Upcoming Walking Stick Events & Teaching

[Ian David]

Cross-posted in the Native American forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=312x311


Walking Stick Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt educational organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of aboriginal Jewish spirituality, occasionally sharing events with teachers indigenous to Native American and other earth-honoring traditions.

From: "The Walkingstick Newsletter" <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 01:02:44 -0500
Subject: Upcoming Walking Stick Events & Teaching

MIRIAM MARON TO TEACH AT PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY IN L.A.
Walking Stick’s Miriam Maron has been invited to teach a two-part
program of music and teachings on the topic of "Shamanic Healing
in the Kabbalah" at the Philosophical Research Society on Sunday,
January 29, 2006. 11:00 AM -- Lecture: "Shamanic Healing in the
Kabbalah." Cost: $5. 12:30-2:00PM -- Workshop: "Kabbalistic
Healing." Cost: $15. Drawing from the lesser-known wisdom of the
Kabbalah, Miriam will explore the intimate relationship of soul
with body, ancient wisdom that does not differentiate between
emotional, spiritual or physical imbalances but rather considers
illness to be a major opportunity for personal renewal. Healing
rituals involved incantations that called upon forces in the
spirit realm, and often included various herbs, stones and
incense. Employing the sacred tools of ancient texts, soul-
stirring chants and trance-inducing movement, Miriam will discuss
how healing involves the restoration of balance in the dynamics
of soul manifestation.

The Philosophical Research Society is located at 3910 Los Feliz
Blvd., in Los Angeles, California. For more information, and to
register, go to: www.uprs.edu Or call the university at: (323)
663-2167, or e-mail them at: [e-mail]
__________________________________________________

WORKSHOP AND BOOK SIGNING IN LOS ANGELES
Catherine Shainberg of the School of Imagery in New York City –-
a long-time venue for Walking Stick classes in Manhattan --
will teach a workshop in Los Angeles on “Dream Interpretation
and Imagery in the Kabbalah,” the subject of her new book, on
Saturday morning January 28 at 9 AM at the Bodhi Tree Book Store,
8585 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. The book signing will take
place at 3 PM. For more information, contact Bonnie Buckner at
[phone].
_____________________________________________________________

GERSHON TO TEACH AT "A TASTE OF HONEY" IN ALBUQUERQUE...
Rabbi Winkler will be teaching at the Jewish Community Center
in Albuquerque on Sunday February 12, participating in a panel
discussion at 1 PM and lecturing at 4 PM on "Nudniks, Critics,
and Dybbuks: Overcoming Walls You Never Built". To register
visit www.jewishnewmexico.org or call [phone].
_____________________________________________________________


NEXT SACRED TALKS SEMINAR IN DURANGO, COLORADO...
with Rabbi Gershon Winkler will be held on Saturday night,
February 18, 2006 at Har Shalom, at 7 PM followed by hav'dalah
ceremony. For directions, etc., contact Dr. Harold Shure at
[phone].
______________________________________________________

NEXT SACRED TALKS SEMINAR IN SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO...
with Rabbi Gershon Winkler will be held on Sunday February 19,
2006 from 1-5 PM at the home of Carl and Freya Diamond, 8 – East
Sunrise Drive. Directions from Taos: Take US 285 south to Route
599 (Santa Fe Relief Route). Take Route 599 to the Camino La
Tierra Exit and turn right. Go approximately 1 3/8 miles to the
Salva Tierra Subdivision on your right. You must use the
intercom at the gate to be let in. Then go through the gate and
bear left onto East Sunrise Drive to #8, approximately 7/8 of a
mile. From Albuquerque, take I-25 north to Exit 276-B
(Route 599). Take Route 599 to the Camino La Tierra Exit and
turn left. Continue with above directions. Cost: $50. More if
you can, less if you can’t. No one is turned away for lack of
funds. If you get lost, call the Diamonds at [phone].

_____________________________________________________________

GERSHON AND MIRIAM TO TEACH IN BOULDER, COLORADO
Consciousness Learning Community is hosting a weekend Shabbaton
program of learning with Rabbi Gershon Winkler and Miriam Maron,
R.N., M.A., March 10-11, 2006, with an evening lecture held
Thursday March 9. For information, contact: [e-mail]
________________________________________________________________

GERSHON AND MIRIAM TO TEACH IN THE HILLS OF VIRGINIA
Rabbi Gershon Winkler and Miriam Maron, R.N., M.A. will be
teaching a weekend Shabbaton program in the Blue Ridge Mountains
of Virginia April 21-23, 2006. For information, contact Latifa
Kropf at [e-mail]
______________________________________________________________

GERSHON AND MIRIAM TO TEACH IN MARYLAND/D.C. AREA
Am Kolel is hosting three days of learning with Rabbi Gershon
Winkler and Miriam Maron, R.N., M.A., April 23-25, 2006. For
more information, contact David Schneyer at [e-mail]
______________________________________________________


THIRD JEWISH SHAMANIC HEALING TRAINING PROGRAM...
Rabbi Gershon Winkler and Miriam Maron, R.N., M.A. have been
asked to do a third Jewish Shamanic Healing program at Elat
Chayyim Retreat Center in Accord, New York. This two-year,
four-week program introduces participants to ancient and
early-medieval Kabbalistic modalities and understandings of
illness and healing through shamanic wisdom and rituals rooted in
Jewish mystery wisdom. For more information, and to register,
visit www.elatchayyim.org
______________________________________________________

STORY FIRES RETREAT IN NEW MEXICO, AUGUST 10-15, 2006
Spend five delightful days in a scenic New Mexico wilderness
setting, and fill yourself with enriching wisdom from Judaism and
Native America. Teachers: Miriam Maron, Kam Night Chase, Mary
Lau, Lakme Elior, David Carson, Blue Spruce Standing Deer, and
Gershon Winkler. Cost: $850. Accommodations are camping (tents
and tenting gear provided), limited indoor lodging, motels 9
miles away. Cost includes all meals, airport pick-up
(Albuquerque: 80 miles away) and tuition. For more information
and to register visit www.walkingstick.org and click on the
Programs page. Or call Walking Stick Foundation at [phone]
or e-mail us at: [e-mail]
______________________________________________________________

GERSHON AND MIRIAM TO TEACH AT ESALEN AGAIN,
AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 1, 2006
Join Gershon and Miriam for a five-day workshop on Kabbalistic
Wisdom for Everyday Living, at Esalen Institute in Big Sur,
California. To register visit www.esalen.org after April 1.
Prior to April 1 you can only register by telephone:
[phone].
_____________________________________________________

WE'RE GOING BACK TO ISRAEL!
DUE TO THE OVERWHELMING SUCCESS OF ITS RECENT ISRAEL TOUR,
WALKING STICK ANNOUNCES A SECOND JEWISH SHAMANIC TOUR OF ISRAEL
November 2-12, 2006 With Rabbi Gershon Winkler and Miriam Maron,
R.N., M.A. -- “In the Dust of the Ancestors": Ten days of
visiting sacred sites and experiencing the mystical wisdom
related to them, through chant, journeying, ceremony, and
teachings. Cost for this tour is $2500 if paying by check, cash,
or Money Order, or $2750 if paying by credit card on-line. Cost
includes all meals, lodging, tours, program-related transportation
within Israel, and tuition; does not include airfare to and from
Tel Aviv which you must arrange on your own). A minimum non-
refundable deposit of $1,000 is required (refundable only if
Walking Stick Foundation cancels the trip). Deadline for
registration is: September 1, 2006, after which we require full
payment or balance due from deposit. Registration is limited to
30 participants. To register, visit www.walkingstick.org
____________________________________________________


On the Question of Cremation
By Gershon Winkler
(Response to a common query)

It is not so absolutely black'n' white clear that cremation is
forbidden by Jewish law. It actually doesn't say anywhere that
it is, only that it's been Jewish tradition to return the body
to the earth and enable gradual, organic transition of both body
and soul -- one to earth from where it was taken and the other to
spirit from whence she came. As Abraham put it some 3500 years
ago: "I am earth and ashes" (Genesis 18:27), which can imply that
either option is legitimate: dust or ashes. Job says the same
thing (Book of Job 42:6). The early rabbis spoke of the ancient
Jewish ritual of burning what belonged to kings and tribal
leaders (Talmud, Avodah Zarah 11a), which can also imply that
maybe we actually cremated the kings and tribal leaders at times,
not just their implements. We are told it means their belongings,
but the way it reads, it isn't so clear that it was solely their
belongings. Earlier in that same folio, the second-century Rabbi
Meir is quoted as saying that "it makes no difference whether it
is death by fire or not by fire..." What exactly was he
referring to, their stuff, or their bodies? It isn't clear. What
is clear is this: stuff don't die. People do. And his wording is:
"It makes no difference whether it is death by fire or not by
fire..." And the way we have been taught to read it by the
commentaries now and then is no proof that he didn't mean to
imply literally cremation. The Tosafot commentaries (the 11th-
century daughters and sons-in-laws of Rabbi Shlomo Yitchaki) on
this Talmudic quote raise the question as to whether this ritual,
whatever it actually was, is to be considered "the Ways of the
Amorites" and therefore forbidden. The counter argument brought
by the Tosafot, is that since the Torah herself talks about this
rite, it cannot be considered amongst the forbidden Ways of the
Amorites. The Torah, however, does not only talk about burning
objects, it talks also about burning people as a rare means of
execution for some specific capital crimes (Leviticus 20:14; see
also Joshua 7:25, and Talmud, Sanhedrin 75a-b). The Torah
further recounts how Nadav and Aveehu, the two sons of Moses’
brother Aaron, were cremated by a divine fire (Leviticus 10:2).
If there was something wrong with cremation, burning would not
have been one of the ways of either capital punishment or divine
zapping.

So it appears that it is quite possible that in earlier days
cremation itself was considered an option in Judaism, and non-
chalontly so, not only burning important people's belongings but
their bodies as well. Also, see in the Hebrew the wording in
Jeremiah 34:5 where the prophet assures the king that he will
die a peaceful death and burn like the other kings. Of course,
in the English translations, they add "burn incense for you like
the other kings...", which does not appear in the Hebrew. In
fact, in the scriptural story of the first Hebrew king, Saul,
the people cremate him and his son after they die and then bury
their bones (First Samuel 31:11-13). At least there, the
translators neglected to change the wording and left it as it
reads in the original Hebrew: "And they removed the bodies of
Saul and his son Jonathan from the wall of Bet Sh'an and came
to Yavesh Gil'ad and burned them there. Then they took the bones
and buried them under the Tamarisk tree in Yavesh, and they
fasted for seven days."

Over sixty years ago, millions of our people were murdered and
cremated in Nazi death camps. Cremation ought therefore to no
longer bear its age-old taboo. On the contrary, in their honor
and in their memory perhaps cremation should be rendered a
respectable option as a ritual after death. It should become
"ee'sheh l'a'do'noy," a sacred fire onto God (Exodus 29:25).

Something to ponder.



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[Behind the Aegis]

1. This is VERY interesting!

Thanks for the info!!! I have to give it a more in-depth look.

[Ian David]

2. Kabbalah and Shaminism aren't something I'm into, but...

I figured someone here might find it interesting.

Besides, it's nice when Jews and Native Americans get together for things that don't involve casinos and lobbyists.