Diary

I recently became a PPS teacher! I completed the course with Claudia Booth at Dev Aura at the end of May. We were a small group - seven altogether - but there was a lot of experience in the room: five of us had been with Aura-Soma since the mid 1990‘s so it was good to reconnect with old friends - as well as make new ones. Spending time together is an important part of this course. As i write this now I remember that the feeling of (Aura-Soma) family was always very important to Vicky and Margaret and I believe that encouraging family is also an important part of Claudia’s gift to Aura-Soma.

Claudia and Dominic on Shire Farm

As the TPPS is a 6 day course (the PPS is only 3 days) the course had lots of time to explore different things. At times it felt more like a holiday! I particularly enjoyed the times we spent outside in the garden; the making of artwork / mind maps to explore and organise ideas in a more feminine and creative way. I also enjoyed very much our visit to the Aura-Soma land. (I include several pictures from that trip at the end of this post.)

The big discovery for me on the course was that it is our gifts and being centered which are at the heart of this course. I had joined the course thinking that presentation and consultation skills were the most important. The great thing about gifts and centering is that they bring us to the magic of Aura-Soma - a system specifically to develop our gifts, to become more centered in consciousness.

There are a lot of activities and information packed into the PPS course but I feel I now have the line, the measure with which to create a joyful and nourishing learning experience for students. And so I look forward to sharing this course with students. I love to be creative and this course has many opportunities to explore both ourselves and what is important in Aura-Soma. I shall be presenting PPS courses in Japan and Europe in the future. Let me know if you would like to join one.

TPPS class at the red chakra - Shire Farm

Dominic at red chakra - Shire Farm

Walking the chakras on Shire Farm

Reflections at the heart chakra

Timothy’s birth, a broken computer, and what seems like almost 3 months full-time travelling since April has seen my blog writing slow down hugely. I hope that this is the beginning of regular posts again …

The big news of the last three months is that three new courses have been added to my portfolio.

Secrets of the Colour Rose

I taught this in Japan this May for only the second time. It is such an exciting course full of fascinating ideas. The course has become so much more than I expected and has opened a whole new dimension of understanding to this key symbol within the Aura-Soma system. I have written a series of articles about my evolutionary journey with the Colour Rose since 1985 and they will soon be available. Watch this space …

Alchemy of Creativity

In June in St Petersburg, Russia came a totally new course - the Alchemy of Creativity. It is a 5 day course designed to awaken our creative potential. The number 5 is central to the course. Each day an Equilibrium bottle provides the focus for the process and each of these bottles is part of the 5 sequence: B5, B10, B15, B20, B25. B5 starts the process with an awakening energy and it finishes on Day 5 with a ritual designed to initiate students into their creative potential, empowering them to create and live the life they dream of in the way that Florence Nightingale - the B25’s namesake managed to do.

The course was a great adventure and i learnt so much from doing it - especially about alchemy, the tree of life and the inner star. So exciting - I shall soon be writing more about this course too.

The PPS course

In addition to these two courses I have also (finally) qualified as an Aura-Soma PPS course teacher. I attended Claudia Booth’s TPPS course at Dev Aura at the end of May. We had a good time together as a group and I look forward to sharing this valuable course with students in the future. There will be a post about the experience of this course soon too.

Well those are some of the professional news items. For the rest we can say that Tetford is sunny and warm and that here today in the village we could hear the sound of excited children cheering as they enjoyed their school sports day.

All best wishes

Dom

I saw it was the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down yesterday. I was surprised to note the date. 9th November 1989. According to the English way of writing dates that would be: 9.11.89 How strange both capitalism and communism should have suffered attacks on such important symbols on dates with the same number – 9.11 !!!

We all have walls

Speaking of walls I had a kind of “wall-coming-down moment” on a Rainbow Evolution course I presented this weekend in Switzerland. It was the last afternoon of the course and, as I collected the names for the student’s certificates, I had the idea to give one to myself too. Perhaps it was because I had enjoyed and learnt a lot from the course, perhaps it was because there was a collective, intimate feeling in the group, perhaps it was because we were exploring the coral energy just then in the course – and coral is a colour for being part of something …

Struggle

Anyway, whatever the reason that inspired me, I told the group I would make a certificate for myself too. But then while the students were working in pairs and I was filling in the certificates, I felt quite uncomfortable. How could I sign for myself? Was I being presumptuous, arrogant even? You see the coral master is Sanat Kumara and it is the last of the Cosmic Master Beings. After SK comes Maha Chohan, and this is the Greater Teacher. With the coral ray and Sanat Kumara we arrive at the point where we are ready for life itself to become our teacher. Could I really sign to that?

Relief

After tea break we had a feedback session and students shared their experience form the coral exercise. I also shared and told them about my process with the certificate. With a wave of enthusiasm they declared they would all sign it for me. And that’s what happened, I passed it around and they all signed it.

Certificate with student signatures

Wall coming down?

Well it is a vital part of coral that we help each other, we are interdependent. If I had stayed in my yellow-thinking-prison about whether I could sign for myself, the breakthrough would not have come. By opening the wall of my ego and sharing my situation with the group the perfect solution came. The gift of that experience was the reminder that i am just a human being, we are all part of the circle of humanity.

I have been very inspired to explore the Aura-Soma Tissue Salts during my stay at the Vicky Wall Apothecary in Bratislava. The owner Janetka is a qualified pharmacist of 15 years experience who has been introduced to the Aura-Soma system of tissue salts through its creator - Alison Effting.

Most impressive to me has been the change I see in Janetka’s own family. Since she became a distributor for the salts at the start of 2009 they have been working intensively with them. Her father started taking the red salt - Kali Phos – and after 3 weeks of taking Kali Sulph – the red salt – they began to see a change in him. Before he could not be persuaded to venture outside the house, now, 6 months later, he goes out for 2 hours every day looking after the 2 year old grandchild all by himself. His comment is “The young mothers in the local park are pretty.” He has found the zest for life again.

The changes don’t stop there, her husband looks significantly fresher and her mother is free from an intense allergy that dominated periods of her life. It is for this relief that Janetka’s mother sees her daughter in a new light. It is rare in my experience to find parents who are convinced by their children’s interest in Aura-Soma. But Janetka has managed to achieve that result with the tissue salts.

So now I am really keen to try these salts too. Mike Booth’s view is that the salts supply the physical (crystalline) component which allows colour energy to be grounded in the physical body. In other words, the tissue salts support Equilibrium to do its work. I find it very exciting and have already ordered my full set of salts. If you would like to know more then visit Alison Effting’s website.
www.tissuesalts.com

Spring came yesterday at 11.44. It was a warm hazy day here in Tetford and a soft beginning for the next quarter.

I shall be presenting my first Teacher Level 1 at Dev Aura starting tomorrow. It is a big step and one I am looking forward to. This morning exciting ideas are beginning to flow, a thought on including the students in the course planning and timetabling during the morning of Day 1, inviting them to think like teachers from the very start of the course, not just to give them a certificate at the end of the week. I am very happy; this is the bigger part of me beginning to engage, inspiring me with ideas and possibilities.

I mentioned the time of the solstice, 11.44, because it had the ring of significance when I heard it. Now, as I reflect on my words this morning, the time reminds me of the Tarot card I drew at the start of the year. It was the Emperor, number 4 in the Major Arcana (the path cards). The insight I gained from this card was the importance of the gold under the yellow. Yellow is thinking and knowledge, the activity of the ego, which of course includes lesson preparation too. The gold underneath is however a soul presence, a wisdom that can enter in to any moment. While my mind may make plans there is a deeper part of me that is connected into a flow and can advise the best way to go. The Emperor for this year is encouraging me to trust this deeper part of myself in each moment.

The Equinox moment yesterday: 11.44 - aligned the 4 with the 1. The 1 is the Blue / Deep Magenta, the energy for our word, our intention, our purpose; it is the Magician who creates out of nothing. The 4 is the Yellow / Gold, the Emperor, the one who lives on the earth, but operates at his best when he is aligned with the original intention, the 1, from spirit.

The sun is shining here in Tetford and it is time to get on. I wish you a good day, and a golden Spring.

I am in the last days of my 46th year. Over the years the Equilibrium bottle B46 has been a significant bottle in my life. Its name “The Wanderer” resonates with my life experience - I spend much of my time travelling and sharing Aura-Soma. I have found that the message of the colours poses a question for me. “Do I travel (wander) to get love (magenta) or to give it? Am I empty or full?”

Overflowing

When I teach I usually experience something overflowing, a spiritual love perhaps.
But this is not the case in the whole of my life. It is a gift that comes with the work. It is something I believe belongs to me (though i am sure the energy field of Aura-Soma also contributes to the experience) – i sense it as my better part as it were, my higher self. However then a further question arises “How can I put myself in the receiving position of this love more of the time?” This would allow me to be in the space to give love from a position of fullness rather than seek it from a position of emptiness.

Receptivity

B99 Archangel Tzadkiel Pale Olive / Pale Pink is hidden with the colours of B46. The (loosely) associated quintessence Holy Grail Solar Logos is all about encouraging this receptivity to the overflowing from above. The Holy Grail of the heart, or the body as a whole, (pale olive); and the Solar Logos which is the Word of Spirit, the 8th chakra, the magenta with its message of “love from above”.

The Fountain

If I can be filled from above then I can share with all, and as a cup overflowing I will never experience emptiness, only more and more abundance. An idealistic view I am sure but I think this is the potential of the B46 combination. It strikes me as I write that the idea of overflowing is very much associated with B31 “The Fountain” Green / Gold, and that this is a very closely related combination. The green in the top is the same, but here we have gold not magenta underneath. Gold is the energy for the Incarnational Star. This star is the physical correspondence to the Soul Star - the magenta above. The gold is the space where the magenta is realised within this human experience. So from magenta to gold the Wanderer who travels receives from his own source and thus shares from fullness rather than emptiness. In this way he becomes a fountain to those around him.

I would be happy to pass such a lesson before my 47th birthday.

I received an email this morning with a thought provoking story. It ties in with some threads I have been considering recently. Here is the story (thanks to Georgios Perros for forwarding it to me) and then the threads.

Violinist in the Metro

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother however was in a hurry and, though the child stopped to look at the violinist, the mother pushed hard and the child had to walk on though he continued to look back. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston and the seats average $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

And now for my threads …

I have just completed using Equilibrium B80. It is the first bottle I have really worked through for some time and it has been a very good experience. The main theme it has triggered for me has been that of conception – the subject of spirit being born into the material world. Indeed the intention that led to my choosing this bottle was to address my own coming into this world. The colours may be seen to represent spirit - the of love, delicacy and sensitivity underneath the red of matter. In fact, I am beginning to see pink not just as a spiritual quality but actually as the energy of spiritual being-ness itself.

The 8 of the 80 echoes this theme in so far as 8 is the figure of two circles meeting. The worlds of spirit and matter. Spirit enters the world with conception and departs with physical death. The pink enters the red, travels the red experience of living an earthly life, and then, with death, returns to its spiritual home. The 0 initiates and energises this contact at the midpoint of the 8 – the place of meeting between these two worlds.

The emailed story is about beauty appearing unappreciated in a busy world. The theme of Red /Pink with its refined energy of love underneath the coarser energy of red may be seen as equivalent. It is interesting to consider that the colour reversal of this bottle is B84 Pink/Red. This bottle is named Candle in the Wind and is associated with Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. They represent the opposite situation, they were not beauty unappreciated, they were symbols – icons even - of beauty that were held up before the whole world.

Red/Pink, resonating with the beauty we each have within, a beauty that is so easy to overlook, to ignore, or dismiss. Yet the pink is our essence. The email story is about missing the beauty in the world around us. My message from using the B80 is about honouring the beauty, the preciousness within our self.

This awareness goes towards a healing for what has been the hardest part of my life: to welcome conception, to understand that the soul coming to earth is purely and simply adding love to life.

I arrived late last night and spent a very happy morning at my friend Akos’s appartment. Full of sunshine, beautifully decorated, it is a pleasure to be “home” in Budapest. Now i sit in a tea house near the Aura-Soma centre, the atmosphere is buzzing. i find the Hungarians have much culture and a softness about them. The sense of Empire is still here, the city is cosmopolitan, grand and alive.

Tomorrow i shall start a Level 3 course, and am look forward to exploring the Aura-Soma New Aeon Tarot in more depth. I had a good discussion on this subject this afternoon with the main Aura-Soma person here in Budapest - Eva Hermann. Their centre is loking great. They have a fantastic Tree of Life wall hanging and also a colour display over the Equilibrium bottles that somehow reminds me of the special hats the Tibetans will don when they are performing an official role - i look forward to being suitably inspired … and hope to include some pictures with the next post.

Half way through a skiing holiday and a couple of thoughts about skiing and the Aura-Soma Equilibrium colour combinations; one from long ago and one from today.

Several years ago I was riding up a chairlift and saw beneath me a demonstration of fantastic skiing prowess. An elderly man travelling through a steep narrow pass, bumps lay across his path but he sailed through them, his back and upper body straight, his face at peace. All the while his legs beneath were riding the bumps, absorbing the ups and downs as his hips swung this way and that. It has ever since represented the goal for my skiing, effortless ease over the mountain. It has also become an example for the first Master combination B50 El Morya. Absorbing the bumps of life while remaining upright and at peace. This view in turn derives from an observation Kathi Beesley one of the first Swiss Aura-Soma teachers made about El Morya “It is only when we can accept the will of God that we can stand straight in life.” Just as this skier appeared to me, standing straight, perfectly upright, at peace, in the midst of the ride of life.

The second thought came today and in a way it follows from the previous observation. While comparing skiers today I noted that one of my companions has good technique but likes to remain in control. A second companion has less technique, less control, but attacks the slope and so travels faster. It struck me that the truly great skiers must have more than (just) perfect technique, they must hand over to the animal within them to do the skiing. A truly great skier must allow courage and instinct (not the head) to lead the way.

I am using B80 at the moment, a combination which I am coming to see as bringing spirit and matter into harmony. The number 8 represents the same and the sequence from 80 to 89 develops and explores this principle; it is a sequence which also contains a surprising amount of reds (and pinks) within it. It culminates with B89 the Red / Deep Magenta (Rescue). B89 also has the (original) Aura-Soma Tarot image showing a figure half lady and half lion upon it. This image represents the soul and the animal fully fused together – the last step of the potential of the 8 – harmony between spirit and matter.

My skiing project of this trip is to develop my skill in travelling though the snow bumps. I have found a little bumpy section I return to each day for a few practice runs. My vision is to ski according to my memory of the elderly El Morya man. The focus of my practice to reach this goal is to allow the mountain to ski me - let the bumps show me the way through my feet; let the animal in me respond to the mountain while I rest at ease. The qualities of B50 and B89 together.

Needless to say I am far, far from my vision but I am enjoying the ride!

The first class of the year has been an exploring the tarot course. In this my 47^th year – which is the number of the Old Soul in the Aura-Soma Equilibrium sequence – I like that this first course has been one which is not accredited by any organisation. I feel it represents I am coming more into my own energy.

Equilibrium B4 with Inner Child Emperor card

On the first morning of the course each participant drew a card from the Inner Child set. My card was called “The Emperor has no clothes” (It corresponds to The Emperor and the 4^th path on the Tree of Life). The image shows a comedic Emperor appearing in a barrel being pointed to by a child. I was not too happy to see this card, but allowed it to be without changing it.

The first day’s teaching (particularly the afternoon) was a struggle. I knew what I wanted to do but it was a lot of information for the group. I knew they were struggling (and so was I) but I could not see another way. That evening I was a bit unhappy about the day’s class. The only way I could let go of it was to admit that I had done the best job I could and that was all I could do.

The next morning began with each student sharing their thoughts about their card from the first day. As I listened to each and added my thoughts to their stories I began to relax and enjoy myself. It was an opportunity for wisdom to come through in the moment. I was particularly pleased as I rarely work with Tarot cards yet still I was finding wise comments to add to their feedback!

Some awareness began to grow in me about my own “Emperor” card. The previous day I had been worrying with my mind / ego about the way the course was going. “Could I do it better? Differently?” But, despite worrying, no alternative solution offered itself. This morning as I relaxed I was meeting the moment in a different way. I realised I was coming from my gold (wisdom) where yesterday I had been stuck in my yellow (thinking mind). This is very fitting because the Equilibrium combination for the Emperor is B4 the Yellow / Gold combination.

Moreover as I relaxed I began to see clearly that without the previous day’s intensive good work the process of this second morning would not have been possible. I began to see that I had been through my own emperor’s story in the last 24 hours. This is how I understand it: the teaching of the “Emperor has no clothes” story is “don’t be fooled by the stories of the mind – the outside world”. The Emperor appeared naked because he had been seduced by his tailors who had described a fantastic (but imaginary) costume. If the Emperor had responded to the tailors’ stories with the presence of his gold awareness he would have seen the simple truth – there was no substance to their story!

I was beginning to realise that the day before I too had begun to listen to my thinking mind (yellow) at the expense of trusting my deeper self (gold). The emperor is liberated by listening within rather than to the outside mind. The most interesting thing of all was this morning as I relaxed in the flow of wisdom I began to feel both empty and full at the same time. I felt empty of thinking but, at the same time, in a deeper way I felt full of some presence that seemed to be doing a great job!