New Year's Eve Meditation

Please join Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo and the community at the Temple of the Adawees, Wise Protectors, at the Peace Village in Lincoln, VT on Dec 31 at 9:30 PM for our traditional Meditation, welcoming the New Year.

FAMILIES AND CHILDREN-- ALL ARE WELCOME!

Please park in the parking lot and walk carefully to the Temple.  Bring warm slippers or socks (as the floor may be chilly) and blankets for the children.  Bring personal meditation objects (cushions, shawls, etc). We also have chairs in the Temple.

Wisdom of the Peace Village Elders -- Documentary Series

2 0 1 2: What Future Do You Want To Energize? - This video is an excerpt from the Wisdom of the Peace Village Elders Documentary Series. Algonquin Elder Mike Bastine delivers a positive and powerful antidote to the misunderstanding and fear that surrounds most messages about the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012. This video invites each one of us to join the tipping point of consciousness toward co-creating a culture of peace and sustainable living on the planet.

The WISDOM OF THE PEACE VILLAGE ELDERS Documentary Series

Produced by: Mutual Abundance Media

Here’s the challenge: Are we so hypnotized by our steady diet of media-fed horrors, that we’ve despaired of ever achieving the dream of a violence-free world? Or are we ready for the shift from the war path to the peace path? Does anybody even know what peace looks like?

The WISDOM OF THE PEACE VILLAGE ELDERS documentary series provides a rare opportunity to witness Native Elders from North, Central, and South America, exploring how to walk the way of peace and sustainability in a world overrun with paths to war and environmental devastation. At the Peace Village, the indigenous Elders remind us that we are all co-creators of our agreed upon dream / reality. “Change the Dream!” the Elders inspire, calling for us all to reconnect to the cycles of Nature, and to practice compassion-in-action in our daily lives. Only together, moment to moment, can we co-create & energize a future of peace and equanimity on the planet.

Mutual Abundance Media has decided to produce these documentaries as independent films, in order to guard the integrity and freedom of expression of the featured Native Elders. The documentary series is a sacred trust, for the Elders have entrusted us to deliver their message as good medicine for the planet now & for generations to come.

This project is supported by Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo and Sunray Meditation Society.

Please donate by clicking here.  Visit the website here.

 

Join our team of Sponsors / Supporters. Help us complete editing of the first two documentaries in our series by the summer of 2010 & become part of an important tipping point toward a culture of peace. Any amount is appreciated. Be as generous as you can.

 

 

Ceremony and Celebrations at the Peace Village in December

You and your family, along with community members and neighbors are invited to the Winter Solstice Ceremony in the Sacred Arbor at the Peace Village on Sunday, December 20 with the lighting of the Fire at 7 PM.  There will be an all night vigil on Sunday night, followed by dances and practice at 7 AM on Monday morning.

The solstice ceremonies are the times of strengthening community bonds and offering thankfulness for the beauty of the seasons' change and progression! These Ceremonies are under the guidance of Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo.

CALENDAR DATES:
December 20 7 PM Lighting of the Sacred Fire for Winter Solstice
December 21 7 AM Dances and Practices after all night sacred vigil
December 31 Gather in Temple of the Adawees, Wise Protectors for NY's eve meditation with Venerable Dhyani at 9:30 PM.

ALL ARE WELCOME TO CEREMONIES AND CELEBRATIONS!

PLEASE COME JOIN US.

Vajra Dakini Nunnery newsletter

We are known as the practice lineage. Retreat is when our meditation practice becomes a part of us, down to the bone. We remove all distractions and focus solely on specific practices to see the nature of our minds and reality. In the time of the founding of the Drikung Lineage 150.000 people went into retreat. Two retreats are highlighted in this newsletter:


Spend New Years with us! As we close this year and start anew, we invite you to gather perspective. Dharma teachings invite us to contemplate the immanence of death and to meditate with impermanence and our fragility in mind. With ample practice time, Turning the Wheel of Time; Dec 27 - Jan 3, will focus on readings that familiarize us with the aging and dying process. This retreat is suitable for both beginning and advanced practitioners and will be an intimate in-house event.
 
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To see the rest of the newsletter, please click here to visit Vajra Dakini Nunnery's website.

Happy Thanksgiving

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo offers tele-teachings. Next class Nov. 19th

http://www.beautywayproductions.com/

Quick Links
Register for Tele-Class
Donate & Support
Products

Here is an inspiring excerpt from Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo's forthcoming book Learning Cherokee Ways:

"Realizing the Winds that move through the universe also moved through my body, was a very significant discovery for me. I learned to recognize my channels as the pathways through which the Winds flowed and nurtured me. I began to recognize my body as part of continuous streams of communication. I experienced this as hollow spirals. These spirals were information conveyed in communion with fields beyond any individuated mind or species, or element of being.

Understanding ourselves as multidimensional beings is expressed through the Wind. The movement of the Wind, up, down, or across, expresses how potential takes form and how our minds are part of a dynamic dance with the atmosphere and the stars above. The internal and external and even the cosmic Winds that can be perceived as a turning cross at a black hole, are a reminder of an ongoing process from whence even the most minute expression is inseparable. These Winds, are a spiraling pathway through which life's potential arises as form. These Winds are ascending and descending, North, South, East, West and diagonal."

The completion of the Mayan Calendar Cycle of December 21, 2012 will bring us into direct contact with the inner teachings of mind, matter and nature. As we prepare ourselves, we anticipate the thunderbolt as an initiator, revealling time as strata of the mind. What future do you envision? What do you energize through your thoughts, words and actions?

Please join me In our next TELE-class on Thursday, November 19th. We will talk about these things.

See you in the light!

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo

Register for Tele-Class NOW!

Save $100 and receive all 10

Included in this Wisdom Teaching Offering is a BONUS of a healing transmission during the Tele-Class.

You may register for this class - only $79 - which includes a FREE download - click here to REGISTER NOW.

Thursday, November 19th
3 pm Hawaii
6 pm Pacific
7 pm Mountain
8 pm Central
9 pm Eastern

Past Tele-Classes in this series are also available for purchase. There will be 10 in all this year. Purchase all 10 of these calls and you will save $100.

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo

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Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, motivational speaker, author, musician, co-parent of brighter tomorrows, offers transformational programs and life coaching via the BeautyWay Wisdom Seminars and private consultations.

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo is the 27th generation lineage holder of the ancestral Ywahoo lineage in the Tsalagi/ Cherokee tradition. She is a respected Teacher of Vajrayana in the Drikung Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. She is the Chief of the Green Mountain Band of the Aniyunwiwa (Cherokee Tribe). Founder and Spiritual Director of: Sunray Meditation Society, an international spiritual organization dedicated to world peace and reconciliation, she has been recognized by Amma (also known as the "Hugging Saint") as one of 13 honorees in the Int'l Extraordinary Women Campaign because of her deep spirituality & work for social justice. To learn more go to www.sunray.org

Beautyway Productions

Charter for Compassion launches this week

Vajra Dakini Nunnery has joined with hundreds of organizations world wide to sign the Charter for Compassion. VDN is a partner in the international interfaith effort to launch the Charter. (Sunray Meditation Society also plans to support the Charter.)  This effort by Karen Armstrong to unite all faiths with their common value of compassion is an extraordinary multi media web incorporating online lectures and networking as well as spiritual gatherings all over the world. Khenmo's Canadian teaching tour will focus on compassion teachings from the Tibetan tradition during the launch week of Nov 9 -15 arranged by the Gaia Center of Ontario. Join with us in your area to listen to the Charter when it is unveiled November 12 and add events in your area.


 http://charterforcompassion.org/

Peacekeeper Training, Wayland, MA, November 14-15

PeaceKeeper Training

Wayland , MA

Saturday November 14 & Sunday November 15, 2009

9:30 am - 1:00 pm

3:00 pm - 5:30 pm

There will be three further practice sessions on future dates, to be announced.

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The PeaceKeeper Training is a course of study dedicated to living in harmony with Earth and all of our relations.  Peace Within sets the resonate field for Peace in the world. Inner Awareness allows us to recognize Wisdom Arising and develop Skillful Methods of Reconciliation.

We will be working with basic sitting and moving meditation, use of sacred sound and geometry, crystal attunement, dream practice, and community service.

This Peacekeeper Training is offered by Sunray, an international organization dedicated to peace through personal and planetary awareness, attention and activity. Many have requested we continue in the cycle of Peacekeeper teachings. These teachings are offered to us through the generosity of Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo, 27th generation lineage holder, Wild Potato Clan, Aniunwiwa (Tsalagi/Cherokee) and the Spiritual Director of Sunray.

Donation Request: $ 200.00

This covers both the initial weekend and three upcoming study/ practice dates. Sacred Teachings are offered freely and are neither bought nor sold. Donations support Sunray’s mission and activities.

For directions and further information, please contact Carolanne at (781) 640-2631or e-mail her at caoller@comcast.net . Let us know if you'd like to carpool. We will be sharing a potluck lunch each day.

We ask that you please refrain from using perfumes or scents.

White House to Hold First Ever Tribal Nations Summit on Nov. 5th

Dear Sunray Community and Friends,

The White House is planning to hold the first ever Tribal Nations Summit.  MyTribeTV will stream; the President's meeting with Tribes - November 5, 2009, as requested. 

The first Tribal Nations Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, November 5, the White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov/) announced. Tribal leaders heard about the summit during the morning session of the National Congress of American Indians (http://www.ncai.org/) conference in Palm Springs, California.  Invitations are being sent to all 564 federally recognized tribes. Each tribe can send one representative.

* MyTribeTV will stream President's meeting with Tribes - November 5, 2009.  MyTribeTV (http://www.mytribetv.com/) an Indian-owned business in Seattle, Washington, will provide online coverage of the first-ever White House Tribal Nations Conference (http://www.whitehouse.gov/) on November 5.  The event will be streamed at http://www.tribalsummit.mytribetv.com/.  MyTribeTV is the exclusive provider for the event.  President Barack Obama has promised to meet yearly with tribal leaders.

In Peace,
Sandy Sheridan
Sunray UN/NGO Representative

Join us for Community Practice, Thursday, Nov. 5th, at 7:30 pm at the Peace Village

In the Temple of the Adawees, Wise Protectors. 

It is special to sit together, renourishing ourselves and offering prayersfor all!  Madeleine and the community will review the Sun and Moon Dance, as taught byVenerable Dhyani Ywahoo.

"It is important at this time to do this dance,as it brings about transformation."

Please come.  Everyone is welcome and we will practice this dance together! No experience is necessary!

Community practice continues on Thursdays in subsequent weeks with David Walker focalizing the community evening practice.

Wheel of Life, Sacred Dance and Sound Medicine, at the Sunray Peace Village, starting November 5, 7-8, 2009

WHEEL OF LIFE

SACRED DANCE & SOUND MEDICINE

Teachings & Events / 2009 – 2010 / Lincoln, Vermont

Madeleine Piat-Landolt

Autumn Weekend Teaching / November 7-8, 2009

Introductory Session / Thursday, November 5th, 7:30 pm

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For more details and registration information about this exciting teaching cycle, please visit the Sunray Peace Village blog.

Peacekeeper Training, November 6-8, Sausalito, California

Double click on the image to enlarge it for easy reading. 

Dear Friends -- please send us your links

If you are a friend of Sunray Meditation Society, we would like to list your website among our Friends links that appear down the left column of this blog.  We can also list them on the Sunray Peace Village blog.  We simply ask that you reciprocate if you can and list our blogs on your site. 

Please e-mail any links, with the e-mail title "Friend of Sunray," to bjsiebel@msn.com.   Thank you. 

Information on Grandfather Silverfox's ceremony in Poland

Following a vigil last night, early this morning our Beloved Grandfather Silverfox was prepared and dressed in his Regalia at K-ochana. The community of loved ones who gathered from Poland the United States and Germany sat in Meditation Practice and following the "Way Nay Nay" chant, Silverfox was placed into his cremation box and was taken to the cremation site. Grandfather Silverfox's remains have arrived back home again to K-ochana, his urn of ashes have been placed under the Sequoia tree. A Feast followed.


........Ewa has shared she will write and share more reflection's with us , after some rest, and has invited us to visit at the following web site: http://www.k-ochana-homeplace.com/

With deep love and respect I pass these words on.

"As as our beloved Grandfather Silverfox makes his journey home, may our hearts be blessed by our memories, and our prayers of appreciation continue to enfold him and his beloved wife Danuta, his family and all that he loved."

Mailing Address for Danuta in Poland

Danuta Mette
Kornatka 52
32-410DOBCZYCE
Poland

A reflection on Grandfather Silver Fox

THE SUN ................... is almost ready to peek over Odali Utugi..Hope Mountain ..as the new rising sun warms the earth mother on this chilly Autumn morning...... May its rays also warm all of ours as one heart as we pause and remember our beloved Grandfather Silverfox.


May the seeds of love peace and understanding Silverfox has planted in so many hearts so lovingly during the years of his earth walk ... bring forth beauty for many generations to come in their own divined place and time

May HOPE fill all of our hearts this morning that Creators humble servant, known as Silver Fox, Grandfather , Dr. Harvey Mette ....Harvey ........has been lovingly breathed again onto Creators own breath ........and surrounds all of us.

Love Lives ......may our actions be filled with the gentleness he so endlessly shared , and may they touch many beings continuously in his memory. What a precious gift you have been to so many Dear One one Silverfox .......our heartfelt blessings travel with you on your journey. We will remember you. You live in our hearts. We are grateful Creator allowed your beautiful presence to enter into our lives. May you continue to be remembered in the presence of kindness, beauty and the eternal tones of music in every heart that loved you .........may our grief flower with HOPE.

Unending love,

Joanne and Greg Swierz

Grandfather Silver Fox has passed. We honor his legacy.

October 1, 2009

Dear Friends:

Today Grandfather Silver Fox, Dr. Harvey Metes, passed over in the early hours of the morning. He leaves his lovely wife Danuta and family spread through out the planet. He has shared his wit and wisdom with many communities over the years and founded a ‘Peace Village’ in Poland.  You can visit the webpages here.

Born of those Cherokee who hid in the state of Florida during the Cherokee removal. Harvey Metes was a Psychologist and musician who taught at many colleges and universities within the United States and was loved by many.

His presence at our Native American Elders gatherings will be greatly missed, while his words and friendship will sing continuously in our hearts.

Silver Fox walked the earth for eighty-seven years while dancing to the timeless rhythm of the cosmos.

Ceremonies will be held In Poland and within local Sunray communities on Saturday in honor of Silver Fox’s life.

Sincerely,

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo

Reflections on Summer 2009 from Vajra Dakini Nunnery

As the Peace Village begins to settle for the fall and winter, we look back on the Vajra Dakini Nunnery’s activities there.

We opened the Peace Village for the summer by hanging the long prayer flag in the center of the peace village, that Ani Tsultrim makes every year. One of her special Dharma commitments is to make these large hanging prayer flags for the Peace Village and Ven. Dhyani’s home.

A joyous animal blessing at the Sunray Peace Stupa followed. The whole community attended with their dogs, cats, chickens and horses! We all circumambulated the stupa and liberated worms into the Peace Village gardens (saving their lives from being sold as bait).

This has been a year of planning and preparation. One important legal aspect for our future Vajra Dakini Temple and Library at the Peace Village is our zoning status. The Vermont Act 250 and Lincoln zoning permits that we received at 2007 are time limited. We needed to begin construction this year or loose our zoning entirely! At the same time an exquisite statue of White Tara was donated to the nunnery. We proposed to the state that we build a Tara Temple on the Nunnery Peace Village site as a start on our future Temple/Library project. They approved our zoning for another five years. (Zoning can be one of the most difficult aspects of building a public building in Vermont).

Auspiciously we found a glass tea house suitable for a temple the White Tara. With great gratitude we are finished in our fundraising efforts to install the statue at the Peace Village. Currently we are rolling the thousands of mantras to fill the statue for it’s consecration next year. Please joins us for “Mantra Rolling Parties” during the winter.

This museum quality statue, Tara and her beautiful temple will enhance the Peace Village as a significant pilgrimage site. After consecration the statue is considered to be inseparable from White Tara herself, the Buddha of Long Life and Healing. She is especially appropriate, as we are a community of many healers, and our annual Healing Ceremony at Elders is the culmination of our ceremonial year.

As the summer ended, Lama Gape conducted a Mountain Purification Ceremony by Water for the entire Valley. He blessed water by capturing the reflections of all the nunnery’s statues and thangkas in a mirror and then pouring water on the mirror, thus blessing the water. This water was then carried to the Peace Village where Lama Gape recited a text as he reflected the mountains in all the directions. He then purified them by washing the reflection with the blessed water.

We closed our summer season by adding landscaping to the stupa. An entry hedge has been created with cypress, juniper and holly. The planting design reflects the “One Taste” of our practice. Juniper and cypress are used in smoke offerings of both lineages, while the holly is considered a Vajrayogini plant. The shrubs are gathered in groups of three reflecting the Three Flames and the Three Jewels; the four punctuating plants remind us of the Four Posts of the Medicine Cabin and the Four Immeasurables.

It is lovely to witness the growing beauty of our community practice as Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo’s vision manifests.

 

Khenmo Drolma

Abbess

Vajra Dakini Nunnery

 

********* Please visit the Vajra Dakini Nunnery website to learn how you can support the nuns and participate in their activities. 

Sunray Meditation Society is connected with 3 wisdom streams

Sunray Meditation Society: Our mission is to preserve and share teachings of the Peacemaker from the Cherokee tradition and methods of peacemaking of the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual tradition.


Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, also recognized as Pema Sangzin Khandro, is founder and Spiritual Director of Sunray Meditation Society and Principle Chief of the Green Mountain Ani Yun Wiwa Band of the Tsalagi or Cherokee People. Sunray is recognized as the home fire of the Green Mountain Ani Yun Wiwa Cherokee.

Sunray offers three wisdom streams.

• Ywahoo Lineage of the Cherokee People
• Nyingma Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
• Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo was trained by her grandparents. She is the 27th generation to carry the ancestral wisdom of the Ywahoo lineage, committed to rekindle the fire of clear mind and right relationship in these changing times.

In 1983, Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo was recognized by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche of the Nyingma lineage as Pema Sangzin Khandro. In 1986, Sunray was recognized by His Holiness Chetsang Rinpoche as a Drikung Kagyu Dharma Center.

For more information, visit the Sunray Meditation Society website. 

New Moon and Autumnal Equinox Sacred Fire -- September 20th at the Peace Village

Ceremony will begin at 7:30 am in the Sacred Arbor to celebrate the September New Moon (September 18) and the Autumnal Equinox (September 22) at the Peace Village in Lincoln, Vermont.


Stick dancers, drummers, singers to meet at 7:30, followed by lighting of the sacred Fire.

PLEASE COME JOIN US!  All are welcome. 

"It is very beneficial to all of us that these ceremonial Fires are being kindled as it is the Fire is the spark of our pure nature, recalling us to enlightened action. This fire of clear mind is in everyone, and to remove any obscuration of its clarity is the duty of all people in this time, that each one may remember and find our way again to the source of our being." Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo in Voices of Our Ancestors.

Dreaming the Heart of the Peace Village

This year our family is celebrating 21 consecutive years of engaging with activities at the Sunray Peace Village in Lincoln, Vermont. There is nowhere else, up to this point in our lives, with which to compare the impact of our experiences from this sacred ground which have inspired such a unique and beneficial evolution of consciousness in community. First to express gratitude to the ancestors of Ywahoo lineage, whose foresight to create such a sanctuary was remarkable and to the living lineage holder, Chief, and Spiritual Director, Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, who has persevered tirelessly, with the help of many hands, to manifest and develop this prophetic vision. In the following words are shared a few anecdotes from the countless collection of memories from our direct experience. Simply, there is such good fortune for all who are able to find their way here.

To finish reading this personal account, please click here to visit the Sunray Peace Village blog.

Sunray United Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Update

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was celebrated Monday, August 10, 2009 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. There were messages from the Secretary General, President of the General Assembly, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. There was a cultural presentation by the Crimean Tatar Dance Ensemble then a panel discussion on Indigenous Peoples and HIV/AIDS.

CRIMEAN TATAR DANCE ENSEMBLE

KENT LEBSOCK, Owe-Aku-Bring Back the Way – a traditional Lakota (Sioux) Cultural Preservation organization.

OLIVIA SLOAN, (Navajo/Tohono O’Odham) Special Liasion, Partnerships, Programs and Policy, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

TONYA GONELLA FRISCHER (Onondaga Nation, Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy Haudenosaunee - United States) Member the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Chris Archibald, Director, Surveillance and Risk Assessment Division of the Public Health Agency of Canada.








For more information: www.un.org/esa/ocdev/unpfii . Look for International Day, you can also view a video of the event.

Sandy Sheridan, Sunray UN/NGO Representative
9/1/09

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo tele-teaching this Thursday, August 27th, and September 17th

Just as the wise gardener plants seeds in accordance with lunar cycles, we too may energize seed thoughts of accomplishment through understanding lunar cycles as a support for energizing the accomplishment of life and spiritual goals.

Consider that you are inseparable from the creative potential of the universe and that the thoughts you contemplate manifest within your life and circle of relationships. When you envision a goal that will benefit you and your relationships during the new moon it will develop and reveal results during the full moon. This process is supported through careful tending of your mind and receptive vision.

We shall discuss methods of utilizing lunar cycles in cultivating wisdom and skill during our next two monthly telephone seminars.  August 27th and September 17th. 

We will also consider the aspects of physical, emotional and intellectual cycles based on the number of days since your birth through the system of biorhythms as a support in manifesting joyful wisdom and skill.

6pm - Pacific Standard Time
7pm - Mountain Time
8pm - Central Standard Time
9pm - Eastern Standard Time

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Ripe Corn Ceremony at the Sunray Peace Village -- August 22nd

ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 AT 7:30 AM,

THE RIPE CORN CEREMONY WILL BE IN THE SACRED ARBOR AT THE SUNRAY PEACE VILLAGE IN LINCOLN, VT.

The Ceremonial Cycle of the Green Mountain Ani Yunwiwa is under the guidance of the Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo. We gather together at ceremonial time to ever more skillfully generate love and manifest wisdom mind. We return kindness to the land, our ancestors, and all our relations with prayers of appreciation for seven generations unto now. May our hearts and minds ever reflect the mystery as it is.

The Ripe Corn Ceremony is part of the Planting Cycle ceremonies and celebrates the kindness and the opportunities to show appreciation for the life force as it manifests in all of the edible kingdom. This is a time of gathering corn from all the fields and bringing a portion to be blessedat the community "fireplace" and also to prepare by saving seeds for next year's harvest. Everyone is Welcome! Please come.

Stick Dancers, singers and drummers to gather at 7:30 AM, followed by the lighting of the Sacred Fire. Please note that this is a Saturday Ceremony.

White Tara, to be placed at the Sunray Peace Village, is being prepared at the Vajra Dakini Nunnery

THE WHITE TARA ARRIVES IN VERMONT

The Vajra Dakini Nunnery's White Tara, created and donated by Maury Lowe, Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts and an internationally known sculptor, has completed her journey from New Mexico to Vermont. White Tara is known for her blessings for long life and healing!

We will then fill the cavity in this bronze sculpture with mantras and prayers. We have found a beautiful glass temple to house her at the Peace Village. This will be a most auspicious pilgrimage site.

Please visit our Sunray Peace Village blog to read more about this precious statue and how you can help Vajra Dakini Nunnery complete this project.

Achi Festival at Vajra Dakini Nunnery. August 20-23rd. Empowerment Aug. 20 at 7 pm

Achi is Tara as Grandmother, ever watchful and protective of her children. In this special event we will visualize her as both peacefully radiating loving kindness and wrathful; commanding with compassion that all harmful activity cease.

An empowerment of the Pure Vision Achi practice of Gyabra Rinpoche will be offered Thursday evening at 7pm at Vajra Dakini Nunnery. Teaching and practice sessions will be offered over the weekend.

This is a special opportunity to focus on dispelling obstacels - personal, national and global. The force of a community praying together is extraodinary. You are welcome to come for any part of the event.

Thurs 7pm, Fri -Sat 9-12, 2-5, 7-9
Sun 9-12, 2-5

August 2-6 Ngondro Retreat at Vajra Dakini Nunnery with Khenmo Drolma

Ngondro means "preliminary practice". It begins with contemplating our precious human life. It includes Refuge, Vajrasattva, Mandala and Guru Yoga practices, the foundation for accomplishing any other practice. It is the basis for all vajrayana Buddhist practice. All Ngondro students are welcome. For students who wish to begin Ngondro, Khenmo will give the Drikung transmission of Ngondro.

This is being offered at the Vajra Dakini Nunnery, near the Peace Village in Lincoln Vermont.

There is room for "day students" in the Ngondro Retreat. We will begin with a talk at 2PM and continue into evening practice on Sunday Aug 2. You may attend morning and/or evening practice sessions if you come for an orientation and the Sunday talk. Please register if you wish to attend. You can email me for the application form. The orientation will follow Sunday public meditation 9:30-11:00. The retreat concludes following the morning meditation Aug 6.

Khenmo Drolma

Abbess

Vajra Dakini Nunnery

HH Phacock Rinpoche to speak this Friday at Vajra Dakini Nunnery

Hh Phachock Rinpoche will speak on Compassion 2-3 pm on Friday, July 31 at Vajra Dakini Nunnery. He is the head of the Taglung Kagyu Lineage (cousin to Drikung). A brilliant and warm teacher, he is the light of the new generation! It is a great honor that he will give us teachings, please join us.

Khenmo Drolma

Abbess

Vajra Dakini Nunnery

25th Annual Elders' Gathering -- starts this Friday, July 24th

Friday-Sunday, July 24th-26th, 2009
25th Annual Elders' Gathering
Sunray Peace Village, Lincoln, Vermont

(Elders' Wisdom Seminars July 27th-28th)

This year at the Elders' Gathering we welcome:
*Patricia Downing DeAsis
*Bernard DeAsis
*Nanatasis Bluto-Delvental
*Warren Redwing Ramey
* Mike Bastine
*Queen Mother Sylvia Jordan
*Dr Dieta Biebel
Dr John Carlton-Foss, Ph.D
Dr Rudy Schild Ph.D

The Gathering Place: The Sunray Peace Village, is located in Lincoln, Vermont approximately 1 hour south of Burlington and a half an hour north of Middlebury at the foot of Mount Abraham. Directions can be found here.

The Gathering Schedule: * Arbor Teachings with Native American Elders
July 24 -26, 2008, Friday-Sunday, 10am-1pm & 3pm-5pm
* Sunrise Gathering, Fri-Sun at 6:30am
* Women's Moon Teachings, Fri-Sun (after Sunrise Gathering)
* Activities for Elementary School-age Children (Morning and Afternoon Arbor Sessions Only)
*Friday night concert

* Healing Ceremony Saturday Evening, July 25, 2008, 7pm-10pm

In 1969, the Elders of the Ywahoo lineage and other Tsalagi Elders granted permission for this Tsalagi (Cherokee) Healing Ceremony to be offered in ways that were appropriate for all people. This ceremony has continued each year to benefit the earth and change the destructive course of the past, to one of healing. This ceremony is open to the public. Donations are accepted, but not required.

Elders' Wisdom Seminars, Monday-Tuesday, July 27th and 28th

One day Peacekeeper Mission session July 29th.

Each year we return to the sacred fire in the Arbor of the Peace Village to listen as Native Elders speak about ancient teachings and prophecies that will help prepare for the years to come.

REGISTER BY CLICKING HERE

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

An Open Invitation to Participate in the Sunray Blogs

An Open Invitation to Participate

in the Sunray Blogs

I hope you have visited our two main Sunray blogs. There is one for the Sunray Peace Village – http://www.sunraypeacevillage.blogspot.com/ – on which everything related to the Peace Village is posted. There is also one for Sunray Meditation Society – http://www.sunraycentral.blogspot.com/ – which includes the activities of Sunray Meditation Society.

There are also two local community blogs. One for DC/VA/MD and Georgia – http://www.sunraydc.blogspot.com/ – and one for the Northern California community -- http://www.circlecenter-gfd.blogspot.com/.

The Peace Village and Sunray Central blogs are intended as community blogs. By that I mean that they are open to contributions from any member of the Sunray community, or anyone else who has something germane to offer to the community. I would like to extend an invitation to you, if you feel inspired, to offer one or more things that could be posted on the blogs.

So far, most of the postings on both blogs have been announcements of upcoming events. There have also been some after-event reports. And the Peace Village blog has posted some stories from people who have been there. This is an excellent beginning.

However, the potential is there for the blogs to be more of a community dialogue if people would offer their thoughts up for general reading. We are a series of far-flung communities. These blogs provide an opportunity to share more substantive material. By doing so, those of like mind may hear of our community and seek to join us, and we can learn from each other. At least, that is my hope.

I would also note that these blogs offer the opportunity to comment on any of the posts. This is another way to engage in dialogue as community members.

Please join the dialogue. For now, items for posting (other than comments, which can be done by anyone) should be sent by e-mail to Brian Siebel at bjsiebel@msn.com Indicate which blog(s) you would like to post to. And please send photos or graphics if you have them.

Thank you.

Green Corn ceremony, Sunday, July 19th, 6:30 AM at the Sunray Peace Village

You and your family are warmly invited to the Green Corn Ceremony on Sunday, July 19 at 6:30 AM at Odali Utugi, Peace Village in Lincoln, VT.

This ceremony is one within the cycle of the Cherokee and Ani Yun Wiwa planting ceremonies and celebrates the ripening of the seeds planted, both in our gardens and in our lives!

Stick Dancers, Singers and Drummers to gather at 6:30, followed by the lighting of the Sacred Fire. Dances, practices, corn meal offerings with prayers will be offered in Gratitude!

Everyone is Welcome!

Peacekeeper Mission training from Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo -- July 29th at the Peace Village in Lincoln, Vermont

Peacekeeper Training with Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo

Wednesday July 29th, at the Peace Village in Lincoln, Vermont

Time:
Registration 9:30 -9:45am
Get Settled 9:45 -10:00am
Morning Session 10:00am - 1:00pm
Afternoon Session 3:00pm - 5:00pm


Reciprocity: General Public $85.00. Volunteer who works 10-30hrs $50.00. Volunteer who works 30+ hours or 2 meal shifts/day including dishes! FREE

The Peacekeeper Mission Purpose:
The purpose of The Peacekeeper Mission is to bring forth a mostgreat peace in the hearts of the people and the Earth. The Peacekeeper knows each being to be empowered by; Will to Choose Wisdom to See Intelligence to Act. Thus each one is responsible for Manifesting the Whole.

The Peacekeeper Mission fulfils its purpose through individual and group study, training and practice to develop four fundamental qualities of mind:

1. Mindfulness: The ability to see things as they are, to be fully presentin the moment, and to manifest right thought, right action.
2. Peacekeeper Consciousness: Recognition of one’s responsibility andpower to manifest peace through right relationship with all the family of life.
3. Caretaker Mind: Awareness of one’s privilege and duty to serve as acaretaker of this planet, honoring the Earth as a living being and sowing seeds of abundance and harmony unto seven generations.
4. Continuity of Mind: Understanding of cause and effect in determining thequality of one’s life, death and future lives, and in shaping the karma of groups, nations and the planet.

The Peacekeeper Training offers the opportunity to align with one’s lifepurpose, that one may manifest one’s gifts in harmony with the building elements of life in oneself and the planetary biosphere. Peacekeepers learn to perceive the patterns of mind-emotion and to clarify the stream,that our actions may bring abundance and harmony for all beings.

Medicine Mandala Mirrors Clear Mind As The Sacred Hoop Is Renewed In This Time Fly As A Eagle On Wings Of Thought Perceiving Rainbow Lights Of Good Relations As Mountain Streams Come To Rest In A Limpid Pool Of Understanding

Teacher: Sunray Ministers
Phone: (802) 453-4610
Email: info@sunray.org

Click here for additional information and to register.
(Please note that the registration form says July 30th. The event is July 29th.)

Deep Peace and the Healing of the World -- 8 month self-study program is available

DEEP PEACE AND THE HEALING OF THE WORLD

An 8-Month Self-Study Program
On Treasure Teachings from the Seven Stars

With Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, Louise Diamond, Ph.D.,
And Ministers of Sunray Meditation Society

As we approach 2012, a critical choice point for humanity, we know that global warming and global warring are opportunities we have given ourselves to make an evolutionary leap in consciousness. When we wake up to our true oneness, we realize that each of us is an agent of Deep Peace, a peace that grows from the inside out and expresses itself as compassionate action to assuage suffering and serve the well-being of those around us.

To assist those who would be practitioners and exemplars of Deep Peace in these times, Sunray Meditation Society is offering this home-study course.

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, Spiritual Director of Sunray Meditation Society and Principal Chief of the Aniyunwiwa, Green Mountain Band of the Eastern Cherokee, brings to us these ancient teachings from the Pleiades, given in these times so that we might remember that we too are star people – beings of light – who can choose to caretake the most precious treasure of Deep Peace for the benefit of all our relations.

The program will cover the following topics:

• The Ywahoo Way – Introducing the basic spiritual principles and meditation practices of the Treasure Teachings from the Seven Stars
  
• The Earth is Alive – Exploring our relationship to the living earth
  
• The Family of Life – Understanding nine dimensions of right relationship
  
• The Peacekeeper’s Mission – Practicing the steps of peacemaking, inside and out
  
• Medicine Wheel Mandala – Savoring the ‘one taste’ of Native American and Tibetan Buddhist wisdom
  
• The Healing Basket – Considering the basic healing principles for self and others
  
• The Secrets of Transformation – Understanding the alchemical process that leads to manifestation of the ideal
  
• Deep Peace for World Healing – Integrating the whole of the course material and applying it in your life and work to benefit all beings, in light of the unique times we live in.

The program consists of 8 months of home-study. Each month you will receive:

• A Wisdom Card highlighting 7-9 Treasure Teachings on the subject for the month, suitable for meditation and reflection;
  
• A CD talk by Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo, Louise Diamond, or other Ministers of Sunray Meditation Society on the monthly topic

At the end of the program, you will be able to bring these ancient teachings alive in your whole being, and to practice Deep Peace for the benefit of self and others. In this way you will be assisting humanity in these days of change and challenge, supporting our choice for a world of peace that works for all.

Logistics
The course costs $219.00 plus shipping and handling. You can begin the course any month, and once registered and paid in full, you will receive a monthly package of course materials.

Please register here.

Temple of the Adawees -- Ribbon Cutting ceremony

Photos from the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

On June 15, 2009, Venerable Dhyani performed a ribbon cutting ceremony forthe newly renovated Temple at the Peace Village in Lincoln, VT--the HomeFires of the AniYunWiwa.

Joining Venerable Dhyani were 15 community members celebrating the reopening of Temple after this beautificationproject, including finish work on the windows and doors, removal of the window behind Ven.'s teaching dias, new floors, repainting, wall mounted shrine tables for the Buddhist Protectors, Children of Abraham and Christian traditions.This completed the first stage of the Temple Beautification Project and it was celebrated with great joy by Stick Dancing, drumming and completion of the shrines!

The second stage of this project includes new shrine tables for the Cherokee and Buddhist altars, a new dias for Venerable Dhyani, windowshades to help with temperature control and a divider for Venerable Dhyani's consulation room.

If you or members of your communities wish to sponsor any part of the project, we would joyously accept your donations! Contributions can be made on-line by going to the Peace Village's secure site.

We hope you enjoy the photos from the ribbon cutting celebration! And we look forward to seeing you in person at the Temple of the Adawees, Wise Protectors!

Rev. Tori Hovde

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo retreat at the Sunray Peace Village -- July 1-7

Greetings!

Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo's summer week long seminar is scheduled for July 1-7th, 2009 from 10AM-1PM and 3PM-5PM daily.


The cost for the week is $1050. If you would like to attend the seminar, but are not able to come for the entire time, Venerable has graciously said that LOCAL COMMUNITY MEMBERS may attend the first three days of this seminar ON A DONATION BASIS. She is making this possible in order to honor the continuing service that the local community members give to the Sunray Peace Village.(The donation for these three days for other folks will be $300.) Peace,Patricia

For more information, and to register, please click here.

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BirthPath Songs at the Peace Village


Dear Friends of Sunray,


I have been exploring Venerable Dhyani's BirthPath Song teachings for the past year. During that time I have used this Cherokee Teaching as a method to create music to resonate with the hope and potential brought forth with the election of President Barak Obama.


". . . I find the music evocative of our nations' potential to actualize wisdom and skill. . . . My heart is filled with joy knowing that you apply the teachings which are so dear to me."
Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo


I have also been creating BirthPath Songs on the piano for individuals as a musical reminder of the essential vibrations present on the day of their birth. During Venerable Dhyani's upcoming retreat (July 1-7, 2009), I will be available to create BirthPath Songs in The Temple Building during the evenings. The 1 hour sessions include:

• The option to energize specific intentions into your Song


• Optional slow, gentle, energy/bodywork on the shoulders, neck and head, to invite relaxation and to deepen the integration of your Song


• A BirthPath Song created on a electronic keyboard, experienced live as it "flows" (10 - 20 min in length). Depending on the length of your Song there may be the option to hear/experience it more than once.


• A CD of your BirthPath Song to use during yoga, meditation or manifestation

There will be 2 times available each evening (6:30 pm and 8:00 pm) of the retreat, creating an opportunity for up to 14 people, to receive their BirthPath Song live in the Temple's sacred space.

The cost is $65 to $80 depending on your means. Twenty percent of the profit from the creation of your BirthPath Song goes to Venerable Dhyani and projects that she supports.Please contact me if you would like to place your name on the schedule of available times.

Wado, Margaret
info@margaretcarol.com 207-310-3890

Learn more about BirthPath Songs

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The Sunray Peace Village is in Lincoln, Vermont. Please visit our blog at www.sunraypeacevillage.blogspot.com for directions.