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Saturday, August 31, 2013

Bertone Out

Posted on 11:16 AM by Unknown
Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

Cardinal Bertone photo Bertone_zps29045956.jpg


Pope Francis is continuing to remake the Church in his image, replacing the divisive Tarcisio Bertone with more of a people person who reportedly shares his preference for frugality.

Pope Francis on Saturday appointed a senior Vatican diplomat as his new Secretary of State, ousting divisive cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as he looks to overhaul the Church's scandal-ridden administration.

His replacement for the "number two" position at the Vatican, Italian cleric Pietro Parolin, is currently the Catholic Church's envoy to Venezuela and has worked on improving ties with communist China.

"The Holy Father has accepted... the resignation of His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone," the Vatican said in a widely-expected announcement, adding that the changeover would formally take place on October 15.

There have been rumblings about Bertone for a while. He's been badly tainted by the sheer volume of scandal that has consumed the Vatican.



One of the most damaging scandals to hit the Vatican under Bertone was "Vatileaks", when Benedict's butler stole documents alleging corruption from the pope's desk and leaked them to the media.

That coincided with tumult at the Vatican bank, which Italian magistrates are investigating on suspicion of money laundering.

The former president of the bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was close to Bertone. The board of the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), ousted Gotti Tedeschi last year, saying he was incompetent. He says he was pushed out because he wanted the bank to be more transparent.

Fairly, or unfairly, Bertone has been widely blamed for the failings of Pope Benedict's reign. It doesn't help that he has a penchant for saying and doing really idiotic things. Let us reflect on some of Bertone's greatest hits as they've been recorded on this blog.

Letting prolific pedophiles like Wisconsin's Lawrence Murphy off the hook:

In 1996, Cardinal Ratzinger failed to respond to two letters about the case from Rembert G. Weakland, Milwaukee’s archbishop at the time. After eight months, the second in command at the doctrinal office, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, now the Vatican’s secretary of state, instructed the Wisconsin bishops to begin a secret canonical trial that could lead to Father Murphy’s dismissal.

But Cardinal Bertone halted the process after Father Murphy personally wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger protesting that he should not be put on trial because he had already repented and was in poor health and that the case was beyond the church’s own statute of limitations.

Blaming the Church's pedophilia problem on gay priests.

The Vatican's second-highest authority says the sex scandals haunting the Roman Catholic Church are linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, made the comments during a news conference Monday in Chile, where one of the church's highest-profile pedophile cases involves a priest having sex with young girls.

"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true," said Bertone. "That is the problem."

Blaming Dan Brown, the media, and, of course, the devil, for the Church's problems:

The Vatican's No. 2 official on Monday blamed the media – and the devil – for fueling the scandal over leaked Vatican documents.

Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told an Italian Catholic weekly that journalists reporting on the leaks scandal are "pretending to be Dan Brown ... inventing stories and replaying legends." The reference to Brown is particularly acute; Brown wrote "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" the best-selling fictional accounts of power struggles and scandals inside the Catholic Church.

. . .

"The truth is that there's a will to create division that comes from the devil," he said. The interview is due on newsstands Thursday but was made available to journalists Monday.

As much I love unintentional humor, I wouldn't mind seeing the last of Cardinal Bertone.
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Posted in Catholic Church, LaVaughn, Vatican Abuse Scandal | No comments

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Cafe

Posted on 3:00 AM by Unknown
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Around the Web, Around the World


"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

The Shaman's Power

Where does the shaman's power come from? In cultures all over the world shamans heal what our medical system can't heal and transform decades of dysfunction through a ritual and ceremony. What is this power and how does the shaman access it? In part this comes from the shaman's cultivation of a strong working relationship with spirit help, explains host and shaman, Christina Pratt. This is common knowledge in our contemporary understanding. But the piece we disregard is the internal action of initiation. The initiated shaman's access to power is not moderated by an immature ego's struggle between a crippling scarcity of self worth and an excess of externally defined self-esteem. Join us this week as we explore how we can change the old ways we understand power and learn to discern our own abuse and misuse of power from right action. We are here now in the transition time from old world into a new world. If we are to pick up the responsibility to make the new world better than before, then we must change.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

Log on to Listen
Why Shamanism Now? on Co-Creator Network
Questions? Comments? Call: 1-512-772-1938

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.



Suzanne Toro

BeSimply...LoveSelf {Finding HUMor}

Join 'She' for 54 minutes to work on the inner self.

During this segment:
Finding your sense of HUMor. Discover how laughter, lightening up on your world view and how your percieve your self in DIVINE comedic LIGHT.

Explore and Align with 'Self', Gaia, and Community. How to reconnect to Self, Soil and your Tribe?

Parables shared...Walk through a guided release experience/meditation. This will assist you in BEing...YOU!
Opening your heart center...the gateway to the universe.

Please send in your questions to s@suzannetoro.com.

Sat, August 31, 2013 at 12:30 am Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/suzannetoro


Just Energy Radio

Myth, Symbol, Reality & The Mystery Of The Great Serpent Mound

Laird Scranton
Myth, Symbol, Reality
Laird Scranton is an independent software designer from Albany, New York.  His degree is in English from Vassar College. He has lectured at Colgate University on two occasions to classes studying his books. He was invited to write three articles for Temple University's upcoming Encyclopedia of African Religion, and has a published article on Dogon cosmology in the April 2007 edition of Anthropology News, an academic journal produced by the University of Chicago. More ...
The Velikovsky Heresies
The Cosmological Origins of Myth and Symbol

Ross Hamilton
The Mystery Of The Great Serpent Mound
Beginning in the year 2000, author and investigator Ross Hamilton with a staff of eight researchers commenced the Tradition of Giants Project, uncovering over time many hundreds of accounts suggesting that a race of highly intelligent, physically robust people once lived throughout the eastern woodlands of the United States. The following year, Ross published the culmination of a 14-year study, The Mystery of the Serpent Mound, an illustrated guide to the Serpent Mound of Adams County, including its geometries, astronomies, and many similar mysteries from myth to measure, suggesting the effigy to be a site worthy of world-class recognition in spite of its being overlooked by researchers around the world. More ...
Star Mounds
Thursday From 7-9pm CST ~ 08/29/13

http://inceptionradionetwork.com/listen-live/


Suzanne Toro

BeSimply...Sound&Silence {Ease}

Join 'She' for a 15 minute Guided Meditation. Sound and Silence Meditation...Reconnect to EASE. Connecting to the element of water and fire.

During this segment: Guided meditation to connect you to the your 'Breath, your CENTER' , and inner peace...Sound, Breath and Silence! Align with Heart

Please send in your questions to s@suzannetoro.com

Mon, September 2, 2013 at 12:00 am Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/suzannetoro
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Posted in Broadcasts, Cafe, LaHuesera, Open Thread | No comments

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Cafe

Posted on 3:00 AM by Unknown
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Around the Web, Around the World


"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Encountering Evil with Betsy Bergstrom

How can we acknowledge the existence of evil, work effectively with it and still live our lives from a deep experiential knowing that we are One with All Things? To write a new Story for the People of the New World we must explore new ways and deeper ways to understand evil that leave behind antagonistic dualism. Can we find an understanding that allows us to come from a place of Oneness and work effectively with evil as it presents in our lives and our shamanic healing work. This week shamanic healer, Betsy Bergstrom, joins host, Christina Pratt, to discuss her experiences encountering evil, how she works with it, how she understands it, and how her understanding has changed over the years. Betsy is our next guest for the Society of Shamanic Practitioners sponsored interview series. In this series we explore how contemporary shamans are meeting the challenge of their world where the relations of things are profoundly out of balance. It is the ancient role of the shaman in all cultures to tend the balance of things. How are we meeting this extraordinary need today?

This week's guest:
Betsy Bergstrom

Betsy Bergstrom is a full-time Shamanic Practitioner who has studied with shamans and healers from many cultures. She is a graduate of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies 3-Year Program. She has been trained by a number of indigenous shamans and healers who have encouraged her and shared with her their wonderful teachings. She has worked in various fields of Alternative Healing for nearly 20 years. Her calling is to work in partnership with the Helping Spirits, to help the living and with the dead. She says, "...the feedback from my classes has been that the teaching (of Heart Centered Shamanic Depossession) defused much of the fear that some people felt in approaching the work of clearing and depossession."


Tuesday, August 20, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

Log on to Listen
Why Shamanism Now? on Co-Creator Network
Questions? Comments? Call: 1-512-772-1938

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.




Awake in the DREAM with Laura Eisenhower and Dr. DREAM

2013; The State of Consciousness, Metaphysics, & Mysticism

Laura Eisenhower and Dr. DREAM are pleased to bring YOU; Awake in the DREAM Radio, our next guest is Neil Kramer.

Step outside the conventional and entertain the extraordinary. Join Neil Kramer in an exploration of hidden mindscapes and illuminating wisdom, as you engage in the radical philosophy of authentic living. Inoculate against unreality. Change the signal. And Love it.

Neil Kramer is a British philosopher and teacher specializing in the fields of consciousness, metaphysics, and mysticism.

Kramer has made a lifelong independent study of philosophy, mystical traditions, religion, and esoteric world history. He shares his path of transformation and empowerment in writings, recordings, interviews, and lectures, as well as giving personal consultations and group workshops.

He is a frequent guest on leading alternative radio and internet shows, enjoying international audiences and enthusiastic support. His work regularly appears on cutting-edge media portals and has featured on television networks in the US, UK, Canada and Europe.

Kramer has spoken at numerous international conferences and events, including The Beyond Knowledge Conference 2009, The Alternative Research Community Convention 2010, The Transitional Alchemy Tour 2009/10, The Awakening & Transformation Conference 2011, The New Living Expo 2012, and The 2012 Global Transformation Conference.

Kramer speaks on many fascinating subjects and is renowned for his unique blend of lucidity, empowerment, and authenticity. He divides his time between Oregon, Washington, and New York.

www.NeilKramer.com

Tue, August 20, 2013 at 9:00 pm Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drdream


Just Energy Radio

Updates From The Giza Plateau

Brien Foerster
Updates From The Giza Plateau
Brien was born in Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.A. but grew up on the west coast of Canada. The study of the Inca culture led to his writing a book, A Brief History Of The Incas which is available on this site, and is now the assistant director of the Paracas History Museum in Paracas, south of Lima. He is also assisting the municipality of Paracas to improve the number of foreign tourists that visit, as well as is fundamental in expanding tourism in general, especially as regards showing all visitors the 10,000 years of human occupation of this area, through tours of major and minor archaeological sites. More ...
www.hiddenincatours.com
brienfoerster.com

Thursday From 7-9pm CST ~ 08/22/13

http://inceptionradionetwork.com/listen-live/
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Posted in Broadcasts, Cafe, LaHuesera, Open Thread | No comments

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Cafe

Posted on 3:00 AM by Unknown
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Around the Web, Around the World


"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Art and Living Shamanism with Mark Wagner

"Creativity is a magical and sacred process. The process transforms the artist and the product transforms the world," explains artist Mark Wagner of Hearts and Bones. Mark is an internationally known digital and traditional artist, teacher, and street painter whose work moves so deeply in shamanic realms that it has empowered the covers works like Michael Harner's classic, The Way of the Shaman, and countless Shaman's Drum magazine issues. This week Mark joins host and shaman, Christina Pratt, in this final episode of the WSN series, Art and Shamanism. There isn't a reason in the world to stop making art because it grounds our creativity in our bodies where it can then change the world. It feeds our souls, takes us on a journey, and connects us to the sacred. Join us as we explore the job and the power of art to move the people and in that act to shape a new story for the new world.

This week's guest:
Mark Wagner

Mark Wagner is a digital and traditional artist and teacher. He has worked as a Concept Artist in the film and game industry, creating art through Pixar for the Disney feature film - John Carter, and for fantasy and sci-fi films including Terminator 3 and Hallmark Entertainment's DreamKeeper. He has also worked as Art Director, Production Designer, Creativity Consultant, and Matte Painter.

With a Masters Degree in "Arts and Consciousness," Wagner specializes in visionary art, and has an in-depth understanding in the psychology of visual arts, symbolism, mythology, shamanism, and storytelling. Recent clients include the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History.

Wagner is an internationally known street painter / chalk drawing artist. He created the nonprofit Drawing on Earth, which inspires art and creativity in youth and communities around the world. Their first event set a Guinness World Record for the largest pavement art in the world. Recent clients include Genentech, SpaceX, and CBS Interactive. He lectures at the University of San Francisco (LAZER) and Stanford University. More recently Wagner has worked as a scenic painter and designer at DaVinci Fusion, an events production company in Northern CA.


Tuesday, August 13, 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

Log on to Listen
Why Shamanism Now? on Co-Creator Network
Questions? Comments? Call: 1-512-772-1938

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.




Awake in the DREAM with Laura Eisenhower and Dr. DREAM

Awake in the DREAM Radio with Ethann Fox

Ethann Fox is a spiritual teacher and leader of the Flower of Life Center for Human Evolution and the founder and visionary behind the Awake And Empowered Expo. He has spent the past 19 years as a practicing astrologer and numerologist as well as in the business and financial arena. In late 2010, he experienced a spiritual awakening that changed the course of his life and Flower of Life was established soon after.

Ethann has been gifted with the ability to accept the karma and negative emotional energy from others without any adverse effects to himself. He is able to do this while raising the consciousness of entire groups of individuals at once. Now he uses this divine gift to help others to live happier more fulfilling lives and to aid in the transition to a new world consciousness.

To find out more or to attend a group consciousness event in person or remotely, visit the Energy Transfer and Discourse Facebook page. facebook.com/ethannfoxenergytransfer

Read astrology and numerology articles by Ethann at:

www.ethannfox.com | facebook.com/ethannfoxastrology

Find out more about Flower of Life and it's national conference, Awake and Empowered Expo at:

www.FlowerofLifeCenter.org

Tue, August 13, 2013 at 9:00 pm Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drdream


Just Energy Radio

The Origin Of Mythology & Decoding The Mudras of India

Dr. Michael Witzel
The Origin Of Mythology
Dr. Michael Witzel is noted for his studies of the dialects of Vedic Sanskrit, old Indian history, the development of Vedic religion, and the linguistic prehistory of South Asia. He is editor-in-chief of the Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS) and the Harvard Oriental Series. He has been president of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory (ASLIP) since 1999, as well as of the new International Association for Comparative Mythology. He was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003, and was elected as an honorary member of the German Oriental Society. More ...
Dr. Michael Witzel

Cain Carroll
Decoding The Mudras of India
Cain Carroll is a pioneering teacher, speaker and author in the field of self-healing and embodied spirituality. He is founder of the Taoflow Yoga system, co-author of Partner Yoga: Making Contact for Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Growth, Mudras of India, Mudras of Yoga Card Deck (Fall 2013), and creator of three instructional DVDs: Pain-Free Joints, Heal Neck & Shoulder Pain, and Digestive Power. He teaches classes and workshops worldwide. More ...
www.caincarroll.com

Thursday From 7-9pm CST ~ 08/15/13

http://inceptionradionetwork.com/listen-live/


Awake: Now What?

Don Milton, Growth by Design, EFT, Freedom Coaching, Matrix

Don Milton’s Growth By Design™ delivers Life and Freedom Coaching, Matrix Reimprinting, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and a host of other extraordinary processes and resources to empower you. Whether you are struggling with depression, addictions, anxieties, weight challenges, allergies, headaches, PTSD , professional or sports performance issues Growth By Design™ delivers powerful and profound results. Growth By Design™’s coaching has transformed the lives and relationships of hundreds of people just like you. Discover the possibilities. Imagine your life successful, joy filled.

As far as eucatastrophic events go, Don Milton has had more than his fair share. Eucatastrophic is a word coined by J.R.R. Tolkien, refers to “good” catastrophes. These catastrophes or calamities have the power to transform our lives in very positive and powerful ways. Don Milton’s life has been shaped and reshaped by these events. His passion is teaching and coaching others to experience the wisdom and opportunity within each of these challenges. His life long commitment is to empower his clients. He encourages them to live at their highest and best, to open the doors and embrace the unlimited possibilities.

Don’s hallmark is his ability to cut through the emotional clutter to “the heart of the matter,” the core. Using a methodical and deliberate style Don utilizes an extraordinary toolbox of skills, techniques and experience. Don’s clients accelerate through this process moving quickly and efficiently through pain, anxiety, depression, addictions, PTSD and other emotional issues that have stagnated for years. These simple yet profound concepts have changed the lives of hundreds of people and those that love them.

For more information go to http://donmilton.net

Sun, August 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/awake
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Posted in Broadcasts, Cafe, LaHuesera, Open Thread | No comments

Monday, August 12, 2013

Yoga's Terribly, Horribly, Awfully Negative Year

Posted on 8:15 PM by Unknown
Crossposted from Reflections Journal.

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All I could think when I read this was "here we go again." Yet another man in a position of spiritual leadership turns out to have been abusing his power by exploiting women and just generally being a dick.

The guru behind a popular style of yoga currently facing allegations of rape and sexual assault inspired fear in his employees and runs his company "like a cult," a lawyer for a former employee told The Huffington Post Monday.

Carla Minnard, a civil rights attorney, says her client was one of the few to stand up to Bikram Choudhury, the man at the center of the Bikram yoga empire. In return, she says, the company threatened to have her client and her 8-year-old daughter deported.

“There’s a great desire to keep Bikram’s conduct in the dark,” Minnard said. “It shows an inability by anyone to restrain an individual who is a dangerous person.”

Minakshi Jaffa-Bodden, Minnard's client, is a former legal advisor at Bikram’s Yoga College of India, a Los Angeles-based yoga school. Jaffa-Bodden is the sole plaintiff named in an explosive but little-reported June 13 lawsuit against Choudhury, which accuses him of rape and sexual assault of employees and students. The suit additionally claims the yogi promoted a work environment inside his school that was rife with misogyny, homophobia, racism, sexual harassment and threats of violence.



Whether all the allegations prove true or not, much of Choudhury's behavior has been well-documented and he appears to be an equal opportunity hater. Gay people caused AIDS and "these blacks just don't get my yoga" are just some of the sentiments ascribed to the guru. The substance of the suit is worse. It alleges that when Minakshi Jaffa-Bodden got wind of his abuses she was threatened with deportation and worse.

The most recent charges come from Minakshi Jaffa-Bodden, Choudhury's former legal advisor. Jaffa-Bodden claims that she became aware of allegations of sexual assault and harassment during a multi-day training conference; when she approached Choudhury about them, she was told that it would be "best" to "not look into it any further." When she attempted to stand up to the yoga guru, his company threatened to have her and her 8-year-old daughter deported. In March 2013, Jaffa-Bodden says that she was forced to resign by Choudhury himself. He apparently made her sign a resignation letter by threatening her physically.

In addition to black people and gays, Choudhury has such a history of slurring entire groups of people that a former student listed and categorized the hate. Objects of his ire included the Chinese, the tattooed, Mormans, dog owners, sluts, and women of every body type and hair style: "Chubbies, too skinny, small-breasted, without make-up, with short hair, with long hair, but worn up."

Sydney Towne said she kept a list of Bikram's behavior when she trained with him full-time from April to June 2012 because "he dislikes so many types of people" that "a list seemed like the only way to keep track of it all." She loved Bikram Yoga, but hated the way Bikram himself "completely takes advantage of people and their desire for wellness."

"I think he preys on people and there's such a cult of personality around him that people don't question his clearly inappropriate behavior," she said. "I completely believe all accusations against him."

Choudhury seems to have something ghastly to say about just about everyone. He is fond of his own penis, though. Quite, quite fond.

Meanwhile, if you want to buy your yoga pants at Lululemon, be prepared for similar judgmentalism and cultishness. Much like Abercrombie & Fitch, Lululemon recently took a publicity hit for its tendency to sideline women over a size 8. Those clothes, if they're stocked at all, can be found in an unsorted heap in the back of the store... under a table.

Far from an accident, the exiling of larger clothing by Lululemon is a central piece of the company's strategy to market its brand as the look of choice for the stylishly fitness-conscious, according to former employees and consumer advocates. They say this treatment of larger clothes and customers reflects the culture that Lululemon represents -- one that falsely suggests skinniness is the paramount feature of health. Lululemon declined to comment.

The judgment and in-group, out-group dynamics reportedly permeate the company culture of Lululemon. Former employee Elizabeth Licorish describes a sorority girl type of hierarchy in which employees scrutinize and evaluate each other constantly and it takes little to be found deeply wanting.

I hoped to exercise my love of running, earn an employee discount, and take free fitness classes. But, soon after enduring Lululemon's intensive training program, I realized I'd been indoctrinated into a bottomless pit of groupthink I'd never be able to survive.

The Lululemon culture consists, on the surface, of catchy manifestos. Lululemon wants you to know it's "elevating the world from mediocrity to greatness" and "creating components for people to live long, healthy and fun lives." But, dig deeper, and you'll learn about Landmark Forum, the ultra-secretive, eerily cultish educational series, which Lululemon employees are "strongly encouraged" to attend. Before you're in line for Landmark, you're bombarded with Brian Tracy motivational CDs and a book club that culminates with Atlas Shrugged. Successful Lululemon employees can recite Brian Tracy better than the Pledge of Allegiance. Mention Chip Wilson, Lululemon's founder and former CEO, and their eyes will light up and quickly glaze over. They'll tell you, quite seriously, that he saved their lives by elevating them to greatness.

All this sort of made walking into work feel like time traveling to Salem. Because, with the Lululemon creed and catechism comes a collective mentality that thrives on scapegoats and leaves you feeling worthless if you subsist on anything but spring water and kale. Once, another employee sneered at me from across the floor and said the soda I happened to be enjoying would "rot me from the inside out." Eventually we were all issued reusable acrylic cups and forbidden to drink anything but H2O. We'd be encouraged to give "feedback," a terrible, calculated misnomer for ruthless criticism that could veer from professional to personal in 60 seconds flat. If a customer dismissed your sales pitch because, let's say, he was in a bad mood, one of your fellow team members would pull you aside and say your conversational style lacked genuine authenticity. She'd insinuate that you lack authenticity. That you aren't equipped enough as a human being to sell yoga pants.

And, unsurprisingly, at the heart of this world of LGATs, motivational speakers, and measuring everyone's spiritual worth by their material success, is a corporate leadership that knows The Secret.

A cult following is the most coveted accessory in retail, and Lululemon's is even more lustworthy than its Velocity Gym Bag. It wasn't built on the work of some Jobs-ian swami, however, but on the sources of Lulu founder and chairman Chip Wilson's own spiritual awakening. Wilson has mixed a heady self-actualizing cocktail from equal parts Landmark Forum (seminars based on the philosophy of Werner Erhard), the books of motivational business guru Brian Tracy, and Oprah-endorsed best seller The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. He is now hard at work formalizing them in a Lululemon "internal constitution."

"It's the first time I've heard of anyone almost directly using the techniques of cults and applying them to their business," says Douglas Atkin, author of The Culting of Brands. Drawing on those techniques, and with virtually zero advertising, Lululemon has converted the most popular yoga teachers from Beverly Hills to Boston (and their students) into a devoted -- and self-propagating -- clientele. In a little more than 10 years, Lululemon has grown from a single storefront on the surf side of Vancouver, British Columbia, to a public company with more than 100 outlets and $340 million in annual revenue. "I have not been able to find any company that compares with what they do," says Suzanne Price, a retail analyst with ThinkEquity, who points to Lululemon stores ringing up $1,800 in sales per square foot, compared with only $600 for retailers such as J.Crew and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Wilson claims he didn't start Lululemon merely to sell $90 leggings, but also to help his customers limber up for their journey to self-esteem and empowerment. As he writes in the "Chip's Musings" section of the company Web site, "The law of attraction" -- the central tenet of The Secret, that visualizing goals is the key to attaining them -- "is the fundamental law that Lululemon was built on from its 1998 inception." He goes on to explain the company's meta-mission: "Our vision is 'to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness,' and we are growing so we can train more people and spread the word of The Secret -- which to us at Lululemon is not so secret."

Lululemon talks a good game about authenticity but it quickly learned that being too authentically yogic was a bad business model. "Yogis" turned out to be "too slow" on the sales floor so they dumped them for runners who also like yoga. This brought them the driven, "type A" personalities needed to create a yoga themed business empire.

Other challenges to Lululemon's "authenticity" branding have included exposed hypocrisy and outright fraud: the use of child labor in China, the manufacture and sale of expensive seaweed bags bragging a litany of seaweed related health benefits that turned out not to contain a whit of seaweed, and a name that reportedly owes to the company founder's delight in mocking the Japanese. 

For all its adherence to The Secret, Lululemon somehow law of attracted a grisly homicide as one sales girl brutally stabbed and bludgeoned another to death, purportedly over a stolen pair of yoga pants. CEO Linda Day made a grand public statement about how convicted murderer Brittany Norwood's actions were "the antithesis of the values of our company." Well, one would think that murder is contrary to the values of most companies. One would even think that it goes without saying which renders it an odd statement indeed. But it also conspicuously avoids addressing how it fits with their like attracts like philosophy. But then, we all know that among law of attraction adherents we're all responsible for everything we attract until it's so horrible that we're somehow not anymore.

None of this bears much resemblance to what I learned when I first started studying yoga. For my teachers, it wasn't about having a perfect, beach body, but about listening to your body's unique wisdom and moving in tune with it. It was about health and spiritual alignment -- not "fitness." I've long been aware that the growing popularity of yoga was a double-edge sword. A beautiful, traditional practice proliferated in the West but it also succumbed to faddishness, vanity, and pecuniary exploitation.

My first teacher was based largely in Kripalu yoga. I also spent time at Kripalu. Amrit Desai created a beautiful, patient yoga style that people of every age, condition, and body type could benefit from. He also turned out to be an inveterate womanizer, manipulator, and hypocrite. Oh well. The more things change...
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Posted in LaVaughn, The Secret, Yoga | No comments

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

The Flipping Sun

Posted on 7:51 PM by Unknown
Crossposted from Reflections Journal.




The sun is getting ready to reverse its polarity, which will put us at the midway point of solar maximum. It has been an unusually quiescent solar maximum, which has gone some way to calming concerns about a potential Carrington Event. Of course it only takes one. A report that we just barely avoided one a couple of weeks ago has been the subject of some dispute. (If this link redirects you, find August 2, 2013)

A little before the one minute mark, there's an image of the Wilcox Solar Observatory at Stanford. I can't help noticing that it strongly resembles a pyramid with a sun at the apex.



DJI Phantom - Wilcox Solar Observatory, Stanford University from Rd on Vimeo.




This classic image is one that weaves itself through symbolic art:



And currency:

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Posted in Astronomy, LaVaughn, Sacred Geometry | No comments

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Cafe

Posted on 3:00 AM by Unknown
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Around the Web, Around the World


"Why Shamanism Now?" with Christina Pratt

Sacred Dance: Art and Shamanism

True power can be accessed through the spirit of dance in a freeform atmosphere. Anyone can access his or her power anytime. You don't need to know how to dance to touch the sacred through dance. When we dance we can access the power to reconcile our inner conflicts, transform toxic stress into energy, and reshape the story that defines our path in the world. So why don't we dance? Or why don't we dance with the focus and intention required to enter sacred space and embody the Spirit of Dance? This week host and shaman, Christina Pratt, continues in this third episode of the new Why Shamanism Now series, Art and Shamanism. She explores the many ways sacred dance is used in her shamanic teachings to create personal sovereignty and allow the True Self to manifest your life from the inside out. In the wise words of Gabriel Roth, "Only when you truly inhabit your body can you begin the healing journey... (and) dance from the inside out, not the outside in."

Tuesday, August 6 2013 at 11:00 AM Pacific

Log on to Listen
Why Shamanism Now? on Co-Creator Network
Questions? Comments? Call: 1-512-772-1938

All episodes are now available in the iTunes Podcast Library.




Awake in the DREAM with Laura Eisenhower and Dr. DREAM

PROOF: Your Thoughts Create Your Reality

Pam Grout is the author of 16 books, two I-Phone apps and more travel articles than she can count. Her most recent book, E-Squared: 9 Do-it-yourself Energy Experiments that Prove your Thoughts Create your Reality, just made the New York Times bestseller list, an intention she made when she began writing books. Next up? Appearing with Oprah on Super Soul Sunday. She also writes for People magazine, CNN Travel, Men's Journal and her own blogs: http://www.pamgrout.com and http://www.georgeclooneyslepthere.com.

Tue, August 6, 2013 at 9:00 pm Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drdream


Suzanne Toro

BeSimply...LoveSelf {Communication}

Join 'She' for 54 minutes to work on the inner self.

During this segment:
Communication. Find your voice. Take responsibility for your emtions. Release old patterns of communication. Remember how to align speech with the world you want to live in.

Explore and Align with 'Self', Gaia, and Community. How to reconnect to Self, Soil and your Tribe?

Parables shared...Walk through a guided release experience/meditation. This will assist you in BEing...YOU!
Opening your heart center...the gateway to the universe.

Please send in your questions to s@suzannetoro.com.

Fri, August 9, 2013 at 12:30 am Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/suzannetoro


Just Energy Radio

Monster Files: A Look At Bizarre Creatures and Extraordinary Animals


Nick Redfern
Monster Files: A Look At Bizarre Creatures and Extraordinary Animals
Nick Redfern is the author of many books on UFOs, aliens, Bigfoot, werewolves, the Loch Ness Monster, paranormal phenomena, conspiracy theories, psychic powers, and Hollywood scandal. His titles include the following: Contactees; Memoirs of a Monster Hunter; A Covert Agenda; Strange Secrets; Three Men Seeking Monsters; The FBI Files; Celebrity Secrets; Cosmic Crashes; There's Something in the Woods ; Science Fiction Secrets; On the Trail of the Saucer Spies; Body Snatchers in the Desert; and Man-Monkey. More ...
www.nickredfern.com

Thursday From 7-9pm CST ~ 08/08/13

http://inceptionradionetwork.com/listen-live/


Awake: Now What?

Elaine Lockard, Healer, Author, Coach, Mentor

Elaine is and always has been a healer. She heals:
• intellectually, emotionally, physically and spiritually
• through the acquisition and transfer of knowledge, information, and energy
• through providing YOU the tools and processes to heal yourself and your business

She firmly believes that all healing, change, success and occurrences in your life and business begin with YOU! And by having the courage to know, understand and develop those parts of yourself and your business as necessary, you can achieve whatever you desire.

Through her work as an Executive, Business, and Spiritual Coach, Assessment Specialist, Career Strategist, Intuitive Business Mentor, Professional Intuitive, Numerologist, Energy Healer and Author, it is her passion to help you do just this!

She is a practical person and her working style reflects this through the main use of assessments and structure while deftly incorporating more esoteric aspects of spirituality. She has the unique gift to walk the line between both, touching each clearly and simultaneously, acting as a “bridge” between both planes, to give you a deeper, more overall vision and understanding of you, your process and path.
- See more at: http://www.elainelockard.com/about-2/#sthash.JFTbNGU0.dpuf

For more information go to: http://www.elainelockard.com

Sun, August 11, 2013 at 6:00 pm Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/awake


Suzanne Toro

BeSimply...Sound&Silence {heART Center}

Join 'She' for a 15 minute Guided Meditation. Sound and Silence Meditation...Open the Voice...AHHH!

During this segment: Guided meditation to connect you to the your 'Breath, your CENTER' , and inner peace...Sound, Breath and Silence! Align with Heart

Please send in your questions to s@suzannetoro.com

Mon, August 12, 2013 at 12:00 am Eastern

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/suzannetoro
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Posted in Broadcasts, Cafe, LaHuesera, Open Thread | No comments

Friday, August 2, 2013

Pat Robertson Takes an Odd Break from The Crazy

Posted on 10:01 AM by Unknown
Crossposted from Reflections Journal.




Is this whole Christian leaders not judging people becoming a trend? I don't know. Maybe.

The 83-year-old televangelist [Pat Robertson] sat down on Sunday for the "Bring It Online" advice portion of his Christian Broadcasting Network show, "The 700 Club." A viewer named David wrote in asking how he should refer to two transgender females who work in his office and have legally changed their genders. Instead of criticizing the trans individuals, Robertson approached the situation in a seemingly level-headed manner.

"I think there are men who are in a woman's body," he said. "It's very rare. But it's true -- or women that are in men's bodies -- and that they want a sex change. That is a very permanent thing, believe me, when you have certain body parts amputated and when you have shot up with various kinds of hormones. It's a radical procedure. I don't think there's any sin associated with that. I don't condemn somebody for doing that."

. . .

When his co-host said the viewer doesn't know the intentions or medical history of his co-workers, Robertson rebutted, "It's not for you to decide or to judge."

It seems a strange exception to his usual judge, condemn, and blame everybody rule.
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Posted in GLBT, Judeo-Christian, LaVaughn, Religion | No comments
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