This is the year that was.......

Monday morning,

December 29, 2008

The End Of The Year, so near,

And 'onwards' is another way to move forward into light and love

And movement with intention to find the deeper places in my dark caves.

To illuminate those.

I'm feeling the urge to push upwards, now that the Winter Solstice as made good on its promise, and there's a titch more light every day. I am the seed, the rose, deepest pink,

Thorns and all, oh yes.

Sort of like giving birth...now there're some stories to remember !

I look for the More Light as the waning afternoon invites me to gentle myself and stand on top of the mountain and look as far as I can see.....lo and behold, how far can I see, as my lungs remember how to breathe in the fullness, intention that speaks in a whisper that refuses to be silenced.

Time to step back into the world!

I've been held down by externals and internals,

by the somatic somnolence that keeps me asleep, the seed that's had a loooong gestation and is now pushing ever upwards toward the Light.

It's impatient now and can't wait to give voice as I ask for the voices of us all to unite in the future present and roar, holler, whistle, whisper, plangently, then exhale dearly quiet as the heart is quiet to the others outside myself, but is always a drumbeat, calling to gather, asking for God's goodness to be me, as I am God's goodness....

"Hope becomes faith through love"

____________Teilhard de Chardin

Oh, what a time for praying!

And what a joy it is to pray !!!

Hey, dear God, I know you hear me, because I hear you, and that' s how it works.

"Loving Father, Great Mother,

Being One, Remember Me"

This is my song of living and dying, came to me years ago when I heard about peoples who allowed their song of living and dying to come to them on their Vision Quest. The song stays with you all your life long, and when it's time for That Step....well, this song is your companion, familiar as an old.....whoops, was going to say "shoe", don't think I will just now. Let's just say, so familiar it's just like looking in the mirror.

I remember my frustration.....you can't just sit down and write the song, it needs to come to you...that's always been my understanding anyway.

Oh, how I waited, tried to ambush it into appearing, thought I could trick it into sudden reality. I think it took about three or four years, can't remember now, but one day.....well, that I remember, one day, fully in bloom, there it was!

How I rejoiced!

"Loving Father, Great Mother, Being One, Remember Me"

Kept it secret for some years, then one workshop, it wanted to be sung by all the good folks who'd come to remember their voices. What a gift!

Because the harmonies are so terrific..... it works together, it works alone.

But never lonely.

It's recorded on "Drink From the Well", my teaching tape about to be reborn into digital CD by Sounds True. It feels like a new generation will have access to this CD.....I'm really pleased at this turn of events.

Makes me want to make a new one....with Sounds True. So much in between. This 21st century has been something else, beginning with a slide down a mud pile in Ireland, thought I pulled a muscle, turned out to be osteo-arthritis in my right hip.....total replacement.....

Story for another day.

Onwards.

Light in me, I am the light to show you the way, just as you are the light to lead me on into today.

I love you all.

I love myself!

A bit redundant?

Food for thought, eh?

Presentation-Performance

TESTIMONIALS
Spiritual Health Care Network (SHCNetwork)
Presentation by Michele George:

VOICE IS PRESENCE: To Be Sound Is To Be Whole

“Michele George is clearly a master of her subject. She brings healing sound to life so much so that her audience’s only choice is to participate. She is also a delight to watch and everyone leaves lighter for having been in her presence. Don’t miss any chance you get to experience Michele.”
____Dr. John Rossiter-Thornton, M.D.
Co-Founder, SCHNetwork

“You combined an Aristotelian release with jazz riffing, and humour.
Your archeology of sound dug through the rocky layers of my critical
mind and evoked play, sadness and the joy of the human voice: spirit
from stone - as it were...
You reminded me that we are the mammal that sings for the pleasure of
it. You charged octaves with spirit and gave the feeling of swearing in
church with singing at the same time. You disappeared so adroitly into
servicing the material that I forgot authorship mind and self."
_______Michael Zizis,
Astrologer

“Your storytelling literally moved me into a different space of thinking -
one where everything seemed immediately more possible. I am not sure many people have done that for me in my life (or that my inner child would care to admit to).
In one moment you were saying in one phrase "you couldn't see for all the flowers"…… you made eye contact with me directly and I had a million flash backs and felt free to see my life differently at least for that moment. I am telling you all of this because there was something about the way you and your work resonated with me that I felt to be inspiring and true. I wanted to share this with you and thank you.”
______Darcy George
Sound Therapist

“Faith is believing that one of two things will happen……that there will be something solid for you to stand on, or that you will be taught to fly.” Though the author of this quote is unknown to me, Michele George’s presentation of her own journey and passage through the wonders of life has lead me to know her as a creator of such wisdom. Her open joy and humility, her true strength and vulnerability and her full voice and being, all of which she so generously fed us with, proved to be a cornucopia of inspiration. She walks her walk, she lives her well of wisdom, she invokes a real faith within the participants. She empowers all in her presence to know that they too can stand strong and learn to fly.”
_______Drury Mackenzie
Capitol Investor
Entrepreneur

PRESENTATION-KEYNOTE

TESTIMONIALS
Spiritual Health Care Network (SHCNetwork)
Presentation by Michele George:

VOICE IS PRESENCE: To Be Sound Is To Be Whole

“Michele George is clearly a master of her subject. She brings healing sound to life so much so that her audience’s only choice is to participate. She is also a delight to watch and everyone leaves lighter for having been in her presence. Don’t miss any chance you get to experience Michele.”
____Dr. John Rossiter-Thornton, M.D.
Co-Founder, SCHNetwork

“You combined an Aristotelian release with jazz riffing, and humour.
Your archeology of sound dug through the rocky layers of my critical
mind and evoked play, sadness and the joy of the human voice: spirit
from stone - as it were...
You reminded me that we are the mammal that sings for the pleasure of
it. You charged octaves with spirit and gave the feeling of swearing in
church with singing at the same time. You disappeared so adroitly into
servicing the material that I forgot authorship mind and self."
_______Michael Zizis,
Astrologer

“Your storytelling literally moved me into a different space of thinking -
one where everything seemed immediately more possible. I am not sure many people have done that for me in my life (or that my inner child would care to admit to).
In one moment you were saying in one phrase "you couldn't see for all the flowers"…… you made eye contact with me directly and I had a million flash backs and felt free to see my life differently at least for that moment. I am telling you all of this because there was something about the way you and your work resonated with me that I felt to be inspiring and true. I wanted to share this with you and thank you.”
______Darcy George
Sound Therapist

“Faith is believing that one of two things will happen……that there will be something solid for you to stand on, or that you will be taught to fly.” Though the author of this quote is unknown to me, Michele George’s presentation of her own journey and passage through the wonders of life has lead me to know her as a creator of such wisdom. Her open joy and humility, her true strength and vulnerability and her full voice and being, all of which she so generously fed us with, proved to be a cornucopia of inspiration. She walks her walk, she lives her well of wisdom, she invokes a real faith within the participants. She empowers all in her presence to know that they too can stand strong and learn to fly.”
_______Drury Mackenzie
Capitol Investor
Entrepreneur

Vocal Workshop - "Voice Is Presence"

VOICE IS PRESENCE SEMINAR

"When I hear about what you have pulled yourself through over the last seven
years, I'm awed by your strength and your courage. It's thrilling for all of us to have you ready to reach out again and share your wisdom and your power. Today, 24 hours after your seminar, my heart is still singing and my blood is still tingling. Michele, you created an enchanted space that held us safe, and then coaxed from our bodies the authentic sounds of who we are. And we learn to carry the singing with us forever."
ANN TUDOR, writer

"An impression remaining is of the way I felt I had changed by the end of the day. I felt like I was vibrating and resonating. I felt fully alive and full of joy - joy that had been lurking deep inside myself. I felt gratitude to you and the other people in the circle for giving me the experience. These feeling stayed with me strongly through the following days.
I had another type of impression that is mysterious to me. Possibly because it’s on a more spiritual level. The way you ended the workshop felt like a benediction. I recognized the sacredness and significance of what was happening in that room. Even more mysterious to me was a feeling that I had received a gift without knowing how it had been given. How did all those experiences add up to this feeling? I don’t know. It was like an answer to an unasked question. You did a magnificent job of creating a safe place where wonderful things could happen and I thank you. "
ELIZABETH CETKOVSKI-EVANS , artist

"I thought your workshop was excellent.....you weaved in many means of gaining access to ourselves on deeper levels in very subtle ways. I loved the safety that was created to be able to sing without concern of being evaluated or compared.....the ability to sing out loud.....your encouraging words . I loved your own stories."
SUSAN SCOTT, financial consultant

“Please let me tell you how much I enjoyed your Voice is Presence workshop that I attended in May. You very quickly helped the group to open to each other and as the program progressed I felt the innocence and freedom of childhood returning. I found your teaching style encouraging and nurturing and in no way imposing. In talking with others I know they had equally enjoyable personal experiences, but when I also think of what we accomplished as a group, in just one day of fun, I'm really amazed.”
GARY KEZAR, IT senior manager and programmer

"I loved your workshop. I loved your energy and the energy of the group. It was truly refreshing and enlivening to be a participant in what I felt to be a powerful yet natural and relaxed approach to using one's voice. And it was a full-bodied experience for me. I agree with you about engaging all aspects of ones being in such a workshop. I thank you enormously and from the bottom of my heart for giving so totally of yourself, of your depth of knowing. I felt, and feel, very fortunate to have been there with you. You are a wonderful teacher.”
ERIKA JACKSON, therapist, consultant, in retreat

PRAYER (The Noun) , PRAYER (The Person)

Prayer,
Who are you,
Holding,
In one of those poses
Required by all the laws of man unkind,
How many postures and bendings.
Twisted, some would say,
While to others, beautiful
With overwhelming grace.
Listen, lips form mantras.
Words, sounds,
The breath of others left to spiral
Forever,
On whirling currents,
Passed on to me.
Tiny prayer,
Enveloped in bubble-wrap
Protecting the one who
Talks to God.
That everyday stuff for which we are grateful,
That we use when we move house,
When the dwelling offers a different view.
Each bubble holding to the other, fragmenting light anew
Through nature’s crackling dance ,
Each creating the whole.
To protect the earthly goods.
We do so love to pop the bubbles.
The fun part.
Prayer,
What is on offer as I open my heart, crack it hard
Against the elder tree in a forest joined by rhizome roots
Deep down beneath the visible,
To be the broken vessel
Shattered by love,
Cracked by fearsome awe,
Some kind of mumblety spell of words and magic.
A magpie flies through my barb-wired mind
Unscathed on this graceful night
Because I choose to name it thus.
Prayer,
I ask you more,
What lies in the
Field fallow in waiting
To know the crop
To come
In the spring’s
Own
Time.
Snow on the ground, but it’s all mixed up.
The jet stream is lower this year, they say.
I don’t understand.
I rejoice in the mild, lovely winter, my dear.
Why are the polar bears drowning,
Sailing away on floes that melt, sun overhead, under their feet,
Watching as their babies and their grandmamas call
From their own broken islands.
Last year it was one long walk with
Time to romp and roll in an embrace of content and a moment to play.
While in the civilized land of what we call the Continent,
Overwhelmed with snow and the horror of freezing where it never did before,
Like this,
It’s killing people,
Like polar bears,
Though the bears be too hot and the
People too cold.
Prayer,
Be me, be mine,
Give voice, fill my emptiness.
Sea of light, empty bright,
Fight no more.
Hush! Listen,
One story from one book from among so many
All with the,
Dare I say, round and wrinkled ring of
Truth.
Remember Jacob and that angel,
Forty days and forty nights,
Doing battle in the desert,
Sand and heat, cicadas and burning white light.
Imagine the thirst!
That angel so impressed,
Just couldn’t let go.
Warrior’s respect is a
Prayer
Doing what a prayer must do.
That angel left a score on Jacob’s thigh, so he’d never
Put it out of mind,
What kindness!
Mark me, I beseech thee,
I forget so fast and furious.

Three Georges for One

    For Graham Without Quite Knowing
How Much At The Time,
In A Restaurant Together,
Line By Line At Seeming Random
And We Read Them Out Loud And Wrote Them Down
An Entrainment Waiting To Occur.
END OF TITLE AS DINNER ARRIVES, WE ARE QUITE FULL.


See the green roses
In the light of the night
Praying mantis in gumboots and toque
Drinking water slowly and carefully
A tapping ritual
Pondering thoughts
Which dwell upon wanderers
Singing a song of
Mournful joy
Bare bones
No holding back
Penetrate deep into bodies of consciousness
No need to breathe
Heartbeating tango
Be telling me
Find
Your
Way
Home
Escape through
Knowledge
And
Wisdom
Seeking refuge in the
Open air
Wave wild tsunami
Rise high to the sky
Gentle
Falling
Drum beating heart
Holding it all
Letting it
All
Fall
Away