Kinship with Nature is a Family Affair

July 3~ Module One: Earth Element and Mineral Realm

We explore the grounding, steadying influence of the Earth Element. We’ll discover ways to find earth as a touchstone in our daily lives, as well as ways to honor our Mother in the natural world. We also live-into the foundational nature of minerals ~ within our own bones and bloodstream, as well as in the world of the Stone People. Deepening Practices throughout the week engage yours and the children’s bodies, hearts and minds.

July 10~ Module Two: Water Element and Plant Realm

We experience the essential nature of Water and her qualities of purification, revivification, accommodation, flow…the magic of water within the living systems of earth and within our own bodies and souls. We’ll inquire how to foster a balanced water element both within and without. We’ll also explore the Realm of Plants: recognizing plants as integral participants in earth’s hydraulic cycle and as the creators of the air we breathe ~ we will honor our symbiotic relationship. We will discover ways the plant world lives within our bodies and souls. Deepening Practices throughout the week engage ours and the children’s whole being in relationship with Water and Plants.

July 17~ Module 3: Fire Element and the Realm of Animals

We will embrace our relationship with the Fire element, exploring fire’s qualities of purification, warmth, enthusiasm, creativity and more. We will learn how to create an inner “hearth” and “container” in order to work in dynamic relationship with fire…that we not be consumed by its brilliance. We will also explore ancient systems within the living earth, that are being practiced today, that create outer containers for the intensity and creativity of fire. We’ll also step into the intelligence and agency of the animal realm, discovering how our furred, feathered and finned cousins live directly inside our brains and bodies. We’ll explore ways to live more closely into our “soft animal bodies.” Deepening Practices encourage ours and the children’s gratitude to Fire and to our older cousins, the Animals.

July 24~ Module 4: Air Element and the Realm of Human Beings

We will breathe into the Air element, discovering vast spaciousness within our being and experiencing the “breath of Gaia” that moves through us. We will learn ways of using our breath as a rudder for our ship of self. We will discover ways to listen to the wisdom that is carried on the wind, as our earth-ancestors speak to us. We will breathe in symbiosis with all our plant mothers and our four-legged cousins. We will also look into the complex and often divergent capacities of the human being. What ideals do we carry? Who models these Qualities for us? Deepening Practices bring us again and again throughout the week, to awareness of our breath and how we choose to “use” it to benefit all. Deepening Practices for the children are filled with the joy of windy days.

July 31~ Module 5: Ether Element and the Realm of the Unseen Beings

We will explore Ether as the integrative force ~ that miraculous gathering-together of all Elements, Realms, and Beings into the coherent interdependent living being that we call Gaia. We will look within, as well, and make relationship with this integrative force within our body, heart, mind, soul and spirit. We’ll look into the world of nature and, with the eye of the heart, see and honor the unseen beings that are always teeming in the living atmosphere of our home, our mother, the Earth. Deepening Practices throughout the week help us remember the miracle of Earth and the One Being we call Gaia. The children will deepen into the sensory wonder of childhood on our emerald planet.