The Common Ground Fair: Coming out of the dark into the light 

Maine’s largest fall festival celebrates harvest, land stewardship, organic farmers and growers, sustainability, and all life everywhere. 

Three days in September, this fair offers the possibility of learning about growing anything, hands on demonstrations in weaving, spinning, and other arts, as well as a delightful connection with others who love the land and all its inhabitants.

It is, in short, a celebration of joy.

Walking around with a bundle of Sweet Annie (a member of the wormwood family, this Artemisia annua has many medicinal properties), so many people stopped me to ask what it was and how I would use it. I really didn’t know the answer, other than its name. I just knew I had to have this herb. It was only when I got home that I found out all its medicine benefits.   (More about that below). 

What surprised me, though, was how open and friendly people were. They didn’t hold back from asking questions about the plant. They were happy to smell the sweet fragrance when I held it out and invited them to take a whiff. They shared how they used it and wondered where to find more information. 

It was a delight to connect in this way. Interested and interesting people. Open and sharing. So much joy in connecting with herbs and the earth. 

Pondering why I was surprised to experience this, I realized it was because everything in the last few years has been so shut down, withdrawn, disconnected. Where we’re afraid to look at people because someone might be carrying a germ. We don’t hang out much with others because we were told not to. It wasn’t safe. Smiling almost became a thing of the past.

Until lately. 

Now, there’s almost a cumulative sense that once 'covid is over' everything can go back to normal.  Whatever normal means. 

But is that really true? Can we really go back to what was before?

 And do we want to?

Seeing so many people smile, laugh, dance, share joy, share their gifts of the earth, gifts of their spirit, gifts of the Divine made me realize that we are coming out of our darkness. We are choosing to connect again, to be human again, and to share and to love again. 

For many of us, this means we’re in a deeper, better place than we were before. Even with the loss of so many lives, the debilitating effects of illness in evidence, and the loss of homes and jobs, we have somehow found the stillpoint within us that sustains us and helps us to thrive.

Sometimes it takes a disaster to help us go deeper, seek within, discover more of ourselves….to change. 

And sometimes we can create that change within, without being forced to.

This is why I love meditation, as my tool of choice. It gives us a chance to be still, to find that stillpoint within that sustains us and helps us to thrive. To go beyond where we were, with courage. To find what works for us. To help us release what doesn’t work. To create new ways of being. Gently. Without reliving trauma. With loving support.

Here is an example of what I’m talking about.

From The Grand Experiment. A Meditation Experience to see what happens when we are held in a field of loving support, asking for our highest and best, and detaching from what that is. This is a quote from a participant after 3 weeks of meditation:

  "For the first time in a long time I really felt who I AM....who I have always been before I was swept away in an avalanche of negative experiences... I now see when I traded choosing love and stayed in a state of fear... always trying to make myself small or invisible .. 

"And I was lovingly brought to those conversations that keep playing like a broken record in my head how I am not worthy of love, how I am not worth anyone's time .. of what a failure I was. 

 "It was a really hard lesson, but I am so grateful for this weeks meditation as it gave me the courage to face that fear, that negativity and forgive myself, everyone involved and the experience, and to truly let it go with love into the light to cause no harm... and to pull in the love and light to fill those spaces that I was able to clear... 

  "As a result, yes there was a lot of tears, there were moments I just didn't think I could face anything else....but again my guides and Angels held my hand and filled me with the strength and love to really clean house... and now I am smiling a lot these days... I feel so alive, so grateful to be alive... and as the week progressed I began to notice those that were around me began smiling and laughing more.. and the kids actually helped each other this week instead of arguing or fighting with one another... "

We are coming out of the dark into the light. 

How you choose to do that is up to you. 

But if you’re looking for a tool to help you, without having to experience a disaster, check out my Meditation Masterclass on Oct. 29 (And the bonus Masterclass on Nov. 1!) 

Teaching you how to open your heart, think with your heart, and live from your heart. Where everything is easier and faster. A new way of being with joy. Sharing the love. And seeing it reflected in everyone around you.  

For more info and/or to register, click here.

Let’s do this the easy way!

BIG love,

Phoenix

Ps—From Planet Ayurveda, https://www.planetayurveda.com/sweet-annie-artemisia-annua/ 

Sweet Annie’s leaves are used in herbal preparations to cure malaria. It’s antiviral and anti fungal which helps keep away infections like flu, etc. It’s used for treating hemorrhoids, dysentery and TB. Applied to the skin, Sweet Annie helps with arthritis, nerve pain, and can erase scars and heal bruises. It helps heal the symptoms of MS because of its anti-inflammatory properties. Used in Chinese medicine since the 7^th century, this plant has also come to the awareness of Western practitioners in the last twenty years as a profound healing herb.