News from the edge for September 2008

CONFERENCES

A gathering of state, national and international health freedom leaders and advocates will take place Sept. 12-14 at United Theological Seminary in New Brighton, Minn. Keynote speakers will include: Michael McCormack, J.D., president of Citizens for Health and an attorney who vigorously represents unlicensed health care practitioners in the state of Washington; and Autumn Stringham, author of A Promise of Hope, founding member of The Women with Red Umbrellas and a noted Canadian advocate for access to natural supplements.

The mission of the National Health Freedom Coalition is to promote access to all health care information, services, treatments and products that the people deem beneficial for their own health, healing, well-being and survival; to promote an understanding of the laws and factors impacting the right to access; and to promote the health of the people of this nation. For more details, visit www.nationalhealthfreedom.org, e-mail similars@aol.com or call 507.663.9018.

OCTOBER 11

Everything a person with diabetes needs to know about diabetes will be presented under one roof at the Diabetes Expo from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at Minneapolis Convention Center, Hall C. The event includes exhibits featuring the latest products, medications, information and services, medical professionals available to answer questions, exciting and informative lectures, cooking demonstrations, free health screenings, activities for children, and more. Register online at www.diabetes.org/minneapolisExpo for free admission. Buses will be transporting people from various communities throughout Minnesota. Check the website for more details.OCTOBER 11-12

Raine Eisler, an eminent social scientist, attorney and social activist best known as author of the international bestseller The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future will keynote the 27th annual Women & Spirituality Conference October 11-12 at Minnesota State University in Mankato. The theme of this year’s conference is "Partnership Spirituality: Putting Love Into Action." The conference is two days of workshops, discussions, exhibits, dialogue, discovery and celebration. It is co-sponsored by Women’s Studies, Social & Behavioral Sciences Institutional Diversity and Women’s Center.

Eisler was born in Vienna, fled from the Nazis with her parents to Cuba and later emigrated to the United States. She taught pioneering classes on women and the law at UCLA. She is a founding member of the General Evolution Research Group and the Alliance for a Caring Economy. She is co-founder of the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence and is president of the Center for Partnership Studies, dedicated to research and education.

For registration information, call 507.389.2077 or email veldhc@mnsu.edu.

OCTOBER 14-16

Dr. Christine Page, an internationally renowned and respected author, lecturer on the physical and spiritual potential of the human body, will lead a Conference of Appreciation, "The Miraculous Heart," an event to honor and celebrate a career and a community of caregivers who artistically and compassionately provide to others, and who consistently demonstrate an innate wisdom, wit, wonder and worth. Whether you care for other people, a pet, a lawn or an automobile, this event is a gathering for all caregivers as a support for the dedication of their services.

The event will be October 14-16 at Rochester International Event Center in Rochester, Minn. Dr. Page, known as a mystical physician, received her medical degree from London University and contributed to the widespread use of complementary medicine within the British health system. She is the author of six books, the latest of which, 2012 and the Galactic Center, will be published this month. She is past president of the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, and Holos University. Other presenters will include Dr. Romain Dallermand, superintendent of Rochester Public Schools, Marlys E. Hays, RN, BSN, creator of Sharing Safe Space – Sustaining Sacred Stories and Rev. Dean V. Marek, chaplain of Mayo Clinic.

For more information and registration visit www.6sses.com, call 507.288.8308 or email philmarhaze@att.net.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Join your voice and chant for peace with local, national and international performers at the Midtown Global Market, Lake Street and 10th Street South in Minneapolis, from noon to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11. The event, sponsored by SoyJoy, was organized by local yoga instructor and writer Gaia Richards. Performers will include vocalists Sat Purkh from Santa Fe, N.M., Sharon Dubois from California and local poet Wendy Baez-Brown, as well as Hara Krishna devotees, Art of Living devotees and Mikhala Iversen and Buddhist friends. Chanting takes place every hour on the hour. For more information, contact Gaia Richards at 612.874.0858 or email mplsyoga@gmail.com.SEPTEMBER 11

Mother Meera, believed by her devotees to be an embodiment of the Divine Mother, will give darshan (blessings) at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Fairfield Arts and Convention Center, 200 N. Main St., Fairfield, Iowa. Darshan is the bestowal of love, light and grace. Mother Meera gives darshan in silence as her gift to the world. Her darshan consists of a ritual in which she will touch a person’s head and look into their eyes. During this process, she says she "unties knots" in the person’s subtle energy system and permeates them with light. Darshan is free but reservations are required at www.mothermeera-fairfield.comSEPTEMBER 12-14

Lisa L. Owen, a psychic medium, Reiki master and artist who once had a storefront in Lake City, Minn., is sponsoring a Rock & Gem Show Sept. 14, featuring more than 3,000 pounds of stones and gems from all over the world. The event also will feature one of the largest traveling displays of tarot cards and metaphysical books. The show will take place at Bear Soul Studio at 1318 S. Oak St. in Lake City. The hours are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 13 and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 14. Visit www.lisaonsacredground.com for more details.

SEPTEMBER 20

A "harmonic convergence" of sorts will be part of the Autumnal Equinox observation at Sunset (7:13 p.m.) on Saturday, Sept. 20, at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community (LHSC), which will blend its Equinox Ritual with "The Rhythm of Love" seasonal Drum Jam held by Gary Chisholm. LHSC ministerial guides will participate in the ritual, which is being co-created by former ministerial guide Steven Johnson. Also presenting will be one of the perennial favorite bands at LHSC, Hot Monkey Love, with a repertoire that includes pagan chants, folk-rock, and rock tunes that help to open the portals into the mysteries that are being explored. Participants will focus on "The Abundant Harvest," exploring the physical and metaphysical dimensions of this season of once-planted seeds now bearing fruit, and through ritual, they will align with the flow of this energy. The drum jam will begin around 9 p.m. and last until midnight. For those new to drumming, a brief tutorial will be provided at the beginning of the jam. This event is a fundraiser for LHSC. The suggested donation is $10. LHSC is located at 4401 Upton Ave. S., Minneapolis. For more information, call 612.922.4272.SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS

International speaker and author Jim Self will return to the Twin Cites October 6-12 for three free evening classes and the weekend seminar: "Creating the Personal Power Field." Participants will learn about the energetic shifts that are occurring on the planet, ascension symptoms and tools to make an easier transition through these changes.

Since childhood, Jim could recall his experiences within the sleep state. Over the last ten years, this has expanded into relationships with the archangels, ascended masters and teachers of light. The tools and information in Mastering Alchemy is a co-creation of these relationships. Jim has offered the Tools of Mastering Alchemy and personal energy management for over 27 years.

Free workshops will be presented from 7-9:30 p.m. on October 6 at Meta Institute in Edina, October 7 at Greater MN Credit Union in Elk River and October 8 at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community in Minneapolis. The weekend seminar will take place October 10-12 at Marriott West in St. Louis Park. To pre-register, call Carol at 763.843.0043 or visit www.MasteringAlchemy.com.

BOOK & POETRY READINGS

• Sunday, Sept. 14, 5 p.m. – Norita Dittberner-Jax will read from her second full-length book of poetry, which embraces family, art, loss, and the beauty of human experience. Her book What They Always Were won the Minnesota Voices Competition and was nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. She is one of the poets featured in Thirty-Three Minnesota Poets; her chapbook, Longing for Home, appeared in 2008. She lives and teaches in St. Paul. Jarda Cervenka will read from his third collection of short stories of the world. In settings that range from Prague to Kenya to the Colombian jungle, Cervenka celebrates discovery, friendship, and the ever-fascinating parade of humanity. He is the author of two previous story collections, Mal D’Afrique and The Revenge of Underwater Man, and a children’s book, The Adventures of Missi One. Born and raised in Prague, Cervenka immigrated to the United States in 1968, in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He was a Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Minnesota for 35 years, and internationally renowned in the field of cytogenetics.

• Thursday, Sept. 18 – Phil Bolsta will discuss his book Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything (Atria/Simon and Schuster) at 7:30 p.m. Sixty Seconds is an uplifting collection of intimate, heartfelt stories from prominent people who graciously share their personal experiences with the profound. Their moving, life-altering interviews powerfully illustrate that sacred moments of illumination and insight are available to us all. The origin of these stories was a regular Edge column, "Sacred Moments." Phil Bolsta is a freelance writer and coauthor of The Big Book of Small Business, the first business book to blend an enlightened approach to leadership with effective business principles.

• Wednesday, Sept. 24, Lyndale United Church of Christ, 31st and Aldrich S., Minneapolis – Award-winning author Kathleen Norris reads and discusses her new book Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks and a Writer’s Life, at 7:30 p.m. Norris interweaves her personal story with a wide-ranging examination of the progress and decline of the notion of acedia [apathy, boredom, or torpor, and many other shades of meaning, among them weariness, sorrow, melancholy, despair, ennui, restlessness, listlessness, impasse and futility] through the religious and secular literature of nearly two millennia, and considers the writings of the Christian desert monks, Dante, the Romantic poets, Aldous Huxley, Thomas Merton, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and John Berryman. With a trio of New York Times bestsellers – Dakota, The Cloister Walk, and Amazing Grace – Kathleen Norris has become one of our most lauded and beloved spiritual writers. In The Cloister Walk, she resonantly chronicled her journey from secular poet to person of faith and disciple of Christian monasticism.

ECO NEWS

Eye of Horus, a metaphysical store, Mythic Art Gallery and Labyrinth nested between the Wedge and Uptown areas of South Minneapolis, continues its commitment to the environment by joining the Eco-Libris bookseller program. Eco-Libris is the revolutionary environmental service that lets people balance out the paper in the books they read by planting a tree for every book.

At Eye of Horus, 2717 Lyndale Ave. S., patrons can buy a book and balance it out on the spot by sponsoring a tree to be planted for only $1. About 20 million trees are cut down annually for virgin paper to be used for the production of books sold in the U.S. alone. Eco-Libris raises awareness to the environmental impacts of using paper for the production of books and provides book lovers with a simple way to do something about it: plant a tree for every book they read.

"As soon as we heard of the program we joined," said Jane Hansen, co-owner and Creative Director of Eye of Horus. "Our customers are thrilled to have the option to offset the environmental impact of the books they buy. It’s so easy! As a store which specializes in Eco-spirituality and Conscious Living books, music and gifts, joining Eco-Libris was a natural extension of our mission."

Eye of Horus is the 25th bookstore in the Eco-Libris bookstore program.

HOURCAR to accept applications from 18-year-old drivers

HOURCAR, the Neighborhood Energy Connection’s car-sharing program, announced that it will begin to accept members as young as age 18, effective immediately. With cars on or near several Twin Cities college campuses and throughout the cities, car sharing will now be available to thousands of additional Twin Citians.

HOURCAR has vehicles at Macalester and Augsburg Colleges, as well as a short walk from both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul campuses of the University of Minnesota and a dozen other locations in the Twin Cities. All drivers are able to access any car in the fleet, 24 hours a day. HOURCAR’s super-efficient fleet allows members to use a car when they need one, without the costs and hassles of parking, maintenance and insurance. Gas and insurance are included in the hourly rate.

By providing memberships to drivers under 21, HOURCAR will help reduce parking crunches at local campuses and provide reasonably-priced mobility to students who only rarely need their car. With the cost of education climbing, saving money by not having a car makes financial sense for students. HOURCAR plans to add more cars at and near additional student-populated areas this fall.

More information about the new age requirements, and HOURCAR in general, can be found at www.HOURCAR.org.