Category Archives: Uncategorized

Vithoulkas course

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Not a lot to report this week – lots of sitting in class and a little sitting on the beach. It was interesting that Vithoulkas chose Cancer as his topic to discuss this week and we had several cancer cases we observed.

In summary Vithoulkas feels that Cancer is caused by either or both
1. external pollutants like medicines, chemicals and food additives
2. internal stress and a feeling of not being at peace with self.

He sees it affecting many spiritual, highly sensitive people where they are not supported by their bodies. They are mentally and emotionally healthy, but their body says good bye.

Prevention consists of having clean air and ecological (organic) food and live in a way that brings peace, security and true balance in life. Express anger and disappointment, don’t hold it in.

I can look back and see how I have been unwilling to the rock the boat and express my opinion or clearly state my needs. I would then felt a lot of pressure. It created a division and internal argument about what to do – so being consistently clear and honoring of my needs, even if it is not easy, is my goal.

I purchased Vithoulkas’ second volume of The Science of Homeopathy and am enjoying it. It is a discussion of the twelve levels of health we are born with and move to and how that affects the prognosis when treating someone with homeopathy. The first volume is a classic I have really enjoyed over the years and I am enjoying the second.

This is from a restaurant I had lunch with a friend, then went down to the beach during our afternoon break. The water was shallow and warm. There was shade and lounge chairs available to sit and read on the beach. It was lovely afternoon.

Kissos, Greece – KaliKalos

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Mother’s Day in Kissos

I am composing this today in Kissos, Greece at KaliKalos. We have an afternoon break, siesta, and it seemed a nice quiet time to write. I am not sure when I will able to post it as a blog, since internet is more limited here. This is the view from my room out toward the sea and the island of Sklepias and Alonissos.

I am living for two weeks in a community that offers summer classes and retreats starting in June. I am part of the work crew to set up everything for the summer after winter shut down. The crew is setting up tents and yurts, reclaiming the gardens, cleaning rooms, airing out mattresses, etc. Of course there are also a couple of people who cook for us all too. The food is delicious and fresh and vegetarian with, of course Greek yogurt, feta cheese and also occasional eggs. A friend bought a bottle of ouzo and so I had ouzo and water last night with dinner and loved the anise flavor. It was nice to sip. Once a week, on Tuesday, the group goes out to dinner in the villages nearby and there is supposed to be some great fresh fish. This is the photo of my room in an old house across the street from the complex.

I left Crete last Wednesday, my legs and big toe were still stiff and sore from the Samaria Gorge hike. I flew to Thessaloniki and spent two nights on the Aegean sea. As I was going to my hotel in a taxi, I commented on seeing the “ocean” and was corrected that it was a Sea! Certainly milder tides and lower waves. I walked and rested, elevating my sore toe and treating it. I looked up a website on doing toe readings and discovered that the left big toe represents your soul path or purpose, interesting that it is the one I damaged on this huge vision quest, isn’t it?

I arrived by bus in the city of Volos, which is also where I need to catch my ferry in two weeks to a nearby island, Alonissos, where I am going to do the George Vithtoulkas class for ten days. I was met at the bus by Adam, from KaliKalos, and along with other arriving workers we all had lunch at an outdoor restaurant. After lunch while we were waiting for some other arrivals, several of us walked to the port area and I looked for where to catch my ferry. After some discussion with the travel people, it was determined I had a ticket to Skiathos island, not Alonissos! I was able to buy an additional ticket, so in two weeks when I head off on the ferry, I will not get stranded part way. I was glad I checked.

Volos is a warm, dry climate like you think of in Greece. We went in the van up the mountain, even past a patch of snow, to the village of Kissos where we are staying. From my window I look out over vines and trees down to the sea and the rising sun in the early morning. The temperatures up here are much more temperate – in the 70’s, but the sun feels intense if you are out in it mid-day. We work after breakfast and a meeting in the morning until 1:00 lunch. Then have afternoon off until 6 when we work until 8 PM dinner. It is a fifteen minute ride down to the beach, so yesterday I walked part with a group and then was picked up and had a ride the rest of the way to the beach. There were restaurants in a small village along the beach and we were able to sit in the shade having drinks. The water was incredibly clear. One of these days I will swim and another day I will walk down to the beach to where they filmed beach scenes for the movie Mama Mia. This is a beach photo and a flower picture I am pleased with.

The founder of this community is quite ill, and not here, so in addition to the work, there are decisions and meetings happening to decide the future course for this location. It is a great opportunity for me to observe how they handle making tough decisions in community, although I am not directly involved in the meetings.

I am mostly enjoying working with the others on projects. Sometimes the group process takes a lot of time, however, I am not in a rush. It promotes creativity to solve problems with the materials on hand, but I can see it might lead to problems when perhaps the solutions don’t hold for the summer. It is certainly a beautiful micro climate here.

Experience week

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I am writing today from the island of Erraid off West Scotland. I just arrived today from Findhorn Foundation to this affiliated community. It was a six hour drive. The left side of the road driving, roundabouts, narrow lanes with pull outs all made me glad I was not driving!

Last week was called Experience Week, and what a wonderful experience it was! It was a wonderful time to both experience Findhorn Foundation (https://www.findhorn.org/) and the sustainable community and eco-village plus a time to better connect in to my heart and with my classmates. My class had twelve members and we all bonded very quickly. It was a wonderful blend of ages and more men than women. I have not been in such a wonderful mixed gender community for a long time. The class was also a lovely mix of English, Scots, French and Spanish – all speaking English with their own accents. It took me a couple of days to really understand everyone’s names – I had to see them in writing to really grasp them. The Experience week process has been very similar for many years and was quite effective, along with our group having amazing focalizers, in pulling a group together as a community. I hope to stay in touch with all of the members of my group and perhaps to visit them during my travels. One of my classmates came to the island community neighboring Erraid, called Iona, for a week. We expect to see each other once during the week.

Findhorn is lovely, green grass with yellow Scotch Broom in bloom, Scottish, coastal community, the weather varied between cold windy rain to lovely sunshine. We stayed in dormitory type rooms with the bathroom down the hall for our class in a place called Cluny Hall where our classes were also. We spent a couple of hours a day doing community work, called “Love in Action”. I worked in the kitchen, other classmates worked in the gardens. It was all done at a lovely pace with regular tea breaks.

I found the community to be authentic and honest about their problems and possible solutions. They are currently working on revamping their organization to flow easier. I don’t have an urge to live here, but appreciate the good work they are doing. I saw a Living Green Machine that processed their sewage using plants and bacteria so that it met the Scottish standards for reclaimed water. I visited their gardens for flowers and vegetables they are growing and of course dipped my hand in the sea once. I can’t get that close to the ocean without touching it.

During the Experience week an opportunity to live for a week with a community and share in their life and work came up on the island of Erraid. I decided to take the opportunity and traveled by van across Scotland this morning, leaving Findhorn at 5:30 AM. We are 11 people on the island today and it is beautiful, windy and cold here. We shared a dinner of lentil curry and rice plus rhubarb sauce for dessert. They made a gluten free biscuit and bread to go with it. Another permanent person here is gluten free, so it was easy to add me in. The rhubarb reminded me of my Aunt Gladys’ rhubarb sauce, a little tart.

One advantage of the island is I have good internet connection – so I will be able to make calls on Wifi in addition to doing this blogging, email, etc. that I have not been able to do easily for awhile. My phone plan allows me to call free only over Wifi.

After this week I am going to do a week of meditation retreat back at Findhorn before I leave for Greece on May 2nd from Edinburgh. I met with the instructor (called a focalizer here) and really liked him. I feel I will be more solid in knowing myself when I am done with these three weeks and in addition have many new, good friends.

Packing and playing

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I am moving down my list to get ready to go.  I did my taxes, met with physicians, going to meals with friends and packing.  It is definitely bittersweet the saying good bye’s and the excitement of my new adventure in travelling.

The house appraised less than the selling price, so I agreed to lowering the price.  I couldn’t see putting it back on the market, unpacking the decor, having to go thru inspections, appraisals, etc again and maybe not be any better off for it.  It is a relief to have it done and know all will most likely be finished February 24th.  The house does feel kind of bare and like I am living in someone else’s house – which I almost am.

Julie has been a great help coming regularly to help me pack the complicated things – the decor, the photos, the garage.  The garage is all done except a wire shelf that has gravity clip shelves.  I have it upside down in the garage and have banged on it until my hand was sore, but one shelf will not drop!  Dad and Ric have dealt with disassembling this shelf in the past and I know it was sometimes difficult.   I am thinking of adding some penetrating oil to get it to free up.

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I had a wonderful hike yesterday going up Cathedral Rock near Sedona. These photos are ones Pam took. She and I drove up together. A friend of mine, Stephun, joined at the trail head.  It was great to have good friends with me and gorgeous weather.  It was harder than the last time I went before I started treatment, but I made it to the saddle.

It is interesting how I am parceling out the things important to me to friends to keep while I am gone.  Stephun is going to use the massage table from my office, Pammee is going to store my homeopathics in her closet, Cheryl is going to keep my cat Skyy, my cousins in Washington are going to keep my drums, my car on Kim and Ken’s farm in Oregon.  I will be spread out all over the west coast.

My reading recently has been the MoonSpinners by Mary Stewart about a woman hiking and having adventures on the island of Crete and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon about the Inverness area of Scotland.  Fun way to relate to the areas I am travelling to, but I don’t plan on having as much adventure as those heroines did.