I have been talking to a lot of women as of late and asking them what it is to be in touch with the Divine Feminine.  Who are it's icons?  What does it feel like?  I have sadly, received less than satisfactory answers from anyone or anything for that matter.  I have referenced libraries (Humboldt State University, Humboldt County) and I have Googled until my eyes are googled and all to no avail of anything that smacks of authenticity.   Even Wicca's attributes of the Divine Feminine are overly pithy and esoteric with no real substance what so ever.  If One was to research the Divine Masculine, you will not only get all of the previous mentionings of pithyness and esoterica, you'll get a huge volume of experiential information ranging from physical to non-dual in a multitude of transformative paths.  Sad really.  WE, I fear, are neglecting one half of OUR SELF out of complete ignorance.

     When I have been talking to these women, acrossed a broad age spectrum, concerning who they think best expresses Divine Femininity, the two most popular answers I recieved were Mother Teresa and Oprah Winfrey.  I agreed yes and no.

Yes:  They both exude qualities of deeply compassionate caring and nurturing and touching.  In my ignorant defense, I assumed these to be the qualities of the Divine Feminine but if I am wrong, I have only made my point that much more poignant.

No:  Mother Teresa- Although deeply spiritual (obviously), she was a practitioner of Christianity.  Not only Christianity but Catholicism at that.  (I am a recovering Catholic all the way up to catechism and alter boy and Confirmation so I have license to bash a bit)  Catholicism by it's very nature is heavily steeped in the masculine, divine or otherwise.  Ol' St. Peter made sure of that when he all but killed the Goddess entirely with the advent of the Roman Catholic Church.  Trumping up Mary Magdalene as a harlot and whore in scriptural doctrine instead of giving her her rightful place as an ardent mystic and an enlightened BEing in her own right is just bad press, not to mention not very nice.

Oprah Winfrey - As wonderfully inspiring as she is, what with all of her heartfelt charitable works and generosity, Oprah's public display of Spirituality is unquestionably based on the Masculine Divine right on up to her 10 week online program with Eckhart Tolle.  Tolle's meditation and visualization techniques are basically stripped down Buddhism.  Nothing wrong with that at all except that it once again proves my point.  Based in the Divine Masculine.

     So...........as you can see, WE have a bit of a crisis on OUR hands.  A big one.  As a good, observant Integral Philosopher/Practitioner (and I try to be), I can see that until WE collectively rediscover, experience and embrace the Divine Feminine, the Divine Masculine can go no further from an evolutionary standpoint.  Sound good ladies?  It's not so good actually.  The Divine aspects of Spirit should not be confused with gender as Spirit embraces both the Masculine and the Feminine.  The problem lies in that WE don't recognize the Divine Feminine right in front of us like WE do with the Divine Masculine and need I remind you how long that took US collectively to get to that point and some of US are still terribly clueless.

    So here's what I want.  I want to know what it is to:

1)  Awaken to the Divine Feminine (signposts of attainment outlined here would be nice as well as States and Stages on a Wilber/Combs lattice would be cool too!)

2)  Touch the Divine Feminine (viewpoints of both the male and female gender perspective are important here)

3)   Embrace the Divine Feminine (what is the viewpoint of marrying the Divine Masculine with the Divine Feminine so as to transcend and include in a typical holarchical fashion?)

     I know that I directed this query to awakened women in general, but I should like to hear from awakened men as well.  The criteria for answering is critical.  The responses should be completely objective without any slant from gender orientation unless it is expounding on number two above where that is specifically asked from an experiential level.  I think that most of this online community could smell inauthenticity from a mile away anyway.  So don't try it!!

     It is very, very important that WE experience and embrace this.  It could very well be, dare I say, the very balance WE so desperately need in OUR world nay, Universe today.  At all levels of BEing, from the gross physical all the way to the non-dual.

     I'll tell you what.   You can bet when WRI get's up and running that this topic will be the subject of over half the curriculum at every center until one gestaltic revelation after another marks the signposts of attainment!


     I've had a bit on my mind lately and now so do you!

Endless Blessings and Boundless Love,

Erik

Hey Ravers!

Things are going slow but steady here at WRI. Everything is going forward and that is nice. We haven't had any backtracking as of yet and I don't anticipate anything of the like in the future. Spirit is really using us to our fullest potential so long as we stay open and receptive.

By now you are all familiar with the Arena Scene that is described below. What you don't know is that this is only the last half of the last day!! Whuh? That's right. The last half of the last day after a retreat that you have taken that can last anywhere's from two weeks to a month. Uh-oh, I've let the cat outta the bag. Let's play a little creative imagery game for a bit. I need you to use your imagination for this.

Imagine a facility that is a model sustainable community in every way. A facility that
can house, feed, educate, transform and enlighten up to 100, 000 people a month.
Imagine that in this facility you can learn the best of the best of the World's
transformative practices, the best of the best of the World's alternative healing
methods, affordable, viable and immediately applicable Sustainable Living techniques
and integrated fitness programs designed to exercise simultaneously the Mind, Body and
Spirit. And after you have learned and practiced all of the tools and techniques given
to you in that period of time, they are then applied in real time in a real setting by having
you and 99, 999 other people co-create and interact in the WRI Arena for the
Mega Concert and Rave.

Now imagine ten such facilities built strategically in some of the most beautiful and
serene settings on the planet with an abundance of naturally occurring energy harnessed,
amplified and magnified by YOU!!! Imagine up to 1,000,000 people a month awakening.
Awakening to the Now. Awakening to their Original Face. Awakening to the Eternal
Moment. Awakening to their SELF.

Imagine...

So what are we specifically doing right now to make this happen? I'm glad you asked! Allow me to break it down for you. It is still pretty much the three of us (Kelly, Stuart and I) that are currently handling things. We are starting to take on other Visionaries which are always valuable. Kelly is still in the process of hiring business personnel and more are needed so if you are at all interested, please get in touch with her! As it is now, it goes like this,

Kelly - Is busy getting licensing in order and handling the financial end of things as well as setting up accounts and organizing events through her extensive and valuable list of contacts. *Whew!*

Stuart - This guy is an amazing powerhouse of calming and healing energy. He currently has the task of holding space for Kelly and I so that we can do our jobs as unhindered as possible and so far, I gotta tell ya' he's doing a damn fine job of it. Stuey is also making things happen in Arizona where he currently resides with his equally beautiful significant other.

Me - Well let's see....I have the task of taking all of the stuff from Visionary in-head format and converting it to a visual and readable 2D format. However, I have chosen (or should I say that Spirit has chosen) a highly unorthodox method of presentation for the overall look, function and specifics of WRI which is OK because the whole thing has been highly unorthodox from the get go! I promise I will have some goodies for everyone in about six weeks.

Next, we collectively are trying (as if we didn't have enough to do!) to organize a scaled down version of a WRI retreat to occur sometime by the end of this Summer. Again, if you feel compelled in anyway to volunteer in anyway or are a conscious vendor, conscious band, instructor or other some such thing, again please contact Kelly.

I hope this satisfies you all for now and that you feel like you are up to snuff on things!

Gratitude, Endless Blessings and Boundless Love,

Kelly, Stuart and Erik

X-posted from World Rave International

     As of Tuesday, 28JAN08, 8:30am, while dealing with off and on fits of depression, I realized the doable framework for an organization that will transform the world!

     I have chosen the name of World Rave International as it's primary function from an outside observation as an interactive, co-created dance and concert in a specifically designed and built arena. So in the next few paragraphs I will describe the intention, general design and outcome by way of an Executive Summary. From that point I will flesh out the details of the design, performance and potential locations of the facilities, as I would like to see ten such facilities built worldwide.

     This Vision for world change is the result of a dream and a series of smaller visions I have had for a little over a decade now. It comes about by way of meditation, the study of Integral Philosophy and sound boarding with other friends who are also seemingly inspired to see Humanity grow in this direction.

     It is my hope and dream to see all of Humanity benefit in every level of existence from this Vision.

     So without further adieu, I present to you the
 

World Rave International Model Community.

World Rave International Executive SummaryThe Goal

     To transform and enlighten up to 1,000,000 people a month by way of learning the best of the best of the world's healing techniques, transformative traditions and arts and applying this knowledge and practice in a massive multimedia co-created and interactive event.

How can this happen?

     By building a specifically designed facility; a model sustainable community based on the smaller concepts of Communes and Ashrams. This sustainable community would be capable of housing, feeding, educating, transforming and enlightening up to 100,000 people a month.

With each individual having a specific program or module designed for them based on their current knowledge base, beliefs, and cultural understanding, they can then be given the tools and techniques to implement change and growth from within.

This new open awareness is then applied at the end of their retreat at a multimedia mega arena where they consciously use their now expanded minds and new found knowledge to co-create an event of epic proportions the likes of which have never been witnessed before by human eyes.

The Specifics: Day 1

     Through an online and paper application process, an individual would fill out their necessary information i.e., a questionnaire specifically designed to gather information on their interests, beliefs, level of education, cultural understanding and goals. This would then be processed through a variety of techniques ranging from a simple, when obvious, "plug in and go" method to even the art of divination, designed to create a Learning Module for their month long retreat here at WRI.

     From this point forward I will refer to this individual as you, to create a sense of intimacy and imaginative personal journey. OK?

     You could be enrolled into a Reiki Class in addition to perhaps a Zen Big Mind Course as well as some Integral Lifestyle Courses as outlined by Ken Wilber and other such Teachers of note.

     After receiving your Workshop Module, you would be given a schedule, a key card to your living quarters and a map of the facility that would show you classroom locations, conscious vendor locations, indoor and outdoor courtyards for hanging out and meeting new folks such as yourself, locations of WRI Shuttle Stops as the Center is very large (think in terms of Disneyworld), and various restaurant locations serving the world's most consciously prepared dishes.
 

     Next you are politely ushered onto a shuttle going to your living quarters for the week. While riding you may notice the unique, unobtrusive architecture of the buildings that seemingly grow from the Earth itself, or maybe you see chefs from the various assorted cafes picking the day's herbs, spices, fruit and vegetables from one of the lovingly tended organic gardens that seem to overtake the grounds everywhere, and yet again maybe you notice the diversity of cultures that like yourself, are here for a mega-transformation into someone who is previously unbeknownst to themselves, a realized whole BEing of loving-kindness; all encompassing and fully awakened.

     Once in your room, you notice that your schedule is again posted digitally on the wall and that you have a few hours to meander about and get acquainted with the gorgeous surroundings before the evening's Orientation Dinner and Welcome.

    
     You step out of your living quarters which is a consciously built Earthship design, into a courtyard or pathway-filled organic garden, functional on many levels, and chat with others also on a unique journey like none taken before. Maybe you go for a cup of organic coffee sold by the Center's many conscious vendors of fair trade goodies and have a chat with a new found friend or partner. Magic is bound to happen at so many levels of experience at a facility of this nature. Now, after exploring and visiting, it is time for dinner.

     At the Orientation Dinner you will be seated amongst noted faculty, entertainers, philosophers and staff. A welcoming atmosphere and energy has been lovingly created for you and it purveys a sumptuously laid out banquet of consciously prepared entrees and beverages.

     You will speak to and hobnob with the world's most noted and leading authorities on personal transformation, alternative healing practices, music, art, sustainable living, and integrated fitness.

     The first evening culminates in a welcoming talk from various staff and an introduction to the Center's faculty and entertainers for the week.

     You now have an inkling of a sense of the enormous journey in store for you the scope and breadth of which leave you breathless and mouth agog!

     Now you are shuttled back to your living quarters for a good night's sleep and ready to begin your exciting curriculum for the week!

Day 2 through 27

     After you have awaken, you are shuttled to a Cafe of your choice for a wonderful breakfast that you ordered in advance from the same digital touch screen that showed you your schedule in your living quarters. Once you have unhurriedly finished your breakfast, you are then shuttled to your first class in the Main Learning Facility. Here you will begin your day doing introspective visualization, guided meditation, breath work, and integrated fitness. You are now physically, mentally and spiritually prepared to start your first course on your Learning Module.
 

     You may notice that the classroom environment is very organic and arranged using Feng Shui and other elementally based energy placement systems; each unique and specifically suited to fit the subject of learning. You may be in a round, adobe and stone room with walls laced with vining plants appropriate for learning Yoga, Reiki, Swedish Massage or other hands on healing techniques as you lie or sit on comfy mats and cushions. Or you may well find yourself in a comfortable chair in a fan or shell shaped lecture hall tiered for the best visual convenience as you watch and listen to your instructor both on the stage below and on the large screen in the background, speaking on such topics as affordable and viable Sustainable Living techniques or Integral Philosophy. Meditation rooms are also built specifically to enhance the learning of Big Mind Meditation, Dzogchen, Vipasanna, Qi Gong, or Tai Chi.

     Your classroom time will be divided by two other meal times to comprise a four meal eating schedule to keep your metabolism humming and your energy high throughout your month here at WRI.

     After five days of just such a learning and living regimen, you begin to feel light, large and expansive. You have by now been given the tools to transform and sustain you life, your mind and your heart in ways never imagined. But we are not quite finished with you yet. You have one final class to attend......All together!

     The energy that you have spent all month working so hard to build up is really vibrating and buzzing now and you almost feel too small for your corporeal body. That energy wants to expand, flow and connect to something else to bring it full circle. Why not give to every ONE?!!

     Enter the Arena...

Day 28, The Arena

     You have been allowed to sleep in today. You needed a good long rest and you'll need to tap into that spiritual energy you have been building up starting later this afternoon. In the meantime you can walk around the facility at your leisure, shop, hook up with your new friends and partners, mingle with staff or just be lazy and soak in the abundant energy in a sunny courtyard. Be sure to drink plenty of wholesome rejuvenating juices and fluids today and remember to eat a couple of nice energizing light meals. You will need them by 4:30 pm along with comfortable, loose clothing and your dancing shoes, because you are about to unleash you power and reveal your true nature! You are going to laugh long and loud and you are also going to cry deeply intense sobbing tears of joy and hug anything with a pulse. You will not want this day to end, and with your new Life Tools and Awakened Nature, it won't have to!

     The shuttle arrives to pick you up and you are about to experience a night out like you have never experienced before.

     You may have noticed that in the center of your WRI facility is a massive dome-like structure. Some of you, depending on your courses, may have been underneath it by walking the Center's on-site Meditation Labyrinth with it's scenic bench stops, fountains and most notably, the giant perfect crystals; all seven of them, each representing the 7 Chakras and each glowing in it's appropriate color. But no one has been inside the dome yet.

     Surrounding the dome is a number of entrances, each with it's own colored archway. When you first came to WRI, you were given a ticket with a colored stub. You have that ticket on you now.
 
     The shuttle has brought you to your ticket's color coordinated entrance. As you walk into this entrance you may begin to realize that the totality of your transformation this week is about to begin and culminate here in this building. You are a little nervous and excited not knowing what to expect. All of the tools given to you, all of the learned techniques, the energy you have built up through meditation and conscious eating, literally everything you've experienced thus far has been imbued with pure Light and Love from the ground up!

     You now approach a kiosk where your ticket is exchanged for a small drum, rattle or shaker. You walk through the doors past the kiosk and enter an Arena the size of which steals your breath away. You realize instantly that from the outside you haven't even seen half of this structure's enormity as it is now quite obvious that over half of the building is built into the very Earth itself. You are in a Giant Womb, in the belly of Our Blessed Mother getting ready to be born anew, whole and infinite!

     You now hear wonderful music from speakers embedded seemingly everywhere as you walk to your seat on your Tier Ring. You notice that your seat is on a tier approximately ten feet wide and that it circles the entire circumference of your level in an Arena that is a quarter mile wide! Your tier or terrace is one of many progressive terraces that seem to go all the way to the top of the 20 story dome.
 

     Your eyes now gaze upon an enormous, round, platformed stage in the very center. You also note that it is slowly turning. A magnificent feat for a stage about 75 yards wide! Another eight stories above the stage is an even larger saucer-shaped armature of multimedia electronica and the Operators House. It is known affectionately as the World Rave Mothership. This armature is loaded to the hilt with state of the art projection, sound and lighting equipment arranged like never seen before. But that is not the half of it. Hanging from one side of this armature that is spinning at the same rate of rotation as the stage below, is an intricate nozzle system which showers a fine aromatherapy mist scented with the smell of Nag Champa, Sandalwood or Patchouli or perhaps Lavender. This curtain of scented and very dense mist falls to the floor just to the outside of the stage. Projected on this mist curtain which is actually a large screen, you notice a constant array of film imagery and interactive still photography three to four stories tall. Just imagine the finest photography and film of the best scenery Nature has to offer (think Baraka meets Carl Sagan's Cosmos) choreographed to some of the most beautiful and conscious music composed anywhere!

     Imagine the likes of Peter Gabriel, Afro Celt Sound System, The Crystal Method, Enya, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and R. Carlos Nakai simultaneously performing while surrounded by the world's most beautiful dancing traditions urging you to fold up your seat and slide it on it‘s own track back under the terrace behind you and dance with them. Imagine! And what's that instrument you are holding for? Your seating is the same color as the ticket. On the armature above the stage rhythmically coordinated lights of your ticket color flash in a sequence for you to play, allowing you and all the others around you to co-create this multimedia interactive experience!

     You are now fully involved in an event that will seem to last only minutes but will in fact take hours. You are consciously using every tool of energy creation and manifestation taught to you this month. You are co-creating with 100, 000 others from every creed, color, race, faith and walk of the planet Earth! Look upon all of your Self in full recognition and see your Original Face. You are dancing on hallowed ground!!! Welcome to the World Rave International experience!! You are awake, alive and consciously creating anew as never experienced. You are home. Always have been.

Availability

     From a humanitarian viewpoint, this facility's programs would be made available to virtually every sentient BEing that is drawn by their heart to learn, grow and realize their true nature and fullest potential.
 

     For those who cannot afford the reasonable tuition, there will be fully endorsed scholarship and grant programs available. Taking courses at a WRI Center would also translate into earned credits at noted progressive learning institutions such as JFK University.
 

     For those who cannot afford the tuition still, notices and flyers would be posted in advance in the surrounding communities with a schedule of times and pick-up points stating that WRI will for one week, house, feed, educate, transform and enlighten you with complete anonymity and equanimity regarding your student status. A fleet of busses would be dispatched to pick up those who would desire such an opportunity for an education and transformation of this magnitude. Space would be set aside at the Center for just such purposes based on demographic studies of the immediate region.

     Once your program of courses has been completed, you will receive complete certification, a DVD of your experience and a paper stating your University Level Earned Credits.

Locations

     Think of the naturally occurring Energy Centers around the Earth. The likes of Amesbury, England - Sedona, Arizona - Shasta, California - Ayers Rock, Australia - Dharamsala, India and Vancouver Island, British Columbia come to mind perhaps.

     These natural power houses of Cosmic Energy seem an ideal for locations of Centers of this type, function and magnitude. People flock to these locations en masse seeking the ethereal, wisdom and illumination or are drawn to them for their magnificent beauty with no more understanding as to why they feel compelled to do so.

     A WRI Center structurally would only serve to reflect and enhance what is already there and energetically magnify what is coming from it. Humanity would naturally reap the benefits at all levels of BEing from just such a facility. Clients would leave in awe, humbled and wholly realized by their co-created and interactive experience.

     The structural appearance of each Center would greatly differ from location to location; each uniquely suited and built to emulate and magnify in every way, what is already stunning and natural beauty. From the ground and perhaps only a half mile away, the facility itself would simply look like part of the surrounding landscape. From an aerial vantage point, each location would resemble sacred symbology or some of the most poignant and inspiring crop circles that have ever occurred in our time. Perhaps as an aside, these conceptually may well indeed be the designs and planned layouts of Centers for learning and growth.

     The Shasta, California Center may have architecture seemingly giving an emulative nod of beauty oriented recognition to the majesty of Mount Shasta herself. Likewise the structures at the Sedona and Ayers Rock Centers would echo the red rock beauty of those locations.
 

     The creative palette for each Center's unique appearance is only limited by the imagination.

     The curriculum of each facility however, would be the same throughout the world. Every Center would bring the promise of transformation and the means and tools to do so.

     Every square inch of each center would be built consciously with a green ethic from the ground up. Like the organization itself, it would be built on the fiery and inspiring energy that is held firmly in all of the conscious hearts that brought it's Vision to the table. The Centers themselves seemingly a living, breathing and pulsing entity alive, awake and wholly realized. Such is the scope, depth and breadth of this the largest undertaking by a globally and universally diverse humanity. Such is the heart of World Rave International.

Thank You and Blessings,

Erik Stitt Co-founder and Dream Merchant

Well hello mates!

     As you all well know, today is like Christmas to me and I just wanted to make sure you were celebratin' it proper, if you were inclined to that is.  So here's a shart list of tings ta do taday ta shoo yar Irish Spirit. 

1)  Pinch all da non greenies you can find!

2)  Catch leprechauns and steal da buggers' gold!

3)  Look far far leaf clovars and give 'em to yar Bonnie one!

4)  Make shooer to get da Karned Beef started urly in da day so ya doon't mess it oop later when yar pessy on Guinness!

5)  Maybe be brave enoof to try a kar boomb ( A pint of Guinness with a shot of Jameson and a shot of Bailey's).  Tastes like a rootbeer float!  You'll be floatin' far shooer ya drink enoof Laddy (ar Lassy!) !

6)  Be shooer to join in a Session at da pub!  Bring a Faedog or a Fiddle or Uillean Pipes!  It's great fun!

7)  Have a Guinness of kars!  Ar a nice Killians!  Any ting from da River Liffey!

8)  Fesh and Cheeps is good far dose hoo doon't want da Karned Beef.  Doon't farget da Malt Vinegar!

9)  Feend a good friend ta hang at da pub with.  Yar gonna need dat ride hoom later!

10)  And moost of all, doon't farget ta tank da lovely St. Patty hisself far dis glarious day moost high! 

     Dat's da basic suggestions far 'avin' a Bonnie Wee time taday!  Drink Responsibly now and 'ave a Happy St. Patty's!!

Slainte Mhat!!

eBuzz

While the Wife and the youngest daughter run willy-nilly all over Germany and Italy until the 4th, I'll be busy at home with the Teen Freak older Daughter ferrying her smart mouth around to Girlfriends' houses, soccer practice, the mall, Borders, Starbucks, soccer games, drive-bys of the Boyfriend's house(grrrrrrrr), food runs(GAAAAWWWDDD!! the food runs), the Supermarket, McDonald's, Taco Bell, the Skating Rink, the Movie Theater, and Oh!  I almost forgot.  The Sporting Goods Store (Fer me!) to get three more of everything that I already have!  So anyhoo, I'll be a bit tied up for a couple weeks.  I will try to check in every now and again.  Don't fret and fritter.  I'll be back.  Like a bad penny, I'll be back.

Whewie!

Buzz

P.S.  If you all got a dirty computer screen mucked up with fingerprints, mocha spurts and potato chip grease, click here.  I'll wash it for free!!