DAY 1 - OPENING

On a bright April day in the Sacred Valley ten of us assembled in our glass-walled round conference room at the Peace & Light Center (Paz y Luz), surrounded by mountain vistas and the spirit-energy of those mountain apus. Our Gathering was to Envision, Experience and Manifest the world the way we want it to be. Seven women and three men from Canada, Denmark, Peru, Sweden and the USA sat in a circle around the altar we were about to create. We introduced ourselves to each other by saying our name and the name of our parents, our grandparents, our partners, and other significant people in our lives. We then placed our special object on the altar explaining why we had brought it and what it meant to us. We each received a ribbon of unique texture and color that was also placed on the altar.

After the altar was set, Val, our inspiring African American storyteller entranced us with her tale about Amaya, a little girl who wasn't sure she had any gift she could offer worthy enough of the village's special event. It touched our hearts as we identified with our own doubts but like Amaya in the end we were inspired to offer what we have, who we are and what we love. During the mediation that followed, we were invited to identify the gift that we were bringing to the Gathering that we then shared one by one around the circle. The gift that I offered was providing/creating a safe container for us to work in – physically, psychologically and spiritually. Others offered their healing and meditation skills, their creativity, humor and organization skills.

 

Our second time around the circle we each shared what fear we were bringing. Many of us felt fear of not being good enough which by naming it seemed to dissipate it. By the third round we were able to name in a more practical way what session or sessions we were willing to lead in our next three days. Myself, Wendy C, Val and Christer offered to be the planning group with all input welcomed, since the program would be decided as we went along. Wendy B offered a session of painting. Christer offered hugs on a regular basis. Gray offered Chi Gong sessions. Val would lead us in songs and games and continue to use storytelling to inspire our visioning. Jamee offered to guide us on some astral journeys and meditations. Jonna-Maria, Christer, Gray, Luz Maria and Daniel offered to lead healing sessions. Wendy C would lead us in NIA dance sessions, a holistic fitness system that addresses the body, mind, emotions, and spirit, done barefoot, to music.

To embody all that we had shared and committed ourselves to, Wendy led us in a movement meditation. We set the chairs aside and moved the altar to the east wall of our round room to give us open space. As the music started we closed our eyes and began to move. Wendy gently guided us from our own inner experience to open our eyes and connect with the environment around us, then one other person briefly touching and moving on. Soon we moved in threes and eventually as one unit. I was excited that we were already a cohesive group, relaxed yet alive with anticipation and joy.

That night after dinner, Luz Maria and Daniel lead a group Andean ritual of sound healing while Gray offered individual healing sessions with flowers, candles and stones which he learned from an Ecuadorian shaman. We slept with the angels that night and woke prepared to envision the world the way we wanted it to be.

 

DAY 2 - ENVISION

We assembled on the lawn after breakfast to do some Chi Gong movements led by Gray to start our day together. Back inside our circle, Val shared the following story to inspire our envisioning:

In the days before dreaming, the sun went down and the people entered into a time of darkness. They were sleeping and they had no visions. There was much pain and sorrow in the world.

The moon saw this and called the stars together. Soon the breath of heaven filled the air, and those who were sleeping breathed it in. The music and the celestial lights performed a magical dance in the night sky, and when the moon commanded stars fell from the sky into the hearts and minds of some who were asleep in the valley.

The night passed and the morning came. The sun rose and those who had been blessed by the stars woke up and went to wash. There they saw the kiss of the stars on their hearts and foreheads. Looking at their reflections in the river, each one heard a voice,“ Child of light and love, you have received a gift. It is your job to share it. Know that you are from Light and Love. Know that you are Light and Love. Know that you are to share Light and Love with the world.”

Each who heard was filled with a knowing like never before. A strong sense of self—one connected to the Source. One undeniable and it changed how each one walked through the world. There was a quiet strength, a straight back and solid step. There was peace in their beings and clear brightness in their eyes.

That was the beginning of The Change. And the other people saw and sensed this change. “What happened to you?” they asked. And those who'd been blessed shared their story, saying, “We come from Light and Love; we are Light and Love. We must bring Light and Love to the world.”

“What does that mean?” The people asked. “What do we do?”

And those who had been kissed by the stars said, “If we come from Light and we are Love we must live fully. We must first give thanks for the gift. And for this day, and for every thing around us, the earth and the river, the mountains, and the sky, the dogs, and the crops, and each one we see.”

And they did. Give thanks, and live in gratitude. In so doing, they banished fear of one another. They treated each other with kindness and helped those in need.

Soon there was great joy in the place. Songs were sung and laughter echoed through the valley and over the mountains. That was the second part of The Change.

One night, while the people slept, the stars danced again, and the breath of the Universe blew. It was another full moon night. Those gathered heard a new song in their dreams.

In the morning they knew. They had each been told, “Take your light and love and laughter out of this valley and bring it to the four corners of the world. Bring it to the places where people live in darkness and fear and have no dreams. Bring it to those who don't remember who they are or whose they are. You must go. Let your light shine.”

And so they did.

Then Jamee led us on a meditative journey to the Upper World, to envision the world the way we wanted it to be – first, on a personal level, then on a community level and finally our vision for the world. The first part of my meditation was clear and immediate: It was important for me to be part of a loving couple, to allow Christer into my heart fully, without guarding or protecting myself. This message surprised me.

Christer and I had met last June when his group from Sweden came to Paz y Luz. I lead them in a one-day workshop on the Andean Spiritual Tradition. Our hands touched, each right on the other's left, after the morning session. There was a strong current pulsing through us in a rapid circular motion. We looked into each other's eyes saying nothing. After one week together here and 10 days together in Stockholm, he decided to move to Pisac at the end of the year to make our lives together. Our three and a half month experiment had been full of trials and tribulations.

My logical self wasn't quite sure at that point if my vision of “the world the way I wanted it to be” included being a loving couple with Christer. But I allowed the vision to continue. On a community level I saw the safe haven I am creating here at Paz y Luz, where people come to learn, grow, heal, transform, discover their true selves, open their hearts, to live in Love and Light, kissed by the stars, free from fear.

This was my vision for the world as well – a place that was free from fear, where all people live with open hearts, able to express their hurts safely and gently in order to clear them and heal them, not inflict more on others. I saw a world living in harmony, unity, freedom and peace. I saw a world where people respect and support each other, making decisions by consensus, where there is balance and consideration between the personal and collective needs. I saw a world where everyone had their place, their way, their contribution and their fulfillment.

Coming out of the meditation, we were each given a piece of clay and invited to express our visions with the clay. This kept us from analyzing and continued the creative visualization flowing. We went outside in the sunshine to work. I first molded some of my clay into the top part of a man and a woman connected at the base as well as their arms, U-shaped. Then I formed a flat container with low round sides, and small rolled pieces of clay inside representing the people who will come to Paz y Luz. Then I realized that the couple was part of the container so I attached them to the side. As I did so, I saw that the couple was also a model for the divine – male and female in perfect balance and union, watching over us all. The importance of me being a couple took on greater significance. I made two more figures that became posts at the entrance of the container – a tower of light and a figure that represented spirit and life beyond this planet to assist us with our vision.

 

When everyone was finished, we came together in our circle to share our visions and clay pieces. Christer made a globe and an attached tower with an opening at the top (like a vase), which he said was “United Vision”, akin to the UN only better. He had a flower bud at the opening in the top with fully bloomed flowers around the globe. These represented projects that were inspired by the upper world and came to fruition through United Vision. His second clay piece was a man whose head was removed and replaced by a flower. His head was held in his arms close to his heart. Christer said that was him sitting in his office in the tower of United Vision where he worked more from his heart than his head. (How could you not love a man who has a vision like that?!)

Each of the clay pieces was rich with symbols that exemplified our visions. Wendy B made a woman with a basket that she said was herself as the Star Giver and the basket was filled with “kisses” from the Star Giver. On her lap was a child who also had a basket of star kisses. Jamee made several pieces representing clean water and fresh air and a healthy environment. She had several figures representing people, including her friend Toby who did healing through drumming. She also had a rainbow bridge connecting heaven and earth. Jonna Maria made a beautiful “Pachamama” figure representing herself and mother earth holding all her children in her arms - provider and caretaker. Wendy C made a big hand holding a small bowl representing the world being held and supported by the divine. Val made a series of hearts connected to one another.

 

After lunch we made “angel paintings”. We were invited by Wendy to put paint on paper using our non-dominant hand in whatever abstract way we wanted. It was like being back in kindergarten without supervision. We sat on the floor with our paint and brushes playing with color and shapes, creating without thought, expressing without judgment or need to analyze. But there was more. When we finished our paintings, we gathered around each one to look inside it to find hidden symbols. We turned it upside down and sideways and began to see animals and angles and dancers, like seeing faces in the clouds. Sometimes we found messages in these symbols that contributed to our visions but mostly it was a group exploration that delighted us as we continued to know and be known by each other in ways words can't describe.

 

As the sun was setting we took part of our individual clay pieces to create a collective one. Christer's United Vision was in the center, surrounded by his headless man ruled by his heart, Wendy B's Star Giver with a basket of kisses, Jonna-Maria's Pachamama, providing abundant food for all, my couple balancing the union of masculine and feminine energy, my tower of light and cosmic Spirit offering guidance, Jamee's mountain with clean water and fresh air and her rainbow bridge connecting heaven and earth. Val's hearts were interspersed providing love and Toby, the drummer was there giving us a common heart beat. We put Wendy C's big hand underneath the table to offer divine support to our vision of a new world – the one we would experience and manifest in the next two days.

 

 

That night we sat outside under the moon and the stars, around a blazing fire, telling stories. With Val's help we created a story together with everyone contributing. We had 2 minutes to say our part and then pass the fire stick to the one on our left. Such pressure! Such fun and so much laughter. So many visions dancing in our heads and in the flames of the fire. We no longer doubted our ability to co-create our new world into being.

 

DAY 3 – EXPERIENCE

The day began with movement and magic. Wendy led us in a NIA session called Sanctuary that unlocked areas of our bodies and psyches through its gentle, playful, thoughtful energy. Being in the body rather than in the brain created a strong connection among us and the natural world around us. The last part of the routine, we moved the energy with our hands to the center circle, in and down and then lifted it up, several times until we released it up and out into the world, experiencing with our bodies what we had envisioned the day before – a world in balance where everyone was supported to live as Love and Light.

Since there were so many healers among us, we decided to break into pairs (picking names from a hat) to offer 15 minute healing sessions to each other: reflexology, reiki, head massage, sound healing and guided meditation. Even the ones who didn't think of themselves as healers enjoyed the opportunity to give and receive in a loving, caring, supportive way. This was, after all, our day to experience the world the way we wanted it to be. Healed and restored, we decided to revisit our visions by writing them down and sharing them.

My vision was first and foremost a world where people were no longer ruled by fear, where we live with open hearts, safe and trusting. Others envisioned a world where we are always supported, receiving light and love, where we live comfortably in our bodies and in harmony with nature; where there is abundant food and clean water for all; where there is “happy order” through consensus and responsibility; a world that is judgment free, ruled by the heart, providing a safe container for healing and transformation; where the personal and collective good are in balance; where male, female and all races live in peace and harmony together feeling connection with all living beings.

We agreed that the divine creator is in and around us, making us co-creators of these visions and all our intentions. We spoke about United Vision as an organization and named it United Vision Unlimited. When I suggested that the headquarters would be here, Val said, “Not the headquarters, the Heartquarters!” And so it was that we created United Vision Unlimited, with its heartquaters here at Paz y Luz and Christer as the, the headless, heartful director of development.

After lunch we climbed a small mountain and journeyed around the earth with our light bodies to get an even broader perspective. Jamee, our guide, explained that our light bodies can be lifted from our physical bodies in order to release stored heavy energy from past experiences that bog us down. So laying on a granite stone overlooking the river valley, we launched each of our light bodies for a short journey around the earth letting the old pass away and the new be born.

I went to a place I had seen ten years before in a jungle ceremony – a place I knew then as my place of origin, a star perhaps looking nothing like earth, full of angles, sparkling light and geometric levels. My counselor was there and he told me to trust what was happening and let go of old doubts and fears that were keeping me from my destiny work. “We have chosen you”, he said. Then I was back in my body on top of the little mountain. Each of us had interesting journeys and returned a bit lighter.

Back in the conference room, Val lead our rejuvenated selves in songs and games from Africa. We slapped hands as we moved our two circles in opposite directions, while singing. You can imagine how funny that was. We did our best, judgment free, ruled by the heart. We laughed ourselves silly. Then it was time for a silent meditation to integrate all our experiences. The sun was once again setting as we opened our eyes and gathered in the center of the room for a group hug. Wendy B offered to bake her favorite flourless chocolate cake as a gift to the group, which became the evening's activity. Many of us were exhausted from all our experiencing and went to bed early, including me.

 

DAY 4 – MANIFEST

Once again we began the day with NIA. This session was called Sounding and had quite a different energy than Sanctuary. In addition to movement we added sound – toning and sometimes singing – each finding our own sound, creating a deep and resonant harmony. The music that goes with the routine is an epic story of a warrior who comes home resolute to “fight no more” and discover how to live from the heart.

 

As I danced I went into a deep meditative state. I received three very clear messages toward the end of the routine. The first was, “You are the Rainbow Bridge.” I am still holding this message in my heart to discover in what way it will manifest. The second message was, “My gentle heart will fight no more.” I realized in that moment that despite all my hardness, I do have a gentle heart and in order to live from it more fully, I need to let go of any form of fighting. The third message was even clearer than the other two, “You need to marry Christer.”

As I said earlier, before the Gathering started, Christer and I were still testing our relationship. Both of us had been married young and divorced more than 25 years ago. Before he moved to Peru to live with me, we had discussed getting married which surprised us both. We thought after six months together we would know whether the relationship was going to last. But the four months we'd been living together had not yet brought me clarity. “You need to marry Christer” was a little hard for me to digest.

Some people don't hear messages easily and others don't trust them when they do. But I have been receiving messages (mostly during meditations, ceremonies and healing sessions) for more than 20 years. I have gotten pretty good at deciphering what is my own mind-chatter and what is a spirit-given message. All three messages I received that morning were strong and clear and nothing my own mind had been considering.

Our next activity was both illuminating and affirming. Jamee led us in creating a sacred geometry mandala for manifesting our visions. The principle is simple: with intention and clarity, what we form in our mind, we begin to create in material reality. First in meditation and then on paper with markers and paint, we chose our symbol and invited Spirit to help us work to manifest our vision. There in the conference room, surrounded by the awesome majesty of Mother Nature, we ten were co-creating the world the way we wanted it to be.

My symbol was two even-sided triangles connected with their points in the center. This hourglass symbol had been given to me in a meditation in 2001. I was told it was “heaven and earth”. Inside the bottom triangle I put Paz y Luz, healing, conferences and the United Vision Heartquarters. Below that triangle, I put a man and a woman with their outstretched arms touching – Female Male Union. On the right side of the double triangle symbol, I painted the Rainbow Bridge. On the left side, I painted a soft vibrant pink orange heart and wrote around it, “My gentle heart will fight no more.” Where the two points of the triangles connected in the center, I wrote the word TRUST. The tower of United Vision extended into the base of the upper triangle, with its flower bud falling down from heaven and blossoming below. In the “heaven” triangle I put my guides and spirit energy. Above that triangle at the top was another couple arms connected and I wrote Divine Feminine – Masculine Creator.

 

 

Jamee had laid out a few decks of cards used for guidance and divination. One deck had symbols with sayings. The one I picked said, “I choose to experience heaven on earth”, which I wrote on the bottom of paper. I was stunned at how perfect it was for what I had already drawn – earth reflecting heaven. Then I pulled an Avalon Wisdom card - Partnership! “Seek connection in all things. This is a coming together of ideas, the marriage between two people, the harmonious blending of energies. It's a portent of opportunity, where partnership exceeds the potential of the individual.”

Partnership exceeds the potential of the individual. This is why it's important for my work that I am a couple, a partner with Christer. The vision and messages were coming together. The work of United Vision required both us with all our differences and commonalities, Christer and I, female and male union. Of course the work of United Vision will require more than the two of us or even the ten of us together in the conference room. But I was now understanding the connection between the personal and the collective in a more significant way. And the importance of making a commitment.

The room buzzed with visions manifesting. The cards people picked were as magical as mine had been. Each one's vision was expressing itself beyond the paper it was imprinted upon. We went around the circle sharing. You could feel the excitement in the air, the words and symbols floating off the page.

 

 

In one more level we were invited to launch our visions in the manifest world through a story. Val guided us in the creation of our once-upon-a-time story told from a future perspective about a time before the new world came into being and how it had happened. Mine went like this:

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who lived on earth in different corners of the world. Before they came to earth, they lived on the same star where they made a contract to meet when they knew the moment was right on earth to change the world. Many years passed on earth and they experienced so much life that they nearly forgot their promise. But one day, while the man and the woman were sleeping in their own corners of the world, the Star-Giver blessed them with a Star-kiss that helped them remember their soul contract. In his dream the man saw a beacon of light from the high Andes Mountains in Peru. He packed his bags and journeyed to a small town along the river in the Sacred Valley not knowing that the woman would be there. But because she too had been kissed by the Star-Giver, she remembered her promise and was waiting for his arrival. When they saw each other, their hands touched and their hearts remembered everything.

And so began their challenge to change the world.

The first world they need to change was their own because they had become very set in their own earthly ways and each had their own manner of managing their lives. His corner of the world was urban, neat and orderly. Her corner was mountainous, mystical and a bit chaotic. They had to adapt, release, heal and transform in order to see the other with eyes of love.

Then they gathered together with friends who had traveled from near and far to help them envision a new world. They sat around the fire and dreamed their world into being by removing their heads and placing them on their hearts. It was then that the Star-Giver again came down from heaven and opened their hearts to envision a world where people lived in Trust instead of the fear they'd always known. They envisioned a world where everyone was valued and supported, where they shared and contributed and made decisions by consensus. Together the group envisioned that the place they were in by the Sacred River would be the Heartquarters for their United Vision to grow and manifest.

Soon their envisioning blossomed into experience. First they experienced their vision together at the Heartquarters but then it was time for all but the man and woman to return to their own corners of the world and so the vision began to spread. Each of the friends found other groups who had done the same kind of work around their own fires, people who had also been kissed by the Star-Giver.

In this way, with Love and Trust and Gentle Hearts, the vision was manifest and the world was changed. The man and the woman were very happy that their soul contract was now being fulfilled. They kept the fire burning at the Heartquarters of United Vision Unlimited and continued to help others to gather and envision new visions and learn how to manifest them.

Because the man and the woman had learned how to come together in the balanced union of Love and Light, they reflected the perfect union of male and female in the divine creator. They were able to experience heaven on earth and they lived happily ever after.

All the stories were wonderful and can be read in the accompanying article, Once Upon a Time.

When storytelling was finished we decided to make a group painting, acrylic on canvas to hang in United Vision Unlimited Heartquarters. We squirted a rainbow of paint onto several pallets, picked our brushes and got to it, once again manifesting our visions in symbol, color, shape and reality. What a sight – ten joyous passionate people painting one canvas without thought or plan but clear with vision. The result is the Rainbow Bridge in all its glory connecting earth to heaven and back again.

We had accomplished our intention in ways we could never have imagined on our first day. We had woven our gifts into an amazing tapestry of vision, love and light. The world for us was already new, changed, better and so were we. We closed as we had begun, around the altar. As we came forward to retrieve our object from the altar, we named what else we were leaving with, the lesson, the gift we harvested from our gathering. The colored ribbon we had placed on the altar our first day, we now wove onto a rustic loom that Val had assembled for the occasion as testimony of our time together. We were returning now to our own home fires to share and plant the vision elsewhere.

 

We took our clay pieces and all the visions they embodied and walked to the sacred river that cuts this Inka Valley and threw each piece in the water to dissolve and flow to other places beyond our own imagining. Joyous even in our parting we returned to Heartquarters to eat chocolate cake!

 

And so the world was changed.

 

JOIN US FOR NEXT YEAR's GATHERING APRIL 16-19, 2009!!