Charles Gilchrist - Artist and Teacher

A beautiful print, on fine watercolor paper, are now available of this newest Gilchrist Mandala based on an ancient icon of Sacred Geometry known as Metatron's Cube. Charles personally creates and signs these prints. The image size is 11" by 11". The paper size is 13" by aprox. 15". The price is $34.95, plus $14.00 insurance, shipping, and handling anywhere in the continental USA.

The Blessed Gift of Water

Q. Water appears to be an important element this coming year. Can you speak about its properties?

Water is a most interesting element in that it has two transition points fairly close together that transform it into a solid and a gas. These transition points are edges and edges are collectors of power, both dangerous and productive. Water as a solid can tear apart almost anything and water as a gas can be terrifically powerful and dangerously explosive. Both can be greatly beneficial when harnessed for human use. When water is in its fluid form it can wear away almost anything but it will also go around its obstacles finding a way that is effortless and relentless. When one flows with water it is an excellent source of transportation both physically and metaphorically but woe to anyone trying to swim upstream or trying to hold onto something midstream but not moving with it. Water is a medium that when prayed into carries the frequency of prayer to wherever you intend it to go. This includes healing prayers, purification thoughts, and intentions for peace and love.

Water with sun is the alchemy of life and in full flood stage can be the bringer of death. To make the most of water this next year, think of its adaptive qualities, its flexibility when fluid, its ability to go through or around anything to get to its destination, and its ability to carry intent. Think of water as a friend, an ally, and a poderio, something that fills your body and helps you to live. Think of it as a spirit that is an expression of the Source, something deserving the utmost respect and proper treatment like an honored guest. When one approaches water this way they will never have to experience its negative effects nor be a victim of destructive flooding. You will always find fresh water to drink. Be a friend to water and it will always be your friend.

(copied from Shamanic Q&A of Jose and Lena Stevens of the Power Path)

the gift of mushrooms

Words From the Brotherhood of Light

Unity.

Unity is an archetype we have chosen to hold on the playa. This is a
responsibility on us, as a community, to come to terms with what Unity
is.

Unity is. Unity is us. There is no you, or me, or rock or planet or
stars, only us. That is Unity. It neither attracts nor repels; it
simply is, and it is for us to know this. We may be ignorant of Unity,
or dwell in it, but we cannot be other than what we are, One. Least of
all can there be a Pantheogenesis or an Entheon, or a Jiffy Lube for
that matter; these are reflections of ideas on a deep pool, seen in
our dreams. Unity is what Is.

We have chosen Unity, or it has chosen us. We must be true to it. Let
us take a moment to be aware of Unity. Let us be aware of Unity as the
rays of the Sun, which give us our common vision. As the air we
breathe, passing through and transforming us, stoking our fire. As the
water we drink, and bathe in, and splash about, which moves through us
all from cloud to ocean in the sacred cycle of the Moon. In the food
which gives us sustenance, which carries the light of the Sun within
us that we may have motion and heat and create as is our nature.

the Heart

The Heart is also a space we hold, and hopefully hold dear, on the
playa which is, for ephemeral moments, our home. We must dwell in the
Heart. Our actions must flow from the Heart. We have taken on that
debt.

The Heart. The Heart! Sacred rhythm, that sends us out into the world
and always, infallibly, brings us home. The Heart attracts, always; we
can hearken the call, or reject it. That is our choice, but our paths
lead back to the Heart, always, always. This rhythm sustains us,
carries us across the great water. In the Heart all is in balance, in
the Heart all prayers are heard. When we stand around the Heart we
stand together, each of us one, together. The mystery of incarnation
is revealed in the Heart; there dwells a temple, vast as a cavern, but
full of sweetness, and glistering with gentle light.

In the Heart we can meet the Beloved. This space is our great gift to
the community of artists and visionaries which has given us so much. I
am honored to participate with you in the creation of this sacred
space.

You are my friends and lovers. I invite you to stand with me, in your
bodies of light, around the Heart, which lives in each of our hearts.
We can meet there, and there in the presence of the Beloved, and the
spirits and the sacred ancestors, we can laugh, and touch, and see
each other as what we are, achingly gorgeous, raw spirit, in love with
itself and everything.

There is nothing we cannot accomplish; everything is already done. We
have only to play.

In love and unity,

-sam atman

Oculus of Shamanic Intent

That we may all know:

'Shaman' is the word for such a practitioner and literally meaning "he or she who knows."

If we want to enumerate the functions of the shamans (in all cultures that are recorded as having shamans), then we get a plethora of functions: healing; leading a sacrifice; preserving the tradition by storytelling and songs; fortune-telling; acting as a psychopomp (literal meaning, “guide of souls”). In some cultures, a shaman may fulfill several functions in one person. (wikipedia)

"While shamanism occurs in virtually every culture on the planet, manifesting itself in religious traditions both ancient and modern, both 'primitive' and sophisticated, the shaman remains eminently individualistic, idiosyncratic, and enigmatic, standing ever apart from organized ecclesiastical institutions while still performing important functions for the psychic and religious life of the culture. Comparable, but not identical, with such similar idiosyncratic practitioners as medicine men and sorcerers [and even acupuncturists], the shaman is the possessor of techniques of proven efficacy and of powers bordering on the paranormal, the complete understanding of which still eludes modern psychology.” (McKenna & McKenna, p.9)

Seal of the Sacred Tree of Life - The Mother Tree