Parallel Community Newsletter

The Parallel Community is a linking network and a platform where people can express and develop their positive contribution for change - human, social, ecological, creative and spiritual.

February 2012

Welcome to the February 2012 newsletter for Parallel Community!

We do hope you enjoy reading it, and look forward to receiving your letters, contributions and articles.

INCREDIBLE EDIBLE TODMORDEN!

Todmorden is a small town in the Pennines, in West Yorkshire. Over the last few years, it has turned itself into one big food and social experiment, making it one of the most celebrated examples of community action so far. Its mission: to encourage the growth and use of locally-grown food, and to become self-sufficient in food by 2018. The website boasts proudly: “We are passionate people working together for a world where all share responsibility for the future wellbeing of our planet and ourselves. We aim to provide access to good local food for all, through working together; learning, from field to classroom to kitchen; and supporting local business.”

Pam Warhurst, one of the founding members of Incredible Edible Todmorden, says, “We want to make this accessible to everybody. Food is for everybody. Sharing is for everybody. Opportunity is for everybody.”

In 2008 a group of local people began to plant food in public places. Anyone is free to plant, pick, share and eat the produce. “It was really something that we wanted to do in response to a lack of leadership nationally and locally about food security, so we thought, there must be something that ordinary people in an ordinary town could do.” The membership criterion to join the group is: “If you eat, you’re in”.

Their first order of business was to take vacant, uncared-for land and beautify it by growing food. They have garden plots in car parks, beside the towpath, at the railway and fire stations, and even the land around the doctors’ surgery has been planted with fruit. Gardens are being planted around social housing estates. An apothecary’s garden has been created next to the car park of the new Health Centre. The grounds of a local old people’s home have had an Incredible Edible make-over. Cherry trees have been planted all over the town.

Every school in the town is involved; the aim with the work in schools is to foster a reconnection with where food comes from, how it’s grown, and how it’s transformed by processing and cooking. ‘Food Inspirers’ promote education in cooking and nutrition into the community as a whole. The campaign “Every Egg Matters” aims to get the community self-sufficient in eggs.

Incredible Edible Todmorden now has two limited companies. One is a fish farm and food hub at the local high school; and an apprenticeship centre. The hope is that the centre will become a place for young people to learn the skills necessary to start a micro-business in food production. There is a History Project which is a source of local knowledge and history to be passed on to future generations. There is a food preparation component to the programme as well: recipes and advice on good healthy, ecologically friendly methods of preparing food.

A nursery for seeds, plants and vegetables is being created on some recently donated land near Todmorden, which is also being used as a resource for learning and job-training. Elsewhere, they are exploring ecologically friendly and economic methods of hill top farming.

Lots of people are borrowing these ideas. All sorts of groups have adopted the’ Incredible Edible’ name, from near-neighbours in Rossendale, to fellow Yorkshire-folk in nearby Wakefield; and people from all over the world are coming to visit and share ideas. The local council has been encouraged to adopt policies all over the borough to remove obstacles stopping the use of community land for growing.

For more information on Incredible Edible Todmorden, visit their website; and you can follow them on Twitter as well. Several of the volunteers have started up blogs.

http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/home

Contributed by Nancy Bell

A View of Old Bethlehem

Palden Jenkins, PC Core Team member, is currently working in Palestine. He says, “I work mainly in Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem, a peace and democracy school and adult education centre. I do international outreach. I work also as a counsellor, adviser and soul-friend.” His blog at http://paldywan.blogspot.com/ makes fascinating reading.

He has sent this beautiful photograph for us to enjoy. “It's a recently-taken picture looking over the Old Town in Bethlehem, and a reminder that people of different faiths (in this case, Christians and Muslims) can live together in harmony. The three towers are from the main Sunni Muslim Mosque, the Syrian Orthodox church and the Lutheran church in Bethlehem.” And there’s a slightly incongruous-looking Christmas tree.

'Seed of Life'

The pine cone symbolizes very well where we now are on the seasonal wheel of the year. The cold grip of winter makes us still feel 'closed' or 'frozen'; but deep inside, in the quiet space within, we know that the seeds of new growth are already experiencing the first call of awakening. But the pine cone will only open its wooden scales when it feels that the right temperature to release the seeds has been reached: thus making sure that the seed will fall on fertile soil, so that its viability will be greater than falling on solid frozen ground. Likewise, we can now start to name the seeds that we want to sow for our lives this year. (But don't sow them yet.)

For this exercise, take a walk into nature and keep your eyes open for finding a closed and possibly frozen pine cone. A good day for this would be on the calendar Imbolc day (February 2nd) but any other day will do. A sunrise walk would nicely complete the Imbolc feeling of rekindled light, so if you are able to go out at sunrise, then do so. Your getting up early will be amply rewarded by the natural worlds.

When you have found a pine cone, take it along on your walk through the forest, heath or park. Walk in silence; listen to the sounds around you. Stop at a tree that has caught your eye because of its shape or its appearance; or simply because you are attracted to it. Make a heart connection with the tree. This heart connection can be achieved by imagining (fantasizing) that you are glowing from your heart and this glow forms into a bridge that joins the glowing inner centre of the tree. The light of the heart of the tree and the light of your heart are connected. For a while, stand in silence with the tree. Listen, feel, be consciously present, aware and alert. Sometimes we experience a glimpse of the silence of nature and the earth. It could be described as an 'empty space' or a 'deafening silence' or 'deliberate silence'. The tree is aware of you, nature is aware of you. And now you are you aware of them. Now you are a conscious part of the silence. This is the stillness and emptiness of winter. It is the Womb of Creation. Here your seeds wait patiently for the infusion with light.

Just like the tree, it too is waiting for the power of the sun to warm it up. When this happens the tree opens up all its cells and soaks up all the incoming light like a sponge. In the same manner we too can deliberately let in the light! We could imagine that our cells are open to the influx of Light. You may ask the tree whether it wants to help you and support this process. Don't be tempted to think too much, try being as still and as aware as possible. Nothing needs to be felt. "To have confidence" is a valuable treasure in the book of life's magic.

After you have given the tree some time to help you with the process of 'letting in the light' into each cell of your body, thank your wooden friend and continue walking until you come to a spot where you feel good or from where you can watch the sunrise. With the pine cone in your hand(s) you again attune to the silence of the earth and nature. Think about your goals for this year in the following areas of your life: home, work, relationships and spirituality. We can now identify what we want to manifest this year in these areas. Start with the 'home' area with the following steps and repeat them for each area of your life.

STEP 1: What are your requirements where your home is concerned, to feed your soul? Feel it with your heart: what would make you happy in your home? It is important not to let your logical mind determine the goals; instead we think from the heart, from the soul. What does your soul need in this area of life? For example, supposing you would love to live in a house that meets your soul’s desire of "living in nature", then let this be the goal. Do not let financial obstacles block your dreams: we will leave those to be tackled by the infinite intelligence of Spirit (of which you are a part!) Use your fantasy and imagination to decide what goal would perfectly suit your wishes.

STEP 2: Practically, how would this look like? Fantasize about how it looks, in your mind walk through the rooms, surroundings, look at it from all angles, create in your mind the perfect domestic environment. This now is the blueprint for its manifestation. It is important that you only put things in it that make your heart sing. Be mindful to keep out stuff that is made up by your logical mind trying to interfere. That in itself is not wrong or bad, but it does require awareness to spot fear, worry, uncertainty or any other subconscious pattern that might interfere with the manifestation of your soul's desire. Just know that even if you choose to add "logical matters" into your blueprint for this year anyway, it is still not a bad choice, because we can learn from every choice we make: if only to gain insight into how our subconscious self is sabotaging our wishes, or into the reason why we still maintain restrictive relationships. No good or bad on this, just opportunities to experience and learn.

STEP 3: Take your whole dream about the 'home' area and minimise it to the size of a pine cone seed. Imagine placing your 'home' dream into the seed inside the pine cone.

STEP 4: Repeat the same steps in for the following areas: Work, Relationships and Spirituality.

STEP 5: Go home and keep the pine cone on your home altar, on the bedside table, in the garden or any other place that holds special meaning for you.

STEP 6: 24 hours after doing this exercise - and within the month of February - take at least one step or put into action one thing that helps you develop your soul's desires. For example (home), you could create a vision board or scrapbook of clippings, photographs and other images that illustrate how you imagine your future home and environment to be. Or you could start researching and looking for information about the place where you would love to live. Listen to your heart. It will lead you. Dream, dream, dream!

STEP 7: When the light outside is gaining strength and the days slowly warm up, your pine cone seeds are going to reveal themselves to you (the timing depends on the place where you have chosen to store your pine cone). This opening up and releasing of the seeds points to a good time to sow the seeds. You can now take deliberate action(s) in the outside world that will help you achieve your soul's desires and goals for this year.

Contributed by core team member Nathascha Heijen

2012: A TURNING POINT?

Many people feel that the year 2012 is invested with spiritual significance, and writings from some of the world’s religious and spiritual traditions have been interpreted as pointing specifically to this year as a major turning point. Here are two PC members’ takes on its significance in our own lives …

2012 and beyond

Core team member Lindsey Price writes …. We have now said farewell to the past year, with its transitions and shifts, and highs and lows. We have spent time reflecting on them, and learning from them. As we move wholeheartedly into the New Year, we are invited by our higher consciousness to breathe in the 2012 energy. Indeed it is interesting to reflect on what some of our major spiritual traditions have said about 2012.

Hopi:- predict a 25 year period of purification by the end of the fourth world and the beginning of the fifth.

Inca:- call it the ‘Age of meeting ourselves again’.

Maori:- say that as the veils dissolve, there will be a merging of the physical and spiritual worlds.

Mayans:- call it the end of the world as we know it.

Egyptian:- according to the Great Pyramid (Stone Calendar) the present time cycle ends in the year 2012.

Tibetan:- Kalachakra teachings are prophesies left by the Buddha predicting the coming of the Golden Age.

It is remarkable that these disparate spiritualities, separated by both time and space, all can be said to have come up with 2012 as being a year of special significance. This is clearly beyond mere chance, demonstrating a synchronicity that we would do well to reflect upon.

So, where does that leave us? Certainly have no fear, for it is all good. No doubt we will experience further transitions and shifts, both personally and globally. My own feeling is that the more we surrender into our higher consciousness, the more comfortable it will be.