Sunray Sunday School in Germany

There was a dream since 1992, to bring ancient wisdom back into schooling. Well, noticing that in Germany some 15% of all boys of 12 years are on Ritalin, and some other events put an end to postponing. In 2005 the Munich Sunray Sunday School was started. The school is an official Sunray program, supported by Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo. It addresses children and those who can be present as a child at heart.


Foundation of it all is the wild river and the axe. The site is a post-civilization wilderness at the shore of Isar river, with concrete ruins, white water and sometimes hundreds of tons of scattered driftwood - paradise for young ones who are in for an adventure, but within tramway distance from the city centre. The axe turned out to be the first step of initiation for every single member that joined activities at least for some period of time, and owning an axe (preferably of Swedish make) has become a priority item on Christmas wishlists.

The trust by parents is most precious - in a country of overprotecting parenting, forbidding fire and handling of dangerous tools it is quite something to hand over an 8 year old to a bunch of kids with logsaws, axes and very, very long knifes. But that is how it is, and I see that parents' trust is part of the medicine generated.

Arrival in the circle is complete when the first log was chopped through just with an axe (no saw, no help by others). Then usually the building starts, and it remains a central occupation throughout the years. Bridges, cabins, furniture, ovens - whatever can be made of what the river brings. Firekeeping is a standard feature, as well as swimming in cold and turbulent water.

The road points towards a coming-of-age ceremony. It is by intention that we will make coming of age tougher again, gradually. We want them to be able to swim in white water, perform under severe frost and heavy rain, be able to keep fire, handle saw and axe and thereby learn to listen to nature, tree and bird, be aware of where the comrade stands and that he is safe, and we want them to experience that all is different if it is embedded in ceremony and recognized as medicine.

In the same time we explore their incredible wisdom potential: Each child has different gifts, different rhythms and timing - an endless realm to explore. We were sent children that were officially labeled as of "critically disturbed behaviour." In Sunray Sunday School in not a single case were we able to confirm such perceptions. All we found are children and youngsters that learn at tremendous speed, offer magic wisdom and evidence that their ancestral medicine is alive.

Love,
Waya Usdi (Little Wolf)

P.S. If you have google toolbar when you open the German site, there is a translate option in the upper right corner that will translate the website for you.