Bear's Blog

Some of you are aware I have been on a mini-sabbatical since last fall, only teaching and working with my graduate-level students until the next Energy Awareness and Healing Practicum in April. During my sabbatical, I had the wonderful offer of a cottage in the Scottish Highlands for a month! In my Scottish travels, I ended up doing healing work wherever I went. Along the way, I also used my intuitive skills to tap into some pretty amazing energies. Being able to align my Hara and drop into Being (the simplest, most basic technique I teach and still constantly use) allowed me to sense into standing stones, energy fields, and forms, and see scenes from the past. From battlefields to burial sites to the ley lines under ancient Rosslyn Chapel (the final location in Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code”) I was able to interact with a bigger version of reality than the average person.

The cottage I stayed at in the coastal village of Dornoch happened to be in the heart of MacKay country! I love to visit graveyards, and here there was a large section dedicated to MacKay’s; I sensed lots of happy, playful spirits. I was taught how to pronounce my last name (had it wrong all these years!) and got my clan plaid. I learned about the “Clearances”; in the 1800’s, the Highland population was decimated by the Duke of Sutherland and other greedy landowners, turning farms into grazing for sheep, which was more profitable. Scottish people became refugees who scattered far and wide, bringing their poetry, inventiveness, and warrior hardiness to the world.

Culloden Field, near Inverness, is the site of the last battle fought between the English and the Scots in 1745. As I sensed in I could still see the blood-soaked ground where over 1,500 Scots died. No ghosts remain, but a profound sense of sadness pervades the area.

Findhorn is a spiritual eco-village that became internationally famous in the 1960’s and continues its mission today as a global learning center. I volunteered in the kitchen for a day, ate with residents and people attending workshops and explored the community. (There is a section called Bag’s End, which has several - “hobbit houses”!) I did a healing session for a community resident from Portugal who does sound healing, as well as being a classical choral performer. Fun times…

Next up was a visit with my dear friend Vishnu, who married a British lady and lives near Aberdeen. Rebecca, an animal rights activist, educated me on veganism and since I then I have become vegetarian (again). Her mother had been in the ER earlier in the week and got dramatically better after I did a distance session for her. Vishnu had attended my Advanced Studies Classes, and I was able to refresh his technique so he could continue supporting her health.

Their home, on the site of the 13^th century Old Slains Castle ruins, is on a cliff overhanging the North Sea. It was a dramatic place to be for an incredibly wild storm that rocked the area. During a brief weather window we went to a standing stone circle - an ancient burial site where archaeologists have found 48 urns of remains. Tapping in, I could see a loving and respectful funeral scene from thousands of years ago.

Nearby, off in the distance, we were attracted to an unmarked grove surrounded by a small stone wall. We ventured over fences and thru fields of grazing animals to discover a truly mystical place. I meditated with the main stone in the stone circle and my Hara momentarily became a narrow window into another dimension. Once I focused my attention back to the grove, I had an expanded awareness of my environment. I could perceive the movement of every blade of grass as the wind blew, and the trees were talking to each other thru their roots. Scotland is a northern rain forest and the trees have tall, branchless trunks that rise up to culminate in a large canopy. I have been able to access this dimension several times since, although each time it fades in intensity (practice, practice…).

Next, I traveled further south to spend time at Dalhousie Falconry outside of Edinburgh. What an enchanted city! My heart burst out of my chest hearing the bagpipe player in the square at St. Giles Cathedral. Strolling thru Princes Gardens, the castles, museums, and university district, the cobbled streets and little alleys called “closes”, I unexpectedly fell in love with Edinburgh.

At Dalhousie I spent two days with Kylie, Georgie and the gang, which includes 33 different kinds of falcons, hawks, owls and eagles - and a crow named Jake. Jake had been non-responsive since being viciously attacked by a buzzard a few days earlier. I was surprised when he laid quietly in my arms for almost an hour while I worked on his injuries. When I was done, he started eating voraciously and walking (well, wobbling) around, and talking up a storm! He was quite a character and much beloved by the staff. He put up a valiant fight, but unfortunately succumbed to his brain injuries a few days later. He expressed a beautiful good-bye as he passed, flying freely into the next world.

I communicated easily with the owls and Harris hawks but the falcons were harder to decipher. This may be due to the fact that the owls are hand-raised as babies and imprint on humans, whereas the falcons stay with their parents until they are older. I learned a lot about these amazing creatures and look forward to spending more time with them.

As my trip came to a close, I reflected on how my efforts to grow my consciousness has created a sensibility that I bring into every situation. What I aspire to learn and teach has really changed my life, my experience, my perspective on the world and my place in it. I am engaged in a way not possible or even imagined when I was younger. So nurture your consciousness and bring your best self forward. What arises is true wonder, awe and amazement as life unfolds before you - seeing so much more, and engaging at a deeper level. Explore the big wide world with energy awareness!

Peace, love and healing -

Bear