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EAGLE
NOTES
Volume 10
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October 2007 - February 2008 |
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Printable Version (Adobe Reader Format) |
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2008 is a year of accelerating change and also one of great power. It is likely that the events that take place this year will reflect this power in our personal lives, as well as on the national and international stage. We can already get a sense of this energy as the election season kicks into high gear in the U.S. “Change” is a word on the lips of the candidates. People are energized in a way that hasn’t been seen since the days of John & Bobby Kennedy in the 1960s. Look more closely and you will see that this energy-wave of change is sweeping around the planet affecting international events, economies, seismic activity and weather patterns. We sense that 2008 is a year of fundamental change that will see the cutting away of many old patterns and structures in order to lay the foundations for something new. Many of you are sensing the coming changes, having visions and dreams, experiencing emotional highs and lows beyond what is normal, and feeling the change in your bodies. We, as a race of two-leggeds, are about to step up to a new level. Whatever stands in the way will be cleared aside, perhaps in dramatic ways. It is an especially important year to dance. We, ourselves focus most of our energy on the "For the One" Dance (including the FTO Youth Dances), which carries the universal message that "the time of separation is over." There are other dances, beautiful and powerful dances (as the SunMoon Dance, the Drum Dance, the Corn Harvest Dance, the Web Dance, and many more, all born from visions given to others who have found the courage to manifest their dreams). Dancing helps to bring ourselves into personal alignment with our higher purpose and power. It brings greater balance to the Earth and the land on which we live. As the song says “I hope you Dance.”
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South Africa |
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Our trip to South Africa this year was a very aggressive undertaking. We had planned a ten-day FTOD Crew & Chiefs’ Training and four back-to-back “For the One” Dances on consecutive weekends in three locations around the country. We weren’t sure at the outset if we could pull it off. But, largely due to Jeanne’s faith and perseverance, and lots of help from those who traveled with us, we did! And we have much gratitude for Dominique DeBruin who bravely accepted the position of overseeing the coordination of all events that took place in SA. We also never expected that more than 20 people would travel with us the entire month! We figured that some would come to the training near Midrand, some to the dance at Rustler’s Valley, and others to Capetown for the final two dances. What a surprise to find that most of the amazing people who came to the training event would constitute a traveling FTOD crew! We couldn’t have done it without them! Reflecting on the experience of 4 back-to-back dances just a weekend apart, our group was practicing being in ceremony and a heightened state of awareness for an extended period of time. Each of the dances works in a way that expands us, cracking the ego shell, and sometimes blowing it apart. The pieces come back together in a different way. None of us will ever be the same. Crew & Chiefs’ Training – Midrand, near Johannesburg The For the One Dance is growing, adding new locations around the world like Bosnia and Croatia. It is impossible for us to lead them all. So, we have begun an annual Crew & Chiefs’ Training event to prepare new leaders to carry the dance forward. The South African C&C Training was held in the home of Fritz and Elba Duminy in Midrand, midway between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The Duminy’s home is stunning. It has a large enclosed and tiled patio looking out into a magnificently manicured lawn and gardens where we did the training. In the months before the event, they built a dance arbor on land they own behind their home. They were also still working feverishly to finish converting a large stable into seven new rooms fitted with three beds each, a shower and bathroom. Many of the participants stayed in these rooms. Hosting the training event, building a new arbor, and constructing spaces for people to stay was a huge commitment on the part of Fritz and Elba, and we can never say thank you enough. Twenty-six people from four continents gathered for the 10-day Crew & Chiefs’ Training. The Zulu have an expression: “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.” It means, “A person becomes a person through other people.” And so it was. We began with the “Community Building” process. We also call it the “pathway to the open heart,” because through deep dialogue over two+ days, individuals find what it means to be truly human. We become true people in the Zulu sense. The group becomes a paradox of cohesive oneness and authentic individuality. It is on this foundation that we begin teaching the group what it truly takes to lead a For the One Dance from start to finish: from the first steps in organizing it, to being a “Chief” at the dance itself, to tying up the last loose end after everyone has gone home. The graduation test is to actually do a dance. So, this year, our first FTOD in South Africa was a Crew & Chiefs’ Training Dance. The new Chiefs organized their crews, prepared the arbor, put up the ceremonial dance tree, led the dance, the feast, giveaway and sharing. And it was a true test. The heavens opened as the FTOD got underway and drenched crew and dancers. But the Chiefs (Dom DeBruin and Sonja Munz) and crew were amazing. When it was over, it was clear that the group had accomplished something huge in the suburbs of Johannesburg. Sammye Jo Harvey, who danced, said she thought it was the most powerful dance ever. It was also clear that the Crew & Chiefs’ Training had been a wonderful success. Everyone learned a lot... And in the magical, organic way that the FTOD seems to grow, a neighbor who had come to observe the dance with nine children, invited us to bring the dance to Malawi. He said, “This is good work, and they will love the dance in my country.” It was at one point in the dance that these children, themselves, asked to dance and be blessed at the pole. It was an extraordinary and tearful experience for all who were there, a microcosmic glimpse into a unified world. And in the week following the dance we continued to get feedback from dancers on the powerfully uplifting energy of the FTOD to carry them through their day-to-day lives. This is also the beauty of this deep community process and the energy gained from the dance.
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Rustlers Valley |
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A day after we finished the C&C Training,
some 20 of us loaded up our things – including all the tarps to cover
the arbor, some already torn and in need of repair – and headed
Southeast into the Maluti Mountains to Rustlers’ Valley to set up for
the next FTOD. Last September, Rustlers’ Valley burned to the ground.
The fire raced through the rustic resort burning everything but the
arbor, sweat lodge and one structure – Niyan Stirling’s “Starseed.” The
fire spread so aggressively that it traveled around the mountain and
halfway to the next town. In the two months following the fire, new
vegetation replaced the old, and the place had a clean feeling of new
possibilities. We arrived on slippery dirt roads after a heavy rain, and set up tents. The Starseed became our lifeboat and base of operations. But, even though none of the other buildings were left standing, including the restaurant, preparation for the FTOD at Rustlers’ went more smoothly than ever before. Much credit goes to Niyan and his partner, Leeane Chalice, local coordinators for this dance. A husband and wife team from Bloemfontain catered the food, preparing deliciously wholesome vegetarian food throughout our time there. After a day of rest, the crew put the tarps on the arbor between torrents of rain, prepared the sweat lodge and set the water bowl at the east gate. A large ditch had been dug around the arbor. The idea was to plant fast-growing willow trees so that in a few years there would be a wonderfully verdant natural arbor. But something happened in the execution of the idea. Instead of a shallow irrigation ditch connecting with the water at the dam, what now surrounded the arbor was more than six feet deep and eight feet wide. We had to build a bridge across it just to get to the east gate! Despite the fact that the crew was already tired from the 10-day training event and dance the previous weekend, the challenging logistics in the wilderness of Rustlers’ Valley, and the usual chaos of dancers arriving, registration, and pre-dance meetings, we had one of the smoothest starts to a FTOD ever. And, one dancer went down in the arbor even before a single drum beat sounded! She went to the dance pole to pray and was gone. When the dance actually began, two other dancers were down almost immediately. It was a great start to the dance, and under a full moon that rose over Thaba Thabo, the Mountain of Joy. Wow! We had 22 dancers and 24 on the crew. John and Sammye Jo led the dance. Marti Ackerman was a first time Alpha Dog and got a real workout in very rustic conditions, but did an incredible job. The dancers worked incredibly hard. At one point, when four dancers were down around the pole at once, and Marti and the Dog Soldier crew had finished carrying them to their places, Marti said to me, “I demand a company car!” [We figured she deserved it. So, as a Christmas present, we sent her a toy car with flashing lights and a siren.] At the end of the second day, Jeanne and I did the pipe ceremony. Afterward, with everyone in a circle, Niyan and Leanne sang an honoring song for Jeanne: “White Eagle woman, Lover of life, Bringing Peace to the people…” It was a special moment. Jeanne had tears in her eyes, and said some inspiring, touching words to the dancers and crew. It was a powerful moment. The dancers were “cooked” but also very joyful as the dance ended. There was lots of hugging and smiles. We closed the arbor ceremony with everyone circling the dancers at the fire while they put their prayer ties into the fire. John said a prayer and then we sang a spontaneous song as the prayer ties burned. It was a beautiful ending. After the feast, we did the give-away. The sharing followed, limited to an hour. Amazingly, dancers shared deeply from their hearts and were done in 40-minutes, allowing others to share. Jeanne was the elder in this dance, and stepped fully into the power of the visionary. She gave some very inspiring words. After the sharing circle ended, there were many hugs, discussions and heart connections. Importantly, we were a real rainbow this time. Six of the 22 dancers were black. With the crew and dancers and kitchen angels taken as a group, ten (10) countries were represented. It was a mixture of people, and the feeling of oneness almost brought tears to our eyes more than once. By any measure, it was an incredible dance. Even though tired, the crew took responsibility for taking down the tarps and bringing all the “stuff” back up to the Starseed. It was amazing how well and easily things flowed. One of the beautiful things about these dances is all of the wonderful connections that get made, and the ideas that come out for cooperative ventures. All over the world we’ve formed these cooperative networks. And good things come out of it. Blue Hippo, near Capetown Even amidst the coming down phase of the dance at Rustlers’ Valley, we had to pack up and get ready to travel the following day. But, as has often been said, if you want to make God laugh, make a plan. As we were getting organized to travel a thunderstorm came, bringing torrents of rain. When it stopped, the sun came out and a rainbow formed. But the storm came again with a vengeance, announcing itself with lightning and thunder claps and hail. Trees and tents were blown over. Clean clothes drying on fences and trees got drenched and blown onto the ground to become dirty attain. There was so much rain that it collected in the river, racing so fast that it collapsed the dam. Everyone’s things were soaked. The Starseed became Noah’s Ark. It was an experience of being totally at the mercy of Mother Nature in the middle of South Africa miles from the nearest town – a true adventure, for sure. But, despite the conditions, spirits remained high. In the heavy rain, the 15-km of dirt roads to the blacktop highway became muddy and slick. We weren’t sure if our 14-seater taxi would arrive on time. But, at 6:30A Tuesday morning, it came inching up the road pulling a trailer for our luggage. By 9:00A, everyone was loaded and our 13-hour, 1000-km journey across the desert of the Karoo to overnight on the coast in Mossel Bay had begun. After tent camping for a week, and living through several powerful storms, to say that the crew found it good to have a shower and a good night’s sleep in a proper bed is an understatement! Life’s simple pleasures are a big blessing! The group spent Wednesday morning wandering the streets of Mossel Bay and the beautiful beach. The bay has mountains in the distance, and is a place where whales come to calf their babies. In the afternoon, the group gathered and we made the drive to Blue Hippo, a teepee village near Greyton, about 100 km from Capetown. We found that there had been so much rain in this area bridges have been washed away all along the river. There has even been rain in the Karoo, usually a grey-brown desert not unlike in New Mexico, but now looking green. It is another sign that planetary weather patterns are shifting. Dom DeBruin and Candy Barbee were the Chiefs for this dance. Dom had arrived a week early to build the arbor. After settling into their teepees, the crew spent the next two days preparing the arbor, building a sweat lodge, and dealing with thousands of little “devil thorns,” that were everywhere. Despite sometimes challenging conditions, we had a good start to the dance. There were 19 dancers and, including the teens and young adults that arrived from around the world to help, a crew of over 40. Instead of a sweat lodge, Dom and Gogo Umzinyati did a water blessing ceremony in the South African sangoma fashion, drenching all the dancers with buckets of cold water. It had been a very different dance. Dancers normally go through a lot of emotional and physical processing. We’ve often said that the dance is not about going to the pole, surrendering and falling on the ground or, as one dancer put it, “convulsing on the ground.” A few dancers did. But most did not. Yet, in the sharing, most dancers described transformative experiences that were life-changing. Sue Spies, whose mother had a mild heart attack a day before the dance, said that her mother is out of the hospital and has made a complete turn around in her outlook on life. Sue is convinced that this is because she sang and danced for her mother. The dance did have a couple of challenges. It is difficult at times to articulate some events that take place, for which there seems to be no way to describe them except in terms that by many persons might be experienced as paranormal or at least certainly “outside of the proverbial box.” To this thought, the Cape Town dance did have a couple of challenges… …For example one of the dancers became very sick on the second afternoon. The best way to describe what had actually happened was that an entity had entered him. Several people saw it. Seven of the crew then went to where there was an old cemetery located near the arbor. With prayer, they intentionally opened a gateway for the spirits to go to the light. As they did, they saw and/or sensed many earthbound spirits going through the portal… …Sunday morning, one of the dancers described a “waking dream” that she had during the night. She saw a group of 7 people. A column of light formed in the center space between them. Columns of spirits were attracted to this brilliant column of light, and disappeared into it. Chief Candy reflected with a huge smile, laughing, “This stuff works!” The dancer’s dream had given the independent confirmation of what the group of 7 had done only hours before. By the end of the adult dance at Blue Hippos, many on the crew had been with us for five weeks. They’d been through an intense training and three dances in three weeks in three different locations, spending most of the time in a heightened ceremonial consciousness. It was a lot. Many of them were exhausted. But, together we accomplished something huge that I cannot wrap words around. But, I know that its effects will continue to grow like seeds – inside each of the people who traveled with us, and in the land.
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Israel |
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The FTOD in
Israel
this year (May 15-17) is the World Peace Dance. It was to have been done
at Har Megiddo. Pronounce the name out loud and you will get the
connection to the Biblical Armegeddon. “Har” Megiddo in Hebrew means
“Mount” Megiddo. It is a place that overlooks the Israel valley, and
ancient trade route. This valley was also the path for many invading
armies over the centuries, and is most likely why the Bible talks about
the final battle between good and evil being fought here. |
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We said in the last Eagle Notes that a dozen years after the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina ended, we’ve never seen a people so broken and hurting. And now, with Kosovo declaring its independence, there is tension in neighboring Serbia again. There is something special about the Balkans. It was once a land of peace for more than a millennium. But, in the past thousand years, many armies have marched through this land: Germans, Turks, and Romans, to name a few. The largest and oldest pyramids in the world were discovered near Visoko just over two years ago. The land is pregnant with the kind of energy that is transformative and ripples out to impact the world. We will be dancing near Kiseljak, about 30-km from Sarajevo, and not far from Visoko, the ancient city of Kings. The land on which the arbor will be built is just down the hill from the place that the Serbian, Croatian, and Muslim armies met and fought a major battle. This land was cleared in January by some of the FTOD family (Vanja & Sanja Grubišić of Croatia, Dragan of Bosnia, and Andreas Clausen of Denmark, plus others from Bosnia, including an 11 year old boy, the dance’s first Dog Soldier). So, the Spirits of the land know we are coming, and coming in a good way to help restore balance. The people of Bosnia are still in deep pain. The land is also hurting. If you are strong and up for an adventure, we invite you to dance with us on June 6-8. And on July 25-27 there will be a dance in Croatia, near the Isle of Krk. These two dances occurring so close together was something requested by the people there, thinking this would be a powerful way for those of whole region to find their way to healing. Some of you already have felt called to come dance or serve on the crew. We invite you all to check inside to see if you are to be with us. Together, we can make a real difference in this dance. |
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The reason that we began the
nonprofit “For the One Dance” Organization was so that we could begin to
raise funds for the Youth Dances. The nonprofit status gives people a
way to contribute that is tax deductible. In the run-up to the For the
One World Youth Dance, we received many wonderful donations, including
from young people. Robbie Warren, in Charlotte, felt it was important
for us to get “kids to sponsor kids” for the Youth Dances. At her
church, she began a “change for peace” program in which children and
teens involved classmates at school to literally collect loose change as
a donation to the FTOYD. The German girls who came to South Africa, also
held bake sales, did babysitting, and even went on the radio to earn
money for their plane tickets. The South African Zulu youth ironed
clothes, babysat, and did other odd jobs to help themselves get to the
dance.. It was an amazing commitment. |
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Patricia
Coleman |
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Manifesting Abundance. During the Crew &
Chiefs’ Training in Midrand, South Africa, people shared some wonderful
stories about how they have, almost magically, manifested the abundance
to travel the world with us. There is a common theme in the process that
involves moving beyond fear and out of a “poverty consciousness,”
focusing the intention, and giving something away in joy to prime the
pump (so to speak) or begin the process. We wished we’d recorded these
stories so we could collect them into a booklet that could be shared
with others. Actually, Sue Spies volunteered to do just that. |
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After more than two years, author Monty
Joynes, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, has completed an inspirational
biography of Jeanne and John. He spent time interviewing people from
around the world, serving dances, and immersing himself into Journey For
The One. The book is now ready for publication and soon many of you will
be receiving a letter announcing the details of this extraordinary
project. |
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Review Past Newsletters |
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Note: Our special Thanks and Gratitude to Joseph Rael - Beautiful Painted Arrow for allowing us to use his Artwork throughout our web site. Contact our webmaster if you have interest in his work, it will be forwarded to him. |
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