I feel I’ve been rather remiss in not asking after people any sooner. In part I’ve been assuming most London Grovers (!) don’t use the tube in rush hour most of the time. But I’d like to know everyone is OK, if I can – so maybe people could add a quick comment here.
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Thank you, Daniel, I’m fine. And you’re right: I don’t do rush hour.
Going back on the Tube has been weird, though. And the whole place, I mean the actual ground under London, feels like it’s still wailing with shock and grief. I wonder what effect that has on people using the tube.
Anyway, I look forward to hearing everyone else is well.
Comment by hilde — 13/7/2005 @ 10:18 pm
I was thinking of doing this too – but sort of chickened out! I work opposite the rush hour directions. I had a weird day in Camberwell and was being a bit of a pain in that I was refusing to take it seriously – we don’t have a t.v. at work and tiny bits of info were dribbled in to us across the morning. We had to close – which felt really stupid. Given that local schools were closing it felt a bit irresponsible to close the library and give them nowhere to go.
The mood in central london is odd – we all keep repeating “we can handle it – we’ve done the blitz, the IRA etc.” and then getting tearful over next to nothing. It was so strange after Weds as well when even sportphobic peopel like me seemed full of celebration. Tomorrow eve (Thurs – 6pm) Ken L. has called a vigil in Trafalger Sq. – I will be going along. There is also the 2 minute silence at 12 – perhaps we could all focus on sending white light healing across our city.
Anna
xxx
Comment by anna — 13/7/2005 @ 10:27 pm
That’s a good idea Anna – I will try to join in with the healing at that time.
Comment by Lorraine — 13/7/2005 @ 10:34 pm
In addition to above – Stop the war and the Muslim Association of Britain will be holding a ’solidarity gathering’ on Sunday in Russell Square at 2p.m. to remember the victims and their families. I can’t get to that as I will be working the Lambeth Country Show (sic!)
Anna
Comment by anna — 14/7/2005 @ 9:07 am
Just got in from the 2 minute silence – I went up on the Cut with other locals and local workers. It was lovely and all the traffic stopped (except for one swv) I did a light encirclement of London and saw a vision of the dragons of London rising up and sending their light out over us all. Very whatsname!
Anna
Comment by anna — 14/7/2005 @ 11:25 am
Hi Anna, Hilde and all. I went along to the vigil last night in Trafalgar Square and felt a sense of something – a big presence – embracing the crowd, and that felt both protective and healing. I was glad to be there and take part.
I want to pick up something Anna said on the ‘official’ obod messageboard – hope you don’t mind me quoting this. “Ken Livingstone recalled the words of Pericles – something about a generations duty being to leave a city a more beautiful and wise place than you found it. A good aim for our grove.” I am wondering, should we be working magically for the healing of London in a greater sense? Could we incorporate this more into our rituals? If meeting up more is difficult, could we arrange to do something like the regular OBOD full moon meditation for peace on a regular basis, even if we do this individually? I am just testing the waters here – it would be good to talk about this some more.
Comment by Lorraine — 15/7/2005 @ 12:23 pm
I agree, Lorraine, we should do something. But it is a bit difficult to know what to do. An actual healing working for London at this moment would require a large group of people who really know what they are doing. But blessing the land is entirely appropriate for us.
R.J. Stewart had some really interesting things to say about conflict between humans last weekend. He said: ‘Praying for peace does not work. People have been doing it for as long as there has been war and it does not work.’ Large conflicts between people, he said, are signs of big changes happening deep within the consciousness of our planet. This registers as conflict because we humans can’t deal with change very well and we have to let the tension out. The way to not have conflicts is to work VERY long term with the mighty ones who live deep inside the planet and work on ways to deal with change before it becomes conflict.
All that to just illustrate the point: it’s by no means obvious what exactly to do. But I’m all for having the conversation and working it out.
Comment by hilde — 15/7/2005 @ 3:12 pm
Nice to hear from you all. I spoke to Francesca on the phone after the bombings and she is OK (she wasn’t in London at the time).
Hilde, do you really think that healing London necessarily requires a large number of people? I suppose my feeling is that yes, perhaps to heal all that needs healing is a massive task and may well require many people as you say, but can’t we – as somewhat knowledgeable people – locate the nub of the problem and offer some healing at that point?
With spiritual guidance I feel that it is very possible we could offer London some healing – but we need to be guided to the right place, time, and method. And perhaps the stuff RJ Stewart mentions is a way to work at such a healing. My first guidance from the earth of London says we should be aware that conflict cannot and should not be eliminated – if you take away the conflict, you kill London itself, you kill its source of creation. However, healing the expression of conflict so that it doesn’t result in deaths of the innocent is both safe and worthwhile.
Comment by Daniel — 15/7/2005 @ 6:16 pm
Daniel, two thoughts.
The main reason why I think it needs a number of people is because you’re inevitably going to come up against some very traumatised trapped souls (yes I do mean dead people). And I don’t really see how you are going to heal much without dealing with them.
The other thing is: it is not appropriate to ‘do a healing’ or ’send healing’ to either people or places without permission, or without being asked. So far, I personally have not been asked. All I have been asked to do is be present. Like Lorraine mentioned, I think the two minutes’ silence, which was observed by many people, made a start on the healing already. That really shifted things.
What you say about eliminating conflict is I think pretty much the same thing as what I was trying to say. By ‘conflict’ I meant ‘violent conflict’.
I have a very full weekend ahead, but I hope to find some time to do a shamanic journey and see what my helping spirits have to say on the matter.
Comment by hilde — 16/7/2005 @ 9:29 am
Hilde, we’ve both been Reiki healers for many years and are well aware of the permission aspect. So you don’t need to make assumptions. If you are healing a place, or a discarnate spirit, I believe you can ask what is needed. I think Daniel’s point about being guided to the right time, place and situation does include the idea of getting permission. But I have sent healing on a plane without explicit permission because my instincts told me that was entirely appropriate – if you had medical training and someone was unconscious you would not be sitting there thinking ‘I’ll just leave them alone – they haven’t been able to give permission’.
Also I wasn’t referring to the two minutes which I was unable to fully participate in but the vigil later – just wanted to clarify that point. I am just trying to open up this to wider discussion (it would be nice if others within the grove gave their opinions too – for instance did those who did the Autumn Equinox peace ritual a couple of years ago feel that was a waste of effort or did they perceive it as worthwhile if only on a personal level? Personally, no I’m not sure whether ‘healing the world’ type rituals are effective – I think these things are the more effective the more specific you get. I hope more people contribute to this and say what they think might be appropriate but perhaps it’s too hard to do in this medium where it is easy for misunderstandings to happen.
Comment by Lorraine — 16/7/2005 @ 10:24 am
Thank you, Lorraine. Yeah, perhaps I was making assumptions, for which I apologise.
And you are absolutely right about being specific.
I would also like to clarify: it was Anna who said something happened during the two minute silence (jeez, you do have to be careful with this message board lark, don’t you?) I think everything that happened on Thursday that got people to be still and pay attention for a while helped to shift the energy. All that talk about ‘going back to normal’ is all well and good, but people have to have a chance to feel as well.
I am going to send out the Paper Raven on Monday, where this conversation will be included (they always get a taster of activity on the site along with events announcements). I intended to strongly encourage Paper Raven recipients to contribute to this discussion. But I take your point that it is hard to do in this medium. So what do you suggest? Calling an extra meeting?
I have e-mailed with Andrew since the bombings, so he’s OK too.
Finally, I am really grateful we are discussing this. It would have really worried me if it hadn’t come up at all.
Comment by hilde — 16/7/2005 @ 11:41 am
I’d rather not call an extra meeting unless we get a strong sense that people would want one. My current thoughts are that (if you and Andrew are OK with this) that we devote some time on July 31st to a discussion of this. Perhaps you could schedule something after the ceremony.
Comment by Daniel — 18/7/2005 @ 7:17 pm
It took me until this afternoon to get around to doing a shamanic journey to ask for guidance. Because of the events earlier today, I modified my question slightly to:
“What can London Grove do to help heal and protect our city after the terror attacks.”
I met an Ancestor of the Land and he showed me a simple but beautiful ritual involving water from the Thames. I’ll tell you all about it when I see you all at the Lughnasadh ceremony.
I’m off to Belgium tomorrow. I hope for a journey without incident.
Comment by hilde — 21/7/2005 @ 4:15 pm
Daniel – a discussion after the ceremony next week sounds like a good idea. The Thames water ritual sounds like a great place to start. This could be a wonderful call to action for the whole grove.
Comment by Andrew — 23/7/2005 @ 11:27 am
Hi!
A late comment from me. All okay. I was in London as allways on Wednesday around the same times, so this caused a brief moment of food for thought.
Looking foward to meeting you next week after this months events. I like the way rituals are a nice place to take stock of time, past-present and future. Maybe doing the ceremeony together will contribute towards our processing the experience in a shared and moving on.
See you soon Mark.
Comment by Mark — 24/7/2005 @ 3:04 pm
In the Paper Raven I copied this conversation and asked for contributions, especially from some Druids. So Liz Murray sent this:
“Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power & magic in it. Begin it now.” Goethe
Dear Hilde,
You asked for Druid input on the question of healing the city.
The [quote] is copied from a postcard I bought at Kingston Green fair a year or two back. It is also the final sentence of a longer passage that is quoted in the Gwersu.
Don’t worry so much about the How? Why? Where? When? & What? (& Who, too) It’s needed, it will join with the prayers of many others. The main thing is to start!
Yours under the Sacred Oaks,
Liz
Comment by hilde — 30/7/2005 @ 10:40 am