June 2012

Laura and I arrived at the Institute on the evening of May 9th.  As we stepped out of our vehicle, we were treated to the above rainbow in the New Mexico sky. As we stood in the Cuymungue Parking lot, I took the above picture with my handy iTouch that I carry around in my pocket.  Beautiful welcome! Click on the above image to enlarge.

It has been a very busy month. Upon arrival we began the kitchen remodel project in the main “Casa” – the student building. New section of cabinets added, new stove, lighting — it all came together. Very Functional and looks fabulous. With the help of our new caretakers, we emptied each building and did a deep cleaning and re-organization of furniture. Outside, new solar lighting along the pathways and lots of new rock work and fill was needed along with installing a french drain to handle the monsoon season. We also worked in cooperation with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity for most of of building supplies. In addition, a new beautiful dining table with 10 matching chairs from a Taos craftsman completes a gathering place for students at the Institute. We will include a more complete update on all the progress and changes here at the Cuyamungue Institute, along with pictures in the next issue of the newsletter.

Laura and I also recently completed teaching the first workshop of the season here at Cuyamungue. We entitled it “The Hero’s Journey/Journey of Spirit. This introductory workshop explores the intersection of the classic Hero’s Journey story arc, with our visionary trance experiences via the Cuyamungue Method. “You are here; you’ve answered the Call to Adventure,” was our opening line to the assembled participants the first evening. And from there, we gave minimal instruction to the first posture, letting the resulting journeys speak for themselves. And that is one of the true delights of the workshop for us. As one member of our workshop wrote: “I intentionally did no advance reading so as to not intellectually bias my journey. Needless to say what I experienced was very profound and life changing, and there was no way that I could have just “imagined” the outcome. Based on my experience, and confirmed by that of my fellow participants, I have become a true believer in the practices.”

Here’s another: “What I find particularly intriguing.” says Laura Lee, ” is that, in meeting your mentors along the Hero’s Journey — those who guide you, and hand you gifts that will come in handy later down the road– Joseph Campbell talked about “Supernatural Aid” as a category of mentors. We were particularly pleased to introduce participants to mentors of the supernatural variety that are available once we know how to open the doors to perception, to tune our physiology to participate on the dimension of the Alternate Reality.” Read more on our workshop from course participant, Cynthia Devlin –   https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/hearing-the-call/

We have several interesting and exciting new articles this month. From Egypt, Leslie shares the “Karnak Temple Posture. Ileen Root shares her work “Finding the Medusa Postures” and we have the paper Dr. Nick Brink presented at the International Association for the Study of Dreams conference. In addition, we received a submission from New Delphi India, in which Ashutosh, an MBA working as an IT Executive, shares the impact of the posture work in his life. Also, as part of our on-going posture research, from Germany, we explore “The Venus of Hohle Fels” a female figure was carved from a mammoth tusk 40,000 years ago. I’ve provided direct links below to each article.

If you have any questions about the Institute or the Cuyamungue Method, please feel free to contact us. We welcome all correspondence. Email me directly at paulrobear@cuyamungueinstitute.com .


From Egypt:
Karnak Temple Sekhmet Posture
by Leslie Zebra

On the occasion of the May 20th eclipse we chose to do the Sekhmet posture. The posture comes from the Sekhmet statue in a very secluded chapel at Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt.  The statue is life size and quite majestic. It shows Sekhmet standing left foot forward in the traditional ‘martial arts’ stance. She is holding a flower with her left hand at her root chakra which opens just beneath her heart chakra. In her right hand she is holding an ankh pointing down to the ground at a 45° angle.

The reason we chose this statue is because we had just been to Luxor to visit her in person. I lead sacred journeys here in Egypt. We had just returned from Luxor on our ‘Journey to the Sacred Feminine’. My main work is with the dual serpent goddess energy of the Hathor-Sekhmet archetype. To facilitate the activation process we visited Hathor at Dendera Temple and Sekhmet at her chapel in the Karnak Temple.

Continue to complete article at:  https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/karnak-temple-sekhmet-posture/


Finding Medusa Postures
by Ileen Root

History:
I conducted extensive research on the origin and archetypal meaning of Medusa for my doctoral dissertation in Depth Psychology*. Briefly, research led me to conclude that the Gorgon, a human female/animal theriomorphic hybrid with serpent, bird and fanged-beast attributes, is far more ancient than the Classical-era Greek myth of Perseus and Medusa. In fact, Gorgon-like artifacts have been found on almost every continent dating from at least 8,000 BCE.

The evidence points to Medusa’s origin as the Death aspect of the primordial Bird/Serpent Goddess of Life/Death/Renewal. Archetypally, this iconic figure can be imagined as the dragon, or feathered-serpent, the energy of creation at the heart of the Ouroboros—the tail-biter as alchemical symbol of eternal return.

Continue to complete article at:  https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/finding-medusa-postures/


The Use of Intention in Dreamwork, Hypnosis and Ecstatic Trance
by Nick Brink. PhD

In working with dreams, hypnosis and ecstatic trance we often seek to find answers to questions, solutions to problems or ways to change with the help of these altered states of consciousness.  We often approach these altered states with the intent to influence the state in some way to attain such goals.  I will briefly review dreaming with such intent before examining the use of intention in hypnosis and then more fully its use in ecstatic trance, the power of which I have become most impressed over the last few years.

With regard to dreams, those who are adept in lucid dreaming recognize the power of intent in dreaming lucidly, that asking questions of, giving direction to and influencing lucid dreams is a powerful tool to gain greater self-understanding, give new directions to life and go beyond our conscious and personal unconscious to access the Universal Mind or what others have called the Akashic field, the morphic field, the divine matrix or the collective unconscious.  An exceptional resource in understanding the power of lucid dreaming is Robert Waggoner’s book, Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self. 

Continue to complete article at:   https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/the-use-of-intention-in-dreamwork-hypnosis-and-ecstatic-trance/


From Germany:
The Venus of Hohle Fels – 40,000 Year Old Posture?

The discovery of the Venus of Hohle Fels pushes back the date of the oldest prehistoric sculpture, and arguably the oldest known figurative art altogether,This  by several millennia.  35,000 to 40,000 year-old ivory carving of a busty woman was found in a German cave. We received a couple reports last month about this sculpture with interest to see if it is indeed a ritual posture. Cynthia Devlin brought a Smtihsonian magazine article to the Hero Journey Workshop conducted at the Institute. This lead us to experiment after our workshop on the Venus transits of the Sun.  Belinda Gore also forwarded information to us from Gabriela Muntenbruch, whom she met in the Masked Trance Dance in Germany in October 2011, who has begun to focus on researching the Venus of Hohle Fels as an ecstatic posture and invites others around the world to join with her and share their findings. Also Bettina Duesmann, from Germany adds to the discussion.

Continue to complete article at: https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/venus-of-hohle-fels-40000-years-old-sculpture/


From New Delhi India
Riding the Wind by Ashutosh

I first came to know about Felicitas Goodman in Graham Hancock’s absorbing book ‘Supernatural’ where he mentioned that she had referred to the inclination angle of 37 degrees in cave paintings and Egyptian art. I ordered ‘Where The Spirits Ride the Wind’ and was completely absorbed by her discovery of the ‘hardwiring’ of postures linking us to the spirit world. I was keen on two postures, the healing in Plate-1 and Divination in Plate 15. I tried both with amazing results.

Continue to complete article at: https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/riding-the-wind/


Board of Directors Meeting
We just concluded our Board of Directors meeting – the extended version! We met for what turned into a retreat from June 7th to 12th. We began each day with a sunrise greeting, kiva posture time, and lots of discussion, brainstorming, and long-range planning. We all will be providing updates and reports in coming issues.

Here are the three members from Ohio:  Jackie Haworth Hoy, Rae LeCompte ,and Stephanie Stevens doing a line dance at sunrise. I’ve nicknamed them the “Ohio Angels” — like Charlie’s Angels, only with rattles instead of guns!


Transit of  Venus  Across the Sun on 5th June 2012 – Photo by Hsi May
One of the rarest celestial event in history, mankind only witnessed this astronomical phenomena every 243 years with a pair of venus transits across the sun eight years apart. Since the invention of the telescope, only six such events been recorded by the modern astronomers. On 5th June 2012, Venus transit across the Sun seen across the western hemisphere, this event lasted about six hours and one of the even rarer events where this transit ends when the sun sets below the horizon in most part of North America.When Venus passed directly between earth and the sun, we see the distant planet as a small dot gliding slowly across the face of the sun.  This rare alignment is how we measured the size of our solar system.  The view is like a front row seat to the transit method, by which we now find planets around distant stars.  This is the last venus transit in our lifetime, the next transit is in the year 2117.  In astrological symbolism, this marks the arrival of the feminine energy, presage a great shift in human consciousness. Click not the following thumbnail to see a full size Photo taken by a Hsi May, who attended the “Hero’s Journey” workshop from Singapore.


Upcoming Workshop Schedule.  Direct experience is a path to transformation. Participants report that these workshops expand personal power and strengthen inner guidance that can be life changing. Make your plans now, come experience the special power of the land and enjoy the benefits of going deep into the posture experiences. Based on several requests, we have added an Introductory Workshop the first weekend in October.

July 25-29    Using The Cuyamungue Method for Healing, Growth
and to Access the Universal Mind.  Instructor: Nick Brink

August 29 – September 2   Teacher Training: Becoming a Certified Instructor
Instructors: Belinda Gore, Jackie Haworth

September 18 -23, 2012  Experience the Dander Zodiac through Posture
Instructors: Jill Schumacher & Meredith McCord

October 5 -7, 2012  Introductory Workshop
Instructors: Paul Robear & Laura Lee

Online registration is easy – go to  https://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/events/


Blessings,
Paul Robear – June 2012