Scientific Research, Spiritual Research
March 16, 2010 9:30am-3:30pm

Location: Benziger Family Winery, Glen Ellen
Confirmation and directions will be emailed upon receipt of registration.

Work with the land, plants, and animals is greatly enhanced when one eye is kept on the practical aspects and one on the spiritual. This workshop highlights research techniques that use the alchemical mandala of the four elements to gain insight into patterns of the physical world. These same research techniques can then be used in contemplative approaches to problem solving through the development of enhanced imaginative capacities.

Music of the Spheres: the Formative Forces in Plants
May 1, 2010 9:30am-3:30pm

Location: Fulcrum Farm, Grass Valley
Confirmation and directions will be emailed upon receipt of registration.

The great harmony behind the forms of Nature is known as the Music of the Spheres.  In this workshop we will work with the contemporary evolution of the music of the spheres known as projective geometry. Beginning with demonstrations of the Pythagorean monochord, chladni plates and other instruments that have traditionally been used to reveal harmonic forms in sound, we will create simple geometric thought experiments and make drawings that reveal the sublime experience of the infinitely distant plane. These experiences will be used to illustrate the formative forces in plants. Bring a compass and a ruler to the workshop.

Fees

Regular Fee: $85 per workshop, includes lunch
Student/Apprentice Fee: $45 per workshop, includes lunch
Notes: Pre-registration required - Seating Limited

Registration

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· Email LauraLiska at cs.com to pay via mail or
· Print and Mail form. Click here for form (PDF).

Need help?

To cancel/change/update your registration, please email LauraLiska at cs.com or call her at 707-456-0678.

Towards evening an unusual phenomenon can often be experienced around the lake. During the late afternoon a strong breeze kicks up moving from the water up the slopes of the mountains. It is a warm and unsettling breeze often accompanied by insects and a drying almost irritating quality. Then as the Sun gets close enough to touch the horizon the atmosphere around the lake often becomes uncommonly still as the waters become calm and serene. This hesitation and stillness lasts while the Sun is moving behind the mountains to the west. Then, just as the top of the sun dips below the horizon the stillness is broken by a perceptible breeze that runs down from the peaks towards the water. The breeze is warm coming down from the peaks and the surface of the lake is once again stirred by the sunset sigh.

The image shows the moment just after the Sun has dipped below the horizon. The clouds are still illuminated but the lake itself is not illuminated. The currents being stirred by the sunset sigh pick up the magenta hues of the clouds while the water itself flashes turquoise in the dark that is fast approaching the lower elevations. Soon the magenta leaves the clouds, while a sullen dark green rushes over the water waiting to receive the light of the Moon.

Lake Tahoe was formed when a gigantic block of granite slipped down in an earthquake to form what geologists call a graben. The 193 sq. mi. block that slipped rests on the bottom of the lake 1,645 feet from the surface. The precipitous mountains that ring the lake rise to 10.000 ft and give it its magical and unique qualities. Perhaps these features are best seen in one cove of the lake known as Emerald Bay. Emerald Bay is on the southwest corner of the lake. Its walls are formed by granitic mountains that are a pale pink color. The shallowness of the bay creates a unique coloring to the remarkably clear water when the sun shines off of the bottom of the granite and reflects through the water. The color is a striking emerald green. This color vanishes when the clouds overhead are gray from storm activity.

In this image a hole in the clouds is letting rays of light penetrate into Emerald Bay. The pink granite walls of the mountains of the Desolation Wilderness create the backdrop. The white strip of the 400 ft. Eagle Falls is seen in the crux of the mountains bringing water into the lake from the snow fields above. In the crepuscular light the focal point shows the blush of emerald hue. On the edges where the shadows of the storm have created the pewter color of the water the miraculous green is gone. The magical play of light, shade and color that is the magical aura of Lake Tahoe is at its best in these moments of transition.

The summit of the Sierras in the locale of Lake Tahoe is a gathering place for storms that stream from the west through the Golden Gate in San Francisco. The Bay Area is a kind of funnel for storms that come from the eastern Pacific into the Delta of the Sacramento River. The Sacramento delta drains most of northern California into the ocean off of San Francisco. The Pacific storms that come through this Golden Gate hit the mountains and back up turbulently to the west forming scud clouds and strong winds as they gather the force to scream through the passes. The mountains rake the water out of the storms and deposit it in the form of beneficial snows that provide the water insurance against the yearly drought that is the California water year.

In this image Lake Tahoe is to the left or north and out of the picture but the mountains that ring the lake form the northern wall of the venturi that Carson Pass forms as the storms make their way from the Pacific out into the desert in Nevada. The majestic mountain in the center of the image is Carson Peak named after Kit Carson who led a band of settlers through the pass and across its flanks in the history of the settling of California.  Caples Lake sitting below the peak is one reservoir among many which gather life giving waters that come from the ocean across the Sierras in the short yearly rainy season. These mountain influenced rain patterns are the life blood of California agriculture.

The mountain ranges all around Lake Tahoe feel its influence no matter what the prevailing wind.  When warm air rises from the sun warmed water and then rolls up the slopes of the surrounding peaks in the heat of the afternoon, large thunderheads form that surge upwards to branch out in all directions in space. Depending upon the angle of the sun and the prevailing wind first one peak then another give rise to the strongly forming thunderheads throughout the afternoon. When walking in the vicinity of the lake it is interesting to try to tell which peak is sending up the thunderheads on any given day. The location of the cloud gives information about wind direction in relation to the lake in a kind of primeval script. The rapidly ascending air creates fantastic forms that morph rapidly into elemental shapes.

The picture shows a strongly growing animal like cloud ranging off of a peak that stands to the southeast of Lake Tahoe. The red slopes of the volcanic peak are part of an outcropping of volcanoes that are just to the south of the largely granitic slopes on the northern and western sides of the lake. In this image a wind moving from the west/southwest is streaming across the lake that is directly behind the darkened central peak in the picture. The peak is darkened by the immense shadow of the growing cloud. The warm moist air coming up the slope behind the peak is streaming off of the peak and stretching into the space high above the mountain. The desert is to the right and soon this cloud will lift off of the peak and float out over Nevada while off of the peak in the distance we can see the beginning of another race of elemental cloud beings.  These remarkable kinds of afternoon presences are often seen in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe. They occur in ever changing positions during the day or the week. In certain seasons there is a daily parade of gnomes, fairies, wizards, sprites and angels that stream off of the lake and make their way out over the desert to eventually come down as beneficial rains somewhere in Kansas.

In the beginning stage of nigredo or blackness, a soul alchemist comes into contact with the roots of personality. Persona in Greek refers to the mask that the actors spoke through in the Greek theater. Persona means speaking through or sounding through. A personality is a mask that I speak through rather than revealing my true feelings about myself. I form the roots of the personality when I experience in childhood that my true feelings and creative impulses in life are not being recognized by the world. I then seek to adapt to the world by forming inner pictures that allow me to avoid conflict by repressing pictures that come from my deeper sense of self. The repression is a subtle source of irritation.  I then hide my irritation about not being able to express my true feelings under a series of masks that help me to compensate for my feelings of insecurity. This is the dynamic of the persona or mask.

The image of a gateless iron fence around a pile of manure is an image of the attempt to manage or repress my irritation at not being accepted for who I really am.  Soul transformation begins with the realization that I have an inner source of irritation that is hidden to others, and often to me. I try to protect myself from allowing others to access the pile of irritations because I believe that if others gain access to my hidden pile of irritations, I lose significance in the world. As a result, I need to secure my secret pile deep within myself and form a mask that becomes like a fence of beliefs. Each irritation and compensation has its own series of inner pictures that arise when I get near a situation resembling the original situation that caused me to form the mask. Often, the fence that I build in my heart is so subtle that it doesn’t even allow me to get access to my own secret pile of irritations when I want to change my relationship to them.

To change this situation it is useful to employ imaginative faculties. The eventual goal is to gain access to the unconscious formative processes in your soul life that give rise to inner pictures. These imaginations are symbolized by the planetary glyphs hovering above the manure pile in the image.  A useful beginning is to practice seeing yourself as if you were looking at the back of your own head. Try to imagine that you can slip out of the back of your body and look at yourself from behind. The first few attempts usually seem silly. These feelings gradually give way to a deeper sense that you live naturally a bit behind and above your daily viewpoint on the world. This is a very valuable insight emotionally.

Through practice other variations can be added. While you are talking to someone and become aware of a growing irritation, make a mental note to do the following later in the day. Imagine seeing yourself from behind yourself. In your imagination replay the irritating encounter but watch to see just what is was the exact source of the irritation.  Was it the way that the other person looked at you as they spoke? Was it the content of their message? Ask yourself if you suspected a hidden agenda behind what they were saying?  Did you find their tone of voice or body language irritating? Do they remind you of someone in your past that you found unpleasant?

Imaginative Exercises to create awareness of inner pictures

Identify an irritating situation in your life. Then imagine that the irritating event is a small mound of manure that mysteriously shows up over your back fence every morning. Imagine piling up each mound in the fence without reacting to it in the moment. Just imagine adding it to the pile and walking away. Imagine coming back later and seeing a pile of beautiful compost inside the fence but the fence you built prevents you from getting access to the compost. Imagine taking the fence down and then putting the compost on the garden and watching the plants grow.

Variation:  Imagine that you are renting a new apartment. The last occupant has left a large pile of trash in a closet. You are too tired to clean it out. When your friends come over you lock the door of the closet so that no one can see the pile. Over time you begin to use the closet for your own trash so that it is filled with old newspapers and pizza boxes. One day you find you can’t get into the closet. You decide to clean it out and it takes a few weeks of intense work. You finally get to the floor of the closet and find a small box filled with mint condition gold coins.

As a final thought, the reason that the mask is so powerful in our lives is because we are unaware that we are compensating when we use the mask. It seems natural to us. The previous exercises are aimed at bringing the mask or compensating behavior into awareness. The true difficulty is that we are unaware of these compensating behaviors. To enhance this work it is useful to keep a journal of any time that we recognize a compensating behavior during an exercise. By journaling the experience we move it out of the darkness of the nigredo and towards the light of awareness where we can eventually find out why we are reacting to particular situations. Journaling takes down the iron fence around our manure pile of unconscious memories. It helps us to recognize the difference between an authentic soul experience and a mask.

In the early afternoon the air above the lake becomes well organized.  The masses of clouds stretch out over the lake like flocks of grazing sheep. It is then that a curious phenomenon can be observed. The forms of the currents of the water begin to become furrowed and curved resembling a plowed field. Seen from the shore, the furrows appear like large S shapes extending into the middle of the lake. The flocks of clouds appear guided in a mystical syncopation with the furrows in the water, their movements resembling some solemn esoteric ballet. Perhaps the angel at the pool at Bethesda stirring the healing waters might be an appropriate image.

The mystery of the forms and cadences of these striking and strangely evocative patterns can be understood with a fortuitous view from a commercial jet liner that is either landing into or taking off from Sacramento, California. The approach path to Sacramento puts the plane in a position to pass over the lake. If the Sun is just right, the surface of the lake can be seen as a network of shimmering swells engraving the water into a corrugated surface of light and shade. Large circular vortices can be seen on the surface of the lake slowly rotating under invisible columns of rising warm air. The flock-like groups of clouds can be seen wending their way into the arms of the invisible vortices while the surface of the water slowly rotates in languid pinwheels. Two, three or more giant gyres can be seen slowly interacting over the surface of the lake while the clouds play and flow along the edges of the invisible vertical streams of rising warm air.  The placement of the vortices is guided by the currents of air moving along the mountains that ring the lake. The prevailing winds determine the placement of the ensembles for the present moment. The elegant dance can then suddenly disappear as if guided by an unseen director, or perhaps once the angel has stirred the waters it must move on.

In mid- morning, the great lake breathes out in a cloud birthing gesture as the Sun rises more steeply and warms the surface. Squadrons of restless clouds form over the lake. These varied movements create a micro weather system that influences the area just over the lake itself. The bird-like clouds spring up off of the slopes of the mountains and emerge suddenly from an invisible realm into form. They reach a certain height above the lake and then they lose their lift. Settling down towards the lake they come to rest on the great bubble of air trapped by the ring of mountains.  Their flat bottoms reveal the top of the air mass trapped in the basin of the lake by the ring of mountains. Like great flocks of birds they move in circles around the lake forming and dissolving in the morning Sun. At noon they sometimes build to great heights that can form thunderheads that sail off over the Carson Range and into the desert. But in the middle of the morning they play tag with each other in the shifting winds in the mountain ringed vessel of the lake. The sides and bottoms of the clouds absorb the serene hues of the water and the mountains into a symphony of magical blues.

Lake Tahoe sits like a gleaming sapphire jewel on the eastern border of Northern California. It is a high alpine lake of immense size and remarkable clarity. Its pristine waters reflect the sky in remarkable shades of blues, greens and violets and the lake itself can show many moods as the colors of the sky shift with the ever present changes in the weather. The weather over Lake Tahoe is influenced by the fact that the flow off of the ocean to the west over the Central Valley of California provides a regular flow of moisture up the western slopes of the Sierras. The many mountains ringing Lake Tahoe create currents that steer these moisture laden currents into an amazing array of cloud formations throughout any given day.

The picture shows the lake just awakening from the coolness of the evening. When looking east over the Carson range that forms the eastern boundary of the lake, the Sun can be seen glancing off of large banks of stratus clouds sending a rosy glow onto the water. The 10,000 ft. peaks often have some snow on them that keeps cold nighttime currents of air descending down the slopes towards the water. The water in turn is then warmer than the air above it and fog layers condense and often form low sinuous ropes of clouds that snake along above the water before dawn. As the air begins to warm with the approach of the sun the cloud snakes start to rise up and form small puffs of clouds in anticipation of the rising of the water vapor that will take place when the first rays of the Sun warm the surface of the lake.  Freel Peak, the large mountain in the distance, sits to the east of Tahoe just on the edge of the desert. It is the highest peak in the Carson Range and often has a snow cap. The rising Sun is already beginning to form clouds off of the peak that are streaming into the atmosphere.  Lake Tahoe is awakening and the mountains all around will soon participate in the dance of wind and water that creates the shifting microclimate of the Tahoe Basin.

The image shows the retort of our sleeping consciousness with the birds of thought arising out of the neck in clouds of steam. These birds are our thoughts that are constantly percolating up out of a constant undercurrent of dreaming into our awake states as we go about our daily affairs. They arise out of the unconscious nature of the will that fumes and bubbles beneath all of our impulses in life. To begin to separate out the will impulses in us from the pattern of how we form thoughts is a valuable alchemical practice.

In alchemy the fire element is the great transformative force in the world that stands behind all changes. In the soul the fire element has to do with the nature of the will that moves us into action. When working on uncovering the hidden will impulses in our soul we may be surprised to find that the fire or will in us is linked to very specific expectations. The expectations come from a habitual use of the will to satisfy desires. What starts out as an itch or urge deepens into an excessive drive or desire. At a still deeper level the desire becomes excessive and develops into a passionate will to satisfy the desire. This level of the work is when the fire stage of the mandala of consciousness has yielded passion that leads to some form of destructive activity.

However, all is not lost because in alchemy destruction contains the seeds of new revival. To be in contact with what is new in our lives that can arise out of the ashes of our thwarted expectations it is very useful to learn how to transform our sleeping and dreaming. The portals of going to sleep and waking up in the morning are powerful events that are useful to those who wish to accomplish what the alchemists called the waking dream. To begin to approach the waking dream an effective exercise is to simply make a note of what thought moves us out of bed in the morning. Keep a journal handy to write down the thought. Over time the pattern of these initial will- filled daily thoughts will begin to reveal to us where the threshold is situated between sleeping and dreaming. Once we find the threshold we can begin the work of transformation of desire.

Consciously experiencing the thought that drives us out of bed in the morning is a valuable key to understanding how the forces of desire and expectation are active in our lives.