Much happening this week, just before the first snowflakes are forecast to fall!

This week has seen much activity here at the Blue Deer. The Plant Spirit Medicine training class group in its final class workshops has gone but a new group of Plant Spirit Medicine students has arrived to the Blue Deer for their first class. The air has been warmer then usual and has allowed for our landscaping committee volunteers to come and button things up for the winter months ahead. Just in time too as snow showers are forecast for this Sunday morning!

The barn and the metal cage against the brilliant blue autumn sky! This day has been so magnificent.

This light fixture is located on the stone wall between the barn and the front lawn near the vegetable garden.

The vegetable garden has been given a warm blanket for the winter. It will be ready to go for next spring.

Here is Wayne working on the compost pile.

Much work was done on opening the pond up so our friends the frogs have space to enjoy it. This is the view looking back towards the barn.

The pond looking out from the tent over the stone wall.

Volunteer Wayne built a new compost bin as the other was showing its age!

Melody and Renee working to give the plants some room to grow and breathe.

The landscaping committee will be bringing you updates on the land, and the plants right here on the blog in the coming months. I know where I will see you next, at the Blue Deer!

Winter Healing Retreat Three Days of Traditional Huichol Shamanic Healing With Eliot Cowan - December 11 – 14, 2014

Come, experience the deep, mysterious transformation available through the ancient healing tradition of the Huichol people. Rest profoundly in the quiet of winter. Feel the wisdom of the Fire and of your own heart. Reconnect with your awe of nature on the sacred land of the Blue Deer Center.

We are offering a special, limited space, healing retreat with Eliot Cowan this winter. Eliot, a fully initiated Tsaurirrikame (Huichol shaman), has lead many healing retreats in the past two decades. Over the years he has gathered extensive experience working with the full spectrum of life events from birth to death. In this retreat, you will discover that the medicine of the old cultures runs deep and exerts a powerful effect on our bodies, minds, and, most importantly, our spirits.

This retreat will be limited to 10 participants. Each person will receive a private treatment each day from Eliot, plus lodging and meals. There will also be time to connect with Eliot and with one another around the fire, at meals, and on the Sacred Land of the Blue Deer Center.

Come, spend time with Eliot in residence at the Blue Deer Center.

Autumn at the Blue Deer

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have been able to write to you about what is happening at the Blue Deer. I would like to thank Liz for filling in while I was away in Mexico. The Fiesta was grant and I am so glad I went in support of the wonderful people who have dedicated themselves to their path.

You may be wondering what is happening at the Blue Deer. Well, autumn has come to the mountains and the fiery reds, oranges and yellows are lighting up all around us. The evenings are cooler and soon the days will be also but for now, we have had some warm days.  It has been a beautiful backdrop for our fall healing camp. The power of the change of seasons is touching us all.

I sat for a while with several people on the porch today, just taking in the brilliance of the color with sunshine beaming down, touching it, changing it and enhancing it.

I will be happy to welcome back out Plant Spirit Medicine Training Class for their six week of classes and excited for the new group of Plant Spirit Medicine training, which will be starting very soon. The energy around this feels so good to me, a new beginning for so many. 

Here are some photos from around the center.

I look forward to seeing you at the Blue Deer so very soon!

Plant Spirit Medicine Healer Training

Session One - Oct 14-21 2014

Bringing together shamanic techniques with the ancient Chinese medical philosophies of the Five Elements. This is the first of a series of 6 programs, held over the course of 2 years, followed by 2 clinical weeks for a total of 8 weeks to complete the training. Begin your journey...learn more at www.bluedeer.org

Retreat. Discover. Heal. In the New York Catskills.

We all yearn to be free of illness. And we long to feel connected… to our spirit, to each other and to the natural world, yet how often do we give ourselves time to nurture that heartfelt yearning? Our lives have become so busy and stressful! We know the pace takes a painful toll, which we try to remedy with healthy food, therapy, yoga classes or meditation. All these approaches help, yet still we wonder, could there be more?  Find out…

September 28 – October 3, 2014

Healing Camp

Five Days of Traditional Huichol Shamanic Healing

Learn more at www.bluedeer.org/events

It has been a few weeks but it is well worth it!

I have to first say, sorry I have not posted anything in a few weeks. I went on vacation and spent some time away. Upon returning, I have been trying to get back up to speed and prepare for heading off to Mexico. I am so excited to be joining many of you in Mexico. It will be my first trip there.

You must be wondering what is going on here at the Blue Deer. We have had a few weeks of quiet. The business meetings held in August were very productive for all three organizations and many left with much work to do.

Maria has been working hard getting the firewood moved and stored for upcoming events and for the winter. She with help of some local young men have moved mountains. As well as keeping everything else in shape before she also heads down to Mexico in a few days.

As I sat here yesterday, looking at the reports, lists, my calendar and reading list of emails, book and articles, I began to feel overwhelmed. Communicating with all of our community is something I have been trying to achieve on a regular basis and sometimes, I feel I don't do enough. As this feeling began taking over all my thoughts and I started feeling ineffective. I stopped and thought:

why do people come here?

What are they looking for?

What does that mean to me?

So I put down my work, closed my computer and decided to go and sit outside.  Sitting outside and avoiding the work on my desk seemed like a better idea that actually getting work done.  Then I thought maybe I should really think about Blue Deer while I was sitting outside.  So I decided I should really take a good look at what Blue Deer means to me and all who come here while I was avoiding my work.  Now, I know everyone has there reasons for coming and they are different for each one of us, but I think it is the feeling of connection that is the underlying reason.  I feel it too.  It is the personal relationship with the land and what ever else that feeling is that touches each time we land here.

As I walked out the door of the office, I grabbed the video camera and found myself walking past my normal rest spot on the porch and walking down the stairs toward the field. I sat down on the stone stairs and took in the view. I took a few deep breaths of fresh air and just sat and listened. I heard the birds, the wind, the river and myself begin to quiet.

I must have sat there for a half an hour. I watched birds fly by and then notice that the clouds barely moved across the sky. It almost seemed that time had stopped for awhile to let me take in the beauty of the day. The sky was a vivid blue and the clouds were the most perfect white. The greens of the mountains seemed to be more deep and then I noticed the hints of fall. An occasional splash of red or yellow starting in a few places on the mountains.

All of the sudden, I felt the river call me to her side. I got up and walked down the trail. Her voice growing louder as I got closer. I found myself going to an area where I don't usually go to sit and visit with her. I walked down the beautiful stairs that seem to welcome you to her side. I found a large rock right by her side and sat. I heard sounds I had never heard before. I heard a bass sound that seemed to give her voice a rhythm and then the more melodic sounds to complete her song.

At this point, you may be thinking, "yes, I have heard that before, where have you been that you have not heard this?" I have heard this before but I don't think I have really heard it in this way. It touched me deeply. I watched the leaves swirl in the water as they traveled through the water. I became involved in the bubbling of the water as it traveled over rocks and and fell in falls down to lower levels.  I was absorbed into everything that was the river and everything that was me. It became one. I may have sat there for an hour or for ten minutes, I am really not sure how long it was. I seem to awake for this experience to arrive at the moment of clarity for me. I was able to get up and head back to work knowing that what I had on my plate might be a lot but it was worth every moment.

Please enjoy and watch this short video of the view I watched on that perfect day and the sounds of the river that I heard on that perfect day. click here

I am blessed each and every day. Thank you Blue Deer and thank you to all of you!
Jenn

The Blue Deer Center is busy with activity this week!

With colder evenings and cool days, the Blue Deer Center is busy with activity.( and yes, it has been cooler here the last few weeks even in August) the Center has hosted several programs and events over the past few weeks. Mostly recently, The Fire Keepers for the Sacred Fire Community have finished their annual retreat here. As these important members of the community head home, member of the three organizations- Sacred Fire Foundation, Sacred Fire Community Organization and the Blue Deer Center have begun arriving for their annual board meetings on the land. The Center is blessed by their arrivals and their community here.

In recent feedback to the Blue Deer Center, there have been requests for additional lamps in the rooms and hooks to hang towels and clothing. Good News is the Blue Deer Center Staff has purchased several lamps and will be installing hooks through out the guest housing areas for your convenience. The staff is working to make your stay with us better every time.

Over the last few weeks the center has seen a steady stream of volunteers. Many of our volunteers working on the land have been young people from around the community. We would like to send out a great big thank you to some of those young people who have returned to help again and again.  Sarah Schuman, Nathan Juckett and Nick Gionfriddo. It is so nice to have such energy on the land helping to care for it.

The next few weeks things get to quiet down here at the center. The staff will have time to get things back to ship shape before programs begin again in a few weeks.

If you have feedback on your experience here at the center, please let us know.
Questions, concerns or comments can be sent to jennschuman@bluedeer.org.

And I hope to see you at the Blue Deer Center!