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February, 2003 Vol.5. NO.2...........................................................Pages 4-5
Advertising Deadline for the March, 2004 issue is February 18, 2003 For More Information call (505) 471-5177 or (505) 747-0589 EQUESTRIAN PATH TO HEALING AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH by Guilford Dudley, Ph.D. Equestrian Quest has been in operation in the Abiquiu area of northern New Mexico for five years, offering workshops that take people into the wilderness on horseback, solo vision quests with a horse, and equine assisted psychotherapy. Most participants have come from out of state. They have come from communities that range from Massachusetts to California. It is our goal this year to draw more participation from the local communities of northern New Mexico. An Equestrian Quest is a unique journey into the far reaches of who we are in relation to our own souls, to nature, and to the Sacred. The journey takes place in a week-long or shorter trek into the high dessert wilderness, riding from a base camp for a few hours each day. Improvisational rituals, vision quests, and guided meditation set the tone for the horse to carry us as soul companion into dessert silence and mountain voices. The goal of the experience is a fundamental shift of consciousness. Such a shift often involves spiritual growth and a dramatic first step in healing emotional wounds. The Swiss psychiatrist, C. G. Jung, has reminded us that the image of the horse in dreams is uniquely meaningful, because it represents the life force in humans. The horse’s power to evoke awe comes to us from the dawn of humankind. Ancient shamans, who were the first priests and healers, invoked the horse to carry them in their spiritual journeys. In religious traditions based on shamanism, then and now, parts of the soul we have lost are discovered and restored. The literal presence of the horse opens these ancient portals for spiritual awakening. Horses tune in and know us beyond what other humans can discern – our wounds and fears, our pretenses and trustworthiness. One of the rituals used by the staff of Equestrian Quest is to facilitate a participant’s sensing the qualities in a horse’s energy, while letting the horse feel his or her energy. This experience usually happens with the participant blindfolded, first on the ground touching the horse with her hands, then mounted bareback, the horse led by a staff member. Solo vision quests are usually tailored to the participant’s particular needs and experience. One person will opt to take a horse into a deep canyon and stay there for a week, with a staff member on duty 24 hours a day to meet any needs or emergencies that come up during the silent quest. Another person will spend shorter periods of time alone, returning for debriefing or counseling, as a result of the experience. “Equine assisted psychotherapy,” as it is called elsewhere in the country, is a misnomer in the way that we do it. Here the horse is the therapist and analyst is the facilitator. The client typically projects onto the horse that it is the predator, the client the prey. At some point in the work it becomes clear that the relationship is reversed, and at that point the client can begin to look at his/her own “predator” side. We bring out those sides in relationships, and internally there is often a predator or “shadow” side that preys on the rest of our psyche.
Trust/distrust is another part of the human psyche that is tested by a horse. The experience with a horse can become a first step toward learning to trust not only horses but other humans, especially in relationships that require trust in order to work. The therapy with horses often follows a rhythm of phases that Jung discovered in alchemy and adapted to psychotherapy. One example is separation/reunion. The separation phase is for boundary setting and differentiating the parts in one’s psyche out of a confusion that keeps them locked in a cloud of indistinguishable elements, such as conscious and unconscious parts. The reuniting phase is regaining a sense of the wholeness in one’s psyche, while avoiding the confusion that would exist without the differentiation. A very crude analogy on the physical level would be that a doctor needs to isolate parts of the body for the purpose of diagnosis and healing, but later the body has to function and to be experienced as a whole. With a horse representing one side of the psyche, a literal separation can occur for one kind of awareness and healing, followed by a reunion with the horse that provides the sense of a new wholeness. This rhythm can be enacted ritually as a part of the therapy experience, or it can be enacted more slowly as a part of a solo vision quest, accompanied by a horse. Another example may help. For some women a horse symbolizes her masculine side. She may need to separate from that side long enough to get in touch with her natural femininity, without being dominated by her masculine side, then reunite for a richer, more balanced union with the masculine and feminine aspects of her psyche. The rhythm of separation and reunion can be done effectively with a horse. Those interested in exploring what Equestrian Quest offers can contact us through our website: www.EquestrianQuest.com, or by emailing direct to gdudley3@cybermesa.com, or by calling 505-685-4629.
About the Director: Guil Dudley, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst who has been in practice for 25 years. He is the author of two books and his third is in progress. Guil is also an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a former faculty member at three universities. He grew up with horses and has been riding since he was a child. He also teaches workshops and seminars for psychotherapists who want to learn more about doing therapy with horses, seminars that offer Board approved Continuing Education credits.
Darwin Awards
Honorable Mention: Three men attempting to land in the Guinness Book of World Records were hospitalized in Legaspi after eating excessive amounts of chili peppers. They were treated for acute gastritis and high blood pressure, and released with a warning to moderate their intake. Reference: UPI, The Star
IS MAD COW
DISEASE CAUSING THOUSANDS OF HUMAN DEATHS IN THE U.S.?
Thanks to a massive marketing blitz (funded by scarce taxpayer money) the U.S. Government has been working overtime to alleviate the public's concerns about Mad Cow Disease and its human counterpart Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease (CJD). Consumers no longer know who to trust. Regardless, experts on all sides of the political spectrum agree with one basic fact: the two diseases are undeniably connected. In both cases, aberrant proteins, known as prions, begin to multiply and literally cause holes in the brain, ultimately leading to death. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, hundreds of CJD human fatalities have been occurring in the U.S. every year, but until now, they have simply been written off as unexplainable and spontaneous cases. At the same time, it is well known that ingesting meat contaminated with these prions causes the same fatal reaction to occur in the human body. Based on that basic understanding, coupled with the fact that the vast majority of U.S. cattle are never tested for Mad Cow Disease, scientists like Dr. Michael Gregor, a world renowned expert on the issue, and dozens of research institutions around the world are now linking these deaths to the food supply. http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/GregerCJD.cfm
DANDELION MEDICINE By Joyce DePow Medicine from weeds? You betcha. Before the convenience of a pharmacy, our ancestors gathered wild plants for food and medicine. We can still make our own medicine from what we now consider a weed. One of the easiest weeds to identify is the dandelion. Just remember to use only plants that have not been sprayed with any chemical. The dandelion is a bright, all petal yellow flower without a central eye. Its leaves resemble lion’s teeth. The dandelion grows to about 15 inches tall. When it goes to seed, the flower heads turn to fluff. A tiny seed hangs on each parachute fluff. Even though the seeds are carried away to other places to grow, the original plant is a perennial. T. laevigatum is native. T. lyrata is native and is found in the mountains. T. officianalis is the lawn dandelion and is the only nonnative dandelion. All species of dandelion are closely related except for identifying microscopic differences and the color of their seeds. Among the many medicines that dandelions make is an easy treatment for curing warts. Simply spread the white sap from the dandelion stem on the warts until the warts disappear. Dandelion also treats acne. To treat acne, drink a decoction of root, 1/2 cup 3 times a day. To make a decoction, boil 1/2 cup dandelion root in 1 cup of water for about 10 to 15 minutes. The root needs to come from a dandelion that is at least two years old. To reduce fluid retention, drink about two cups of tea made from dandelion leaves. Or if you have a juicer, drink the juice of about 1 oz. of leaves, 3 times per day. Medicine made from leaves can be used from first year plants.
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Inside This Issue About the Cover ...... 3 Book Reviews .............. 15 Breaking News ................ 8 Circular Reasoning 12 Dandelion medicine .. 5 Enraged Elephant 14
Equestrian Path to Healing Gluttony Men Eating Chili 4 Humor Break .............. 13
ISC sets up crisis center to protect Italian Man 13 Letter to the Editor 10,11 Mad Cow Disease .... 5 Millions of Consumers Unite ..... 12 Movie Making in NM ..... 8
NM Organic Farming No Child Left Behind - Part 2 ............. 6 North Central NM Events 3 Nutrition ... 12 “Our Brightest Cheerleaders” ............ 14 Printing Equipment 15 Sand Surfing 3 Sloth Sleepfalling .............. 14 Snowball’s Chance in Hell ....... 14 Udall Seeks Applications for 2004 Summer Intern Program in Washington ................ 8 Using DNA to Trace African Ancestry 11 Want Ad .... 6 Where Can You Find The Sun-News 2 Who Do You Trust? 7
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