THE SUPERWOMAN SYNDROME!

Sistahgirls!

I feel compelled to share a story I read several weeks ago because... IT IS ME, YOU SHE AND HER!

These are the writers words verbatum...

We have been programmed by the media and society to DO, strive and out-perform in order to meet a standard that in reality just can’t be met. For many, the Superwoman cape is still on well after the holidays. It becomes a part of the illusion of who we believe we must be in order to be loved, appreciated and valued. You may have heard about the syndrome affecting millions of women. It’s called the Superwoman Syndrome!

Here are just a few of the symptoms to watch for including…

A disconnect from your authentic self
The loss of your physical health and emotional well-being
A Loss of Your Sense of Joy and Gratitude
Feeling spiritually alone, disconnected and disenchanted
Loss of Connection to those around You
Feeling as if the world is spiraling out of control and you can’t catch up.
Fear of dropping the ball and letting the ‘world’ down
Feeling like a ‘visitor’ in your own life
Do any of these symptoms sound familiar?

How do I know what it feels like?

Like many others, I’ve been there, done that and it literally came close to killing me at just 40 years old. (I’m now 48.) During my years as reigning SUPERWOMAN I lost my sense of self while going 100 mph trying to fulfill every role imaginable – single mom, award-winning entrepreneur, motivational speaker, community advocate for women and children, running fundraising events and much, much more. The Superwoman Syndrome gives those afflicted the illusion that the more they do for others the more they will feel loved, valued, appreciated, worthy and important.

In my case I lost my sense of self-worth and the Superwoman Syndrome became my crutch to feel all the things that I NOW know have to come from within. In my desire never to let anyone down and in order to fill the empty void within I gave so much of myself that I literally crashed and burned. I missed out on beautiful family memories just to make one more fundraiser or speak at one more shelter. I wanted to ‘help, save, inspire’ just one more woman to believe in herself and not give up – and all the while I was unable to save, help or inspire myself. As Superwoman I spent all my energy on giving, supporting and balancing the balls – until one day there was no energy left in the well.
Like many women I was once afflicted with a serious case of Superwoman Syndrome and though it is curable – a relapse can happen at any time if we are not aware. I share my story with the hope that I can prevent even one woman from finding out the hard way – and to bring awareness that our perceived role as Superwoman is an illusion –one that can cost you everything.
THE TRUTH BEHIND the SUPERWOMAN SYNDROME

Let me bring you back in time. Ten years ago this Superwoman was flying high and at the speed of light. Even as Superwoman I knew deep inside I knew I couldn’t possibly balance one more plate or juggle another ball – Superwoman was barely holding on – physically, emotionally or spiritually. (Though of course, back then I would NEVER have admitted that to myself or anyone else).

I was as disconnected from my body as one could possibly be and still be alive. I was so focused on doing, doing , doing that I had lost my ability to ‘BE”. I was wearing so many hats and balancing so many balls that my days began to run together. I began existing on caffeine and sugar just to maintain my frantic Superwoman pace. The more I juggled the more fearful I became about dropping a ball or not living up to the expectations of this Superwoman persona.

Then the day came that SHOULD’VE acted as my personal WAKE-UP CALL. Being the slow-learner I was back then it wasn’t, I , of course waited for the Cosmic Two-by-Four to hit just months later.

For many years I owned a successful retail store and was active in the community on issues related to women and children. After winning a local business award one of the local magazine’s ran an article sub-titled “Superwoman’s Cape must have been Behind the Door!. The article profiled all I had overcome as a former welfare mom and all I was doing in life and in the community to support women and children who were going through transition along with mentioning all my other roles as Superwoman. The day the story was released one of my employee’s came in with the new issue and gushing about what a great story it was. I went into my office, closed the door and began reading the article.

DON’T WAIT for the COSMIC TWO-BY-FOUR

I wish I could tell you that I was beaming with pride as I read the article but this story is about the illusions that make up the Superwoman Syndrome and there are many. As I read the story I began to cry. Deep sobs coming from deep within, sobs that I hadn’t allowed myself to release in a long, long time for fear that they wouldn’t stop and of course, Superwoman must remain in control. I can still remember the intense feeling of dread that enveloped me as I read the story and remember thinking – “Oh my God! Now I’ll never be able to slow down or take this cape off.” (or I’ll let everyone down, etc. etc.) I felt so trapped by the life I had created and the Superwoman illusion that I was living under.

Today I see that my reaction to that article was a sign from my soul that I had disconnected from my true purpose – but that’s a story for another day. Instead of listening to the wisdom that my reaction had evoked and beginning to review my beliefs around my need to be Superwoman – I wiped the tears, checked my cape for wrinkles and continued flying at the speed of light.

Less than six months later (after not heeding all the signs and symptoms my body tried to relay to me for quite awhile, ok for about two years) my body began shutting down. That’s right at 40 years old – Superwoman was hit with the Cosmic Two-by-Four. Body aches and fatigue so severe I couldn’t tie my own shoe to finally a mini-stroke at 40 that left me house-bound. Bounced around for eighteen months from specialist to specialist – with diagnoses ranging from Advanced Lyme Disease to Multiple Sclerosis – Superwoman could fly no more. Actually, Superwoman wasn’t even allowed to drive, run or play during one period of time.

Superwoman told she couldn’t do ANYTHING! ME????? My initial thoughts were “My God, the world is going to fall apart. Who is going to fulfill all my roles? Who is going to take on all my responsibilities?” The questions, worries and concerns filled my mind with dread.

Words can’t explain the intense anxiety and guilt I experienced during those first few days of bed rest. Yes, GUILT! Imagine, my body was screaming for love, care and bed rest and I was feeling guilty about all those imagined people I was letting down. My Superwoman cape hung solemnly on the back of the door haunting me with thoughts of all I SHOULD be doing. It was only pure exhaustion and pain that kept me in that bed –ok, and the fact that my family took my car keys also helped.

As the days of rest turned to weeks my illusion of self-importance was shattered. The world continued spinning, projects were completed, my business ran without me and my world didn’t fall apart. Slowly the guilt was replaced with an immense sense of relief that I had an ‘excuse’ (illness) which prevented me from putting my cape back on. For the first time in years I felt released from the illusion of the persona I had worn for so long. With only time on my hands I began reading and filling my time with books on spirituality, holistic healing, personal development and inspirational topics. As I began the healing journey back to myself I was able to release the illusions that kept me chained to a persona that left me feeling empty.

Flash forward eight years later to today! I am healthy, (all their diagnoses were wrong and the more I journeyed within the less severe my symptoms became.) happy and living a juicy, joyful life. Though it took a Cosmic Two-by-Four to bring Superwoman to her knees (literally and figuratively) I believe that without that wake-up call I wouldn’t be here today. I look back on my days of healing and see the blessings and lessons contained within. As hard as the healing experience was, I would do it again to gain the blessings, lessons and insights that came from such a dark time.

I know you are waiting to hear what happened to the Superwoman cape or if I have relapsed during my journey. Yes, I’ve relapsed over the years and there have been days I’ve pranced around in front of the mirror in my Superwoman cape but it happens less and less now. As I’ve shared with other recovering Superwoman ‘unless we stay connected to our essence, our authentic self we can get pulled back into the illusion.” As I began the healing journey back to myself the Superwoman cape found its way to the back of the closet – where it remains today.
And the world still spins!

CAN WE BE AS GIVING AS MOTHER THERESA

By Andrew Harvey

"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope."

A plump Indian businessman, dripping with gold and diamonds, came one day to visit Mother Teresa, fell at her feet, and proclaimed, “Oh my God, you are the holiest of the Holy! You are the super-holy one! You have given up everything! I cannot even give up one samosa for breakfast! Not one single chapati for lunch can I give up!”

Mother Teresa started to laugh so hard her attendant nuns grew scared (she was in her mid 80s and frail from two recent heart attacks). Eventually, she stopped laughing and, wiping her eyes with one hand, she leaned forward to help her adorer to his knees.

She said to him quietly, “So you say I have given up everything?” The businessman nodded enthusiastically. Mother Teresa smiled. “Oh, my dear man,” she said, “you are so wrong. It isn’t I who have given up everything; it is you. You have given up the supreme sacred joy of life, the source of all lasting happiness, the joy of giving your life away to other beings, to serve the Divine in them with compassion. It is you who are the great renunciate!” To the Indian businessman’s total bewilderment, Mother Teresa got down on her knees and bowed to him. Flinging up his hands, he ran out of the room.

The tremendous and simple secret that Mother Teresa was trying to communicate to the businessman is the message at the core of all the world’s spiritual revelations—that lasting happiness springs only from true love of the Divine, the world, and others, a true love that expresses itself tirelessly in wise and compassionate action. The other side of this tremendous secret—also proclaimed by the world’s spiritual traditions—is that this true love of the Divine and others, when expressed in wise, compassionate action, can lead not only to lasting inner joy but also to profound transformation of outer reality. As Robert Kennedy said in 1966 so eloquently and accurately, “Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. And crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

When the inner joy Mother Teresa spoke of, the joy of compassionate service, is married to a practical and pragmatic drive to transform all existing economic, social, and political institutions, a radical and potentially all-transforming holy force is born. The radical holy force I call Sacred Activism.

A Sacred Activist is someone who is starting to experience the inner joy and outer effectiveness of this force, who knows that the profound crisis the world is in is challenging everyone to act from our deepest compassion and wisdom, and who is committed to being, in the face of growing chaos, suffering, and violence, what Robert Kennedy called “a tiny ripple of hope” and a “center of energy and daring.”

Millions of people all over the world are now waking up to the need to become Sacred Activists. What we are being asked to do is not to “fix” the existing system but to radically transform it so we no longer, by our choices, threaten our lives and the lives of millions of species. And we can only do this by radically transforming ourselves.

A Brief List of Eleven Things You Can Do Today to Begin Aligning Yourself with the Power and Hope of Sacred Activism:

1.Write down one thing that has made you grateful to be alive today.
2.Write down “off the top of your heart” ten things you would say are sacred to you.
3.Think of someone who has hurt or betrayed you and make a commitment to work on forgiving him or her.
4.Read a short text from any of the world’s spiritual traditions that inspires you with the love-wisdom of the prophets and mystics who know God directly.
5.When the text that you have chosen starts to light up your spirit, pray a short prayer that aligns you with the pure deep love that is longing to use you as its instrument in the world.
6.Make a real commitment to spiritual practice. If you do not yet have a practice, start now with a simple meditation.
7.Now turn to your life and the people in it. Call up a friend who is grieving, ill, or looking for a job, and ask what you can do to make the burden easier.
8.Make a commitment to skip one meal in the coming 24 hours and send a check for the money you would have spent on it to a reputable organization dealing with world hunger.
9.Make a commitment to find out which people around you are in distress and invite six of your friends to help find out what is needed to help them.
10.Make a commitment today, even if you are having financial difficulties, to tithe between five and ten percent of what you earn to a cause of your choice.
And finally, make a commitment to keep some small change in your pocket so you can always give something to one of the growing thousands of homeless in our streets.

STYLIST WANTED

Cosmetologist Wanted
at Aginah's Healthier Hair Salon.
Her salon has been a well established business since 1978 and downsized so now located in West Philly at City line and Haverford Avenue inside a Shopping Center which makes great parking for our clients... We're seeking a Matured LICENSED Hair Stylist w/following or Natural Stylist specializing in locks, twist or braids to work in a peaceful atmosphere. We believe in healthy hair care and team work.

We offer and teach a Holistic Method of Hair Care

Our stylist uses a variety of products and of course Aginah's Herbal Hair Products. The owner Ms. Aginah has 32 years experienced in the salon industry. She is a holistic hair health educator "Rebuilding damaged hair working from the inside out."

Measure your success and focus against the happiest of your times and see if they measure up. Today make a wonderful Choice to join our Team... Email your resume` to aginahhair@aol.com or make appointment for an interview. Your skills are valuable and can be an asset to our salon.

PeaceJoyNHealthier Hair!
Aginah
www.Aginah.com

Sister Khadijah Siddeeq Mohammed

We are with Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Freedom Justice Equality
A Message for Humanity





Live Broadcasts on Station IWDM
A Conversation with A Purpose
Special Guest

Wife of Imam W. D. Mohammed

Sister Khadijah Siddeeq Mohammed

< Wednesday October 27, 2010

8:00 P.M. Eastern time

to listen in Call# 714-816-4673

(15 minutes before scheduled time)

On Line: www.blogtalkradio.com/Station-IWDM


Host Khalid and Rao'uf

Email: stationiwdm@yahoo.com




Check out our archived programs at:




www.wearewiththeimam.ning.com




www.ummahstream.com




www.blogtalkradio.com/station-iwdm

DETOX YOUR HAIR

Herbal shampoos are different from conventional shampoo products and they work differently too. To start with, they do not contain parabens, sodium lauryl sulfate, or other synthetic chemical ingredients. Conventional hair products also use irritating chemical surfactants to produce a rich lather and silicone to coat the hair for shine.

Herbal hair products are free of harmful ingredients, and work in a different way to clean and condition your hair. However, many health conscious consumers have purchased herbal shampoo for the first time but ended up throwing it out, thinking it didn’t work, or that it was just plain awful! Unfortunately, they didn’t know a few basic things about herbal hair care products.

When using herbal shampoo for the first time, it probably won’t lather for you and your hair may feel dry and knotted. This is normal! It is known in the natural product industry as “Hair Detox”. It is due to the residue of silicone and its derivatives (dimethicone, cylcomethicone, any chemical with ‘cone’ in it) left from conventional hair products. Once the silicone has been dissolved, you will find the herbal shampoo lathers more and your hair is silky and soft.
This process may take 3-4 weeks, depending on your conventional products and the condition of your hair and health. There are a few things you can do to speed up the “Hair Detox” process and get your hair back to its gorgeous, natural state:

1. Switch to Aginah's Herbal Shampoo, conditioner and pomade. If you are still using a synthetic product, you are still coating the hair with chemicals and the hair detox process will not resolve.

2. Detox your hair with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 2 oz apple cider vinegar, then apply to hair from roots to end. Let sit for 15-20 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with cool to lukewarm.

3. Make a paste of natural clay (from the health food store) with Aginah's Herbal Shampoo and shampoo your hair twice. Rinse thoroughly with cool to lukewarm water.

After your hair has been stripped of chemical residue, and you look in the mirror to take the test, you will be amazed at how shiny, manageable and silky soft it is. Your hair has gone back to its natural, healthy condition, and it shows! Many people who suffer from scalp irritation, itching and dandruff (sebum build up) experience relief from their symptoms after switching to Aginah's Herbal Hair Care Products. http://www.Aginah.com

PeaceJoyNHairHealth!

Aginah

PS

http://atlantapost.com/2010/09/27/why-do-koreans-own-the-black-beauty-supply-business/

Thank You For Starting At The Roots

Holistic Hair Health Educator
Aginah Carter-Shabazz
would like to thank everyone for starting at The Roots with Aginah's Herbal Hair Products (AHHP) made expressly for the purpose of restoring health to hair and roots. Our "Homemade Inspired" products with natural butters including Shea Butter to moisturize and nourish while organic Jojoba Oil is great for the root follicles allowing oxygen in encouraging new growth and a blend of essential oils are not just topical cover-ups but, rather, nutrition for the hair, scalp and skin too! The proof is in the pudding, right? ® So here's the test. Look at your hair closely. Touch it! If it look and feels hungry , feed it-not with junk food products, but with real health-giving food, the kind you'll found in our green and white bottles bearing the name and logo Aginah. And brought to you with peace, joy and hair health.

WOMEN, MEN & CHILDREN BEGIN TODAY!
“Improving Your Hairs' Health”

FALL SPECIAL!
BUY 3 AHHP for $25
Shampoo, Conditioner & Pomade
(Deep Conditioner in place of regular $30)
FREE of Parabens and SLS
No artificial coloring/No animal testing
(offer expires October 31, 2010)

To order Email aginahhair@aol.com Call 215.878.1227 press #3 or visit
Aginah's Healthier Hair Salon Office 7516 City Ave., Office 6
Philadelphia, PA 19151 or our website at www.Aginah.com

#1 Seller Herbal Pomade $12


Coming soon... Aginah's In-Home Hair Health Show
Host book your show now and invite guest for 2011 Saturday or Sunday

SULERMAR AND COMPANY PRODUCTIONS



























CREATESPACE
An Amazon.com company
CHOICEZ the book
https://createspace.com/3358962

Justice For Her Documentary
https://createspace.com/255327

HERBAL ADVENTURE

Herbal medicine is people's medicine, earth medicine, wild medicine, weed medicine. Weeds are amazing powerhouses of nourishment, medicine, magic, and beauty. They are easy to grow and simple to use. But beginners, and seasoned herbal users as well, can sometimes feel lost: so many herbs, so many plants, so many weeds to get to know.


Medicinal Asteraceae Stars

Arnica (Arnica montana) flowers relieve muscle pain.

Burdock (Arctium lappa) root nourishes deep health.

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) herb banishes flu.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis) flowers salve wounds.

Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis or Matricaria chamomilla) soothes baby.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) root strengthens the liver.

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) flowers ease coughs.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) herb improves liver function.

Echinacea (Echinacea augustifolia) root counters bacterial infections.

Elecampane (Inula helenium) root is a favorite lung healer.

Feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium) prevents migraines.

Grindelia (Grindelia robusta) herb in flower opens breathing, stops itching.

Liferoot (Senecio aureus) flower tincture counters severe menstrual pain.

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) seed tincture prevents liver distress.

Mug/cronewort (Artemisia vulgaris) herb is an old woman's friend.

Queen of the meadow/gravel root (Eupatorium purpurea) helps the kidneys.

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) flowers repel insects.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) flowers heal wounds, prevent colds.

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) root brings sleep.

Wormwood (Artemisia absinthemum) herb prevents parasites.

Wild lettuce (Lactucca species) sap eases severe pain.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Dear Susun,

When I was younger I took a lot of recreational drugs, and sometimes I drink more alcohol than I should. I also drink at least one cup of coffee a day, sometimes two or three. And last year, when I was really sick, I took antibiotics. Well, obviously, my liver is clogged with all kinds of toxins. How do I get rid of them? What herbs do you suggest I use to cleanse my liver?

Thank you. DR from NAS



Dear DR,

Wait! Don't cleanse your liver. It won't help you; and it can harm you.

Let's take a look at how the liver operates. As blood moves through it--and all of your circulating blood passes through your liver hourly--it is not filtered, but restored. Toxins do not build up in there; the liver removes them. Oil-soluble vitamins and glucose are stored in the liver, but chemicals, drugs, and toxins are not.

Drugs, metabolic by-products, alcohol, hormones, cholesterol, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, bacteria, viral particles, and all the chemical detritus of living in the blood are judged by the liver: some are allowed to stay, others dismantled for recycling, and some are removed.

Water-soluble chemicals, such as ammonia, are excreted when you pee. To get a sense of how quickly water-soluble chemicals are removed from your body, eat some asparagus, which contains the mildly-poisonous water-soluble chemical asparagine. Notice how quickly you have to "go," and the smell of the asparagine in your urine. Oil-soluble chemicals may be excreted in breast milk, ejaculations, ovulations, and tears, but most are locked up in fat cells, where they can do little harm. (Neither water- nor fat-soluble chemicals can be excreted by sweating. Minerals can, however, and that threatens the health of your bones.)

Yes, you can damage your liver with alcohol and drugs. But the liver is amazingly regenerative. Every cell in a healthy liver is replaced every forty days. So, instead of cleansing--which can increase the damage--I prefer to make my liver strong and healthy by nourishing it.

The liver-nourishing herbs I love include dandelion, chicory, yellow dock, and milk thistle. Milk thistle is best used before the fact, not after; it is highly protective of the liver. When milk thistle seed tincture (a dose is a dropperful) is taken before chemotherapy, heavy drinking, or exposure to concentrations of chemicals, the liver can more easily recycle and remove what is not needed.

For daily nourishment however, there's nothing better than dandelion. If you live too far to the north or south for dandelion to grow, try chicory or yellow dock instead. They are hardier weeds, and great substitutes. All parts of dandelion, chicory, and yellow dock are medicinal and restorative to the liver. Roots are most commonly used--usually tinctured, although vinegars work just as well. A dose of 10-25 drops, or a tablespoon of the vinegar in water or on a salad, taken in the morning and before will bring fast results. (Regular use of apple cider vinegar has been found to drastically reduce the incidence of adult-onset diabetes.)

Additionally, you'll make your liver very happy if you:

Eat regularly. Skipping meals and fasting reduces liver efficiency quickly.

Eat cooked food. Raw foods contain bacterial, viral, and enzymatic substances that stress, and may even cause an infection in, the liver.

Eat enough fat; but avoid oils pressed from seeds, which increase inflammation. As dietary fat decreases, so does the liver's ability to metabolize glucose, fatty acids, and cholesterol.

Get angry. The liver is the storehouse of unexpressed rage.

Avoid essential oils; they impair liver function. Choose unflavored toothpastes and mouthwashes, and unscented soaps, skin lotions, deodorants, antiperspirants, and candles.

Avoid herbs that are rich in alkaloids or other natural chemicals, including most herbs used in "cleansing" such as golden seal, senna, cascara sagrada, celandine, chaparral, lobelia, rhubarb root, cayenne, and poke root.

Instead of coffee, start your day with nourishing herbal infusion. You'll be surprised at the energy and stamina you'll have.

Good health and green blessings. Susun



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sisterfriends Always Thinking Of You

When I was a teenager I'd listen to Nikki Giovanni (spoken word as you call it today) and one of my favorites was Peace be still... And it has given me an even greater meaning today.

PEACE BE STILL...
Ask yourself is it really necessary--To Be Still?
To be still means to stop moving, to take time out to think deeply, to stop the ride for a moment so that you can get off and concentrate, get your bearings, get focused to get balance, and be still and know it. We are living in a world of instant gratification that has become a culture. We want everything-- overnight or same day delivery, email, faxes, quick, fast, microwave meals, instant oatmeal, instant pain relief, instant food, instant gratification.

Beware... its a setup for a emotional, mental and physical breakdown. Peace Be Still. Learning to be still helps you stay calm, peaceful and focused. Because we have become conditioned to fast-pace living it is easy to get caught up in states of lasting motion like you're operating on a duracell battery--you keep going, going, going, rushing, rushing, rushing from the moment your feet hit the floor in the morning until you lay your head down with arms by your side at night in a meditating position but do you meditate? Being still is about being gentle and kind to your nervous system it is fragile and unforgiving. Give it a break, a chance to recuperate, reflect, and rejuvenate, instead of abusing it and rough-handling it and a chance to stay in peace rather than fall to pieces with too much over-stimulation or panic. We must recognize that our personal and spiritual development grow and thrive in environments of peace, quiet, stillness and calm, not chaos and constant activity.

Establish personal practices that keep the world from invading and infringing upon your every waking moment. Peace Be Still. Let the voice mail answer your phone calls for a few hours after you get home from work or your day. Have 'no texting' blocks of time. Keep the TV turned off for at least several hours of the day or once you arrive home from a stressful days work. Give yourself an hour or more to transition and wind down before shifting into second gear- preparing dinner, tidying up the house, hollering at the children, checking phone messages... Give yourself at least several hours to just sit down, put your feet up, close your eyes and breathe through your nose and out through your mouth then take another deeeeep breath, then another.... Learning to be still and get more and more comfortable with it can be the beginning of a powerful personal healing for inner peace that encourages us to eliminate a lot of internal stress which can cause you headaches, skin problems, heart problems. You can feel out of control and it also distorts the ability for right thinking and right action.

Stress causes emotional pain... it promotes your choice to choose pain killers... Like over spending, over eating, over sleeping, paranoia, becoming a workaholic, drinking or drugs, worrying, smoking and depression which all are common escapes. Too much of too much without time for reflection, meditation, family and friends, stress can get the best of you. Slow down, delegate duties, exercise, breathe, eat healthier, make responsible choices, pray and meditate.

Ask yourself can you be still and sit still without getting restless? Seriously. Please Be Still!


PeaceloveNBalance!
Aginah

Ramadan Mubarak 2010

THANK YOU!

Peaceful Greetings!

"When I look back over my 60 years, I see the work of so many family and friends in every step I have taken, and I am amazed! Each has added measurably to my life, and I have grown in many ways because you were with me whether in person or on the sidelines.

Because you responded so willingly to Allah's plan for this chapter of my life by surrounding me with Love, loyalty and an awesome outpouring of support as I struggle to recover from brain surgery. I will never forget the prayers, hospital visits, cards, flowers, letters, calls/text/emails, generous contributions and money raised or the precious time taken out of your days to be with me, cook for me and bring foods. I never felt alone in my illness. I will always remember how you supported me daily, and gave me strength to battle on, through the tears, the fears and what seemed like nanoseconds, my life turned upside down.

This is my 60th chapter moment, because it marks the beginning of the rest of my journey. I hope you're able to join me for this chapter as well. Godwilling.
I am eternally grateful to you and can never fully repay you. But know from the bottom of my heart, I Thank You!

With appreciation for the love you've shown me. I will always Love you. Aginah Carter-Shabazz


CREATESPACE
An Amazon.com company
CHOICEZ the book
https://createspace.com/3358962

Justice For Her Documentary
https://createspace.com/255327

QUEEN MOTHER Audley E. Moore

Queen Mother Audley E. Moore
In Honor Of A Warrior Woman

n December 6 and 7, 1991, the Department of Pan-African Studies at Kent State University dedicated the entire third floor of the Center of Pan-African Culture to Queen Mother Audley E. Moore, a "Warrior Woman," born on July 27, 1898, who devoted her life to active struggle on behalf of all people of African descent. She was honored for having organized on many fronts, from the great influenza epidemic of 1918 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where she worked as a volunteer nurse, to the United Nations, where she presented petitions in the 1950s charging genocide and demanding reparations to descendants of former slaves.
She was born as Audley to Ella and St. Cry Moore on July 27, 1898 in New Iberia, Louisiana. Her grandmother, Nora Henry, was born into slavery, the daughter of an African woman who was raped by her slave master who was a doctor. Her grandfather was lynched before his wife's eyes leaving Nora Henry with five orphaned children of whom Ella Johnson — mother of Queen Mother Moore — was the youngest. Ella died in 1904.
Queen Mother Moore completed only the third grade of her formal education. Her struggles began at the tender age of twelve fighting the advances of white men in the South . . . Queen Mother has been struggling for seventy-seven years for the human and civil rights of all African people throughout the world which makes her our warrior queen and a living legend. At the grand old age of ninety-eight, she continues to make her home in Harlem.
Some of her efforts — to help our struggle to take us towards self-determination, acquisition of our inheritance in Africa and our just claim for reparations from the United States government — are documented below:
The founder and president of the Universal Association of Ethiopian Women, she is a life member of both the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the National Moorish Council of Negro Women. She joined Marcus Mosiah Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) while living in Louisiana. She participated in Garvey's first international convention in New York City, owned stock in the Black Star Line, and came to New York when the UNIA launched the Black Star Line's first ship.
She is President-General, World Federation of African People, Inc. She is founder and president of the Universal Association of Ethiopian Women, Inc. which led a successful fight to restore 23,000 families to the welfare rolls after they had been ruthlessly cut off by Louisiana authorities. She is the founder of the Committee for Reparations for Descendants of U.S. Slaves. She is a founding member of the Republic of New Africa to fight for self-determination, land, and reparations. She is founder of Mt. Addis Ababa, Inc., envisioned as a facility to totally embrace the cultural, educational, and industrial needs of her people. Through Mr. Roscoe Bradley, her executive vice president, this organization, located at Mt. Addis Ababa, Box 244, Parksville, NY 12768, taught hundreds of children African music, dance, and culture.
She is Bishop of the Apostolic Orthodox Church of Judea. She is a founding member of the Commission to Eliminate Racism, Council of Churches of Greater New York. In organizing this commission, she staged a twenty-four-hour sit-in for three weeks. She is a founder of the African American Cultural Foundation, Inc., which led the fight against usage of the slave term "Negro."
She joined the Republican Party, found them racist, left and joined the Communist Party to fight the Scottsboro Boys' imprisonment. She led the fight to end Jim Crow in big league baseball. She organized the community with Captain Hugh Mulzac as chairman and the Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. as co-chairman. Later realizing the fallacy in this, she apologized to her people. She resigned from the Communist Party in disillusionment after they changed their position on self-determination in the South's Black Belt.
She led protests against the Apollo Theatre for showing racist shows and led protests against the Alhambra Theatre for showing a white man as Hannibal. She helped organize CIO unions and the Work Progress Administration. She forced the WPA to employ black women on sewing projects who were previously relegated to domestic work. She also tried to organize a domestic workers union. She was arrested three times during her struggle-first for defending the rights of our children to use the public Colonial Park pool without bringing along their birth certificates; another time for defending a peddler from arrest for selling tomatoes to support his seven little children; the third time for trying to register people to vote in Green County, New York.
She led the fight with Assemblyman William Andrews, the Reverend Ethelring Brown, and Ludlow Werner to get a congressional district in Harlem in the 1930s. She helped to organize the Maritime Union under Ferdinand Smith. She also led the fight to break Jim Crow policy in the Coast Guard and became the first black stewardess to be hired. She helped stranded seamen in London and held a mass meeting in 1946 in a hotel lobby in London for the management's refusal of accommodations due to racism. She campaigned for medical aid and funds for Ethiopia after the Italians attacked. She organized 500 nurses to sterilize sheets which were collected from laundries for bandages for the wounded Ethiopian soldiers.
She investigated the condition of our little girls, ages twelve to fourteen, who gave birth while in a mental institution in Louisiana. The girls had been raped by their white male attendants. She was encouraged by Dr. A.L. Reddick and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, both of whom were eminent educators, to take to public speaking in defense of her people's liberty. Before this she only spoke at street meetings from a box or a ladder on the corner of 125th Street and 7th Avenue. She organized the first rent strike on Sugar Hill in 1930 and restored tenants to their apartments after having been evicted. She supported the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya and took a delegation to the British Embassy to protest the ultimatum given to the Mau Mau to surrender or be annihilated.
She fought to save from execution the Martinville Seven and helped to organize street meetings and demonstrations. She helped to free Mae Mallory imprisoned for defending herself from an attack of the KKK in Monroe, North Carolina. She presented a petition to the United Nations in 1957 for self-determination and against genocide. She presented a second petition in 1959 to the United Nations for land and reparations. She toured throughout the country by car in 1962 begging gas from gas station to gas station to alarm our people to prepare for our Emancipation Proclamation Centennial by presenting a judicial document for reparations and self-determination proclaiming us a non-self-governing nation.
She organized a soup kitchen in Harlem for African students after learning two students had died from malnutrition after they received their Ph.D. She also helped to organize Africa House in New York City with Mrs. Mattie Hunter for African students. She participated in the North American Regional Planning Conference (held at Kent State University in 1973) leading up to the Sixth Pan-African Congress. In 1974, she attended this international Congress in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. This Congress was the first ever international meeting of African people held on the soil of Mother Africa. She, at the request of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, became a life member of the National Council of Negro Women. She is the founder and president of the Harriet Tubman Association. She helped to organize the Unemployed Councils when millions were on the brink of starvation. She presented a demand for reparations to President Kennedy which caused him to say: "Ask not what this country can do for you, but what you can do for it."
As mentioned earlier, the above represents only "some" of the activities in which Queen Mother Moore has been involved for the past seventy or more years. We are, therefore, very much honored to have her in our presence and to take time out to honor this great African Warrior Woman.
Unfortunately, Queen Mother Audley E. Moore, a life-long "Warrior Woman," died on May 2, 1997, at the age of 99. We will miss her. May she rest in eternal peace.

SOURCE: This "Biographical Data" was prepared by the Honorable Dr. Deloise Naewoaang Blakely, Deputy Mayor of Harlem, New York, 1993.




Queen Mother Moore Speech at Greenhaven Prison (Excerpt)
00:17:41 1973
Two years after the riots and deaths at Attica, New York, a community day was organized at Greenhaven, a federal prison in Connecticut. Think Tank, a prisoners' group, coordinated efforts with African-American community members outside the prison walls to fight racism and poverty. The event was documented by People's Communication Network, a community video group founded by Bill Stephens, for cablecast in New York City, marking the first time an alternative video collective was allowed to document an event inside prison walls. Seventy-five-year-old Queen Mother Moore speaks of her support of Marcus Garvey in New Orleans and her involvement with African-American education in Brooklyn. Her powerful delivery of lessons in black history, first-person accounts of resistance in the South, and finally her own a cappella performance of "This country 'tis to me, a land of misery...," is a testament to the importance of people using media to document their own communities and tell their own histories. This tape was found in the Antioch College (Yellow Springs, Ohio) Free Library, a media access resource project organized in late 1966 by students interested in networking with social movements and media activists around the country

7/7/10 UPDATE AGINAH'S HEALTH CHALLENGES

Peaceful Greetings!

My dear brothers and sisters and I call you that from my heart. You have exemplified nothing but genuine love and concern from the very first day lil Aginah ,my granddaughter, posted my serious health challenges to brother Daood's network. And we thank Allah for his patience and "sticktoitness" as my grandmother would call it as he diligently post our literature that reaches around the country.

I was told by the pre admission doctor that the typical moyamoya procedure would take 12 hours. Well, the actual day of surgery, July 2, 2010, Surgeon Fernandez Gonzalez at Thomas Jefferson hospital (where they're known for being the best brain surgeons in the country), told me, friends and family that his plan was to perform 2 procedures -- the STA-MCA bypass or EMS (encephalomyosynangiosis) -- but couldn't give us a definite until he was inside the brain.

His first choice was the MCA bypass, but because the STA (superficial temporal-to- middle cerebral artery) was very small, this led Surgeon Gonzalez to perform the EMS that markedly improves cerebral blood flow and only requires 4 hours of surgery. Yes, with God Allah's Mercy major brain surgery was performed Friday, July 2nd at 8:30 am and I was home Sunday, July 4th at 1:00 pm. God is the Merciful Redeemer.

Praise be to God Allah, the One Lord and Creator that I'm home and healing amongst family and friends. Modern medicine saved my life, but so did alternatives to pharmaceuticals... I'm weak, and a little depressed, but that's expected when my life has been turned upside down overnight. However, I'm grateful to God Allah the Cherisher and Sustainer of life. I'm back taking God's medicines... Herbs. Also vitamins and natural supplements, sugar free diet, fruit, veggies, fish and drinking lots of pure water. The journey God sent me on some thirty years ago was because He saw and prepared me for moyamoya (God Allah the Omnipresent ) when it was unbeknownst to me that I even had a rare brain disease until manifested on April 28, 2010 while driving to Whole Foods market to buy water, food and herbs. I stopped at the light, sneezed and my head felt like it exploded--literally. God then sent His angels (2) to save my life. Read more... http://choicezthebook.blogspot.com

Surgeon Gonzalez says, it make take up to 6 months for the EMS procedure he performed to connect. May we continue to ask God The Healer to Bless and Comfort me in recovery! And that the procedure increases MUCH SOONER blood and oxygen to a blood starved brain bypassing the areas of bloackage.

I'm revisiting Grandmom Leslie's sayings, "when you remember God He remembers you."


I love you all
Aginah carter-shabazz
Philadelphia, PA

SUMMER WHITE NIGHT DANCING W/THE STARS

Event management for SUMMER WHITE NIGHT DANCING W/THE STARS powered by Eventbrite

FUNDRAISER

LADIES & GENTLEMEN

All Around Town "Friends of Aginah" R Joining Us 4


A SUMMER WHITE NIGHT


with our own


DANCING WITH THE STARS

Live Music by DJ Philly & The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble
Lower Level OLDIES SALSA TANGO * 1st Level VENDORS ROW
2nd Level Social Networking * 3rd Level Smooth Jazz * 4th Level Catered Buffet
Sunday, July 25, 2010
7:00 PM - 12:00 Midnight
African American Museum Philadelphia
701 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107

TICKETS: $50 for 1 / $80 for 2

Deborah 215.760.2040 * Nas 215.407.7006
Deneen 267.475.1231 * Email aginahhair@aol.com
VENDING available: Call Marvell today 267.496.1051

Early Bird Ticketshttp://www.summerwhitenight.eventbrite.com

Sponsored by Deborah Lewis-Uqdah
An event planners production


All about hair
http://Aginah.com

AGINAH'S HEALTH CHALLENGES

Dearest Friends and Supporters:

On April 28, 2010. In excruciating pain and desperate, holding on to her head after feeling like it just exploded when she sneezed quickly pulled into a parking spot at Whole foods Market in Wynnewood slowly exited her truck while holding her head with one hand and closing the door with other then spread her arms and hands across the hood of her truck when two women "Angels, she called them" walked up to ask if she was in distressed. Slowly sliding to the ground she said to them both please don’t let me die here as they held on to her. She didn’t struggle to hold back another round of tears. "Please help me don’t let me die here," she begged the ambulance driver who finally pulled up quickly but it seemed like it was forever.

"Please don't let me die," she also told the EMS "I have migraine headaches she told him as he ask questions to keep her conscious never in all my years has it felt like this. We're almost to Lankenau hospital he told her." With that, the door opens to the ambulance and she was quickly rolled into the emergency room.

Nurses began to cut off her clothing hook up Intravenous in her arms. By that time her family were there trying to make out heads or tails what is happening to their matriarch. She tried to tell the doctors what happen but she could only form the words while holding her head tight to keep it from exploding again “Please don’t let me die.” Doctor ordered nurse to give her a shot of morphine. He had to ease the pain to prepare her for a cat scan of the brain. Resting quietly shoulders slumping, she heard the doctor say to her family she's hemorrhaging from the brain. And she’s not going to make it it’s nothing more we can do for her here. Doctor told her family he’s waiting for Jefferson to call with a bed in Intensive Care. Hospital phone rang Jefferson got a bed. Ambulance rush Aginah to Jefferson where she was taken to the neurology Intensive care unit.

She is now facing several doctors and nurses trying to stabilize her. They were bringing in all kinds of machines including cat scan equipment to her room. At 5:00 am she went to surgery while her tearful dad and daughter Nas, also family and friends stood by asking surgeon what were her risk. She survived surgery with minimal pain. She awakens with her son Sultan wiping his mother’s face with a warm cloth. By the morning the hospital room was filled with lots and lots of people very upset and just wanting to know if Aginah was going to live and recover fully. But only G-d knows if she will ever recover fully from Moyamoya disease of the brain.

Knowing Aginah, her healing process will be sooner than anticipated by the doctors. She is recovering but must take it slowly before she can return to work.

I'm asking you, as I'm sure Aginah would be most grateful for your contribution to help her to keep a roof over her head and able to pay for future testing and research. The need is real and we need your help because we don’t want to see her struggling while suffering especially being a woman that has always given to the masses. At one time friends would call her an angel without wings. She gave generously to so many.

Give what feels good to your heart a contribution will indeed make a difference in her life. Buy one ticket for Summer White Night and one for a friend. http://summerwhitenight.eventbrite.com

It will only take a minute to click the buy a ticket button and it will help her tremedously! Godwilling.

Sincerely,

Family & Friends

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALL
Here is the email I promised so I wouldn't have to tell the story over and over 'cause sometimes talking long builds pressure in my head.

Looking at my MRI and Catscan results on screen for my follow-up visit, I do have Moyamoya a rare disease of the brain and possibly since birth. Moyamoya - the tiny blood vessels that grow outside the brain are smaller than normal and intertwined appearing more like a spider web which blocks blood flow to the brain. The Hemorrhage I suffered on April 28th was on the right side but moyamoya is more pronounced on left side. Left side of brain does not have same connections as right side. Neuro Surgeons at Thomas Jefferson Hospital said too dangerous to operate on right side because front of ear where there is pulsing major artery grew outside the brain up the side then over the top center of brain and attached itself down inside of brain.

Moyamoya can present in two ways: Brain hemorrhage or brain stroke. Arteries need to be connected on left side. Left side is susceptible to a brain stroke as was the right side but the hemorrhage actually prevented a brain stroke. Previous CT Scan perfusion (showed blood flow) is decreased on right side and reason for hemorrhage. Surgeons will not operate on right side for fear of disconnecting already established arteries even though the connection of the arteries is not a normal connection. Least invasive surgery on the left side may be done to prevent possibility of a stroke because of lack of connection of the arteries. Surgery can possibly make arteries connect and increase blood flow to the brain. Surgery possibly using burr holes (drill holes at back of skull & around forehead) for arteries to connect naturally and increase blood circulation in my head.

Next step: CTA perfusion with dye to look at and compare blood flow in right side and left side of brain. Depending on results surgery will be scheduled. This CTA testing is scheduled for June 7th.

Neurosurgeon Dr Gonzalez says I have pristine organs which most likely kept me from never losing consciousness which could have resulted in a coma. I said it's 25-30 years taking herbs but you know doctors discount that. He also pointed to the picture of my brain on the screen and said your brain is bad but when he looks at me its remarkable how well I look and doing. Looking forward to the 7th but Gonzalez says right now I'm fine though I will have headaches until the blood is fully drained from my head.

New Update:
I had a reaction from the test on June 7th so the results are scheduled for reading with Dr. Gonzalez/Dr. Rosenwasser on June 16th. At that time I will have more understanding how much blood flow is circulating on the left and ride of the brain. I will also have a surgery date and doctors will confirm the procedure possibly drilling the burr holes and my risk and benefits.

I'm Grateful to be alive. G-d is Most Merciful.

Thank you all for your prayers and concerns
Aginah
________________________________________________________

CREATESPACE
An Amazon.com company
BOOK CHOICEZhttps://createspace.com/3358962

DOCUMENTARY Justice For Her DVD'shttps://createspace.com/255327

REAL FOOD IS UNREFINED, UNPROCESSED...

What's For Dinner?

Food problems for many people today, and for most people who lived before us, are more about getting enough to eat than about what to eat. But those who have access to, and can afford, any food any time of the year, have become almost obsessed with discerning the right choices from the many types of nourishment offered by the Fourth River of Healing. In fact, advice on what to eat and how to exercise are multi-billion dollar industries in America at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

The Wise Woman Tradition has no rules, so we are free to eat whatever we wish. But too much freedom can be frightening. To narrow my choices, I looked at historical food choices worldwide, reviewed scientific analyses of nutrients in foods, and kept a firm focus on health as wholeness.

The best diet, I decided, is one that contains as much nourishment and as many choices as possible that are sacred, whole, abundant, seasonal, fresh, accessible, local, varied, wild, and storied.

Abundance includes consuming abundantly, and consuming that which is abundant. We increase health when we breathe abundantly, when we drink an abundance of water, when we enjoy an abundance of loving support, when we eat what is abundant in our environment, and when we ingest the wholeness of the world in each moment.

When we consume that which is abundant, rather than that which is scarce, we satisfy ourselves without guilt, blame, or shame, increasing our health even more.

Abundance gives rise to generosity. Abundance creates safety, security, and ease. We crave abundance, so we contrive it. We process and refine foods, add fake flavors, false colors, and preservatives. Is it any wonder that such food, eaten in abundance, creates disease/distress/death? Real food is unrefined, unprocessed, unbleached, unpreserved, unenriched, and when eaten in abundance creates health/wholeness/holiness.

Seasonal nourishment is in synch with the rhythms of the Earth. It helps us change with the seasons. Since out of season produce is often more heavily sprayed, choosing food that is seasonal protects our health by reducing the chemicals we consume. And it protects the health of the Earth because it reduces the amount of fuel required to transport and keep the food.

“ Ninety-eight percent of [tomatoes] sold in January, February, and March are from Mexico. . . . they are picked green, gassed to turn them red, transported in refrigerated trucks, and kept in refrigerated distribution centers.”
Vince Staten (1993)

Fresh is just picked, tender, intimate, and vital. Fresh is ripe, tasty, and nutritious. Fresh is full of nuances and subtleties. Fresh is bubbling with life force. In the Fourth River we breathe fresh air, drink fresh water, have fresh experiences, entertain fresh thoughts, and eat fresh food .

Fresh is in the moment: flours ground fresh, nuts freshly roasted, oils freshly pressed, vegetables and fruits harvested ripe, fish just caught.

Fresh is not raw. Cooked foods, fermented foods, dehydrated foods, even frozen and canned foods are fresh. (Because fresh produce rots on the way to market, it is picked green and may not develop its full array of nutrients. Produce grown for commercial canning or freezing however is allowed to ripen fully and picked at its peak of flavor, nutrition, and freshness.)

Accessible is free. That which is most nourishing to the health/wholeness/holiness of all is usually easy to get, free to everyone, and easily accessible. Scarcity, expense, and remoteness appeal to us, intrigue us. We are more curious about the rare thing than the common thing.

Strengthening and feeding ourselves with what is accessible from nature is easy, free, unhindered. Available, reachable, understandable. The glass become s half full. Weeds are powerhouses of nutrition, not enemies to be destroyed. Problems are allies of wholeness.



Local refers to a locus, a place. When we strengthen and feed ourselves from what is accessible it is usually local. When we locate ourselves within a family, the Fourth River brings us stories, photos, mementoes, sap rising up from ancestral roots. When we locate ourselves at a place on the Earth, even if only for a short while, the Fourth River brings us health in local weeds, legends, sacred spots. When we locate ourselves within ourselves, the Fourth River brings us home to ourselves.

Variety is more than the spice of life. Life is variety. We are stronger and more nourished when we use a variety of exercises and foods. Confining ourselves to narrow choices or limiting our diet by avoiding any whole food almost a lways leads us to malnourish ourselves. While there is not much harm in following a restricted diet for a few weeks or months, eating by severe dietary rules of any kind erodes health/wholeness/holiness.

We are omnivores, willing and able to eat an enormous variety of foods. Our early ancestors ate about 2000 different foods. Dr. Weston Price traveled the world observing native diets; he found that those who ate the most varied diets lived longest and had the fewest degenerative diseases. The Hopi cultivate hundreds of kinds of corn, while most twenty first century Americans eat only one hundred different foods.

Add variety by eating seaweed: try arame, hijiki, kombu, wakame, sea palm fronds, dulse, nori. Add variety by eating more beans: try black lentils, orange lentils, anasazi beans, split peas, pinto beans, lima beans. Add variety by eating whole grains: try brown rice, kasha, millet, quinoa, teff. Add variety by eating wild berries and wild greens: try dandelion leaves, chickweed or miner's lettuce, wild onions, mallow and violet leaves. Home gardens, ordinary vacant lots, even the pots of houseplants, offer us an enormous variety of edible weeds.

Wild food is our original food. Uncultivated, it is nature's gift to us. The nutrients in wild foods trigger cellular memories of health/wholeness/holiness. Even a bite of wild food (on a daily basis) has a profound effect on wellbeing and health. Wild foods are holographic and complex; they resonant in the whole body, reconnecting us to health and flexibility. Wild foods grow where and when they wish. Eating them opens our senses and nourishes the part of each one of us that is wild.

The nutrients in wild foods are more biologically active at the cellular receptors than the nutrients in cultivated food (yes, even organic foods). We’ve been co-evolving with wild plants for hundreds of thousands of years. Our cells, our bodies, our spirits, know how to u se the strength and nourishment found in wild foods to create optimum health for us.


Green Blessings, Susun Weed

SEVEN RIVERS OF HEALING PART 1

What Are the Seven Rivers?

Whether we see ourselves as body-machines, dirty temples, or ever-changing perfection, we all want and need help with healing injuries, illness, and deviations from our healthy norm. But with a limitless number of techniques to choose from, not to mention a multitude of practitioners, how do we choose? Who can we trust? What do we do? The Seven Rivers of Healing give structure to our quest for health.

The Wise Woman Tradition encourages us to make use of every healing option. But we can't use them all at once. Where do we start? How can we gauge what is most appropriate? How can we avoid harming ourselves in our attempts to heal/change? The Seven Rivers of Healing is a ranking system, a way to order our choices and determine what to do first.

The Seven Rivers of Healing contain all the techniques and all the substances used for healing throughout all times and all places. They flow from the most ancient past to the inconceivable future, collecting every method of healing ever known and bringing them to us today. They apply to all aspects of our beings, all parts of our wholeness: physical, emotional, mental, symbolic, and sacred.

The Seven Rivers of Healing connect orthodox and alternative medicines. Their flow represents a truly complementary approach to health care. One that can carry us on the magic carpet of science into the Great Mystery. One that allows all people to honor their individual beliefs about life and death and what we do in between. One that honors the interconnectedness of all. One that helps us in our search for completeness and in our desire to leave the world a healthier place for our children and grandchildren.

The Seven Rivers of Healing offer us a truly integrative approach which invites the hard-nosed realist to try out energy approaches and brings the shaman into the operating theater. It arose, in part, from my distress over the lives lost by those who believed that modern medicine can only do harm. It arose, in part, from my distress over the damage done to those who believed that modern medicine can do no harm.

The Seven Rivers of Healing is a pattern based on the recognition that we can be harmed by that which claims to heal us. The Seven Rivers of Healing affirms that all forms of healing do work -- but not that they are all always safe or beneficial. The flow of the Seven Rivers of Healing follows the most important precept in healing: "First, do no harm."

The Seven Rivers of Healing are not limited to any one tradition. Whether you are most comfortable in the scientific tradition, the heroic tradition, or the Wise Woman Tradition, flowing with the Seven Rivers of Healing will broaden your vision of health and increase your healing options. For the purpose of this book, however, I will frame my discussion primarily from the viewpoint of the Wise Woman.


First, Do No Harm

Every healing option, every method and material has its place in The Seven Rivers of Healing. They are arranged in the Rivers according to the frequency and severity of their harm, including unwanted side effects. Thus, the First River carries healing options that never cause any harm. The Second River carries options that may occasionally cause very mild harm. The Third River carries options that may, at times, cause some slight harm.

The Fourth River carries options that sometimes cause moderate harm. The Fifth River carries options that always cause some moderate harm but rarely death. The Sixth River carries options that always cause moderate harm and can sometimes kill. The Seventh River carries options that always cause harm and frequently cause grave harm or death.

Techniques, treatments and diagnostic procedures from the first four Rivers, when properly used, rarely cause harm and rarely have detrimental side effects. (If they do, the effects are usually mild and short-lived.) Techniques, treatments and diagnostic procedures from the last three Rivers, even when carefully and properly administered, almost always cause some harm, sometimes severe harm, as a consequence of their use. In addition, they usually have unwanted side effects that can be severe and long lasting.

Interaction with our physical being increases as we move through the Seven Rivers. In the First River, we are alone: not so much as the gaze of another person touches us. In the Second River, we open our minds: thoughts and ideas enter us, hands touch us lightly. In the Third River, we open our senses: vibrations, sounds, colors, and subtle energies move around and through us.

In the Fourth River, we open our mouths and take substances into our bodies: we move ourselves vigorously, circulating fresh blood deeply into our open and receptive cells. In the Fifth River, we enlist the aid of strong touch, powerful plants, even acupuncture needles to help us open and change. In the Sixth River, we disable or ignore our natural warning systems so we may ingest isolated, synthesized substances (drugs and supplements) which have powerful actions on our bodies and minds.

In the Seventh River of Healing, we are opened with knives, entered with needles and tubes, opened with radiation, penetrated with magnetic fields, altered with psychoactive allies.

Not only are we more at risk because we are more open (and more opened)--physically and mentally, emotionally and psychically--as we move from the first to the last River of Healing, but we are also more at risk because the currents of each successive River flow deeper and faster, sweeping us toward our goal with more and more force and urgency.

Each River increases the reality of the life/death struggle/union. In the first two Rivers, we encounter the thought of death, we learn about it. In the Third River of Healing we dream of death, we fear death. In the Fourth River we acknowledge that death is needed to feed life. In the Fifth River we are rescued from death by strong medicines and heroic measures. In the Sixth River, we brush death's shoulder, using poisons for their healing power. In the Seventh River we mimic death with anesthesia. We break ourselves into pieces. We are killed and returned to life. Or not. All Rivers return to the ocean, to the All, to the Void.

Each River can take us to the healing we want. Each River alone could be enough to create the health we seek. But when we understand and use them all, sequentially, going only so far as we need to gain health/wholeness/holiness, then we find ourselves healing in unimaginable ways. With the Seven Rivers of Healing to guide us, we can remember the playful child we once were and explore our healing options with a light and amused heart.


Green Blessings,
by Susun Weed

SEVEN RIVERS OF HEALING INTRO

SEVEN RIVERS OF HEALING Check Back Daily

Have you ever felt amazed and overwhelmed by all the different approaches to healing available to you?

Seven Rivers of Healing provides a clear path through the maze of health care choices.

Relieve your anxiety, enlighten your mind, and empower yourself through the personal delivery of easy-to-access knowledge.

Rediscover your inner wisdom with this 46 week self-study course and sharing with you at CHOICEZ the blog with peace, health and harmony.

The newest work makes sense of the many differing approach to healing available to you.

The symbolic model of the Seven Rivers of Healing helps you place every method--from orthodox to traditional, meditation to medication, Reiki to surgery--into its appropriate place, discovering how and when it is useful.

Refreshingly, Weed does not ignore or vilify any technique, or try to present any one way as the only right way for everyone.

Instead she provides a route you can travel to find a path back to the healthy norm that is the essential you.

Like many world-changing ideas, your central belief seems obvious once pointed out: The best way back to your healthy norm is to use the safest methods first. Then, if needed, move on to more potent procedures that might cause harm along with their healing.

The Seven Rivers of Healing provides the information you need to find deep healing by returning home, returning to the source.

Whether or not you are currently facing an acute or chronic problem, Seven Rivers of Healing will provide you with life-changing, and maybe even life-saving, information.

Seven Rivers of Healing
46 week self-study course
By Susun Weed

To be continued-