Calliope Center
A New Way of Seeing
On Wednesday, November 16th, at 11pm, Rick LaMartina left his body for good. You'll see his photo on the "Staff" page of this website, as we had begun a partnership facilitating the Wheel of Initiation and had several other joint projects in the works. Rick's career was photography, and if you peruse his work here (or simply look at the photos on this site), you'll see that he had a real talent for seeing the essence of the natural world.
Noticing
Embrace who you really are. Follow your soul's path. Be all you can be. Release your inhibitions.
The Time Between
I returned late last night from the Enneagram workshop in upstate New York and woke this morning to find that I have not missed the coming of Spring here in Wisconsin. The few brave, early arriving birds sit quite visibly in the brown, leafless branches of the trees. Everywhere you look, it's brown in all its shades. Not as joy-inspiring as the coming stage of green, but a necessary phase, nonetheless. As I look out the window of the Calliope Center now, I see a deer seeking tender shoots in the grass by the labyrinth. This is not the hart of myth, urgently beckoning the knight into the woods to find adventure. Just a hungry deer looking rather lazily for nourishment.
Writing Your Story
In the Wheel of Initiation course, participants are in the midst of writing and presenting their stories to the group. This is a sacred ritual, with significant ramifications for personal growth. Why is that, though? What is it about telling one's story that makes such an impact?
A Moment of Stillness
We hear a lot about how beneficial meditation can be for us. Researchers have linked meditation with radically lower rates of heart disease, tumors, and infectious diseases,[1] and there is new evidence indicating that meditation could be of significant benefit in combating attention deficit disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, major depression, and even Alzheimer disease[2].
O, To Love a Weed
One of the things we do a little differently here at The Calliope Center is the landscaping. Or, in some spots, lack thereof. In an area as environmentally conscious as Southwest Wisconsin, on a piece of land ostensibly for recreational use (now that we've officially become The Calliope Center), we have opened ourselves up to all kinds of differing points of view. And you know what? We agree that there's validity to every one of these arguments. I'll summarize them for you:
New Calliope Center Website
Beginnings are rarely just that. We see marriage as a beginning, but these days, it's usually preceded by a relationship, and the wedding simply marks a new stage in that relationship. So it is with the Calliope Center. While there will be a great deal more organization to what we do here, it has been a gathering place since it was built as our home, almost eight years ago. Women's groups, men's groups, singing parties, transition ceremonies, and lots of earnest conversation have already been a part of this space, blessing it for those who will be coming in the future. And yet, there is something special about this declaration; this dedication to a specific journey. Hope flutters around beginnings. Breath. Spaciousness. Anticipation.
Parts and Presence
"The truth may make you free, but there's an even chance it will first scare the daylights out of you." -Gregg LeVoy