Class 2

2. Class 2

4. The Secret Teachings of Plants:The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature By Stephen Harrod Buhner A Living Book, Autobiographical Reflections By OmraamMikhaelAivanhov

5. Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture By Toby Hemenway The Elves of Lily Hill Farm By Penny Kelly

6. SeppHolzer’sPermaculture BySeppHolzer

7. Assignments for Class 2 • Read chapters 7-9 (pp. 124-162) in The Secret Teachings of Plants. • Read ch. 15, (pp. 333-366) “All Creation Speaks to Me, and I Speak to It” in Omraam’sA Living Book. • Take a walk in nature feeling, experiencing, communing, and communicating with the nature spirits. You can communicate to a group of trees, a flower, a body of water, or any other living expression of nature. Record your observations and report back to the forum and be prepared to share with the class.

8. Today’s topics will include: • Elementals of the Air • Discernment of the Heart • Communication with Nature Spirits • Trees • Update on Bees

9. Aries Takes an Inbreath [Aries takes an inbreath.] "Therefore, as you walk within nature, breathe, blessed hearts, the holy atmosphere that we extend mindfully to you, and allow the grace of these currents to energize your thought processes unto a new mindfulness. For God is always present within the center of your being, speaking as you listen." (Aries. July 2, 2010)

10. The Fire Breath of God And the sunlight that does activate these substances through the fire of Helios and Vesta does bring even to and through your lungs and then into your heart and bloodstream those cosmic elements that are necessary for the Christ and the Buddhic consciousness to reside within your very veins and capillaries and arteries, beloved ones.” (Hierarchs of Elementals, May 1, 2006) “When you breathe, you are breathing more than simply an unknown substance of oxygen and nitrogen and other gases. You are breathing in many elements, both of the earth, of the water, the air and the fire.

11. We Are Not Separate "The linear mind is what creates the boundary line between us and the world. Location of consciousness in the brain closes the door to nature. But the door is unlocked." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 140)

12. In My Fathers House Are Many Mansions "The natural world is a spiritual house, where the pillars, that are alive, let slip at times some strangely garbled words; Man walks there through forests of physical things that are also spiritual things, that watch him with affectionate looks.” —Charles Baudelaire, quoted in Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 131

13. Seeing Through a Glass Sharply "The observation of nature requires a certain purity of mind that cannot be disturbed or preoccupied by anything…” —Goethe, quoted in Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 137

14. The Earth is our Mother "Therefore, respect life. Respect the Earth. Love the Earth! Send emanations of your compassion to the elemental kingdom, even as you kneel before a tree or a plant or prostrate yourself on the grass and feel the currents that emanate from the very Mother Earth herself, blessed ones. Yes, you live upon her bosom. Yes, you feed from her sacred breasts. And only when you understand the nature of the Earth Mother and her movement and her love for you will you, through this respect, truly come into that God Self-respect that will move you from being embodied as men and women unto your new life as God beings.” (Cuzco, April 10, 2007)

15. Honor the Elders "The first step in learning to talk to plants is cultivating politeness, realizing that the pine trees that have been here for 700 million years must have been doing something before we came on the scene a mere million years ago." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 133)

16. Become as a Child "…allow yourself to sense once again. Allow your sensory perceptions to be your thinking. Sense instead of think. This is what the senses are meant to do." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 139)

17. Heart/Brain Coherence Between 60-65% of the cells in the heart are neural cells. Our experience of the world is routed first through our heart, which “thinks” about the experience and then sends the data to the brain for further processing." (Secret Teaching of Plants, pp. 82 and 83)

18. Subtle Vibrations "The heart is, in fact, an extremely sensitive sensory organ whose domain is that of feelings" (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 93)

19. Development of the Heart Initial development of the hearts perception begins before birth and continues during infancy.

20. The Bond of Love "During breast feeding and holding, the infants electromagnetic field is constantly resynchronized with the mother’s." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 92)

21. The Wise Example "The mothers developed heart furnishes the model frequencies that the infant’s heart must have for its own development…" (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 92)

22. “Imprinted” Circuitry "Because the human heart is born into a situation in which it’s first functioning’s are intimately involved with information coming from another electromagnetic field, it continues throughout life to be sensitive to the information in (other) electromagnetic fields." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 92)

23. Much in Common "Plants, like all living organisms, generate and respond to electromagnetic waves. They use a great many internal electromagnetic communications, just as we do, for healing and normal physiological functioning." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 113)

24. The Door of Everything “So the door is open. The next step is to accept the living reality of the natural world and the possibility of two way communication.” (—Buhner, Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 139)

25. Take the Plunge "The second act of courage is to trust your senses… Sensing is what you do instead of thinking." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 141)

26. The Elementals Will Guide Allow yourself to notice details; one plant may seem more interesting than all the others. It is to this one that you must go. Take it all in. Smell it! Taste it! Love it! (—Buhner, Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 143)

27. The Key "Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough." (George Washington Carver, as quoted in Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 154)

28. They Desire to Help "Plants will, if genuinely asked respond to you. They will teach you their medicine… If you approach them with an open heart, open your senses and truly allow yourself to perceive them, they will always respond." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 157)

29. Just Ask "You have to love them, to feel the touch of their communications on your heart, and send out your deep request in turn. They will respond if you ask, for that is what plants are meant to do." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 158)

30. Trust Your Subtle Impressions "This initial grouping of feelings, physiological responses, vague intimations, scattered linguistic descriptions, pictures that flash in the mind… These feelings are your connection to the living reality of the plant. The feelings are the medicine." (Secret Teaching of Plants, p. 160)

31. Taken for Granted "Nature spirits are waiting for you to ask for their help and protection… Most of the time people see them only as impersonal, brute forces that get noticed when they cause disaster." (The Living Book, p. 351)

32. Radiance Request Response "As for me, I say the four elements are inhabited by living and intelligent beings, which can help us in our spiritual work and which can respond to the requests of those who know how to compel them solely by the power and radiance of their spirit." (The Living Book, p. 351)

33. Man’s Other Best Friends "I particularly like to spend time in forests. When I can see beautiful trees, something happens within me, and I come back happy. Walking amongst them I consider, how all trees are condensed light." (The Living Book, p. 354)

34. Thank the Trees! "Yes these trunks, branches and leaves nourish themselves with light, they are just condensed solar light, and I am amazed at the thought that the sun’s love is found here in such abundance. By purifying the atmosphere with the oxygen they release, trees are our benefactors, and those who live near a forest are truly privileged." (The Living Book, p. 354)

35. Plant A Tree And if you don’t live in a forest then, create one. Bring the trees into your life and surroundings. Here is part of the orchard at Commonweal Gardens.

36. A Gift to US Urban Permaculture that feeds the soul.

37. Shelterbelt In 8th grade we planted a shelterbelt of 1,000+ pines around our school grounds in Illinois. It always gives me great satisfaction to visit these trees every few years. Now they are at least 50 feet tall.

38. Trees in PermacultureMultiple Functions • Form protective borders and block the wind. • Provide shade for other plants. • Provide a home for birds and other animals. • Cover the ground with protective humus. • Bring up nutrients from deep in the soil. • Provide fruit and nuts. • Gather a great deal of light. • Hold soil against erosion.

39. A Power Tree Trees are great. Trees are wise. Trees care about us. Trees are ancient. Trees restore us and give us power. Trees are our friends.

40. Towers of Light "The tree people are very Lighted Beings, and you can see how their auras fill the sky in towers of light waves radiating from their inner essences. They are tubes of light, carrying vast amounts of information and folklore to disseminate to humans on Earth, if only humans would tune in to their frequency…" (Tree Talk, p. 13)

41. The Other Worldwide Web "If only humans could communicate with all the other life forms, you would know what is occurring on Earth and you would be better able to prepare yourself for the changes that are fast coming." (Tree Talk, p. 26)

42. Making New Friends "Now is the time to acknowledge our existence and connect with all of us. There are many different kinds of Elementals, and we all wish to work with humans." (Tree Talk p. 29) Suggested reading: Summer with the Leprechauns by Tanis Helliwell Illustration by Montagu Barston

43. Bees in Permaculture Bees are our great helpers!

44. Colony Collapse Disorder • Rapid loss of worker bees • Few or no dead bees in the hive • Presence of immature bees (brood) • Small clusters of bees with a live queen • Pollen and honey stored in the hive

45. No Magic Bullet Research to get to the cause of this is focused on the following areas: • Pathogens • Parasites • Environmental stress • Bee management strategies • Pesticides

46. Linear Mechanical Thinking • The development of mite resistant bee stocks (more GMOs) • Improved diets • Irradiation of combs (just set up in your back yard with cesium 137) Typical approach! Treat the symptom not the cause. What would you do?

47. Common Sense from the Heart • Humble healthy bees • Variety of food nearly year round • Important job pollinating • One good home (no travel) • Minimum contact with other bees • Enough honey for winter • Love

48. "Yes, these nature spirits revel in their work and service to man-kind. They joy in providing the variegated, colorful manifestations of nature that you see. And even during their winter sleep and rest they are developing new, essential plans for the flourishing of that floral abundance come springtime such that your hearts, attuned to the grace of nature's glory, can once again become enlivened with that resurrection fire that glows each springtide commemorating the victory of the Son of God, Jesus, and, hopefully, presaging your own glorious ascent back to the heart of God.” (Amaryllia, November 17, 2006)

49. For Class 2 Take a walk in nature and feeling, experiencing, communing, communicating with the nature spirits. You can communicate to a group of trees, a flower, a body of water, or any other living expression of nature. Record your observations and report back to the forum.

50. Students share reports from their walk in Nature.