AvalonOfSedona.com

The Yoga of Tantric Love – 7 Reasons Why It’s not Just About Sex

Avalon — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:21:05 +0000

This is an exceptional article about what tantric thought and practice really are and how the path can enrich and transform life in every way:

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/05/the-yoga-of-tantric-love-7-reasons-why-its-not-just-about-sex/

Beautiful Video of World Airline Traffic (Time Lapse)

Avalon — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 18:04:31 +0000

This is an amazing and beautiful video…

“This is a 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world, condensed down to 1:11. From space we look like a bee hive of activity. What you will see, is a video showing air traffic around the world for 24 hours, taken from a satellite. The yellow dots are airplanes in the sky during a 24 hour period. Stay with the picture. You will see the light of the day moving from the east to the west, as the Earth spins on its axis. Also you will see the aircraft flow of traffic leaving the North American continent and traveling at night to arrive in the UK in the morning. Then you will see the flow changing, leaving the UK in the morning and flying to the American continent in daylight. This is something that everyone should see. For us old-timers it is really fascinating. For our children/grandchildren it provides a superb learning moment and an opportunity to open up what could be a very interesting discussion. This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. There are lots of people in the sky at any given moment. You can tell it was spring time in the north by the sun’s foot print over the planet. You could see that it didn’t set for long in the
extreme north and it didn’t quite rise in the extreme south. I have never seen this before. We are taught about the earth’s tilt and how it causes summer and winter and we have had to imagine just what is going on. With this 24 hour observation of aircraft travel on the earth’s surface we get to see the daylight pattern move as well. Remember; watch the day to night… Day is over in Australia when it starts.”

Good News – The End of the World has been Delayed (Again)

Avalon — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:40:05 +0000

There is so much buzz about 2012, the Solstice, the full moon, the eclipse, world woes, and ancient predictions. It could be easy to lose focus and get caught in a downward spiral of thought and energy.

Rob Brezsny comes to the rescue once again with this uplifting excerpt from his book Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia, How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings.

This is Part 6 of his series on how good life really is – we just have to see it from a healthy perspective. I love this entry in particular, it seems the apocalypse is a pretty common prediction among humans – and yet we’re all still here!

LET’S EXPOSE THE OBVIOUS MIRACLES (Part 6)

“Many people alive today are convinced that our civilization is in a dark age, cut off from divine favor, and on the verge of collapse. But it’s healthy to note that similar beliefs have been common throughout history.

As far back as 2800 BC, an unknown prophet wrote on an Assyrian clay tablet, “Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end.” In the seventh century BC, many Romans believed Rome would suffer a cataclysm in 634 BC.

Around 300 BC, Hindus were convinced they lived in an “unfortunate time” known as the Kali Yuga — the lowest point in the great cosmic cycle. In 426 AD, the Christian writer Augustine mourned that this evil world was in its last days. According to the Lotharingian panic-mongers who lived more than a 1,000 years ago, human life on earth would end on March 25, 970.

Astrologers in 16th-century London calculated that the city would be destroyed by a great flood on February 1, 1524. American minister William Miller proclaimed the planet’s “purification by fire” would occur in 1844. Anglican minister Michael Baxter assured his followers that the Battle of Armageddon would take place in 1868. The Jehovah’s Witnesses
anticipated the End of Days in 1910, then 1914, then 1918, then 1925.

Oddly, no major prophets forecast cataclysm for the years between 1930 and 1945. Is there any time in history that was more deserving of being called the “Apocalypse” than that period? The Great Depression was the most widespread, long-lasting economic disaster ever. During World War II, 50 million civilians and 25 million soldiers were killed.

John Ballou Newbrough (“America’s Greatest Prophet”) wasn’t impressed with the tragedy of that era. After the war, he promised mass annihilation and global anarchy for 1947.

The website “A Brief History of the Apocalypse” at tinyurl.com/yqb83n lists over 200 visions of doom that have spilled from the hysterical imaginations of various prophets in the last two millennia.

Our age may have more of these doomsayers per capita than previous eras, although the proportion of religious extremists among them has declined as more scientists, journalists, and storytellers have taken up the singing of humanity’s predicted swan song.

In her book *For the Time Being,* Annie Dillard concludes, “It is a weakening and discoloring idea that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time but that it is too late for us. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less. There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha’s bodhi
tree.”

I invite you to go sit under that tree by your street.”

READ PART 1 OF THE SERIES “Let’s Expose the Obvious Miracles”:
http://bit.ly/ObviousMiracle1

How God Changes Your Brain

Avalon — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:03:02 +0000

This is a fascinating TedX talk by Mark Waldman, therapist, research scholar, and Associate Fellow at the Center for Spirituality and the Mind, University of Pennsylvania where he currently conducts research with Andrew Newberg, MD, on the neurological correlates of beliefs, morality, compassion, meditation, religious experiences, and spiritual practices.

Learn just how malleable our brains are…for good and for bad.

Isis Tapestry Throw

Avalon — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 01:12:12 +0000

A couple years ago, my friend Leela came back from one of her many festival adventures with an armful of these beautiful Isis Tapestries that she knew all her fellow Priestesses would love.

She was right. They only cost $60 and her inventory was gone in no time.

Since getting mine, I’ve been asked two questions over and over:

1 – “How can I get one of them?”

2 – “I’m not crazy about that design, but I do want an Isis blanket. What else is available?”

Well I tracked down the company that weaves these blankets. They are soft 100% cotton, machine washable and dryable…in fact, almost indestructible. And the design is woven into the blanket, not just printed on.

If you’re one of those who wants this blanket, you can get one by clicking on this link:

Isis Tapestry Throw – Circles of Light Imports

As for the second question, there currently aren’t any other options. However, in a former life I was a professional fine artist working in the colorful, sensual medium of oil paint. I’ve found a great weaver who will make a blanket of the same quality….only it will be a little larger for no extra charge. I am preparing to paint my own design for a magical Isis blanket.

As part of the extensive research I’m conducting into Isis symbology and mythology, I’m asking the healing community to email me suggestions, requests, links to images that speak to them, etc. My intention is to create more than just some pretty colored threads. I want to create a Power piece that speaks to the core of the Isis Priestesses and Priests.

What do you want an Isis blanket to look like? Email me today: Avalon@AvalonOfSedona.com

Who Are You?

Avalon — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 22:47:16 +0000

“Who are you?” he inquired.

“Who am I? Well that is the big question, isn’t it?
Stardust? Electricity? Blue?” she responded.

“Blue-eyed beauty in red, winging like lightning, blue fire in the night sky, seeding the cosmos with her gathered stardust, scintillating and sparkling the inner light she brings.” he replied.

….

Saith's Hot Video for his new Single, Again and Again

Avalon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:10:43 +0000

Saith is a treat to watch in this video for his new single, Again and Again. There’s an amazing community of gifted musicians in Sedona, and he’s one of the most talented among them. This new single, and the video, are so good.

(He also teaches the best yoga class I’ve ever taken….if you ever get the rare chance to take a class from him, jump on it! His yoga opens you up, body and soul, just like his music does.)

Raven Playing in the Snow

Avalon — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:38:58 +0000

Living in Sedona where there is a thriving, very interactive, community of ravens has turned me into a huge fan.

This short clip from a very entertaining PBS special is a wonderful look into the playful, fun side of the magical black bird:

Raven Playing in the Snow

Rob Brezny’s 15 Demands – Rescuing Your Imagination

Avalon — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:29:32 +0000

Author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia, Revised and Expanded: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with BlessingsPronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia, Rob Brezny is guaranteed to light up your life with new perspectives on life, love, sex, and lots more.

I recommend everyone sign up for his astrology newsletter – even if you don’t like astrology.

He opens each email with an uplifting, somewhat anarchistic, excerpt from PronoiaPronoia and follows that with three links to amazing sites that will inspire you.

It’s one of the only newsletters I ALWAYS read because it just makes me feel good! You can sign up for it here: freewillastrology.com/newsletter

Here’s a funny, inspiring Pronoia excerpt that was featured in the email he sent out this week:

CRIMES THAT DON’T BREAK ANY LAWS, Rob Brezny

We’re psychically assaulted by dangerous images and sickening words every day. The media relentlessly blast us with their trendy doom and gloom fixation, generating an endless onslaught of messages about how bad life is and what a mess the future will bring. The entertainment industry force-feeds us insipidly paranoid scenarios that keep our fear reflexes chronically throbbing.

Is this acceptable to you? It’s not to me.

Our eyes and ears are constantly scalded by blistering harangues to buy stuff we don’t really need. The sacred temples of our imaginations are pounded ruthlessly by smart bombs whipped up by evil advertising geniuses in their Madison Avenue laboratories. Our ability to envision the astounding intricacy and richness of the web of life has gotten hijacked and hooked on decadent fantasies about new possessions that would allegedly make us happier.

I for one am no longer willing to absorb the dazzling psychic toxins that sting and sap and wound our lust for life. I reject the epidemic obsession with big bad nasty things and flashy trite empty-hearted things. I say it’s time for us to rise up and fight back — to reconsecrate and regenerate our imaginations. Here are my demands.

DEMAND #1: I demand that Amnesty International launch a crusade against a grievously unacknowledged form of terrorism. I call this crime against humanity the genocide of the imagination.

DEMAND #2: I demand that you refuse to be entertained by bad news. I demand that you seek out and create stories that make you feel strong and joyous and enigmatic.

DEMAND #3: I demand that *People* magazine do a cover story on “The World’s 50 Sexiest Perpetrators of Beauty, Truth, and Love.”

DEMAND #4: I demand that you learn the difference between your own thoughts and those of the celebrities who have demonically possessed you.

DEMAND #5: I demand that you wear underpants on your head and dance naked in slow motion whenever you watch TV movies about tormented geniuses who supposedly create great art but treat everyone in their lives like crap.

DEMAND #6: I demand that the sadomasochist storytellers disguised as journalists give prominent coverage to the startling fact that the world has become dramatically less violent since the end of the Cold War, and that we are currently living in the most peaceful era the human race has ever known.

I further demand that the worshipers of cynicism who pretend to be clear-seeing news writers acknowledge that death rates from cancer are declining; that rising rates of intermarriage are helping to dissipate ethnic and religious strife worldwide; that Americans’ IQ scores have been steadily rising for a long time; that the number of people living in poverty in the developing nations is declining dramatically; that the world is steadily becoming more free, and is now the most free it has ever been; and that the miracle of your breathing transpires about 10 million times a year, even though you never have to will it to continue.

I have more demands, but I want to make sure you know that your imagination and the imaginations of everyone you know are at risk. And who’s responsible? Who are the perpetrators of the genocide of the imagination? I call them the entertainment criminals.

They’re the nihilistic creators and dramatis personae who spread the propaganda that trouble and strife and disintegration are more worthy of our attention than integrity and splendor and quantum leaps. The entertainment criminals are the decadent fools who preach the bizarre doctrine that witty gloom is the mark of a deep thinker. They are the educated idiots who try to trick us into believing that optimism is solely for naive fools with no aptitude for critical thinking.

The visionary philosopher Buckminster Fuller said, “When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only of how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”

To the entertainment criminals, Fuller’s perspective is heretical. With the know-it-all certainty of religious fanatics, they imply with every word and image they produce that there is rarely such a thing as a beautiful solution.

DEMAND #7: I demand that the salesmen of degradation who pass themselves off as storytellers give themselves the challenge of creating engaging sagas whose plots are not driven by violence, alcoholism, abuse, suicide, prostitution, bigotry, lawsuits, greed, crashes, pathology, crime, disease, and torture.

I heard an interview with the German film actor Udo Kier. He specializes in playing villains. “Evil has no limit,” he sneered, blustering like a naughty genius. “Good has a limit. It is simply not as interesting.”

How many times have I heard that idiotic cliche? Most everyone everywhere seems to agree with Udo Kier. And I’m in a tiny minority in my belief that evil is boring. There seem to be few thinkers, communicators, and creators who share my curiosity about exploring the frontiers of righteous pleasure and amusing truth and boisterous integrity.

Some pretenders do make counterfeit attempts: Hollywood producers who produce sentimental fantasies with artificially happy endings, advertising executives who sell the pseudo-positivity of narcissistic comfort, and New Age gurus who ignore the darkness with their one-dimensional appeals to sweetness and light.

DEMAND #8: I demand that the demoralizing propagandists who impersonate objective reporters go ahead and confess that the acreage devoted to organic farming is increasing rapidly all over the world; that violent child abduction by strangers has dropped precipitously; that the birthrate among teenage mothers is the lowest it has been in decades; that most HMO executives now believe prayer and meditation can expedite the healing process; that vast supplies of frozen natural gas lie beneath the oceans, harboring more potential energy than all of the world’s oil reserves, and could be mined with the right technology; that if forced to decide between having a bigger penis and living in a world where there was no war, 90 percent of all men would pick universal peace; and that the giant timber company, Congolaise Industrielle des Bois, voluntarily agreed to stop cutting down trees in a virgin rain forest in the Congo.

DEMAND #9: I demand that the purveyors of despair who pretend to be dispassionate observers of the human condition go ahead and disclose that the 10 most beautiful words in the English language are chimes, dawn, golden, hush, lullaby, luminous, melody, mist, murmuring, and tranquil; that Greenland is literally covered with rubies; that Java sparrows prefer the music of Bach over that of Schoenberg; that math experts have determined there are 1.96 trillion ways to lace up your shoes; that the Inuit term for making love is translated as “laughing together in bed”; and that according to Buckminster Fuller, “pollution is nothing but resources we’re not harvesting.”

The word “imagination” gets little respect. For many people, it connotes “make-believe” and is primarily the domain of children and artists. But the truth is that your imagination is the engine of your destiny. It’s the single most important tool you have in your daily campaign to be free. It’s the source of every act of liberation you will ever need to pull off.

That’s why it’s so disturbing to know that all over the planet, the imagination is deeply wounded—paralyzed by the media’s nonstop onslaught of toxic psychic waste. How can you generate images that energize you to create your highest good if your mind’s eye is swarming with dazzling yet vacuous and fear-inducing stories crafted by the most monumental brainwashing juggernaut in the history of the world?

To get a sense of the growing devastation, I suggest you wander around a grade school playground at recess. You’ll hear kids’ conversations overflowing with the degrading narratives they’ve absorbed from their favorite sources of information and stimulation.
I call this ongoing tragedy the genocide of the imagination. Because of it, many people cannot access their greatest magical power. They have forsaken the sanctity of their sacred temples, allowing them to be defiled with soulless images and stories that are at odds with their deepest desires. As a result they live incoherent lives corroded by chronic anxiety.

DEMAND #10: When you’re too well-entertained to move, screaming is good exercise. Which is why I demand that you scream frequently whenever you’re soaking up slick crap generated by the imaginations of people who are devoted to money, power, and ego instead of love, reverence, and play.

DEMAND #11: Recognizing that the epidemic of sleep-deprivation and the widespread impoverishment of dream life play a key role in abetting the genocide of the imagination, I demand that you get at least eight hours of sleep every night.

DEMAND #12: I demand new video games with socially redeeming value, like a game called “NirvanaStorm,” in which players negotiate eight levels of Buddhist revelation with a character who resembles the Dalai Lama.

DEMAND #13: Since the genocide of the imagination is at least partly the result of men monopolizing the entertainment and news industries, I demand that women fill half of all jobs at ABC, MTV, CNN, NBC, PBS, NPR, CBS, FOX, Newsweek, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, AP, Reuters, and USA Today. I further demand an affirmative action program for the image of God: From now on She must be depicted on at least 15 percent of all TV shows as an African American mother of four.

DEMAND #14: I demand a one-month global media fast. Avoid all newspapers, magazines, TV, movies, radio, and Internet for 30 days. Return to the primordial silence or else! To expedite purification during this time of renewal, I demand that you discuss your dreams with your loved ones every morning and gather your friends for storytelling circles every evening.

If we hope to prevent the genocide of the imagination, we’ve got to perpetrate massive, mirthful attacks of pronoia. But we have to do it without acting like True Believers, because fanaticism is anathema to our cause. Our strategy is to be blithe and flexible as we learn not just to believe, but actually perceive the truth that life is a benevolent conspiracy designed to keep mutating our immortal souls until they’re so far beyond perfection that perfection is irrelevant.

We will succeed. We will overthrow the doom and gloom fixation and make the cause of zoom and boom irresistible. Our parties will be better than theirs. Our jokes will be funnier, our jobs more enjoyable, our lovemaking more revelatory. We’ll dream up tricks to create an environment in which it’s more fun and interesting to talk about wise bliss than clever cynicism.

We will build shrines devoted to righteous pleasure and amusing truth and boisterous integrity in the ugliest places we know. We will unleash praise and gratitude without regard for the taboos we shatter thereby. And we will perform senseless acts of altruistic chutzpah everywhere we go.

DEMAND #15: I demand that if the disinformation specialists who masquerade as communicators intend to keep feeding their addiction to stories of misfortune and breakdown, they must give equal time to those of us who specialize in stories about redemption and renewal. That’s all I demand: Give us a mere 50 percent of the airwaves and pages and bandwidths.

…

The Manifesto of Encouragement

Avalon — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:03:21 +0000

Right now:

There are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.

Someone you haven’t met yet is already dreaming of adoring you.

Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.

Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God’s children.

A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, “nourish them.”

Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you. Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favourite food is, and treat you to a movie. Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you — for free.

Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.

The next great song is being rehearsed.

Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.

Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.

Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they’ll be thriving like never before. They just can’t see it from where they’re at.

Someone who is craving to be partnered, to be acknowledged, to ARRIVE, will get precisely what they want — and even more. And because that gift will be so fantastical in it’s reach and sweetness, it will quite magically alter their memory of angsty longing and render it all “So worth the wait.”

Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche — this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.

Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.

Someone is fighting the fight so that you don’t have to.

Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail, and your garbage is picked up, that the trains are running on time, and that you are generally safe. Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.

Someone is regaining their sanity. Someone is coming back from the dead. Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable. Someone is curing the incurable.

You. Me. Some. One. Now.

SPREAD THE RA-RA. ADD TO THE MANIFESTO. ENCOURAGE.

. . . . . . .

Source: http://WhiteHotTruth.com

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