can make a difference to your local environment. This was held on Saturday October 12th 12-4pm, at Big Red Reserve, Melton South. It was a free community give away.

This brings us back to the title of the blog, ‘Building Bridges with Arts Eco Therapy’.  The time in which we live means that many children often do not have a garden to play in, parents present to take them out into natural spaces due to the demands of living. Not many have access to local waterways and places of beauty or wildness. We must build bridges. Parks often only have play equipment and it is often synthetic, indigenous environments being re-visioned to our liking and resulting in loss of species.. There are fewer and fewer wild untainted spaces where children can explore as they once did, the wilds of nature getting to know the world around them and observe the cycles of nature, and the ways of birth and death in the animal and plant kingdoms. Fences and walls everywhere prevent clear unobstructed views. Walking is now a sacrificed pass time for many. Often where we walk the air is not clean, and there can be many sounds which drive us crazy. We must build bridges. Often the natural spaces are littered with human waste and contamination, which must not be turned away from, it is becoming epidemic and systemic to industrialised living. The sights available to us are not necessarily life enhancing, not are the materials of our living structures and the habits of our day. Therefore it is crucial to provide experiences where people can connect to this ancient instinctual part of self. We are bridging the selves of the past (historical epochs), the instinctual being, to the selves of the present with all the levels of sophisticated knowledge and technology we have adopted and developed. Both levels of self exist yet one dominates, increasingly the technological self, the mental self. We are becoming so abstracted into mind that we are not questioning our creations, and their ability to serve all life. Are they life enhancing of life detracting?   For whom ? We are forgetting the earth as we aspire to colonize other planets. These questions need to be asked. We should not embrace everything without question or challenge. We all have to find our own way and establish our own boundaries. And if we are not being taught in school and at home, these important life fundamentals we must teach ourselves. We must find our way, for the Way is no longer clear. Prohibition prevents passage, legislation restricts access, land is something one must have the rights to, being a human being does not necessarily give you these rights.  The United Nations declarations are ideals not practised in full .We must build bridges, bridges of understanding, of access, rights, potential, knowing, knowledge and compassion.

The symbology of the river of life is a perfect way to incorporate group experiential process and art therapy methods into community based action and festivities. By celebrating the connection between persons and where they live  through engagement with imagery, physical  objects/symbols ( wood, rocks, nests, feathers etc), pastel, crayon, paint, and pencil, seeds can be planted which can set a bench mark in the psyche, in the soul of perspective and vision that one can  come back to.  Such a seed was planted for me plating trees in year 6 of school (age 12), and picking up rubbish as a house captain. Having lost my country of origin and migrated to another country I am acutely aware of some of the issues faced by lack of roots and connection to place. Statistically many of the world’s people are migrants, all facing the dissolution of roots, as we move and shift for many reasons, it takes time to adapt to new places on all levels. We see the wanton destruction of our lands and resources and feel a collective despair and helplessness. This well of feeling needs to be mobilized for healing and rehabilitation.

Platypus festival is environmentally themed, run by a small Friends community group which has worked steadily over the last 6 years  on local environment waterway conservation and rehabilitation.  It is all volunteer. Through community generated action, local government, and water bodies have become more active in conservation.  If you plant it they will come. We need to be mindful of what we are planting. The Toolern is becoming a vital green wedge for the species that remain whom are affected by continued urbanisation and Industrialisation i.e., loss of habitat.  They cannot speak, and yet they do through lack of voice. They fade into memory. We can speak, we must care enough to care for them, and for the circle of life. Art Therapy activities can help nurture this caring and reverence for life, and for our precious planet.

By creating a platform of shared visioning of a community ‘River of life mural’, people participate and reflect on what they know, of their relation to.  It may be a subjective reflection or overtly expressed, in conversation and imagery.  The important thing is mobilising consciousness and awareness. They choose the plants and animals they want to include, bring them to life and give them a home. This subtle act may appear as only an art activity, to some, but requires a degree of presence, awareness and focus, reflection and exploration.  It is held site specifically so people are engaged with all senses in the theme. Motor control skill is needed for the activity, and there is no judgement of skill levels and capacity. It draws on a person’s capacity to synthesize and integrate and find a sense of place for their individual offering.

We had adults and children, working together and the end result pictured below is a vibrant mural which grew from one sheet, to twice the height, and was created by many contributors. I thank each person for their effort and hope it some small way it may be a pleasant memory of the Celebration of the River of Life. It may grow in awareness in the heart and mind to flower in some distant decade into many things. This is my hope, the mural is a starting activity but also a seed. It is both seed and fruit of the day.

The great sadness for me is to even call something Eco, as if it was something new, but it highlights the division in the mind and being state. Being is intrinsic and inclusive, is knows self and other yet does not see them as separate but as inter related in mutuality, we nurture the great awakening and realise we are the planters of seeds no matter our station in life. And that what we plant now matters for all time.

Warm regards for Ailsa Gaia   for her assistance on the day and being part of this event.

ARTS ECO THERAPY HEALING OURSELVES AND THE PLANET AT FETE LA FROG

© Catherine Meeson Creative Therapeutic Encounters

On 23rd March I was able to contribute to a lovely grassroots festival called Fete La Frog, which was a collective celebration of Environment, culture, the arts, Healing and positive change. As always happens with small festivals , the atmosphere was warm, family friendly and pro active.

I held an Arts Eco Therapy themed workshop for Healing Ourselves and Healing the Planet.  This is an area I am most passionate about, for healing cannot occur without considering the greater relations  of which we are a part in the dynamic  flux of life. The elements which make us all up, the Earth, the Air, the Fire the Water, are teachers in process. Artefacts of nature serve as tools of awareness, for resonant practise and reflection for persons own healing and also serve as doorway to invite action for reciprocity in the larger world. For , we seek healing for ourselves, but what of the world around us? We can’t stop with just ourselves, not once we gain understanding and a greater empathy for all beings. Not once we know how things are related.  We are not talking about a level of scientific understanding of facts and statistics and clinical methods, but the intrinsic interwoven nature of the very fabric of existence, our relation to and with.

The workshop space was  in a lovely progressive chapel, we worked on the floor in front of the Organ pipes . A while ago my son was given a globe light of The Earth, which was a beautiful centrepiece for the space, and we shared a collection of earthly artefacts, things from water, air, earth,  and fire; we have to settle for a candle symbolic of the greater spirit indwelling; for fire. Through tactile sensing and reflective practise people are able to find the message in the moment on their journey, and express in given media . For me, holding the space , it is about creating openings for people, and awareness, providing the tools and prompts for exploration.  I am thankful to the participants and hope the process was able to serve their  journey and the prompts will continue to inspire thought and action about  the reciprocal nature of healing  and relating and how we might branch out into community to offer service for healing the Earth as well as Ourselves.

Empathy  is a form of being with, which completely transcends the level of mind. It is something we register as thinking beings, but thought is a process  and product of the over residing consciousness of which the Overself is director. Empathy involves listening,  presence, sensing and higher sense perception ( Brennan, B 1987), and yet is a phenomena that is not solely conscious. All human faculties involve both conscious, unconscious and super-conscious  levels, and have varying degrees of involvement within  the different  bodies in which we dwell.

We empathise on the unconscious  levels as much as the conscious level as empathy is a resonant phenomena at the Quantum field level. We vibrate with, we resonate with, we empathize, we feel with and for.

Human comprehension is never limited solely to a moment in time, it is not static but evolving into greater levels of relatedness.  Comprehension is intrinsically related to understanding, inclusion, as a  part of.

If it were solely about Identifying with, that would imply mutual knowing and understanding, common ground. But the ground is centred within the greater sphere of being, within the field. 

As a resonant phenomena it involves a sharing of information, an association with, by virtue of mutuality. A mutual existence in the greater web of being. With empathic practise we develop our ability to know other, to attend to; on greater or more refined levels, to be conscious of and mindful. When we empathise we are in recognition,- mutuality. There is no other, there is we, although ones sole identity is still retained.

THE ENERGY FIELD

Surrounding and inter-penetrating all living beings is an energy field. It has been known by different names according to time and culture. The levels of it, often called ‘Bodies’  of different names, densities and functions, are integral to healthy function. We have recognised for thousands of years the reality of a greater sense of being beyond the physical. It is this sense, this knowing of and awareness of, that has often saved us in times of danger.

This ‘field’ is discernible with training and sensitivity exercises. It is  something  that the majority of people have experienced,  in various aspects at a phenomenological level but have not had the insight with  which to  describe or understand  it.  You sit next to someone on public transport, and although your bodies may not touch, you find yourself in a state of unease and cannot explain why, your intuitive sense is giving you information on subtle levels, asking you to pay attention.
So it often is dismissed as nonsense, hallucinations, projection of the mind, being off with the fairies etc. Cultural view, world view is crucial in understanding these phenomena. But our Quantum Physics has proven the reality of fields for a while now. Our  scientific era is beginning to catch up to the knowledge of the ancients, but we do not have many tools as yet to measure the reality of these things. One tool we can use to photograph is kirlian photography, which often shows the phenomena of the field presence after a part of a leaf has been removed for example.. The future will bring the tools with which to discern more refined levels of the subtle spheres, which underlay all matter and inter-penetrate it.

RESONANCE PRACTISES

Are any exercises or process whereby we aim to establish a sense of resonance, energetically, physically emotionally, mentally, spiritually,  abstractly, conceptually, etc. We can resonate with people places, stories, information, concepts, music, plants, teachings, to name but a few.

In essence, resonance practises are a form of sensitivity training, or a remembering of this state of being that was once natural before the age of conditioning and the forming of the protective membranes over the chakras.

In resonance practises we seek our resonance and meaning, discerning for ourselves what is the nature of our experience,  without the interference of others. We seek to make sense with a greater understanding and we learn the following.

A formula that is essential with resonance practises which involves a level of conscious detachment after the fact is -Resonate and Release.

For if one does not disengage a sort of energetic entanglement can occur as fields combine and bonds between develop. Yet this is an essential part of relating, that can not be bypassed. Bonds are literal energetic attachments between the subtle bodies and chakras. When we end a relationship to or an association with, when relationships end,  it takes time to recover, for the bonds are breaking down, we need to draw our chi our life force, our subtle stuff back within, and re establish the boundaries and repair the membranes of where we end and another begins; and yet the great paradox of ‘I’?. We have no end and beginning and certain of our bodies can extend out into the vastness of the universe, or most certainly travel to the outer regions, (A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in.Easy Journey to Other planets).

NATURE PLAY

In nature play we engage with the world of nature, of which we are part . we embrace  the natural world in site specific episodes, or bring elements of the  natural world into our process . We learn through  observation of detail and kinaesthetic awareness, multi sensory attentiveness, phenomena about ourselves and the world in which we live, our place within the greater whole which is most direly needing review and healing. The elemental nature is enhanced , a connection is made and understood. Person is with and on planet, a greater resonant transfer of information or archetypal knowing can occur if we provide the space for it to emerge.

We are again reaching back into the reservoir of more primal being , seeking to move beyond  body conditioning and psychological blockage  nurturing our at one-ment  with the world of nature. We open up to life, to exchanges at the level of mutual being.

I offer processes exploring  resonance, empathy and energy field awareness and how it may serve to heal self, deepen connection between the Self and the whole and assist in any therapeutic work in which you might be engaged.