joyously announce hosting during Mango Season
A Timeless 10 days / 9 nights
“Nature as Teacher, Indigenous Wisdom &
Rainforest Conservation Strategies”
at GUARIA de OSA “Orchid of the Osa”
Rainforest Ocean Wilderness Discovery Centre and Ethnobotanical Gardens
where the Rainforest kisses the Ocean
on the OSA PENINSULA of COSTA RICA!
Celebrating Mother’s Day,
Mayday, and the full moon
Notes:
Join us on an unforgettable adventure of self-discovery, wellness and exploration of rainforest plant medicine traditions with time-honored maestros from the Ecuadorian Amazon, an intrepid Ethnobotanist, together with a Ceremonial Master Counselor, an Iyengar and Movement Yoga Teacher alongside mindful/considerate participants — gathering in the heart of the Osa Peninsula also known as “The Little Amazon by the Ocean” endorsed by National Geographic as “the most biological intense place on Earth!”
COME:
Agustin “Tin Tin” Piaguaje is about seventy years young, a traditional Secoya healer and ceremonial master from the Secoya Community of San Pablo on the Aguarico River in the Ecuadorian Amazon. don Agustin will facilitate deep healing transformation giving participants a first hand opportunity to meet a true deep-forest healer and cultural master. His songs, guiding your meditations, are profoundly and uniquely cherished.
Delfin Payaguaje is a Secoya grandfather and a traditional elder, the son of Fernando Payaguaje, one of the greatest spiritual masters the Secoya People have ever known. don Delfin’s quiet nature and poised grace bring multiple blessings. It is an honor for us that he has accepted our invitation to join in the 2007 council gatherings. This will be the first time don Delfin will travel outside his mother country. At Guaria, he will join us on our forest walks with his eyes that see the visible and the invisible. Don Delfin will also share his experiences of life in the Amazon Forest.
Alfredo Payaguaje dedicates his life to the cultural rescue of his peoples’ ancestral traditions studying the plant lore and mythologies with his elders. The grandson of the most outstanding Secoya plant master, Fernando Payaguaje, the son of don Delfin Payaguaje, Alfredo, a young grandfather, is a Secoya Ethnobotanist, who wrote the first story of don Fernando. He is a long-time friend of ethnobotanist, Jonathon Miller-Weisberger, who in 1998 prepared Alfredo with ethnobotanical field skills. Alfredo will share insights into the Secoya cosmology and be the translator for the Secoya elders at Guaria de Osa.
"My vision awoke when I began to notice that the youth of my community no longer had the interest to learn about the uses of our medicinal plants. Since nobody else was, I began to study with the elders and I found what I was learning to be very interesting. By learning about the deepest knowledge of my elders and the reality of what Nature offers us, I realized the need that we have to keep our relationship with the medicinal plants. Then the inspiration arose within me to make a garden of all of the various useful plants, not just the ones we have in cultivation but also the important forest medicines, to bring these to light and to share the importance of knowing and loving them and of their benefit to humanity.
My vision and purpose for this work is to serve my community, to transmit the wisdom and teachings to the children and students who today are naive about the importance of our true relationship with Nature. What I wish to create is a center for the rehabilitation of our vanishing traditional wisdom so that we can revalidate our relationship with Nature and the Plants which help us learn these truths."
— Alfredo Payaguaje, Secoya ethnobotanist
and
author of El Bebedor de Yajé / The Yajé Drinker
Leonell Mendoza is an Ecuadorian from the coastal province of Manabi and father of three. He faithfully sustains the spiritual science of the Secoya, learning with the elders, and has achieved several levels of graduation from more than 5 years of diligent self-discipline and selfless service. Leonell’s dedication to healing is based on a call to social responsibility and service. His ‘day job’ is driving folks home from the market place in his pick up truck. Leonell’s experiences as a traditional healer and ceremonial master are remarkable and his songs are pure and strong.
Victorio Villareal Villareal “Cascarilla” – another grandfather is Guaria de Osa’s non-resident staff. He is a Costa Rican native, a classic and timeless elder from the Osa Peninsula. A Herbologist and Natural Healer, don Victorio explains the complex inter-relationships of species. He comes to Guaria to lead shorter nature walks; identify the local medicinal and useful plants; helps you identify the birds and spot well-camouflaged creatures; and he shares his insightful knowledge of medicinal plants and pre-Columbian archeology. don Victorio's other gifts, talents, and passions include plant healing, story-telling of the region, predicting the weather, and serenading Latin American guitar music of yester-yore. He brings Guaria to life with his all-star marimba band and will challenge you to an unforgettable game of dominoes!
Linda Hjortshoj has been teaching Yoga and movement work for 30 years. After studying Iyengar Yoga for a decade, she began a journey of discovery into intrinsic movement with Emily Conrad. She has most recently worked with Angela Farmer and Victor van Kooten and their Inner Body Yoga. She also has experience with Alexander Technique and Ayurveda. Linda has been profoundly affected by her work with the resonance of sound, breath, and movement and the way that it connects us with the natural world. The body as the subconscious mind fascinates her since opening in the body can allow opening in the psyche. She has learned from her practise of Continuum Movement that it is possible to create a “fluid system that does not hold onto disease, trauma, or fixed ideas.” Linda is a mother and grandmother living with her husband on a very rural tree farm in New York State, and, with her husband Howard, they founded North Coast Yoga in upstate New York. Her life in the country has been her best teacher and the source of her spiritual development. Linda has led groups to Guaria de Osa for two years.
Armand Huet de Grenier is from Canada’s
east coast Province of Nova Scotia,
where he lives and shares a vision called NOVA QUEST with his
partner, Susan Morrison, a homeopathic consultant. He is an experienced
Ceremonial Master, Counselor and Teacher and he too is a grandfather.
His deep insight and prudent/practical wisdom gained through tireless
years of dedication to service, wellness, and ceremonial drumming
gives him a unique perspective into the deep pathways of life.
Armand studied with Michael and Sandra Harner (Core Shamanism)
and began what has become a 26-year immersion and daily practice
of the shamanic path of spirit. He has traced his shamanic/healing
roots to his ancestors of some 15,000 years ago from the Dordogne
region of France: he is of the cave painters' lineage! Armand
has been called the grandfather of contemporary shamanism in the
Maritime Provinces and he is a student of the Sakyong Mipham,
Rinpoche in the Shambhala-Buddhist tradition of the Warriors of
Enlightened Society. In 1993, Armand, Dahlia and Jonathon met
and shared Jaguar Spirit blessing and connection while in Palenque,
Mexico at a Botanical Preservation Corps Gathering. Translating
his profound life experiences, received in meditation and ceremony,
into ordinary life, we welcome “tio Armand”’s
much-appreciated presence at the Council Gatherings, where he
will be available individually and in group to assist in the intentional
preparation and reflections on the teachings of the plant and
animal guides: “Our stories are the humble expressions of
Spirit Medicine!”
Jonathon Miller-Weisberger (aka Sparrow), Ethnobotanist and student of Traditional Chinese and Indigenous Medicine, a Naturalist, and Rainforest guide, has more than 10 years of ground level experience in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Jonathon is the founder and steward of Guaria de Osa Rainforest Ocean Discovery Centre and the director of the Council for Cultural and Biological Diversity. His friendship and work relationship with the Secoyas date back to 1994. Born in Berkeley, raised in Ecuador with his sister, Jonathon has over 18 years of Rainforest Conservation advocacy beginning from his early years at Humboldt State University. Although he has written and submitted articles in Spanish and English and keeps volumes of excellent journals, Jonathon has been too engaged to write a book yet. More at: http://www.osanimi.org/contents.html
“Over the years, I have been working on what I call The New Ethnobotany, an emerging discipline that seeks to enact new methods of cultural transmission to revive, validate, and strengthen the vast plant lore among and within Indigenous and rural peoples’ communities. I believe that the preservation and attentive transmission of Indigenous plant knowledge both among forest communities and the world at large are crucial links in ongoing forest protection. Ultimately millions of hectares of priceless tropical Rainforest lie in the hands of Indigenous peoples’ communities undergoing rapid changes and cultural dissolution, and the fate of these forest lies directly in the ability of Indigenous People(s) to continue renewing their relationship and sustainable approach to living in the forest. Consequently much work is necessary among these communities to, at the very least, strengthen traditional plant knowledge. The problems of deforestation are tremendously complex, yet, that shouldn’t stop people from finding practical solutions to this global concern. We are seeking to discover effective techniques and strategies towards these ends.”
Dahlia Kresch Miller (aka Esther Miller) was
born and raised in Panama by Polish-Jewish immigrants and has
spent most of her life in Latin America. Dahlia lived in Ecuador
from 1968 – 1985 where she raised two graceful children:
her daughter Ladna - who is an ecologist/biologist, coordinator
of Grupo Osanimi’s Rainforest Conservation
and Cultural Heritage Projects in Ecuador, a photographer and
an avid practitioner of Capoeira; and her son, Jonathon, who is
an ethnobotanist, founder and steward of Guaria de Osa and the
director of Grupo Osanimi/The Osa Foundation, and an avid practitioner
of Chinese Medicine and its philosophy and Martial Arts. While
raising her family in Ecuador, Dahlia taught high school in Quito;
and in her home, she gave piano lessons (she went to Juilliard
Conservatory of Music in New York), and held vegetarian cooking
classes (an original concept in those days in Ecuador). In 1974,
with Gilad Zamir from Israel, she co-founded “Hojas de Hierba”
a cultural centre named after Walt Whitman’s masterwork,
Leaves of Grass, programming live cultural and educational
activities like Ecuador had not seen before alongside a restaurant
that served the first vegetarian dishes in Ecuador together with
other 'firsts' in this beloved country of hers. In 1994 she received
her Masters Degree in the Interdisciplinary Studies of Consciousness
at John F. Kennedy University in California. Dahlia has been Sentient
Experientials’ Liaison for Ecuador since 1994 and Guaria
de Osa’s Liaison since 2001 – and continues to be
the fulfilled mother of Ladna and Jonathon! During these early
years and growth of Guaria de Osa, her Ph.D. degree in Social
and Cultural Anthropology at the California Institute of Integral
Studies – with a focus on Living Systems Theory and the
Gaia Hypothesis – continues to be a work-in-progress. The
well being of the Rainforest and her culture(s) is where Dahlia
turns her personal, professional, and passionate attention.
To get to Guaria de Osa effortlessly -
please contact Dahlia to register for this shape-shifting event!
E-mail:
Tel. (510) 235 – 4313 in California
6-7:30 AM: Sunrise meditation and Dao-In Yoga an ancient energy conducting exercise from the traditions of Tao where we also practice breath work techniques to strengthen one’s health and well being.
We make the following round-trip reservations
to get you to Guaria de Osa effortlessly!
Tuition: $1900/participant
Space available: 22 participants
$1000 pre-payment will reserve your space.
Balance is due by or before March 15.
Payment can be made:
with Paypal using a debit or credit card;
personal check, cashiers’ check; money order; American Express Travelers’
check
Note: For extra nights, before and/or after a Council Gathering,
cost is $100/night/person for lodging and meals
plus extra Osa Peninsula transfers - $35 one way.
About International Flight Reservations
“With these few words, I wish to infinitely thank
Jonathon for the great assistance that he gives the Secoya People.”
ANGEL CELESTINO PIAGUAJE, Secoya educator
and author
“Grupo Osanimi is important work, needs to be supported
and is making a real difference.”
TERENCE McKENNA, ethnobotanist and author
“Jonathon Sparrow Miller-Weisberger and his colleagues
are doing important work for the preservation of tropical ecosystems,
and the indigenous gnosis of the forest inhabitants. They are
literally rediscovering the "roots" of humanity's million-year
old symbiosis with the plant kindom. Their work is ethical, motivated,
and deserves support. In this era of shrinking ecosystems, disappearing
species, and cultural dissolution the work of Jonathon and his
organization is of incalculable value for every species, and for
all species who share this fragile planet.”
DENNIS McKENNA, ethnopharmacologist
and author
“The Rainforest Conservation work of Jonathon Sparrow
and his Indigenous colleagues
ranks among the most respectful, creative and promising ventures
underway on behalf of Earth and ancient Earth ways. This is truly
Deep Ecology in action - a privilege to behold.” JOANNA
MACY, Buddhist scholar and Living Systems educator,
author, and, with John Seed, Pat Fleming, and Arne Naess, co-founded
THE COUNCIL of ALL BEINGS (CAB) - a training in movements for
peace, justice and ecology
“Group Osanimi is doing courageous and innovative
work. By seeking out ways to assist cultural transmission while
organizing to protect Ecuador's forests, they are working to preserve
ancient botanical wisdom, not on some dusty bookshelf, but in
the hearts of indigenous youths and in the forest itself. This
is a bold and crucial step in these times.”
ROBERT HASS, poet, United States Poet
Laureate, 1996-1997
“Jonathon's collaboration as an ethnobotanist fulfills
important contributions in collecting medicinal plants and fruit
seeds of the area and contributing to the National Herbarium of
Ecuador from areas not visited, such as Napo-Galeras, slopes of
Cerro de La Plata Mountain Range, and the Headwaters of the Shiripuno
River. His seriousness, delivery, and professional talent are
a valuable assistance in complementing our objectives.”
DAVID NEILL, Curator of the Museo de
Cienca Nacionales Herbarium, Ecuador
“Jonathon Sparrow and the rainforest workers in Ecuador
are doing invaluable work. Not only with the Huaorani Indians
but with many tribal groups. These young people are conscientiously
recording botanical medicinals and new species of rainforest plants
and bringing hope to Indigenous People. We all have pride in their
efforts and support them in their endeavors.”
BILL MOLLISON, originator of Permaculture, author, biologist,
farmer, teacher and Australia’s Man of the Year
“Well Jonathon Sparrow, you’ve done yourself proud – big dreams require big beautiful places to happen. See you next time.” SCOTT PITTMAN, Permaculture Institute, New Mexico
"Jonathon is an ambassador of Gaian consciousness. He is one of the jewels of the planet." MICHAEL COTTINGHAM, Ethnobotanist, co-founder of The Herbal Medicine Program at The New Mexico College of Natural Healing
“Well Jonathon Sparrow, you’ve done yourself proud big dreams require big beautiful places to happen. See you next time.” SCOTT PITTMAN, Permaculture Institute, New Mexico
“Guaria de Osa is where the Spirit of the Rainforest is alive and well…where the vibration of healing and awakening gets into your dreams and makes you feel like anything is possible on this Earth. As if that were not enough Jonathon Miller-Weisberger - a ‘young Schultes’ - is a master with the plants and they speak to him. He helps you listen to their myriad voices, each a wise voice singing a different part in Nature’s chorus. Come to this place and you will be forever changed.” BILL PFEIFFER, Sacred Earth Network
“don Victorio embodies the spirit of the rainforest and the culture of the Osa Peninsula. Sharing his intimate knowledge of the medicinal qualities of local plants and trees enhanced the special nature of Guaria.” KAREN TABERSKI, Marine Biologist
“Linda Hjortshoj’s class is the only Yoga class I have ever wanted to go back to.” ED VERMUE, University Librarian
“Working with Linda is the only way I have found to relieve the pain of my scoliosis. The combination of breath, sound, and body awareness makes it different than any other work I have done. Even my orthopedist was impressed!” ADDIE CASTALDO, retired Office Manager
“Their approach to Yoga is so very practical. They have helped me take my Yoga off the mat and put it into my daily life in a way that's nearly eliminated the aches and pains I had thought were just part of being a physical, active person.” FLIP PURVIS, Contractor
“Linda's classes can involve some serious work and she tends to stress fundamentals, but makes them interesting. Leaving the classroom, I find myself feeling greatly improved physically and in my outlook.” ANN HALLINAN, Gardener
“Dahlia Miller brings her gaia/kali spirit to the Council Gathering
while invoking the balancing presence of the Great (Feminine) Mystery.”
ARMAND HUET de GRENIER, Spiritual Ceremonial Counselor
and Teacher
“As a medical doctor, I have worked with Armand DeGrenier
for over twenty-five years.
He has helped clients that I have referred to him with a variety
of personal, relational, and spiritual challenges. The shamanic
and psychotherapeutic tools he works can inspire deep transformative
change in anyone willing to explore the landscape of their inner
world. Armand also is very experienced and skillful in guiding
ritual and group process, providing a safe and supportive atmosphere
for participants to share and connect with each other.”
DIRK VANDERSLOOT, MD
“Armand is a shaman's shaman. Armand animates everything he touches; explores all that he encounters; learns from all his relations; he is always in motion. He has shared his early encounter with Michael Harner and introduced core shamanism and other spiritual work to Nova Scotia. In this respect he is the ‘father’ of contemporary shamanic practice in Nova Scotia. The students of his first drumming circles are working across Atlantic Canada making their contributions. Armand works tirelessly offering his remarkable individual healing work, drumming circles and ceremonies to all who ask. If you have not been in a circle led by Armand then find one... he is creative, energetic and compelling. Armand's spirits dance in his eyes, flow like a river in his being and entice you to open to the wonders of the sacred. He is teacher, healer, visionary, warrior... a shaman extraordinary!” A. MARGUERITE CASSIN, PhD, professor and shamanic student
“Armand lives a path of openness and surrender. I have danced in the sacred with Armand for almost 2 decades and am witness to his years of committed teaching, dedication and humility. Armand is a man of integrity, a gracious and compassionate “Grandfather”. He honors the way of heart. He inspires by example. He holds the vision of wellness for many. Armand stands beside me. I trust him with my Soul. I am blessed to have him in my life.” C. J. SILVER, Affiliate of the EarthSea Shamanic EcoVillage and co-creator of the EarthSea Society, NS
“Armand DeGrenier’s work as a counselor/shamanic practitioner and group facilitator merits my highest heart-felt support. I have worked with him personally and have referred friends and clients to him. He is compassionate, skilled, creative, focused and competent in assisting those who ask to deep psychological and spiritual healing. His own willingness to “walk his talk” provides an authentic and loving guide for all who open to his facilitation. Armand has a unique ability to provide a safe environment for deep work with a loving sense of honesty peppered with humor to assist transformative experiences. He is expertly skilled in gently eliciting and inclusively facilitating multi-tradition and spirit inspired contemporary shamanic ceremony: for birthing, funeral send off, namings, weddings, separations, health trance-forms, heart healing, soul retrieving, conflict resolution, living, work space and geographical spirit cleansings and for various life transitional honourings and planetary health attendings. It has been an honor to work with Armand both as a friend and as a mentor.” JEAN FOREST, RN, MA
“My journey with Gaia centered consciousness has been greatly enhanced by my participation in shamanic groups, ceremonies, and one-on-one sessions facilitated by Armand DeGrenier. My work with him continues to be deeply healing and transformative. It moves me forward by leaps and bounds on my journey to assist others in becoming stewards of the Earth. In gratitude” GAIAMORE (inspired creator of the EarthDeck and Nature Divination Photography)
“Many thanks for sharing the beauty and wisdom, shining the deep listening and the natural healing vibrations. What an inspiring and uplifting, magical and amazing meeting place. And the sounds … the music …” NERUPA HOFFMAN-PAISS, Yoga teacher, mother, and wife; and AMIR PAISS, Musician, father and husband
“Love, Love, Potency. Fabulous eco journey in the jewel of Central America.” GANGA WHITE, founder of White Lotus Foundation, Santa Barbara, California and author of Yoga Beyond Belief
“For Jonathon! Thanks for your work in the world! With best
wishes.”
JEREMY NARBY, author of The
Cosmic Serpent, DNA, and The Origins of Knowledge
“Jonathon! What good magic here at Guaria de Osa! Presided over by a most benevolent array of plant energies and animal intelligences, leafing and leaping spirits, laughing under a gazillion gleaming stars, accompanied by the steady drumbeat, like a dark heart of the wave on the sloping strand in wilderness and wonder.” DAVID ABRAM, author of The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World
“I felt as if I were on my own private South Pacific Island! Everyone is so kind, knowledgeable and helpful! Food is amazing! The orthopedic mattresses were well worth all the trouble it must have caused to get them here. Thank you for helping to make me conscious of my impulses and the power of my intuition. You are a treasure that I will always keep in my heart.” BOBBY SAGER, Sager Family Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts
“Sacred Love.” STING, England
“I came here as one and left as another. Thank you.”
SIMON ASTAIRE, England
“My trip to Guaria de Osa was a psychospiritual journey that opened up possibilities in my personal and professional life that I had only dreamed of before. And it was exotically beautiful, rejuvenating and fun!” RACHEL HARRIS, Ph.D., psychologist & author
“Beautiful spot, great gardens, fantastic buildings, wonderful forest, very rich people. Thanks for the help, hospitality, generosity, honest, and all around good vibe. And the presence of the plants is palpable.” LINCOLN STOLLER, physicist
“don Victorio Villareal Villareal is a wise, warm, and sensitive elder filled with knowledge of the plants, nature, the history and customs of the Osa Peninsula and humor which he readily shares. He cast a spell in the evening as he shared his heart through his singing and guitar playing. It was hard to say goodbye.” PATRICIA HARTIGAN BLOOM, Reg. Nurse/Attorney at Law, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Vibrational Healer, Founder of A Healing Alternative, Mill Valley, California
Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a
Peruvian Shaman,
by Pablo Amaringo and Eduardo Luna. To order: North Atlantic Books,
Berkeley - chard@northatlanticbooks.com
Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon’s Sacred Vine, edited by Luis Eduardo Luna and Steven F. White; (read A Huaorani Myth of the First Miiyabu, by Jonathon S. Miller-Weisberger)
Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth, attaining Unlimited Life, by Hua-Ching Ni
Breaking Open The Head, by Daniel Pinchbeck
(read Ch. 22 on Sentient Experientials in the Ecuadorian Amazon)
Coming Back To Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives,
Our World,
by Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown; foreword by Matthew Fox
HerbalGram: The Journal of the American Botanical
Council
http://www.herbalgram.org
If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth,
by Helen Caldicott, M.D.
In the Rainforest: Report from a Strange, Beautiful,
Imperiled World,
by Catherine Caulfield
One River, Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon
Rain Forest,
by Wade Davis
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the
Pillage of a Continent,
by Eduardo Galeano
Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual
by Bill Mollison
Riding the Horse Backwards,
by Arnold and Amy Mindell
Seven Life Lessons of Chaos: Timeless Wisdom from
the Science of Change,
by John John and F. David Peat
Shaman’s Drum Journal, A Journal of Experiential
Shamanism and Spiritual Healing
http://www.shamansdrum.org/
Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study
in Terror and Healing,
by Michael Taussig
Taoist Inner View of the Universe and the Immortal
Realms,
by Hua-Ching Ni
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge,
by Jeremy Narby
The Lost Language of Plants: The Ecological Importance of Plant Medicines to Life on Earth, by Steven Harrod Buhner (Please read Ch. 11 Living Biognosis the work of Sparrow, pgs. 249 268 and other writers.)
The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and Function of
a Religious Metaphor,
by Michael Ripinsky-Naxon
The Reenchantment of Art, by Suzi Gablik
The Reenchantment of the World, by Morris Berman
The Shaman’s Body, by Arnold Mindell
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World, by David Abram
The Tao of Physics, by Fritjof Capra
The Three Halves of Ino Moxo: Teachings of the Wizard of the Upper Amazon, by Cesar Calvo and Kenneth Symington
The Way of the Shaman, by Michael Harner
The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of
Living Systems,
by Fritjof Capra
Thinking Like a Mountain: Toward a Council of All
Beings,
by Joanna Macy, John Seed, Pat Fleming, Arne Naess
Thought As A System, by David Bohm
Vine of the Soul, Where the Gods Reign, by Richard Evans Schultes
Workbook for Spiritual Development of All People, by Hua-Ching Ni
World as Lover, World as Self, by Joanna Macy; foreword by Thich Nhat Hanh
To register please contact Dahlia Miller
Email:
Tel: (510) 235 4313 (U.S. office)
Sentient Experientials at Guaria de Osa
PO Box 1004
El Cerrito, California, 94530
Thank you for networking this event to interested people.
