News

The Spiritual Leader of the Mayas will broadcast a world-wide internet lecture

added on: 10th August, 2010

The Spiritual Leader of the Mayas will broadcast a world-wide internet lecture from ESO.TV studios, which you can watch from the comfort of your home by visiting www.maya.eso.tv. Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj - his spiritual Maya name is Wandering Wolf - is for the Mayas like the Dalai Lama for the Tibetans. He is the head of the National Council of Maya Elders, a 13th generation Quiche Maya Spiritual Leader. Learn what the authentic Maya have to say about their prophecies, 2012 and the times in which we are living in this 1.5 hours webcast. He will share ancient wisdom and insights into these exciting times in a presentation live over the internet! Being the Day Keeper of the Mayan Calendar, you will get a first hand inside to the Maya culture and prophecies as well as into the facts and misbeliefs related to 2012. The web broadcast will start on August 15th, Sunday, 13:00 EDT. To match the all time zones of the globe, the lecture will be repeated 3 more times. For more information and to book your place, please visit www.maya.eso.tv

THE MANDALA of Conscious Birthing and Dying

added on: 11th September, 2009

Jill Purce , founder of the Healing Voice, who pioneered the Sound Healing movement internationally 40 years ago and who has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism for 35 years will be teaching and leading a weeklong retreat and ceremony over the Festival of the Dead (All Saints - the Blessed Dead- and All Souls) for people to learn and practise the highly sophisticated vocal yoga that the Tibetans have for making the ultimate transition, enabling us to direct our consciousness at the moment of death.  She will teach the practices of conscious dying (both in reality and to the ego in everyday life) and how to recognize and direct the post mortal processes we go through beneficially. The aim is also to know how to help others to become enlightened in this moment, and to recognize and act appropriately in the successive moments in the immediate aftermath after death- the period known as the Bardo.   This retreat is for anyone seeking liberation now and the development of consciousness. She will be teaching chants for liberation from the afflictive emotions which maintain us ego bound, depressed, unhappy and frustrated, and lead us from the entrapping games of the mind into a state of joy and freedom. All this is essential housework for mortals. While this practice is also an essential roadmap for leaving this world it is mainly a guide to living in it - vocal practices for enlightenment in this life.

Introductory Weekends:- February 20-21 March 27-28 May 22-23

Ritual and Resonance:- February 13-14 April 10-1

The Healing Voice Week:- Residential near Glastonbury April 30- May 7^th.

www.healingvoice.com  <info@healingvoice.com> 0207 435 2467

Ancient Magic for Today

added on: 26th February, 2009

A thousand years ago in ancient England, a magical book was written which contained healing secrets and spiritual insights that have remarkable relevance to our lives today. Now in the British Library, this manuscript can teach us timeless approaches to achieving inner peace and maintaining vitality, health and happiness.

In one of his rare public-speaking events since writing ‘Way of Wyrd’ and ‘The Real Middle Earth’, academic and author Professor Brian Bates will appear in Bristol this March as the start of a teaching programme aimed at introducing the insights of our ancestors to as many people as possible.

 “When I sat for the first time looking at this ancient book, I felt a thrill of recognition” says Professor Bates, who used the manuscript as the basis for his best-selling novel on English Shamanism, ‘Way of Wyrd’, back in the 1980s. “Somehow I knew that the teachings it contains are things we already know deep down. Rediscovering them is like reclaiming our own identity – a healing heritage for all who live on this island.

“I am doing this because I believe that we are now living in a crucial time when we all need to reconnect with the sources of our creativity and realise lives full of vitality and fulfilment. I believe that the ancient teachings of ‘Wyrd’, found in this Anglo-Saxon manuscript, can empower and heal us today. My interest is in how we can all bring this magic into our lives to empower and enchant and to reconnect us with the spirit of our place.”

Brian Bates will be giving a public lecture on March 27^th followed by a day’s workshop on March 28^th in central Bristol. For event booking and further information please contact editor@thesource-southwest.co.uk or call 07793 730256.

Pomegranate protection

added on: 26th February, 2009

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles have found that compounds in pomegranate fruit can help protect men against prostate cancer. The authors of the study revealed in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry that polyphenols in the fruit’s extracts and juices may interact with genes to reduce the growth of prostate cancer cells. More than 200,000 men die of prostate cancer each year.

Hand Relexology relieve stress

added on: 26th February, 2009

Hand reflexology is highly recommended as a self-help treatment owing to its excellent therapeutic value and convenience.This series of reflexology routines begins with two techniques to help with tension headaches linked to stress. Both techniques should be repeated three times, once or twice a day.

Firstly, as a relaxation, massage the centre of one palm with the thumb of the other hand using slow and firm circular movements. Breathe slowly as you do this and change hands after one minute.

Now work the reflexes for the head by massaging the tips of your fingers and thumbs using the opposite hand. Make six or so small circular movements on each tip, not too hard, and then change hands.

The scalp muscles can then be relaxed with another simple technique. Roll the fingers of one hand individually around each finger and the thumb of the other hand. Repeat this three times on each digit, applying fairly firm pressure, and swap to your other hand.

NB: Make sure you do not overwork the reflexes or there may be a danger of over-stimulation which can cause mild side effects.

Plan Bee launched

added on: 26th February, 2009

Good news at last for those concerned about the plight of bees. The Co-operative Group has launched a 10 point plan to try and reverse the decline of the British honeybee. As well as banning in their own brand products certain pesticides which have been implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the retailer plans to raise awareness and support bee research.

This spring The Co-operative Farms will begin a three-year project to identify the optimal mix of wildflowers that should be sown to attract and support honeybees.

Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals at The Co-operative said: “Nature’s number one pollinating machine appears to be breaking down and no one knows for sure why. But it’s not just pretty gardens that are at stake; one third of the average diet relies on honeybees.”

The ten-point Plan Bee is as follows:

1. The Co-operative Food will temporarily prohibit the use of neonicotinoid-based pesticides on own-brand fresh produce. These are Acetamiprid, Clothianidin, Dinotefuran, Fipronil, Imidacloprid, Nitenpyram, Thiacloprid and Thiamethoxam.

 

2. £150,000 will be made available to support research into the demise of the honeybee, with a particular focus on UK farming, pesticides and gene-diversity. The largest ever private contribution to bee research in the UK.

 

3. Over three years, The Co-operative Farms will trial a new wildflower seed mix that will be planted alongside crops on its farms across the UK. The Co-operative Farms is the UK’s largest farmer with more than 25,000 hectares of land under management.

 

4. Co-operative Farms will invite beekeepers to establish hives on all Co-operative Farms in the UK.

 

5. The Co-operative will engage its three million members in a campaign to protect and nurture the bee population in the UK, with advice and tips featuring on its website.

 

6. Members will be invited to attend one of 40 screenings of a special preview from a forthcoming film that addresses the decline of the worldwide bee population and the significance of the bee in food production. In addition, The Co-operative has also commissioned a new bespoke documentary on the decline of the bee population in the UK.

 

7. The Co-operative will partner with RSPB’s “Homes for Wildlife” Team and empower members to garden in ways that are honeybee-friendly.

 

8. An initial 20,000 packets of wildflower seed mix will be made available to members free of charge.

 

9. Bee boxes are being sourced and made available to Co-operative members at discounted prices.

 

10. The Co-operative will support its members and colleagues to find out more about amateur beekeeping and will encourage links between local beekeepers and members.

Credit Crunch Counsellor

added on: 6th January, 2009

Integrating his spiritual path with his commercial experience, financial spiritual healer, Erik Cornish hopes to be able to help those feeling the strain of the credit crunch. Erik worked in commercial finance for over 40 years but, after his wife died in 1999, he trained as a Spiritual Healer. Having discovered that the root cause of many people’s stress-related illnesses is financial worries, Erik decided to draw on both skills to help people to focus on their soul purpose and to build a new financial structure to create the reality they need. He says, ‘As part of the healing process, clients have been made aware of the reason they got into the situation they did to avoid replicating the same problems again, involving forgiveness to those who seemingly caused them financial grief or forced them into decisions they didn’t feel comfortable with. For more details about his financial healing services, contact Erik on 07932 654519 or email to erik@absolute-mortgages.co.uk.

New Reflexology School

added on: 6th January, 2009

Lincolnshire’s first fully accredited reflexology school opened its doors last October to pupils eager to learn this popular ancient healing technique. The new Caritas School, based at the St Mary’s Guildhall in Lincoln, aims to increase the number of people who hope to pursue a career in reflexology. Set up by Glenys Underwood and Viv Tipper, both experienced practitioners and teachers, the next course starts in April 2009 and Continuing Professional Development courses will run throughout the year, starting in January.

For more information visit www.reflexologylincoln.co.uk or call Glenys on 01522 680687.

Acupressure relief from chemo nausea

added on: 6th January, 2009

A worldwide trial of the acupressure wrist bands, Sea-Band, for chemotherapy-related nausea has been granted the go ahead. The multi-centre study led by Prof Alex Molassiotis of the University of Manchester aims to assess the cost and clinical effectiveness of acupressure wristbands in controlling nausea in those who are undergoing chemotherapy for any type of cancer. Prof Molassiotis says, ‘We are optimistic that we will find a significant benefit, given my recent pilot study in breasat cancer patients showed a 43% reduction in chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting when using acupressure wristbands as opposed to using anti-emetic drugs alone.’ If you are a cancer sufferer and would like to be considered for the trial, please contact acupressuretrial@manchester.ac.uk for more information.

Green Sahara reveals its treasures

added on: 5th November, 2008

Sci­en­tists in Ni­ger have found the Sa­hara De­sert’s larg­est known Stone-Age grave­yard, which of­fers an un­par­al­leled rec­ord of life when the re­gion was green. Dat­ing back 10,000 years and called Gob­ero af­ter the Tua­reg name for the ar­ea, the site was brim­ming with skele­tons of hu­mans and an­i­mals. Gob­ero is hid­den away with­in Ni­ger’s for­bid­ding Ténéré Des­ert, known to lo­cal Tua­reg no­mads as a ‘des­ert with­in a des­ert.’ The site was pris­tine, ap­par­ently nev­er vis­ited. Two sea­sons of ex­cava­t­ion even­tu­ally re­vealed some 200 graves clearly be­long­ing to two suc­ces­sive lake­side popula­t­ions. The old­er group, de­ter­mined to be Kif­fian, were hunters of wild game who left ev­i­dence that they al­so speared huge perch with har­poons when they col­o­nized the green Sa­hara dur­ing its wet­test per­i­od be­tween 10,000 and 8,000 years ago. Their tall stat­ure, some­times reach­ing well over 6 feet, was not im­me­di­ately ap­par­ent from their tightly bound bur­i­al po­si­tions. The more re­cent popula­t­ion was the Tene­r­ian, a more lightly built peo­ple who ap­peared to have had a di­verse econ­o­my of hunt­ing, fish­ing and cat­tle herd­ing. They lived dur­ing the lat­ter part of the green Sa­hara, about 7,000 to 4,500 years ago. Their one-of-a-kind bur­i­als of­ten in­clud­ed jewellery or rit­u­al pos­es - a girl wear­ing an upper-arm brace­let carved from a hip­po tusk, for ex­am­ple, and a stun­ning tri­ple bur­i­al con­tain­ing a wom­an and two chil­dren in a poign­ant em­brace. ‘At first glance, it’s hard to im­ag­ine two more bi­o­log­ic­ally dis­tinct groups of peo­ple bur­y­ing their dead in the same place,’ said team mem­ber Chris Sto­janowski, a bioar­chae­o­lo­g­ist from Ar­i­zo­na State Uni­ver­s­ity. ‘The big­gest mys­tery is how they seemed to have done this with­out dis­turb­ing a sin­gle grave.’ Al­though the Sa­hara has long been the world’s larg­est des­ert, a faint wob­ble in Earth’s or­bit and oth­er fac­tors oc­cur­ring some 12,000 years ago caused Af­ri­ca’s sea­son­al mon­soons to shift slightly north, bring­ing new rains to the Sa­hara. From Egypt in the east to Mau­ri­ta­nia in the west, lakes with lush mar­gins dot­ted the form­erly parched land­scape, draw­ing an­i­mals, fish and even­tu­ally peo­ple. Sep­a­rat­ing these two popula­t­ions was an ar­id in­ter­val per­haps as long as a mil­len­ni­um that be­gan about 8,000 years ago, when the lake disap­peared and the site was aban­doned. One bur­i­al brought ac­ti­vity at the site to a stand­still. Ly­ing on her side, the ske­l­e­ton of a pe­tite Tene­r­ian wom­an emerged from the sand, fac­ing the skele­tons of two young chil­dren; their slen­der arms reached to­ward her and their hands were clasped in an ev­er­last­ing em­brace. Sam­ples tak­en from un­der the skele­tons con­tained pol­len clus­ters, taken as ev­i­dence the peo­ple had been laid out on a bed of flow­ers. Sto­janowski an­a­lyzed doz­ens of in­di­vid­u­als’ bones and teeth for clues to the two popula­t­ions. ‘This in­di­vid­ual, for ex­am­ple, had huge leg mus­cles,’ he said of ridges on the thigh bone of a Kif­fian ma­le, ‘which sug­gests he was eat­ing a lot of pro­tein and had an ac­tive, stren­u­ous lifestyle. The Kif­fian ap­pear to have been fairly healthy - it would be dif­fi­cult to grow a body that tall and mus­cu­lar with­out suf­fi­cient nu­tri­tion.’ In con­trast, the fe­mur ridge of a Tene­r­ian male was barely per­cep­ti­ble. ‘This man’s life was less rig­or­ous, per­haps tak­ing smaller fish and game with more ad­vanced hunt­ing tech­nolo­gies,’ Sto­janowski said. Anal­y­sis of mea­sure­ments on Kif­fian skulls links them to skulls found across north­ern Af­ri­ca, some as old as 16,000 years, Sto­janowski said. The Tene­r­ian, how­ev­er, are not closely linked to these an­cient popula­t­ions. A large-scale re­turn ex­pe­di­tion is planned to the site to fur­ther ex­plore the two popula­t­ions that coped with ex­treme cli­mate change. For more news visit www.world-science.net.

'Insideout' sanctuary

added on: 5th November, 2008

InsideOut, the Lancashire-based garden office company, have just completed a new garden room for staff and clients at Bridewell Organic Garden and Vineyard, the award winning West Oxfordshire charity. Bridewell’s clients, who suffer from a range of complex mental illnesses from depression to schizophrenia, are encouraged to help tend the garden and vineyards. Their involvement forms an important part of the therapeutic process. More than twenty staff and clients previously used an old garage to relax in. So the new room, with its log-burning stove, is a very welcome addition. Clients and staff now have a peaceful, attractive place overlooking the garden to sit, have a cuppa and admire their hard work. Built in just two weeks, the new room is eco-friendly by design. Gordon Smith, InsideOut’s architect explains, ‘We’ve constructed the room from low-toxicity materials to reduce the building’s environmental impact. It is durable, low maintenance, highly insulated, has an environmentally responsible finish and it’ll last for a long, long time.’ Lynn Fotheringham and Gordon Smith have been building garden offices and granny flats since 2002, using their own traditional timber frame building system. ‘The concept is to create good looking, fully functioning outdoor living and working spaces,’ says Gordon Smith. ‘Our buildings are about as far from garden sheds as you can get!’  Bridewell General Manager Alex Taylor commented, ‘We chose InsideOut because of their professional response. And because their buildings were such high quality Lynn and Gordon immediately struck us as people who understood what Bridewell’s all about. Our judgment has proved correct... everyone at Bridewell thinks the new building is fantastic. It’ll make a major difference to our facilities and to how people experience the garden.’ From InsideOut’s point of view, the project has been a rewarding one. “Bridewell allowed us to fully indulge our concerns for the environment, and the respect we like to give a building’s surroundings. Working with an organization that bases everything it does on organic principles has been entirely in tune with what we’re all about’, explains Lynn Fotheringham, managing director. InsideOut designs and builds to a high standard of comfort. Rooms are beautifully finished using environmentally friendly larch cladding, grown in carefully managed woodland in Scotland and Northumbria. Wherever possible, the company uses materials manufactured in the UK, with lower levels of industrial energy, chemicals and transport. All this helps customers reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For more information on Bridewell visit www.bridewellorganicgardens.co.uk or on InsideOut speak to Lynn Fotheringham on 01524 737999 or visit www.iobuild.co.uk

Germinating gems

added on: 12th September, 2008

According to Andrei Sommer, and two of his colleagues at the University of Ulm in Germany, the surface of diamonds may have provided the right conditions to foster the chemical reactions believed to have given rise to life on Earth billions of years ago. Many scientists have theorized that life’s chemical precursors gradually evolved from a so-called ‘primordial soup’ of simpler molecules. But just how these simpler molecules, called amino acids, would have assembled into complex larger structures remains one of science’s great mysteries. This most recent study focused on diamonds as they provide us with crystallized forms of carbon older than the earliest forms of life. In a series of laboratory experiments, the scientists found that after treatment with hydrogen, natural diamond forms crystalline layers of water on its surface. These layers may have been essential for the development of life, and involved in electrical conductivity, the group argued. In other words, they explained, when primitive molecules landed on the surface of these ‘hydrogenated’ diamonds in the early atmosphere, the resulting chemical reaction could have generated more complex organic molecules that eventually gave rise to life. For the full study see the August issue of Crystal Growth & Design, a research journal of the American Chemical Society.

A turbine first

added on: 12th September, 2008

Rock Port in Missouri sets the bar by being the first town in the US to generate all of its electricity from wind power. It makes use of the 75 wind turbines spread out across three Missouri counties, and local experts are excited about the potential for wind power throughout the state. Though sceptics suggest this is relatively easy for somewhere like Rock Point to achieve, as it only has 1300 residents, it is an encouraging start. The US government sees wind power only providing around 20% of the power needed to run the country in the future, but that’s still 20% less dependency on fossil fuels, so not just a lot of hot air!

Sea Sanctuary

added on: 25th June, 2008

Environmental groups are applauding the recent promise by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to convert Chile’s entire coastline – one of the longest in the world – into a whale sanctuary. Nearly 50 per cent of the world’s whale species pass through Chilean waters on a regular basis and, in addition, Chile hosts a sizeable population of blue whales which come to feed and reproduce off the northern coast of Chile. Bachelet made the announcement as part of her annual May 21 State of the Nation speech. During June’s annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) – to be held in Santiago – she promised that Chile will condemn the capture and killing of whales for scientific purposes. The whale sanctuary plan was first proposed in 2007 by the National Confederation of Chilean Artisan Fishermen which joined with the Center for Cetacean Conservation and Ecoceanos, a Santiago-based environmental NGO, in lobbying Chilean government authorities. A law already in place bans whaling until 2025 and the new sanctuary would help extend that law indefinitely. In recent months the initiative has received almost universal backing; over 100 environmental groups around the planet including the Marine Connection support the proposed sanctuary. ‘This is a huge triumph for the people of Chile and a strong international signal by the host country of the International Whaling Commission gathering,’ said Ecoceanos Director Juan Carlos Cárdenas. ‘This demonstrates the eff ectiveness of the combined effort by environmentalist and artisan fishers, who in demanding the creation of a sanctuary were able to attract the support of 97 per cent of the Chilean public.’ For more information visit ww.marineconnection.org

Emu oil to the rescue

added on: 20th June, 2008

The oral history of the Australian Aborigine indicates their use of oil from emus for over forty thousand years. They used ‘emu oil’ to gain relief from minor aches and pains, to help heal wounds quicker, and protect their skin from the harsh elements of wind and sun. Emu oil made the headlines in the UK after Paula Radcliff e discovered the remedy and claimed it helped her get over injuries she had suff ered prior to her record-breaking run in the 2003 Flora London Marathon. Now registered as a therapeutic anti-infl ammatory in Australia and without the side-eff ects of man-made alternatives such as an increased risk of heart disease, vascular disease and strokes, emu oil’s popularity is only set to grow. As science learns more and more lessons from nature the hope is that the likes of emu oil will open up people’s minds to other remedies used by indigenous people around the world and help us protect and nurture their medicinal remedies. For more information contact The Pioneer Trading Company by calling 01526 344971/345613 or by visiting their website at: www.pion-tc.co.uk