Headwaters/Delta Interfaith

Artist’s Way Book Study: Recovering a Sense of Safety ~ by Kathy Price

2011-12-27T02:40:00.001-06:00

We held our second Artist's Way Book Study this week and I am in the midst of another artistic awakening.

I've seen this happen during the two Artist's Way workshops I facilitated. Participants get very stimulated and feel so alive and connected with their inner artist in the first few weeks. It's really extraordinary!

Flowering Lotus Meditation Group, Wednesdays 7-8:45pm

2011-11-06T18:26:00.001-06:00

Join Flowering Lotus Meditation Group in the Spiritual Space at The New Orleans Healing Center on Wednesday evenings! See their website for more details on the modality and benefits of this meditation technique.

Contact Dolores evolved812@aol.com

Flesh & Bone: Honoring Ancestors

2011-10-22T16:27:00.001-05:00

By Saumya Arya Haas, Headwaters/Delta Director

Why do we fear the dead? Why is the idea of departed ones a source of horror? Vodou empowered me to confront and overcome my own fear, to build a healthy relationship with the dead.

Kali, Anger, and Gender Violence

2011-10-22T16:24:00.001-05:00

By Saumya Arya Haas, Headwaters/Delta Director:

I've been Kali -- blindly enraged by violence against women. But men are not the enemy. They are just as vulnerable, nuanced and wise as women. They suffer just as much. I did not want to see this. Recently, I've had to admit that it's something that I need to see. That we all do.

Zen Meditation Group: Tues & Thurs 7:30am

2011-10-18T20:00:00.001-05:00

INNER COMPASS Zendo

“When you find your place where you are, practice occurs.”
Zen Master Dogen (13^th Century)

Zen Meditation at the New Orleans Healing Center

Zen meditation or zazen is a practice of settling the mind by fully experiencing the body in this moment. The practice is to acknowledge thinking when it happens and to gently bring the mind back over and over again to the breath, to the posture and to what is happening inside and outside of us in the present. Continued zen practice can bring us openness, clarity, increased energy, a greater sense of connection to the world around us and the quiet confidence that we can meet with dignity most of what life hands us.

People of all faiths and backgrounds are welcome to experience this openness with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 to 8:30 am in the Interfaith Center on the 4^th floor of the New Orleans Healing Center at 2372 St. Claude Ave. If you do not arrive by the beginning of the first sitting period, please wait to join us at 7:55 am when we will begin 5 minutes of walking meditation. The first day of sitting meditation will be Tuesday, October 25^th. Instruction for Beginners will be provided every Tuesday morning at 7:10 am. Also, every Tuesday we will do a brief reading from a book on zen. The Suggested Donation is $5. While we are just starting out, please bring your own meditation cushion or pillow. If you prefer to sit in a chair, there are good chairs for meditation provided.

Facilitators, Casey Groves and Rachel Whitman, have been practicing with their teacher, Fr. Robert Kennedy Roshi, at Morning Star Zendo in New Jersey for the past 11 years. Casey is a New Orleans native who has an M.A. in Spirituality and has been practicing zen since 1993. Rachel has a deep connection to Japanese culture that emerged as a result of having traveled there many times as part of cultural exchange programs.

contact innercompasszen@gmail.com for more info

Animals are Soul, Too ~ Book Discussion

2011-10-04T20:05:00.001-05:00

Starting 9 October 2011, each second Sunday of the month at 11 AM, there will be a book discussion on Animals Are Soul Too by Harold Klemp.

"If you have a pet, you are aware of the bond of love between yourself and your pet.This bond of love exists because you are Soul--a particle of God sent here to gain spiritual experience. Ultimately, to learn how to give and receive divine love."
Harold Klemp, from "Introduction"
Animals Are Soul Too, p. ix

The Spiritual and Interfaith Program of
New Orleans Healing Center (4th floor)
2372 St Claude Avenue (corner of St Roch Avenue)
New Orleans, Louisiana 70117

This event is organized by the Greater New Orleans Eckankar Group
greaterneworleans@eckankarlouisiana.org

Beyond Halal ~ Guest Post by Krystina Friedlander

2011-08-25T18:30:00.001-05:00

A few years ago I began to take my food choices seriously. Essentially, I realized my own culpability in supporting a system of cheap food production in the United States that I learned was deeply unethical, in terms of animal suffering, labor rights, the environment, and health. My sense is that many are coming to similar conclusions, which has spawned a variety of food movements across the United States and globally. Like others, my main project was meat, though I never saw the consumption of animals as inherently unethical. Not being able to afford what I considered “good meat” as a college student, I decided to stop eating it altogether.

During this period of struggle over what it meant to me to be a moral being in the contemporary United States, I converted to Islam. I had been studying Islam academically for some time, and felt drawn to what I perceived as a holistic worldview and strict, but accessible, self-discipline. Both my food choices and religious choices were connected; I was trying to live the best way possible, attempting to do the least amount of harm, and seeking guidance to make sense of what all of it meant. I’ve written more about this process in another blog post. A friend introduced me to someone he knew who also talked a lot about food ethics; Nuri and I started Beyond Halal (and got married, but that’s a different story).

Beyond Halal is a web-based project with several purposes. First, it’s where we explore the Islamic legal and ethical traditions as they relate to how humans should interact with animals. It’s a place where we can highlight our successes and failures in this area, and ultimately raise awareness within the Muslim community that our food choices matter. Like other food movements we argue that these choices impact the welfare of animals, the environment, the rights of workers, and certainly our health. What Islam, and perhaps religion in general, uniquely offers to the conversation about food ethics is a spiritual tradition that insists that food also has a subtle effect on the soul. We believe that eating meat that is ritually impure has a negative effect on our spiritual state. Additionally, Muslims strive to do the most amount of good and cause the least amount of harm in this life. In the area of food production, it is easy to forget or ignore this last part simply because we do not see where our food comes from.

Halal is the Arabic term used to designate something as permissible. When used in the context of food, it typically refers to meat that has been slaughtered a particular way, and that contains neither pork nor alcohol. Similar to kosher slaughter, halal slaughter requires that the animal’s throat is swiftly cut while the name of God is invoked. While this is the bare-bones legal definition, there are a number of other recommendations that are drawn from the stories of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions that typify our ethics in relation to animals. From numerous “hadiths” we learn that an animal should not be dragged to slaughter, but walked. They should be given water. They should not see other animals slaughtered. They should never see the knife, which should be razor sharp. The animal should be put at ease. Death must be quick and as painless as possible. In Islam, animals are an important part of God’s creation, and we know from the Qur’an that animals have their own communities and languages, and that each is engaged in constant praise of God. From other hadiths we learn that animals should be treated kindly and with respect; cruelty towards a cat is what literally sends one woman to hell.

I’ve started eating meat again over the past year, which has been in many ways and on many levels a process of discovery. We’ve identified a number of farms and businesses in the United States, Canada, and the UK that raise and slaughter their meat in accordance not only with the legal principles of Islam, but with deep respect for its ethical principles. Slowly, these Muslim (and Jewish) companies and organizations are showing us that religion, quite literally, has something to bring to the table.

Krystina Friedlander is an author and co-founder of Beyond Halal, a project on Islamic law, ethics, and the treatment of animals. She holds an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Tulane University, where she performed research on Islamic authority and new media. She lives in Cambridge, MA.

Healing The Wounded

2011-08-18T16:42:00.001-05:00

I fell in love with a broken city. Like all love, it is impractical, ridiculous, and difficult to explain. It makes me look like a fool. I could describe her to you: her beauty, her history of abuse, her spirit and her ways. But you wouldn't understand unless you love her too.

Check out my latest article at the Huffington Post on New Orleans, Doubt and the Value of Irrational Faith. If you like it (or if you don’t!) leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Inter-religious Dialogue: An Encounter ~ guest post by Musa Askari

2011-05-25T15:34:00.001-05:00

To engage in inter-religious dialogue is a tremendous moment of encounter. An encounter primarily between individuals. A great challenge at the same time. For to enter dialogue is to run the risk of being transformed positively by the witness and testimony of the other. It is this challenge which at the same time holds great reward for those who partake in dialogue wholeheartedly as individuals and not simply as individual representations of a collective identity.

Here lies the first challenge to see the other as someone from whom one can learn; that their experience has something deeply meaningful to offer. Sadly, many fall at the first hurdle. The individual is missed and we are left with only a shell, an appearance of dialogue, where inter-religious dialogue is seen as the destination and not as one of many starting points to spiritual quest. Which maybe is why some remain disillusioned that the promise of dialogue did not bear more fruit after initial discussion sessions.

For purposes of context crucial we state a distinction between the term “inter-religion” and inter-religious dialogue. They are not one and the same. “For centuries this inter-religious consciousness was suppressed, the only way to redeem it is to clearly and whole-heartedly acknowledge the reality and necessity of multi-religion….inter-religious dialogue is one of the many ways in which inter-religion becomes a conscious process.” (Hasan Askari, from Inter-Religion, 1977)

If inter-religious dialogue is only about acquiring knowledge about the faith of one’s spiritual neighbour then it is not “dialogue”. It is a study of religion and there are many ways to acquire this socio-historic knowledge outside of a dialogue meetings. That cannot be the goal of dialogue. If it is then it is a secondary not a primary goal. The goal at its core surely must be of encounter, to bear co-witness leading to mutual mission.

Should inter-religious dialogue remain an institutional formality then I fear it may never rise to fulfill its promise of deep and meaningful engagement between peoples of diverse faiths and backgrounds. It is as individuals we dialogue not as collective identities. To arrive at such a door of dialogue presupposes some deep sense of inquiry about the very fact of a multi-religious world. A knocking upon an inner door followed by entry in to dialogue which is both with the other and within oneself. Both individuals become doors for each other’s entry in to a moment of “presence” before one another. A presence that is both independent of them and also within them.

To partake of inter-religious dialogue is to ask the question, consciously or not, “Why do we have more than one religion upon our planet?”(Hasan Askari). Thus to engage in inter-religious dialogue is also to peer in to the very obvious phenomenon of more than one religious and spiritual witness. It is a call to abolish exclusivity and one-sidedness, first and foremost within the mind of the individual. To break free of the grip of collective hypnosis; that one’s own tradition alone holds the truth exclusively:

“Perhaps we need more than one religion. How could the mystery of the Transcendent Reality be equated with the form of one faith and practice, or with one state or sign of a given religious experience! That there was something essentially desirable and positive about the very existence of more than one religion. Accepting multi religion as a theological necessity, almost a blessing. Religious diversity was thus a school of true humility and patience". (Hasan Askari: Spiritual Quest - An Inter Religious Dimension)

My own journey spiritually, which includes a deep appreciation for inter-religious dialogue, began at the hand of my teacher and friend, my late father Professor Hasan Askari (1932-2008) http://spiritualhuman.wordpress.com/hasan-askari/ . From a young age I was immersed in the work of who many regard as one of the pioneers of inter-religious dialogue. At first it was a curiosity to know more about the work of a father before me but later it became, through love, a life’s endeavour and remains so. Religious diversity has always been a part of my life. Looking back I was fortunate in other ways too by having a childhood in both India and England. The spiritual diversity which was overtly a part of my life in India continued in England. However, it continued in a more subtle manner but nonetheless significant.

I came to accept, very early on, religious diversity as a sign of deep inquiry rather than something to confront. Furthermore, I came to accept it was not enough for me to be simply curious about the variety of religious practices, rites and rituals, but to move on from that understanding and integrate it in to my spiritual life, an inner life. I was interested in the individual before me as much as I was interested in my own individuality.

Spiritually I needed the presence of the other to help me consider the mystery of religious diversity. Without the other, who bears no outward resemblance to one’s collective history, to the faith in to which one is born, without the other there is no diversity. Without diversity there remains no self-limiting principle within the life of humanity to remind us of the dangers in making the most exclusive and one-sided claims to truth and finality.

I was not interested in pseudo dialogue. I was interested in not only what the other before me had to say of their faith but more so interested in a “sentiment” which can be shared despite outward differences. I was interested in a most ancient and beautiful term, the essence of one’s being, namely soul (atma/psyche/ruh). Overtime I realised that unless one is prepared to stand apart from exclusive truth claims, from the baggage of collective identity, breaking free from the weight of collective burden that one was somehow responsible for the entire collective faith of one’s tradition, one would never meet the individual in dialogue. There would always remain a hesitation to engage fully. There would be no dialogue let alone encounter only a repetition of well known themes and objections ending in not dialogue but monologue. There would be neither sentiment nor the rising to a moment of being present to one another in co-witness.

Is inter-religious dialogue failing? Is it yet to deliver on its promise? It maybe too early to say despite the great efforts made over the previous four to five decades. For example, from Ajaltoun consultation to Lebanon and Broumana in Colombo, Europe and the United States. From those early days of commitment inter-religious dialogue has now become a global phenomenon which must be regarded as some measure of success. Today we have the “Common Word” initiative – Love of God and Love of Neighbour. In the end as in the beginning the common word for me literally and spiritually is simply “Life”. To ponder this mighty question of “Life” spiritually one cannot help but stumble upon soul as the principle of “Life”. Perhaps, just perhaps, what is missing from inter-religious dialogue may be met by reviving the classical discourse on soul.

Musa Askari, son of the late Professor Syed Hasan Askari, is an independent thinker continuing the work of his teacher and guide. He does not belong to any religious or political organisation. Spiritually at home in any and all houses of worship and systems of thought which echo a universal outlook supporting a wholesome and meaningful engagement with the world about us. A world that is both a wonder and mystery; secular and religious, material and spiritual, physical and meta-physical. Dedicated to the revival of the classical discourse on Soul, Inter-Religious understanding & Spiritual Humanism as an alternative ideology to secularism and religious fundamentalism.
http://spiritualhuman.wordpress.com/
1spiritualhuman@gmail.com

The (personal) History of Headwaters/Delta

2011-05-06T14:12:00.001-05:00

I was invited to write a guest post about Mother’s Day for Points of Light Institute. Of course, I wrote about my mom, and how she inspired me to form Headwaters/Delta Interfaith.

I’m low on sleep, as usual.

My baby is keeping me up: I’m in the throes of the 501(c)3 registration process for Headwaters/Delta Interfaith. Among other things, HDI is opening a non-denominational Spiritual Space as part of a revitalization project in New Orleans. The IRS paperwork is vast and complicated. Funding is scarce, and I worry about how I’m going to make it work. I’m not even from New Orleans! I live in Minneapolis.

The Righteousness of Doubt~ Guest Post by Drew Jacob

2011-04-20T14:53:00.001-05:00

Not all spiritual practices are the same.

Some practices reinforce faith. Faith has become synonymous with religion, but not all religions encourage it—because it's not always a good thing. Faith is primarily an act of belief. I've been scolded many times by people who tell me it is much more than that: it involves love and respect. I always ask these people if love or respect on their own, without belief, would still count as faith.

The answer is always no.

So, heathen though I may be, I continue to equate faith and belief. This is a cornerstone of several religions, and unsurprisingly those religions make heavy use of practices that strengthen faith. Two of the practices that do that best are reciting creeds and communing with a god.

Reciting a creed verbally affirms that a god exists, and communion takes the practitioner through the actions of actually addressing that god—even visualizing the deity or his response. Daily prayer does the same thing in a less dramatic, but more frequent way. These practices only make sense if the deity is real, and people hate to doing something unless it makes sense. So the result of these practices is stronger belief. If God didn't exist, I wouldn't be doing this... so He must exist.

On the other hand there's meditation.

There are lots of types of meditations so I'll be more specific. I do awareness meditation. This is the kind of meditation where you give your attention to one thought or image, and put aside any other thoughts that come up.

I do this gently. It is not an act of intense concentration. Instead, it becomes a practice of soft but continuous discipline. The mind is directed back to the object of the meditation, and away from other various thoughts and daydreams. This is done over and over.

This kind of practice leads to something very different. Rather than faith, the result is doubt.

The meditative mind is trained to be more aware: of the self, and of the surroundings. Most people don't notice when something is distracting them, nor do they catch themselves when they cover up pain or anxiety by putting their mind on something else. During awareness meditation, these distractions are turned off. The mind frantically throws new distractions in place (a memory, a daydream, a sound from outside) but each of these is dismissed in turn.

By doing this for years, meditators begin to doubt the little lies we tell ourselves. We tell these lies constantly, every day, to maintain our comfort level and manage our stress. It isn't an efficient system, but it works some of the time.

Meditators begin to manage their stress differently, by seeing through the little lies and distractions, right to the root causes, and then seeing through those too. The truth is that most of the things that cause us stress really aren't worth it; they have no hold on us beyond what we give them. They are distractions just as much as the lies were.

When you learn to navigate the mind and see through its shadows, faith begins to look a lot like one of those lies we tell ourselves. There's someone looking out for me. There's a reason things happen the way they do. If I'm good I'll be rewarded.

Many people wouldn't think that's a good thing. People with faith derive a sense of strength from it: it becomes an unshakeable certainty which can overturn adversity in their lives.

But the meditator develops a strong sense of inner confidence. This presents itself as a calmness that can be carried into any situation. Unlike the confidence of faith, which is drawn from something outside the self (a god, an ideal), the confidence of meditation comes from within the self. Faith is based on hope, which can sometimes be misplaced; meditation is based on knowing yourself, which can never be refuted.

For me, the advantage of this faithless practice came out in times of duress. Meditation doesn't provide comfort like faith does, but it removes the need to be comforted. It taught me to question my assumptions about where I draw my happiness from, which allows me to navigate seemingly terrible losses. Whereas faith can be taken away (“If God is so good, why would he let my brother die?”), the meditative mind relies on nothing external and cannot be threatened. It is a fortress the practitioner always has access to.

If you have thoughts on doubt, faith, or meditation, tweet me @Rogue_Priest. If this post made you think, please retweet or facebook share it!

Drew Jacob is a priest of many gods, a seasoned nonprofit professional, a writer, an observer and all too frequently a student of his own misadventures. He follows the Heroic Path: the idea that the highest goal in life is to live gloriously, to distinguish yourself through your deeds, to be clever and brave and become known for it – to use the moments of your life to leave a lasting and worthy impression on the world.

Drew lives in the Twin Cities and frequently forays into the wilderness to experience nature and challenge himself. He believes in meditation and all other forms of healthy living.

Follow Drew’s blog Rogue Priest and twitter @Rogue_Priest

New Flyer!

2011-04-14T00:50:00.001-05:00

The text reads:

Come to the urban worship space at the Healing Center…Pray, reflect, meditate or simply enjoy a few moments of peace.

Anyone who wishes to retreat from the hectic pace of the city is welcome to connect with Spirit in this sacred non-denominational space. A simple and intimate room will open to a rooftop greenspace with a fountain and benches for quiet contemplation.

The staircase leading to the worship space will feature symbols from the diverse Faith and Spiritual communities of New Orleans, but the space itself will contain only light and silence...so that all may worship in their own ways.

The Interfaith Program at the Healing Center is run by Headwaters/Delta Interfaith. We work with local, national and international organizations to encourage curiosity, cooperation and concord and bring faith and spiritual leaders together to share perspectives, discuss common concerns and plan faith, spiritual and culture-specific activities and festivals. We partner with other Healing Center tenants to make faith culture part of holistic community expression and outreach; this venue will become a destination for traditional art, music and the unique celebrations of diverse cultural groups.

For more information, visit
www.headwatersdelta.org
www.neworleanshealingcenter.org
email saum@headwatersdelta.org or call 952.457.4530

KHEL/HDI Board meeting

2011-04-13T13:46:00.001-05:00

While we are working towards getting our 501(c)3 status (becoming an independent Non-profit business) we are still part of KHEL Charities International. KHEL generously acts as a Fiscal Sponsor, which allows Headwaters/Delta Interfaith to function as an independent project and accept tax-deductible donations.

We recently attended the KHEL board meeting to give a report of our work. You can read a summary here.

Spiritual Space Construction Photos

2011-01-11T21:56:00.001-06:00

We just received these photos from architect Robert Alan Asistent. The building is scheduled to open in March or April. After these many years of planning, it’s incredible to see the Spiritual Space taking form.

Click here for architect’s plans and dimensions. There have been a few changes decided on during construction, for example, the altar storage will be in the entry hallway rather than the Worship Space, and the doorway between the Worship Space and the Lounge is larger.

North Lounge area/ Fire Escape door.

As opening approaches, we have to come up with funds to furnish and finish this space, as well as cover monthly rent and expenses; we could use your help! All donations are tax deductible.

South Interfaith Entry: Worship/Contemplation Space doorway into Lounge; this doorway will be able to open completely so larger groups can be accommodated. Besides religious and spiritual traditions, groups like Alcoholics Anonymous have shown an interest in using the space for meetings.

East wall with steps and doorway to Meditation Deck. The reclaimed oak on the steps came from another part of this historic building and will be used to provide flooring throughout the Spiritual Space. We were wracking our brains trying to figure out how to afford a costly wood floor, so this is a great gift from the building!

Meditation Deck (enclosed space within safety railing).We hope to add a partial awning or canopy, tile floor, a water feature and lots of greenery. The railing will be hidden behind live bamboo.

View of Skyline from Meditation Deck. Originally we envisioned screening all sides of the deck with bamboo, but who wants to cover up that gorgeous view?

We are trying to decide between the “Daredevil Orange” paint covering the wall and the “Red Radish” sample in the corner.

Vedic Christianity and the Liberal Catholic Church

2011-01-07T14:42:00.001-06:00

Interfaith work usually brings together individuals from distinct faith traditions; sometimes we meet someone who embodies this work and brings traditions together in their own life. Our guest post is by Father Tony (The Very Reverend Monsignor Anthony Guagliardo/Sri Hariharananda Sivadasa Bharathi Swami). Father Tony’s congregations will meet at our Interfaith Spiritual Space in the New Orleans Healing Center when we open in April.

Father Tony explains the traditions he comes from:

Liberal Catholic Church
The Liberal Catholic Church (LCC) is a form of Christianity open to Theosophical, Gnostic and Mystical ideas, including reincarnation. The title also is applied to various separate and independent denominations throughout the world holding many theosophical and vedic ideas in common.

Church background
The founding bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church was the Most Reverend James I. Wedgwood of the Wedgwood China family, formerly a priest in the Church of England (Anglican), who became a theosophist and was ordained as a priest in the Old Catholic movement on July 22, 1913 by Arnold Harris Mathew . Archbishop Mathew was a resigned Roman Catholic priest who had been consecrated by Archbishop Gerardus Gul of Utrecht on April 28, 1908 and appointed as the first Old Catholic bishop in Britain. Thus the Liberal Catholic Church traces its apostolic succession back to Rome through Old Catholicism. Bishop Wedgwood was consecrated to the episcopate on February 13, 1916 by Bishop Frederick Samuel Willoughby (who had been consecrated by Bishop Matthew), and started the organization that would later become the Liberal Catholic Church of which Wedgwood became the first Presiding Bishop.

Basis of Teaching
According to church teaching, the Liberal Catholic Church draws the central inspiration of its work from an earnest faith in the living Christ. It holds that the vitality of a church gains in proportion as its members not only revere and worship a Christ who lived two thousand years ago, but also strive to affirm in their lives the eternal Christ of whom St. John (Chapter 8:58) speaks: "Before Abraham was, I am." It is the Christ who ever lives as a mighty spiritual presence in the world, guiding and sustaining His people.

Liberal Catholicism regards these promises as validating all Christian worship, of whatever kind, so long as it be earnest and true. But it further holds that while the promise of the Presence with individual believers is thus effective, Christ also appointed certain rites or sacraments, called 'mysteries' in the Eastern Church, for the greater helping of his people, to be handed down in the Church as special channels of power and blessing. Through these 'means of grace' The Liberal Catholic Church believes that Christ is ever present within His Church, in fellowship and Communion, guiding and protecting them from birth to death.

Sacraments and apostolic succession
According to the Liberal Catholic Church's Statement of Principles, "The Liberal Catholic Church recognizes seven fundamental sacraments, which it enumerates as follows: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Absolution, Holy Unction, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders. It possesses an unbroken apostolic succession through the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht and its orders are 'acknowledged as valid throughout the whole of those churches of Christendom which maintain the apostolic succession of orders as a tenet of their faith."

Unity of all religions
The Liberal Catholic Church believes that there is a body of doctrine and mystical experience common to all the great religions of the world and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. Moving within the orbit of Christianity and regarding itself as a distinctive Christian church it nevertheless holds that the other great religions of the world are also divinely inspired and that all proceed from a common source, though religions may stress different aspects of the various teachings and some aspects may even temporarily be ignored. These teachings, as facts in nature, rest on their own intrinsic merit. They form that true catholic faith which is catholic because it is the statement of universal principles. The LCC bases these beliefs on what St. Augustine said: "The identical thing that we now call the Christian religion existed among the ancients and has not been lacking from the beginnings of the human race until the coming of Christ in the flesh, from which moment on the true religion, which already existed, began to be called Christian." (Retract I. XIII,3). The same principle is involved in the declaration of St. Vincent of Lerins: "That let us hold which everywhere, always and by all has been believed: for this is truly and rightly catholic."

Sant Issa Sangham
In 2009, Bishop Delahunt of the LCC Theosophia Synod established an autonomous prelature called the Sant Issa Sangham ("Fellowship of Holy Jesus" in Sanskrit), appointing as Director the Very Reverend Monsignor Anthony Guagliardo (Sri Hariharananda Sivadasa Bharathi Swami), who is simultaneously an initiated Sannyasin of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) in the ancient monastic order of the eminent Indian philosopher and saint Adi Shankaracharya (500 - 430 BCE). Recognizing Liberal Catholicism as "Vedic Christianity", the Sant Issa Sangham provides a system of worship which is based on the belief that Jesus Christ lived, was trained and taught in India during His life, and the rituals are based on Dharmic puja (rituals of worship) and sadhana (personal spiritual practices).

Author’s Bio:
The Very Rev Msgr Anthony Guagliardo, born of Anglo-Indian parents from Ireland and early orphaned after his parents' untimely death, was born in 1957. He was subsequently adopted, renamed and raised renamed Anthony Raul Giuseppe Guagliardo in a American family of Cuban and Italian descent in Tampa, Florida. Raised Roman Catholic, he completed his bachelor's and master's studies in Social Psychology, Ancient History and Comparative Religion at the University of South Florida, City Colleges of Chicago, University of Maryland, Fordham University in New York and received his Doctorate of Divinity from Mar Tomas Malabar Syro-Orthodox Seminary in 1979. He served as Captain in the Chaplaincy of the United States Air Force for seven years based out of Ankara, Turkey, after which he obtained a permanent leave of absence from his priestly duties from the Military Ordinariate, resigned his commission as an Air Force Captain and traveled to India to discover his biological roots in 1984. It was at this time he decided to reclaim his birth name of Shivadas (Sivadasa) and embraced Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), the spiritual path of his maternal ancestors, studying Adi Shankara's Advaitin (non-dualistic) philosophy and taking diksha (initiation) from his late guru, Sri Sharadhananda Bharati of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham Math (monastery) in India and took the spiritual name of Sri Hariharananda Sivadasa Bharathi Swami.

After his return to the United States, he became a priest in the Liberal Catholic Church – Theosophia Synod and was later elevated to the position of Monsignor. Since then he has worked as an editor for several newspapers and magazines, authored several books, served as CEO/Temple Manager, pujari (priest) and religious studies instructor for the Hindu Temple of Georgia in Atlanta, and worked as a counselor and certified hypnotherapist. He currently serves as Director of Operations for both the Gandhi Foundation USA, Atlanta City of Peace, Inc. And the Dharmic Arts Foundation, Inc. And has worked with numerous other non-profit community organizations and associations such as The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the Pagan Allied Network of America and the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia. He recently published his latest book, Srimad Bhagavad Gita: An American Translation in Prose. He currently resides in New Orleans, where he has established the Saint Sophia Mission of the Liberal Catholic Church – Theosophia Synod and a Dharmic Christian Fellowsihp called The Sant Issa Sangham.

Websites:
http://dharmicarts.com
http://dharmamerica.com
http://dharmamerica.org/LiberalCatholicDigest/

Holiday Giving, an Interfaith Alternative

2010-12-21T14:32:00.001-06:00

Every year, the Christmas vs. The Holidays debate is dragged out, dusted off and hung up again. I'd like to propose an alternative way to express a (non-Christian) encounter with Christmas. Let's agree that Christians are the majority but not the only religious culture that influences our popular and public culture. Let's agree that they do have a holiday called Christmas.

Let's help them have it.

If you are Muslim, Atheist, Pagan, Hindu or something else -- in other words, if you are not Christian -- give your Christian colleagues a break this holiday season. Offer to cover shifts, pick up the slack on projects and so on. If most of your family celebrates Christmas and you don't, offer to do the grocery shopping or watch the kids. Think of it as a birthday: to people we care about and coexist with, it's a significant day. It's just not our significant day…

Read the rest at The Huffington Post

New Orleans~ Bring Yoga to Those in Need

2010-11-30T09:06:00.001-06:00

Our Friends at Wild Lotus Yoga Present
A Special Donation Event Downtown
This Friday December 3rd, 7-9pm
(to benefit Wild Lotus Scholarship Fund
to help low-income neighbors attend yoga workshops and trainings)

Wild & Free Lotus Flow Benefit Yoga Class with Kirtan Chanting
Guided by Guest Teacher Dana Flynn, Founder of Laughing Lotus Yoga NYC + Kirtan chanting with Sean Johnson & Gwendolyn Colman of The Wild Lotus Band at Holy Angels Chapel,

3500 Saint Claude Ave at Gallier Street (From the parking lot, follow the walkway to the Sacred Heart statue.
The chapel is directly behind it.)

Suggested donation: $20. All welcome, no matter what you can offer. Bring friends!

PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

"Dana is a dear friend and beloved guide into the wilderness of the spirit. Her style of teaching yoga is evocative, creative, and full of soul -- always urging you to live the life you love and love the life you live. Come experience one of the most unique, lively, and inspiring voices in yoga today." - Sean Johnson, Founder of Wild Lotus Yoga

A yoga class with Dana has the devotional energy, passion, and music of gospel church. To make the night even more special this Lotus Flow class will actually take place in the sacred ambience of Holy Angels Chapel, a beautiful former chapel now used as a meeting hall, where we've been offering our downtown donation classes five days a week. Woven into the evening's festivities will be some kirtan chanting with Sean and drumming with Gwendolyn.

A Portion of the Proceeds go to Benefit the Wild Lotus Scholarship Fund, making it possible for low-income members of community to attend yoga workshops and trainings at the studio.

Dana Flynn is the Director of the School and Center at Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in NYC. This year Lotus Celebrates 10 years of Community! Dana is known for her wildly poetic yoga sequencing and her raw and generous energy. She is celebrated for re-awakening yoga asanas and creating mass Celebration. She has been featured in The NY Times, and she has taught at yoga conferences and festivals all over the world including Yoga Journal. She bows to the amazing teachers that have inspired her along her Cosmic way, especially Sharon Gannon, Rodney Yee and Jasmine Tarkeshi.

Dana will also be guiding a teacher's intensive and Sunday morning revival flow class at Wild Lotus' uptown studio on Saturday and Sunday.

For More Details visit www.WildLotusYoga.com

___________________________
Thanks for being a part of our growing downtown yoga community! We have been offering 5 donation classes a week for the last 18 months. We are excited to share that construction our future downtown home The New Orleans Healing Center, one of the most exciting and ambitious recovery projects in the city, is moving swiftly forward. We are anticipating opening there in the Spring of 2011. Please help spread the word about our classes and our Spring 2011 opening to your friends.

Thanks and Namaste,
Sean and the Wild Lotus Family
Schedule of Downtown Donation Based Classes at Holy Angels Chapel
3500 Saint Claude Ave at Galler St
(From the parking lot, follow the walkway to the Sacred Heart statue. The chapel is directly behind it.)
Monday 6-7:30pm with Kendall
Tuesday 6-7:30pm with Michelle
Wednesday 6-7:30pm with AC
Thursday 6-7:30pm with Lauren
Saturday 10:30-noon with Farah

Thanks for voting Wild Lotus Yoga
"Best Place To Take A Yoga Class In New Orleans"
eight years in a row!

Wild Lotus Yoga

4842 Perrier Street New Orleans, LA 70115
Downtown donation classes at Holy Angels Chapel, 3500 Saint Claude Ave at Gallier
Opening at The New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 Saint Claude Ave in early 2011
(504) 899-0047 www.wildlotusyoga.com teamlotus@wildlotusyoga.com

Become a fan on Facebook!

Remember Haiti ~ less than a year has passed.

2010-11-12T13:16:00.001-06:00

November 16 is Give to the Max Day!

Headwaters/Delta asks you to donate to help Haiti recover. Our friends at Mission Haiti need support to continue their important work providing basic needs in a dire situation. Mission Haiti is a small, volunteer-run organization and relies on support from Minnesota to continue their work. This organization is inspired by the Christian ideal of compassion for those in need.

“Love, support, and the care of children have no boundaries—we believe that we are all equal partners in God’s eyes. In 1998, a small group of us responded to the need for these very things in a small, often forgotten place called Haiti. We started by building a school in Leogane, a port town approximately 18 miles west of Port au Prince. Children not only receive a daily meal at school, but also the hope that comes with the possibilities of education.

Since that time, Mission Haiti Inc. has broadened our mission to include a greater share of the funding for the growing Annunciation School, support of a home for abandoned women called The Village of Jesus, provision of medical kits to clinics, leading immersion/service trips, and partnering with other humanitarian efforts to provide medicine, food, clean water and other basic necessities that are chronically in short supply in Haiti.

We are excited about our growth and progress, and yet, there is much still to do.

Working side-by-side with Haitians in their communities, together, we are changing the world. Will you join us? Your donations, sponsorship, and support are vital to continuing this life-saving work.”

Please help Mission Haiti! Donate here.

The Conversation Within

2010-10-12T21:11:00.001-05:00

How can we encourage diverse Asian/Indian-American women to take part in dialogue? Many women hesitate to speak up because critical perspectives are often treated as defamation; questioning and criticism are often treated as attacks. How can we get better at dialogue?

I hope to get this question answered, or at least addressed, next Wednesday by Tina Tchen, Executive Director, White House Council on Women and Girls, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Engagement at the White House . Headwaters/Delta has been invited by our team at Hindu American Seva Charities to take part in this call about Asian/Indian-American women in the United States. I’m inviting you to join us.

I’m interested in the answer to my question both from an interfaith and personal perspective. As a Hindu-American woman there are things about my culture (both the Hindu and the American parts) that I find empowering, as I wrote about in the Washington Post, and other things that I really struggle with. I’m often surprised to find myself engaged with inter/faith work, as I remain deeply skeptical about some aspects of religion and faith. My version of “being Hindu” is my own. Because of this, and despite my heritage and training, often when I am engaging with other Hindus, I do not feel I am Hindu enough. I am always striving for (and often failing to have) honest and productive dialogue within the Hindu religious tradition about my faith culture.

There are vast viewpoints within a religion: this is why I refer, not to my religion, but my faith culture. We each live in a faith culture influenced by a rich combination of things: religious, scriptural, cultural, national, ethnic, local and family traditions, philosophical, intellectual or scientific theories, our own experiences based on gender, sexual orientation, and so on. This illustrates something that makes educating the public about religion so challenging, and may be the most important point we can communicate in that education: the diversity of belief and practice within a religious faith are staggering.

My friend and colleague Erik Schwarz, the Managing Partner at Interfaith Works and Co-Director of the Institute for Faith and Service, once said that the “conversation within,” that is, the dialogue within a faith, can be far more challenging than dialogue between faiths. I agree. I also think it’s a difficult conversation, so we often avoid it or do it poorly.

The conversation within a faith is painful and challenging because it can feel like a battle for the identity of the faith itself, and by extension, our own identity. For example, this ongoing conversation about the controversial movie Sita Sings The Blues highlights many different ideas of what it means to practice Hinduism. It’s easy to think that different views are a dilution or distortion of one’s own views. Having our views critiqued is uncomfortable, and can feel threatening, like an attack. But, a different approach does not mean your approach is wrong. What initially feels like an attack on one’s faith culture can be viewed as an argument, a debate or simply a conversation. In reality, when we talk to those of our own religious tradition, we have, at times, attacked, argued, debated and conversed. We can consciously choose to take part in a conversation. We might learn something from it.

We all, as individuals and traditions, are made up of sometimes contradictory values, beliefs and actions. We don’t have to bring everything into agreement: tension is healthy and can fuel our passion and curiosity for life, but we do have to accept the contradictions, to respect that there are many questions to ask, and many answers to explore.

Within the Hindu American Seva team, we don’t all have the same definitions and experience of what it means to be “Hindu” or “American” or even what it means to do “seva.” How could we? And why would we want to? The most interesting, enlightening and productive conversations are when we discover and explore those differences together. Our work, in a way, is an exploration of these themes. And this work is already happening all over the country, in many different ways, as people strive to find their place, their voice and their identity. To discover, and through that process of discovery, continually create, what it means to be Hindu or Asian or American or just me.

So, if you are interested in taking part in the important and challenging dialogue, try it. Sign up to take part in this historic conference call. You might be surprised where it leads you, and what you find along the way. But when we say “everyone is welcome';” we mean it. Bring your questions: especially the difficult ones. Those are the ones we need the most.

Five (thousand) years later: Yoga, Hinduism and Healing from Hurricane Katrina

2010-08-30T01:36:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful Yogathon experience here in New Orleans, at the Radha Radhakantha ISKCON Temple on Esplanade. What began as a vision to draw the Hindu community into social service outreach through offering free yoga, manifested an evening of connectivity, healing and rebirth.

Yogathon, which included over 100 Temples, Ashrams and Spiritual Centers nationwide, is featured in the Washington Post On Faith Blog. In New Orleans, it was part of the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina remembrance and renewal.

The temple, with its traditional New Orleans exterior complete with wrought iron fence, and interior complete with traditional Hindu worship space, is a perfect example of the beauty and strength of our multicultural, pluralistic society. That this temple offers seva in the form of free dinner to the community every Sunday night, only enhances its beauty. New Orleans is a fantastic city, but also a city very much in need of compassionate service.

The space generously provided by the temple for Yogathon was absolutely lovely, with marble floors, dark wood paneling, stained glass accents and images of Indian devotional art. Two instructors, Laura Flora and Anne Compton Lambeth from Wild Lotus Yoga led a class, which was only the start of the evening. Before leading the attendees through gentle asanas (yoga postures), Laura spoke about the deep spiritual art of yoga. We had a very diverse group, some beginners and others experienced, who were all sweetly tolerant of my running to and fro with the camera.

Laura guided the class through breath awareness and various asanas, emphasizing stretch without strain. She gave simple but accurate explanations for the meaning of the asanas, such as Vrikshsasana “the tree pose.” Anne assisted by gently helping people position and relax into the poses.
The class was transformative; there was a noticeable difference from the slightly harried people arriving in the rain, and the same people one hour later, rising from Shavasana: relaxed, energized and peaceful.

After the yoga class (and taking a moment to rehydrate with some juice!) we were given a tour of the temple and everyone was made welcome to join in chanting during the beautiful religious service. This close encounter with singing, dancing Bhakti tradition was eye-opening for many of the non-Hindu attendees who associate Hinduism with scriptural complexity and meditative contemplation. The Bhakti tradition is especially at home in New Orleans, where music, dance and vibrant celebrations are very much a part of the city’s sense of self. Everyone was pleased to deepen their understanding.

Exploring the diversity of ways to worship in any tradition is a key to understanding the true nature of faith. Here in the United States there are many Hindu communities, each with its own traditions, rites and practices. While much is held in common, every congregation is unique. In turn, there is much that is shared in common with the surrounding culture; each is advised and enriched by the other.

We enjoyed a vegetarian meal lovingly prepared by the temple community, and over this delicious dinner, had an informal but spirited discussion about the roots of yoga and its role in American life. Some people had questions about yoga and Hinduism, so we introduced general history and terms, and discussed the many forms of yoga philosophy. We all shared our views and experiences of the empowering necessity of spiritual expression, regardless of one’s faith (or lack thereof). Everyone I spoke with had a deep respect for the power of yoga as part of an enlightening and grounding spiritual practice.

As this was the 5^th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, there were events and rallies throughout the city. A few people who attended Yogathon remarked on the connection between healing oneself and healing one’s community, and chose to attend this event as part of their personal observance of this significant date. Many grieve for those who died in that catastrophe, and struggle to come to terms with the forever altered landscape of the survivor. New Orleans has a long way to go: many people are still traumatized by the events set in motion by the hurricane; many are simultaneously seeking and creating a path for revitalizing the city and themselves.

Being part of Yogathon and offering yoga as a vehicle to heal this great city (my second home), was very meaningful to me personally. Just as the United States welcomes my hereditary Hindu community and has in turn been enriched by the unique perspectives which that community has to offer, so I feel adopted by New Orleans, and allowed to help in this time of rebirth. It’s humbling that, as someone who is not from this city, I am accepted, guided and embraced by the community, and allowed to make my own small contribution.

I’d like to thank everyone at Hindu American Seva Charities, ISKCON New Orleans, Wild Lotus Yoga, New Orleans Healing Center and Interfaith Works, as well as my eternally tolerant husband Urban Haas, and our lovely NOLA housemate Veronica Leandrez for support, tolerance, hospitality and encouragement far above and beyond the call of duty. My community here in New Orleans together explores and lives the experience of self-healing as community healing. I am so grateful for the opportunity to bring some Hindu wisdom to sustain that journey.

Our experience with Yogathon revealed that there is no need to build bridges between cultures. In simply coming together and sharing of ourselves, we realize that we do not inhabit separate shores, but live a land that is itself a bridge. We only map what is already there.

Free Yoga: Interfaith Innovation and a Return to Traditional Roots

2010-08-02T14:52:00.003-05:00

I always say that Interfaith engagement does not necessarily change traditions, but rather stimulates innovative ways of expressing tradition. In this case, quite literally: Ancient tradition + Social Networking = new way of communicating.

Headwaters/Delta is now the Social Media Adviser for Hindu American Seva Charities (HASC)! HASC is a project run by Anju Bhargava, the Hindu representative on President Obama’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

HASC is a progressive American organization promoting pluralism, tolerance, social justice, civic engagement (including acculturation and adaptation of New Americans and immigrants), and advancing interfaith and community service. Seva is an integral part of Hindu/Dharmic traditions, and means society enrichment through volunteer activities. Many people in our country are in need of a little (or a lot) of help. Hindu communities have much to offer their fellow Americans, of any, every, and no faith. We want to help.

Much of HASC’s work is to reach out to Hindu and other “Dharma” traditions such as Buddhist, Sikh and Jain, to form a network and collective vision for this new endeavor. There has never been a national organization for these traditions that specifically focuses on social service. So, how will we proceed? What’s next?

Our first project with HASC is to help promote Yogathon: Free Yoga Across America. We are uniting the White House “Active Lifestyle Challenge” with the Hindu concept of seva. On August 29th, Temples, Ashrams and other Spiritual Centers across the nation will offer FREE Yoga classes to the public. Everyone (of any or no faith) is welcome! If your organization would like to join us, sign up here. All we ask is that attendees bring a non-perishable food item, and that the participating temples donate them to a local food shelf. We’d appreciate it if you could take a photo and/or send us a brief report to feature on our website, too.

New ideas are often a manifestation of really old ideas. Yoga is an old practice, remade as a new activity, and now it has become part of a movement within its original ancient community (Hindus) living in a young country (America) to do something innovative with another ancient concept: seva. These ideas may be old, but they are far from outdated. There are many ways to bring them to serve our current needs.

We're working on enhancing HASC's 21st Century communication via Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Networking sites. You’ll be seeing us around the internet very soon!

What’s new now, will be old someday: history is in the making. Let’s make something we can look back on and be proud of.

Worldwide Interfaith Ceremonies for the Spirit of the Sea

2010-06-30T20:29:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, June 27, communities across the world joined in ceremony, vigil and prayer, for the Spirit of the Sea. From Minneapolis to New Orleans, St. Petersburg to South Africa, Australia to the UK, people of all (or no) faiths came together in sorrow and healing. The purpose of these gatherings was to offer apologies for the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and express hope of healing for the Waters, our world and ourselves.These ceremonies were a cooperative effort between The New Orleans Healing Center, Headwaters/Delta Interfaith, and many other interfaith, religious and secular organizations, communities and individuals. Thank you to everyone who was a part of this.

We’ve gathered photos, prayers and reports from ceremonies around the world; we still have more trickling in, so check back next week for more!

Lake Superior

Washington, DC

Jefferson memorial, waters of the tidal basin. Blessings and prayers for forgiveness.

Mississippi River, Minneapolis, MN

About 25 people gathered on the banks of the Mississippi at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis MN. This peaceful spot, surrounded by trees and overlooked by the downtown skyline has steps that descend to the water. Prayers were offered from many traditions, but people also spoke of their personal grief at the pollution of our Waters, the deaths of oil rig workers and the suffering of so many creatures of the Sea. I opened with an invocation to all the Spirits of the Waters from the Vodou tradition. Ma Seva, a Vedic Swami (nun) offered a healing prayer in Sanskrit; Tim Printup, a Celtic/Pagan priest offered prayers to the river goddess Boann and the water deity Nechtan, and asked for our gratitude and blessings upon those who are working tirelessly on the beaches and waters in the Gulf region. Sushi Sharma, my sister and a Vedic priestess, recited:

On this day, 1,972,929,110 of the current creation era, at the Eastern banks of the Mississippi, on the American continent, at Boom Island Park on June 27th, at 7pm, we join in worldwide prayers for the Spirit of the Sea and the oil in the Gulf.

Peace in Heaven, in sky and on earth. Let waters flow to quench our thirst for peace. Let all trees and plants provide cool shade for a peaceful humanity. Let peace be in the hearts of all educated men, for them to share it with troubled minds. God is the source of peace, and His divine scripture teaches the way to that peace. May that peace extend its influence in every nook and corner of this globe. Let there be peace and only peace. May that peace come to me, too.

Rachel Dykoski offered a Catholic prayer and talked about her and her husband’s struggle as parents, to see the destruction of the Earth they hold in trust for their children. Rachel and I joined hands to recite the Hail Mary, for Mary Star of the Sea, and the divine mother who comforts us all.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and belssed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Artemis Preeshl from New Orleans emotionally thanked us for sending healing down the Mississippi to her home. Everyone came forward with a prayer from their tradition and their heart, either out loud or in silence. With each prayer or wish, a handful of rose petals was cast into the water.

After the ceremony, we gathered for a picnic. People had a chance to talk about their reaction to the oil spill, and share a little about their respective faiths. It was wonderful to connect personally with everyone there. Many people made plans to meet again and continue the discussions.

I would like to thank Interfaith Works, Minnesota Council of Churches, Saint Paul Area Council of Churches, The Meditation Center, Twin Cities Pagans, and Temple of the River, my husband Urban and everyone who attended, for their help and support to heal the Waters from which we all drink. Peace be with you all.

~Saumya Haas

Mississippi River, New Orleans

See more of Greg’ Rhoades’s wonderful photos from this event or order prints.

We got to the levee just as driftwood sculptor, Joshua, was putting the finishing touches on his brilliant Spirit Boat. We hung my Star of the Sea banner on it as a sail and everyone placed flowers and candles on it-- just perfect. I was busy collecting trash off the levee when the skies opened up and there was an INTENSE downpour. We got SOAKED (as in see-through) and FILTHY -- all pretty hilarious. Veronica went ahead and cast her Reiki circle while it was pouring. It all was perfect and clearing and cleansing. We thought everyone had left due to the rain, but a whole throng came back up over the levee as soon as the skies cleared. Sean Johnson came back early from his trip and lead us in a gorgeous and powerful kirtan. A few of the faith leaders didn't make it, but others did. I still have the image of Margie Perez, standing in the River in her white dress, singing for Yemaya in my mind. Wiccans, Thelemites , Temple of Isis all said lovely prayers. Dr John sent us his prayer in writing by messenger.

Our ceremony for Lasiren and Agwe was so beautiful!

James Singleton's horn was transporting and soulful and mysterious and deep. Moose's invocation was awesome. He spoke the perfect words in the perfect voice -- just exactly what we all were thinking and feeling and didn't know how to say. He was accompanied by pink lightening in the twilight sky. Wow.

Agwe and Lasiren came down into several people.

They both said that we should continue to do public prayer ceremonies like this one. Agwe warned that there is a deposit of methane gas under the drill that we ought to be concerned about.

Lasiren said many things and some of this I am trying to remember from what people told me. She said that she was FINE, but that we ought to be worried about ourselves (humans). We think she's so big and there's so much of her, but she can make herself SO SMALL! She can pull herself in and be safe from us and we will be thirsty and there will be no water to quench our thirst. When we are gone, she will expand and the earth will be covered with her seas again. She said that we need to wake up. NOW! We need to learn how to swim in dreams with her. Maybe through dream work we can clean the water. Then she thanked us for doing the ceremony.

The Spirit Boat, the location with the sun setting over the Mississippi, even the lights flickering on the electric tower, the loving souls there, the participation from friends around the world -- all was perfect.

I would like to thank The New Orleans Healing Center, La Source Ancienne, Phoenix Recycling, Fellowship of Isis, OTO, Covenant of the Pentacle, Sean Johnson, James Singleton, Moose, Margie Perez, Dr. John and everyone who volunteered their talents and hearts, braved the downpour to attend, and joined us around the world.

~Manbo Sallie Ann Glassman

Melbourne, Australia

South Africa

A special prayer two of the 11 official languages of South Africa: Zulu and Afrikaans (Dutch)

MAMA'LIYE MAMA'LIYE
MOEDER VAN DIE SEE
MAMA'LIYE MAMA'LIYE
GODIN VAN DIE SEE
SIYABONGA WENA, MAMA'LIYE
DANKIE MOEDER VAN DIE SEE
SIYABONGA WENA, MAMA'LIYE
NKOSI SIKALELI I'LA SIREN
SIYABONGA WENA, MAMA'LIYE
MOEDER VAN DIE SEE!!

"Our Mother, Our Mother
Mother of the Sea
Our Mother, Our Mother
Goddess of the Sea
Thank you, our Mother
Thank you, Mother of the Sea
Thank you, our Mother
God bless La Siren
Thank you, our Mother
Mother of the Sea!!"

Alabama

Minnesota

We do not have any fresh or moving water near our home so I walked well over a mile to bring this offering and prayer to a place where the water has clarity and movement.

When I walked with the Singing Bowl I said the Reiki Prayer "Just for Today, Do not be Angry, Do Not Worry, Be filled with Gratitude" At each place, that I stopped to rest, I took pictures. When I found the place near the water to leave the offering, apology, and prayers, I had another vision of the Spirits of the Waters being called on by each person preparing to pray for this event on Sunday. I saw the Spirits going out from me, those waters I Know - then to the East and over the Atlantic to Waters across the ocean, to the Moldau River, I saw the Water Spirits in Africa and the Middle East, across the Globe I heard the words "The Circle is complete"

I poured the water, left my offering, and sang with the singing bowl. When the prayers were done and it was time to leave I took a picture of the clouds across the water. There was a River Otter gamboling across the sky! The River Otter are coming back here in recent years and I felt that this was a good sign for us. When I left the prayer place it was 5:05 PM, the time when the Global Prayer event was beginning.

Oregon

Water ceremony at the Southern Oregon Temple of the Goddess
Sunday, June27, 2010, in solidarity with ceremony held in
New Orleans, Minneapolis and around the world—
“Apology to the Spirit of the Sea, for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill”

Eight congregants and presiding Priestess Vajra Ma did ceremony with fresh local spring water that had been gathered that morning, contained in a brilliant blue altar chalice. First, Priestess Vajra Ma sprinkled some of the water on a sensually curved dried seaweed she had recently found at the ocean: Water returned to its source. Then she took the seaweed to the Temple’s Yoruba Altar and offered it to Yemaya, Goddess of the Ocean. She held up the chalice into the center of the circle while Persephone Wolfshadow read her devotional poem of apology and adoration to the spring water and the Waters of the World:
[excerpts] "…Sweet water, coming from the deepest earth…sweet and energizing as you are to us, we must treat your mother the ocean far better than we do…I’m so sorry my dear love water…I have seen your beauty dear sister. I have felt your purity wash my soul of sadness . Your ocean surges and purges the hate of the world. You connect us to each other, all religions, water encompasses all. You nourish us in the womb and stay with us to death…we must protect you."

Vajra Ma then poured the water from the altar chalice into individual cups which each participant held to their heart, imbuing the water with gratitude and love, (knowing that water crystals respond as per Masuro Emoto's research and photographs).
We meditated on the countless times in our lives when we were blessed by water---drinking it, bathing in it, weeping and sweating it, cooking with it, seeing it in lakes, rivers, ocean and the sky, eating it in food, and in the many other ways water is part of our lives. We reflected on how we were mindful or unmindful of the blessing and interaction with water over the years. We sent gratitude and awareness to the times when we were not as mindful as we now know to be.
After imbuing the water in our cups with love and gratitude, we sent this same intention and vibration into the waters in our town, the pipes of the building we were in and the homes around us, into the streams and clouds and into the waters in the Rogue River that runs nearby. Into the water in our bodies and in all the human, animal and plant bodies in our region. Then we expanded this to the ocean and waters around the world into all countries, homes, creatures, plants and people, with special awareness of the waters and creatures which are poisoned from the oil-bleeding wound in the Gulf of Mexico.

Persephone read another devotional poem of praise and healing to the Mother Waters.[excerpts] “…O wondrous water dance with us, we will give you energy to heal the wound we have created. We pour our magic at your sacred streams that course to the rivers which surge to the ocean. Our magick and intent will help nurse the ocean to health, without you life is impossible…”
We then handed the cup to the person next to us, acknowledging how our love and gratitude affects and flows to those around us. Then, one at a time, around the circle each person dipped their fingers into the water and anointed the forehead of the person to their left, pronouncing a blessing upon them, whatever words and feeling flowed from our heart---like water. And so nine blessings were spoken. Priestess Vajra Ma then brought the empty altar chalice to each person who poured their water back, refilling the chalice in offering to the Great Mother Water. What we offer is already and always Hers—Source--flowing from Her to us and back to Her. Water is one.
*****************************************
WATER is the DIVINE MOTHER in action and She calling us to awaken.
WATER is the MOTHER and MIRROR of the SOUL of HUMANITY and She is calling us to unite as one human family, to remember who we are. Along with my grief, I take heart in how all the degradation, disrespect, ignorance, greed and destruction humanity has perpetrated over the centuries is presently being reflected in WATER. Water is the final place, we can go no further, for SHE is LIFE. We must awaken or die. She is calling us to awaken. So be it!”

~ Reverend Vajra Ma

Brazil

Song for Sereia (Afro-Brazilian Queen of the Sea)
Marisa ...Monte .:. Legend of the Mermaid .:. Queen of the Sea
...(Vicente - Dionel - Veloso)
Ogunté, Marabô
Caíala and Sobá
Oloxum, Inaê
Janaína and Iemanjá
She is Queen of the Sea
Listen to their siren song :
Ialaô, Oquê, Ialoá
She lives in the sea
She plays on the sand
In the rocking of the waves
She spreads peace
She lives in the sea
She plays on the sand
In the rocking of the waves
She spreads peace
And who is She?
She is Queen of the Sea
____
Lyrics and Translation on :
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=168117416&blogId=471544056

Faith, like a River

2010-05-26T00:39:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Headwaters/Delta Interfaith! We’re pleased to meet you. Our website is new and we would love to hear your comments and suggestions.

Headwaters/Delta Interfaith is a partner in the holistic revitalization project of The New Orleans Healing Center. Headwaters/Delta is in the process of becoming a new 501 (c) 3 organization. We have been active within New Orleans' interfaith community for more than three years and look forward to opening our non-denominational Spiritual Space in the NOHC building, which is under construction and opening in 2011.

Headwaters/Delta Interfaith brings diverse groups into dialog and cooperative projects based on holistic sustainability and social justice. We work with local, national and international communities and organizations, to address common concerns. Although most of our work is focused in the wonderful but struggling city of New Orleans, we are also based in Minneapolis, MN. These cities are connected by the great Mississippi: we are symbolic of all rivers connecting all people. The background image of our website is taken from an 1880 map of the Mississippi River Valley.

Rivers are a good analogy for the spirit that inspires people, either as religious faith, secular humanism, or both. We all need water to survive; we all have spiritual thirsts. Each river is unique; each faith is different, yet all rivers, all faiths, share common features, define culture and nurture life. You don’t have to live on the river to use the water, just as you don’t have to be of a particular (or any) faith to have spiritual curiosity.

Rivers can be the center of controversy. They are often barometers for other environmental and social challenges. No one owns a river, but people can fight fiercely over what goes into or comes out of it. Rivers are relied on by many people; and can spark territorial disputes or support reciprocal trade. Often they do both. Rivers flow into each other, but each is distinct. It can be a matter of convention or controversy where one leaves off and another begins. Rivers are not static, they are fluid and although their course changes over time, they are still recognizably themselves.

Rivers, and faith, are part of a greater landscape. Every landscape has been shaped, at some time in its history, by the flow of waters. There is so much under the surface. Religion, faith, spirituality, ethics, humanism, social justice, all flow from the same source.
Rivers connect us. They can be borders without being boundaries: they define us, yet can carry us to each other.

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Please join us Sunday June 27th for Riverbank Ceremonies in Minneapolis and New Orleans.
Currently, we are partnering with other groups to invite all communities up and down the Mississippi, or any other river, to join together in Interfaith riverbank prayer ceremonies on Sunday June 27. We need to acknowledge our part in, and send our apologies down to the Ocean for, the oil spilling into to Gulf. If your community, no matter how large or small, plans to gather for this purpose, please let us know at info@headwatersdelta.org.
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Headwaters/Delta’s Mission:
To foster local, national and international community cooperation via intergroup dialogue and popular education; to provide for the spiritual needs of the New Orleans community by maintaining a non-denominational worship space open to the public; to support the revitalization of the New Orleans area and our world, based on holistic sustainability and social equity.

Objectives:

Foster individual and community spiritual expression and discovery.
.To maintain an urban worship sanctuary, open to all.
Document faith and cultural diversity in NOLA.
Provide education about faith and cultural groups in order to replace ingrained misunderstanding and social schisms with curiosity, cooperation and concord.
Bring faith and spiritual leaders together to work on common concerns.
To support New Orleans Healing Center and other local, national and international organizations through reciprocal relationships.