By Buffy Aakaash

Buffy: What does this approach to 2012 mean to the modern world in its current state, because it seems like we’ve already started on a downward spiral and I’m wondering what this means in terms of 2012 and the Mayan calendar.
Erick: Well, for us it’s not new news, you know? This has been talked about for many years. And a lot of preparation’s been done through a lot of the spiritual and elder circles. … Nature has already told us that some of these changes were going to happen. And we had, several times, opportunities to prepare for this. So, as we feel Nature changing it’s not just that the Maya or anyone are saying it… but we are all witnessing it. Most of us are experiencing some kind of strong changes, or we call them natural disasters. Because the observations have been at a galactic level, not on a daily level of what we’re going to do today or tomorrow, like a little calendar, but an awareness that we not only have the daily cycle of the rotation of the sun, but also seasonal. The people still here, they plant according to the season, according to the rainy season, according to the shifting of the eras, you know? … . And so there are patterns. So, our peoples have been talking about this and preparing as much as they can to share to the West… Most of the humans forgot the instructions that we belong to the earth. The earth does not belong to us… If the forest is halfway cut down, and these elementals come in and they continue to destroy the other half, then we’re in a bigger mess. So, this has been said to the west -- reminders from indigenous people -- and they have not paid attention. And even now it’s a race to destroy the earth. So, our people have been prepared to share what has been called the original instructions given to us. And these original instructions weren’t given by humans or by some religious sect. They were given to us by Nature.

So, might this then be a chance for renewal, and if so, how should people approach this?
Good question, because that’s what we’ve been sharing. One is that we have to become aware that we are in a changing biological and energetic field. … There’s a new frequency that we’re starting to live in. And Nature’s already responding to it. We are responding, but we keep fighting it. It becomes stress, it becomes unhappiness, it becomes fear. It becomes acting on our worst fears, so we see more wars, more destruction. We should all be working together to create sustainable communities, to create local environments and industries where we don’t have to travel. Because we don’t know where this thing’s going to stop. If we don’t have the original things -- fresh clean water, access to water that is not polluted, land that we can plant, air that we can breathe, and a place to do it, then we’re in trouble. … The levels of the hurricanes, tornadoes, the temperatures, the flooding, the droughts, the tidal waves, the earthquakes are increasing.

According to Mayan prophesies, Nature has been telling us for thousands of years that this shift has been on way. What is it about the Mayan approach to time that is so vastly different from the modern western approach where we can’t see even a year ahead let alone thousands of years?
Well, one is because we live with Nature. Most of our living was outside. Even the temples were not designed to enclose the human perspective, but to enhance the energy field in which the human can interact with the multi-dimensional worlds. So, in their observation… we were able to travel and we continue to have those experiences through dimensions. The world is just barely discovering the use of what we call sacraments and sacred medicines and start realizing that they’re not the center of the universe… the West is just beginning to really realize that we’re not in control… The ceremonies that we still have for the expansion of the mind, the body, and for the spiritual world is not a new thing… and so we realize we are spiritual beings having a physical experience for a very little moment.… And in the west, they think more and more and more, stack it up, stack it up, get more money, get more things… and the goal is to get up as high as you can. Without realizing when you run out of resources, when you run out of control, when you run out of everything you were aspiring to that didn’t fulfill you, then the big drop comes. It’s going to be a big drop not only in the environmental balance, but the economic, the social, the spiritual… It’s a natural thing, except humanity didn’t prepare for it. So, they find themselves in refugee camps… and we’re homeless in a beautiful home we call Mother Earth.

Do you see people starting to wake up to this opportunity? Do we have a chance?
I think humanity’s running the wrong way… Whether it’s intentional, or whether it’s just stupidity, we just keep doing these things, right? We think that by repairing a place that’s been destroyed by the elementals it’s not going to happen again… What we should be doing is to start thinking about how we cut down on this long distance travelling of all of our resources, how do we stop the packaging, how do we transform the cities into beautiful gardens and really clean living, how do we start sharing with humanity that there is enough for everybody? As you see, the rich people continue to do more things to preserve what they’ve got and get more of what they don’t need. … And when that happens, you stress the people, you stress the social structures, and then incite a revolution, and then you end up with nothing anyway. And that’s what we’re starting to see in so many countries in the world, including the United States… These are the frequencies of13 Baktun, people … feeling a need for change. They’re trying to renew. We feel that we haven’t been taking care of things – first the earth, then ourselves, and now our future. So we find ourselves all sick… losing ground on every structure we believe in… we find the disconnection to the earth… we find ourselves trapped in the cities… So, what do we do? We need to find the source to the Spirit again. That’s what the indigenous people, what we are holding, is the spark to the fire that will rekindle people…

In 2012, we’re honored to have you come and visit us at the Blue Deer Center.
Thank you.

And you’ll do a fire ceremony. What role does fire play in the Mayan tradition and how might that be one of our keys, perhaps to the people coming to this program, to move forward in a positive way?
It’s not only to the Maya, but most of the indigenous peoples stay close to the elementals, one of which is the fire. The central fire has the focus of an elemental, but it gives you the same thing no matter who’s around the fire. The people can come in with their own personal experiences, their own faith, or whatever, the fire will do the same to everybody. It’s not like it will make a preference to one or the other. Because with the Maya, we keep a ceremonial fire in which we use frequencies… and it opens a star gate. Fire talks to all fires. Whether people believe it or not doesn’t matter to us. We can tell them that fire will talk to every single fire that we can witness, including the Sun. The Earth fire is in direct relationship with “frequential” energies to the Sun… It’s a language we’ve become disconnected from. But a lot of the indigenous people have maintained that launguage… With the Maya, the way we use the fire in the ceremony is to open the relationship between the spiritual and elemental beings that are ruling us. They command us. Not us saying we’re gonna use the fire to do whatever. No. We open the star gate and the information comes in. The new codes come in. We call it healing or spiritual awareness or spiritual experience. We have to stop thinking that it’s all about us, the humans, and everything’s in relation to what we do or what we want. We got to get rid of that. What we have to do is start those fires and start to really feel what that fire is saying. And what it is saying is that our energy field is not in accordance with natural law. So, our frequency is bouncing off, bumping into. Like a magnet, we should attract each other to collectively make efforts to be part of the shifting and the life patterns that are changing. Instead we are trying to control it and change it or prevent it or escape it and it’s not going to be possible. The fire now is here to recode frequencies in us, through the elemental, not through the shaman, or the spiritual people, but the elemental will do that, and the shaman is just a conductor. He’s the engineer that opens up the frequencies, sets up the patterns, and then boom, the star gates open. And then we have what we call the spiritual experiences, the spiritual awareness…

So stick close to the fire…
You got it… Stay close to the fire… don’t let it go out…

Thank you so much for talking with me today. …

Click Here to Hear Ericks “Addess to My Relatives”

The Integrated Planning Committee is a group of dedicated volunteers who have assumed the important task of identifying the needs of the Blue Deer Center. Some of those needs include improvements to the buildings and other long term needs, such as setting up the structure to receive bequests in individual wills. With the completion of the Dream Catching Project, they are assembling committees to address these needs as stated by the many of you who responded to their questionnaire. Here, the members of the IPC introduce themselves to you.

Andi Tilmann, IPC Campaign Consultant - I came to the BDC project, well, before there WAS one! It happened to be during my PSM class that Eliot announced for the first time that he had been tasked with “finding a place to do his work”. He had been searching on his own for years, using solely his own resources. At that time, he believed that he had found the right place, and needed assistance to quickly raise the funds for a down payment. As we discussed this momentous news around a fire that evening, I innocently said: “Eliot, if you need a place to do your work, but you are the only person who knows all the people who have received your teachings and would support it, wouldn’t it make sense for all those people to gather and discuss this together?” To which Robin Lockwood said “Yes! It would be like a family reunion!” Thus began a most incredible journey which has transformed my entire life, and so many others…

So, in a very direct way, it was Eliot’s answer to a call to “do his work”, and that first gathering of folks to meet and dream about the BDC that gave rise to the entire Sacred Fire Community, the Sacred Fire Foundation, and every project, initiative and miracle for our People, the Land, and the precious remaining Elders that have arisen since. And so to me, the BDC is not just sacred land and the physical homeland for our beloved community – it is the true ancestral homeland of the Dream of our community, the vital and precious work we do in the world – and of the Future of our people.

It is a very deep honor and blessing – one of the greatest of my life - to have been given a small role in the birth of the Dream of the BDC. And it is a great gift to be invited to service in that Dream again, now, this time for a Future for our People and the World that I have come to know and believe in very deeply, with every fiber of my heart.

K'Anna Burton - I have been involved with the BDC for over 5 years, first coming to the Center as a PSM student and quickly falling in love with the land, the river, the fire community and the depth of work with plant spirits. I soon became a volunteer wanting to support the BDC in all ways and get more involved. In early 2010, I began the co-chair work with the Dream Catcher Project, this naturally lead to my current commitment to the work of the IPC.

My background and interest in community service is truly fed by being part of the leadership of the IPC. I enjoy working with the totally dedicated women of our team. Our hearts connect in supporting meaningful and sustained activity at the Center and being of service to our community. With some experience working on maintenance and upkeep of other community spaces, I am happy to now coordinate the Site committee for IPC work. The adventure of community work continues and I am excited to be a part of it all.

Karen Smith Fernandez - After receiving my B.A. in psychology from the University of Virginia, I headed west for graduate school obtaining a M.S. degree in child-clinical psychology. More importantly, I began to wake up to the realization that something "more" was going on in the world than it seemed. I started paying attention and spent huge amounts of time with nature. And then it happened - I fell in love with the world.

Returning east, I began working for non-profit organizations. Turns out, my heart was leading me home, although I didn't know it then. Along the way I became certified in non-profit management at Duke University, became a Plant Spirit Medicine practitioner, served the Sacred Fire Community in many ways, had two sons, became an apprentice in the Huichol shamanic path, took a job with the National Audubon Society, and worked for several years to raise the funds to purchase and renovate the Blue Deer Center.

Being called back to help the Center, I have begun to remember what I already know. I know that the Center is a dream of the gods - an awakening dream. I know that when it fully fulfills its mission, the Blue Deer Center will be a literal home for healers rooted in authentic traditions. I know this is truly a miracle. Did you ever think that profound spiritual healing and learning, something many of us long for and many of us need, would be found so easily in our own country? I know that if there was ever a time to let the barriers to fulfillment fall, it is now! I will facilitate the Home Project and the Ambassadors Committees of the IPC. Want to be part of a living miracle? Join me!

Jane Wollack - Many of you know me as the Marketplace Manager for the SFC, but I have been a very long time supporter of the BDC as well. I came to this community through my Plant Spirit Medicine studies way back when the search for the Blue Deer Center was just beginning. I am part of the IPC team because I know that the BDC is one of those doorways to changing our world for the better.

I’ve worked on many projects over the years for the community: both BDC and SFC. I have learned that the personal blessing is not in the end result of a project, as critical as that can be. Rather the real blessing is in the opportunity to work with others and build relationship with people who share a common ideal, a common goal and a mutual commitment. My work with the IPC has brought me that gratification. In my role on the leadership team overseeing the Communications and Volunteer committees I look forward to meeting people in a common vision for our future. It’s all about community working side by side. That’s how the change happens.

The members of the Integrated Planning Committee for the Blue Deer Center can be reached at IPCBDC [at] gmail [dot] com. (Note: the old email was changed.) Please consider joining us in this ongoing project to support the work of the Blue Deer Center in the world.

There will be a limited number of scholarships available for several of our 2012 programs, including Ukilai: Men’s Retreat, Erick Gonzalez, Sobonfu Somé, Connecting to the Divine Natural World, Sacred Partnership with the World: Animal Totem, and Music of Life(Ustad Nizami).

The Center established a scholarship fund in 2011 to help those in need attend our programs. As donations earmarked for scholarship are received, the funds are allocated. For the 2012 program season, a limited number of scholarships are available to cover up to 50% of program fees (tuition+room+board). Programs with scholarship funds available are noted on the event pages on our website. Priority for awarding scholarships goes to those who have not previously attended a program at the Center.

Scholarship application and requirements:

• Submit a 1-page letter detailing your interest in the specific teacher/tradition and program for which you are applying. Include a brief statement of your financial need.

• In exchange for receiving scholarship funds, we ask recipients to submit a written reflection of their experience following the program and the impact the program has had on their lives. Excerpts from this written summary may be utilized by the Center in grant applications and in our marketing materials.

Please send your scholarship request to: info [at] bluedeer [dot] org

April 11 – 15; June 26 – July 1; and October 1 – 6, 2012

Healing Camp

Five Days of Traditional Huichol Shamanic Healing

May 22 – 27, 2012

Connecting to the Divine Natural World

An Introduction to Plant Spirit Medicine and the Roots of Shamanism

July 2 – 5, 2012

Advanced Plant Spirit Medicine

An opportunity for PSM Healers to hone their skills and support their practice

July 28 – August 2, 2012

Sacred Partnership with the World

Living With Totem

How to properly approach and ask for help from beings other than human in this world

August 31 – September 7, 2012

Plant Spirit Medicine Healer Training

Session One

Plants talking to you? Take this first step to finding sanity... and a way to focus these talents...