Dear Friends,

I remember fingers like dried prunes
Please don't make me come out of the ocean
Hours of pure pleasure
My only care— holding my breath long enough
while pummeled by wave after wave as I try to get outside,
beyond the breaking waves
to float on the swells until the next perfect moment,
then swimming as fast as my little arms would carry me
to catch that perfect wave

I remember full moon nights when the grunions run
Rare moments oh so long ago,
Relishing the smell of the fire,
the thrill of the catch, using only our hands.
Didn't we know then what was coming?
Didn't we care?
Oh those grunions were delicious, bones and all.
Do you even know what they are anymore?**

I remember walking barefoot at the water's edge.
What's that sticking to the bottom of my feet?
The black tar wouldn't come off.
Didn't we know back then what was coming?

** I was a child and young teenager when we used to hunt for and eat grunion. During the few years I enjoyed this sport, I observed the disappearance of the grunion, which at that time and place, were replaced by the related smelts. It was obvious that once the delicacy was discovered, it became a craze that decimated the population of grunion where I lived in Southern California. After writing the above poem, I looked up grunion on the internet and am delighted to find that they are still there, regulated, and though the numbers are down, they have managed to sustain themselves from extinction from habitat erosion, harbor construction, predators, and especially hands only fishing with regulations.

I wrote the above during thast two minutes of the super bowl. As I read the poem back to myself, I remembered the joy, the innocence, and in hind sight, the ignorance of my childhood and youth. I'm not generally a football fan, but I do know the game, and especially a good one when I see it. It was obvious how, despite the chance for victory with only ½ a yard to go, the moment passed with a bad call and a brilliant play by the ultimate victors. Who will be the victors in the fight for our precious planet, and especially the waters without which there can be no life? What have we learned as we've watched for decades as our resources are polluted, sold, and dissipated. What is the price for greed and arrogance? Ignorance is no excuse; rather it is a euphemism for laziness and apathy, the less obvious but equally destructive results of our behavior. Yet even with all the warnings from those who knew, and who made as much inconvenient truth available to us as they could get away with, what we didn't fully grasp was the blow-back from the planet, herself. How could it be that the consequences of our collective behavior could be sufficiently ignored for long enough to bring us to our current brink? Who among us has the wit, the intelligence, and the courage to find the solutions and make the necessary changes? What I believe is that if we put our hearts and minds together and open to the possibility of higher consciousness, intelligence, and magic, perhaps we can find new solutions and our own personal contribution toward resolving the situation.

Free Planetary Healing Call to Action

Wednesday, February 4, 6pm Pacific

Register Here…

While researching the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, I discovered similar dead zones in the other seas and oceans. The currents cause these growing garbage patches to slowly spin and pull the disintegrating plastics to gather miles from any landmass, far enough away to ignore and for the nearest countries to avoid accepting any responsibility. I've learned that most of the offending plastic that is breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces (rather than bio-degrading), are microscopic in size, and are unable to be seen by satellite photos. These tiny bits of toxic wastes are often mistaken for nourishment and are eaten or fed to the young of many ocean species, poisoning, killing, and threatening extinction to a large variety of plants, mammals and fish. This disruption in the eco-balance of our oceans has far-reaching consequences. Unlike the thousands of tons of trash that finds its way to our shores, they cannot be gathered up and disposed of or recycled in any sane way that we know of. My co-host, Kathryn Ravenwood, and I have decided to work in a new way with the Beacon exercise from the Planetary Healing, Spirit Medicine for Global Transformation book (by me and and my husband Mark Hallert, available here).

We will begin our ceremony by setting our intentions to bring healing to the oceans of our world. You can focus on particular places of water imbalances, pollution, or whatever is most disturbing to you, however we will be devoting our intention to the five known garbage patches that pose a great threat to the health of our ocean inhabitants.

Our ceremony will begin with the Heart Breath, connecting our circle (the more people on the call, the larger and more potent the circle) and invoking all guides, allies, spirit helpers and divine intelligent beings who are available to support our work. We will then, during this healing ceremony (guided meditation), unite our energies and intentions to help discover or create a healing for our polluted great bodies of water.

And so the Work continues. We hope you will join us. Register here for this free Planetary Healing Call to Action.

Alchemical Healing

Canada— When I listed upcoming classes in Alchemical healing, I forgot to mention Nicole Balogh's class near Toronto in London, Canada: Level I February 27, 28 and March 1 and Level II April 10th -12th. More info here…

Please see our home and schedule pages at ShamanicJourneys.com for other Alchemical Healing classes this spring and summer, and for information on our upcoming Egyptian Mysteries Sekhmet Retreat in May, the Personal and Planetary Healing Intensive Retreat in Eugene in July, and the Egypt tour in October this year.

Introduction to Alchemical Healing with Nicki Scully

This tele/web seminar is Thursday, February 12, 5;30 – 7 PM Pacific time, for $20. I will give a demonstration and share the basic principles of the form, including tools that you can begin to work with on your own. This introduction is open to anyone who is in need of healing, or who wishes to explore a powerful and effective way to heal others. It's also a great brush-up and reminder for those of you who have studied Alchemical Healing and wish to be reminded of the power and magic that it wields. I am charging the $20 in order to cover the cost of keeping the program that allows me to continue the free Planetary Healing Calls to Action. If you are aware of a better service than Maestro, please let me know, as it is expensive. Meanwhile, please register here for the introductory Alchemical Healing evening. For more information about Alchemical Healing, visit this page.

I hope to see or hear from you in the near future. Please spread the word about the Call to Action for the oceans. Each person who participates expands exponentially the power of our work,.

Thank you and blessings,
Nicki Scully