A Spider in the Glass

The world is a golden veil of empty space, lost and found in a balloon of fairy seeds.
Sight in an empty world is a finger print in the mud.
An overturned drinking glass becomes my casket.
Manifestation of life is inevitable.
Experience spills into the reservoir of the unconscious
As death insults my mirror of progress.
Death is in vain.
Death wears a coat of many colors.
Time splinters into the endless realities of boredom.
Am I procrastinating or a slave to monotony?

-by Stephen Gulliford

Divide & Conquer

Leave the System

Chant, sing, dance, forage, explore, breath, and be.

The Song of the Reed - Rumi

Listen to the song of the reed,
How it wails with the pain of separation:

“Ever since I was taken from my reed bed
My woeful song has caused men and women to weep.
I seek out those whose hearts are torn by separation
For only they understand the pain of this longing.
Whoever is taken away from his homeland
Yearns for the day he will return.
In every gathering, among those who are happy or sad,
I cry with the same lament.
Everyone hears according to his own understanding,
None has searched for the secrets within me.
My secret is found in my lament
But an eye or ear without light cannot know it..”

The sound of the reed comes from fire, not wind
What use is one’s life without this fire?
It is the fire of love that brings music to the reed.
It is the ferment of love that gives taste to the wine.
The song of the reed soothes the pain of lost love.
Its melody sweeps the veils from the heart.
Can there be a poison so bitter or a sugar so sweet
As the song of the reed?
To hear the song of the reed
everything you have ever known must be left behind.

– Version by Jonathan Star
“Rumi – In the Arms of the Beloved”
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York 1997

Reinventing Diet: Going Back to the Stone Age

The human diet has been a huge topic of debate for hundreds of years. We have all the technology, methods, and harvesting to feed the entire world yet why can’t we figure out what to eat. A larger percentage of the problem can be attributed to misinformation and corporate interest in human consumption. Lets break down the body’s needs and the diet to fulfill it.

There are three components to our dietary make up. We receive calories from the holy trinity of food: carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

Our bodies are equipped with mechanisms that tell us when we have had enough of these two types of calorie but it has zero mechanism to tell us when we have had enough carbs. Carbs, including sugar, are nothing but raw energy that our body either uses immediately or turns directly into fat. Since our body can never tell us when we have had enough carbs, we will just keep eating and eating. This is why we see such a large percentage of obesity in Americans. We have been told, from a young age, to consume large amounts of grain carbohydrates as a part of our diet. Grains wreak havoc on the body’s processes and are mostly stored as fat.

The CARB Conspiracy

The body has many processors, timers, and mechanisms. You may wake up in the middle of the night to find you need to make an emergency trip to the bathroom. When you are frightened, your heart beat rises and your blood is flooded with chemicals that cause you to react. When you eat a meal, your stomach tells you when you are full (even though you may not listen!). The body also has a mechanism to tell you when you have eaten the required amount of certain types of food. There is a mechanism for fats and proteins…..but none for carbs! Your body will never tell you when you have had enough carbs and that is why you need to pay special attention to this energy source.

http://www.sleepwarrior.com/health-dangers-of-bread-pasta-and-rice
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/
http://nourishedkitchen.com/against-the-grain-10-reasons-to-give-up-grains/

For the most part, this pyramid should be completely turned on its head. The largest part of the pyramid, the base, should either be completely eliminated or moved to the pinnacle. When humans were in the hunter/gatherer stage of development, they ate very little grains. When civilization began to develop agriculture, grains were very important for poor people to remain alive. Grains don’t run when you try to cut them down. They are cheap and readily available (and tasty, I know). If you must eat grains, avoid refined grains, white grains, and white potatoes. Sugar is the at the far end of the carb spectrum and can be considered the physical reincarnation of Satan. You can get your sugars from fruits and honey.
If you have a sweet tooth and find yourself gorging on fruits, be careful! The sugars (especially dried fruits) in fruit will rot your teeth and cause all sorts of problems in your body. Don’t overdo it!

Fruits and Vegetables

The largest portion of your carbs should come from fruits and vegetables. Anyway you can find to get more RAW fruits and vegetables, the better. I suggest getting 3 servings of raw greens a day (by all means, get as much as you can). Greens should always be eaten with FAT, as many of the vitamins and minerals they contain are fat soluble. Dense leafy green foods include kale, spinach, dandelion, collard greens, mustard greens, and chards. Green smoothies are a great way to get the greens down the hatch, especially if you are not a fan of vegetables. Get a blender, add water or milk (whole milk, coconut milk, or soy) about two cups. Try to add as much greens as you can with a high concentration of kale. Kale is extremely good for you and the fiber in kale absorbs many times its own weight in toxins. The next step is to add fruit. I use a blend of avocado, strawberries and bananas. Acidic fruits may not work so well. Berries are very friendly to the smoothie. Be weary of over-blending as it oxidizes and destroys valuable nutrients.

Green Smoothie Recipe:
• 1 Avocado
• 6 Strawberries
• 1 Banana
• 1 cup chopped fresh spinach
• 2 cups chopped fresh kale
• 2 cups whole milk
Blend until smooth and drinkable.

Proteins

The LORD has given us certain us every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. - Genesis 1:29

Protein can be somewhat of a complex subject as many people argue over the finer points of veganism and acidic blood levels caused by the consumption of animal protein. As with all your food, protein should be consumed from the widest variety of sources possible. Nuts and seeds in a wide variety provide many, if not all, of the essential fatty acids. They are usually high in omega fatty acids and contain a very high anti-oxidant and vitamin content. Some fruits and vegetables contain smaller amounts of protein and can assist in rounding out the diet plan. It is my personal belief that everyone should eat at least one animal source of protein a day. The body likes long chain, complex amino acids. Eating fish 3 times a week should be an absolute minimum for any vegetarian/vegan/etc (though I know you probably won’t), and for any meat eating heathen. This will eliminate the need for ingesting fish oil pills and is a much healthier solution. The fish oil industry is very suspicious and dirty. Don’t trust them, just eat real fish. Vegan enthusiast may argue that the consumption of animal proteins leads to an acidic PH of the bloodstream, but with enough raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts the body will be at the perfect PH. Taking 2 table spoon doses of apple cider vinegar with a large glass of water also helps with this.

Fats

Many people that believe in eating a healthy diet avoid this one component of food that they need the most: FAT! We use fat as direct energy and it also provides insulation to the cells of the body. Just like carbs and proteins, fats should be consumed from a wide variety of matter. Plant fats do not contain cholesterol and even saturated plant fats have been shown to decrease cholesterol. Coconut oil is a super food that should be a major part of everyone’s diets. High in lauric acid, it unarms fungus, bacteria, and viruses in the body and promotes healthy bodily functioning. It is also excellent for digestion and delivers a solid punch of energy with any small meal.

I recommend 1 tablespoon of coconut oil with meals to aid in digestion (may be unnecessary in high fat meals). Saturated animal fats are not the bad guys that they have been made out to me. The cholesterol contained in these fats is the back bone to the hormone molecule.

The French Paradox

“The French Paradox is the observation that Frenchmen suffer a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease, despite having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats.”

Did you know that Americans have some of the world’s highest rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes? This has nothing to do with the consumption of fat! Consumed fats are not reformed into body fat. They are burned, used to insulate cells or passed out of the body. Consuming fat will not make you fat. That is the job of sugar and carbs.

With these things said I offer a sample daily diet:

Wake up:
1-2 large cups of luke warm->warm water to encourage regularity

Breakfast to slowly awaken the metabolism to a high rate of burn for the day(listen to the body, do not eat whole pieces of fruit if you are urged to slow down):
• 1 apple (wait until hungry and move on to next fruit)
• 1 banana (wait again until hunger returns)
• 1/2 grape fruit

2nd Breakfast (brunch)
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• ½ grapefruit

Lunch
• 4 celery stalks (for salt)
• Dense green salad
• 2 tablespoon Hemp seed
• Small bunch of grapes

Afternoon snack
• 2 table spoons of apple cider vinegar (raw, unfiltered, organic) with 2 teaspoons of raw/local/organic honey in half a cup of warm water
• Mixed raw nuts
• I cup of plain kefir

Dinner
• 12 ounces of grilled tilapia
• Large dense salad
• Steamed broccoli
• 1 sweet potato

Desert
• Pineapple
• Mixed raw nuts

This is a very loose example of a daily diet. Feel free to add smoothies, different salads, and other foods. Pay attention to your body’s dialogue. Eat slowly…listen…and enjoy.

Alejandro Jodorowsky: Psychomagic

The shaman, Jodorowsky, expounds on his revolutionary psychological breakthrough. The symbol facilitates healing with depth.

"The psychological mechanism that transforms energy is the symbol."

-Carl Gustav Jung

We can use the symbol for many purposes. We use it to create the future, dicipher the present, and heal the past. When we have done the healing work, we become more centered in the present, giving us leverage on creating the future that we desire.

Jodorowsky makes a priceless contribution to the human understanding. I wish we had him sooner.

Pt. 1 of 6:

Stephen's Purple Drink - Sangre del Arbol

The cabbage has been a staple in western diets for thousands of years. Packed with Vitamin C and K, it was seen as a commodity in fighting scurvy and hangovers on the turbulent sea. Its phytonutrient make up make it an excellent antioxidant and destroyer of cancers. Notice the fractal tree of life pattern in the manifestation of this beautiful spirit, concealing the secrets of immortality.



Cabbage can be consumed raw, cooked, dried, pickled, and salt cured. For those wishing to avoid the unpleasant side effects of digesting cabbage fiber (excessive wind), juicing may be a preferable method. Cabbage juice is high in chlorine and sulfur (secret element of the alchemist) which clean and heal the mucus membranes of the intestines. All healing in the body takes place from the inside out. By investing healing energy in the digestive tract, we can proactively fight disease and fatigue. I recommend drinking at least 2 glasses a day, 4-5 if you have poor intestinal health or ulcers. Purple cabbage is higher anthocyanin (found in all purple/red/blue plants) which makes its nutritional content higher than green cabbages.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=19

Stephen's Purple Drink

Tools:
Blender
Fine mesh strainer (wide brimmed - you can find at target)
large bowl
small bowl

Ingredients
Shredded Purple Cabbage
handful of chopped carrots
2-3 celery stalks

Fill blender a little more than 3/4's of the way with shredded purple cabbage, add handful of cut carrots and celery. Fill blender 3/4's full of clean, fresh, unadulterated water (preferably blessed with loving intention). Blend on high for 1 min. Pour mesh into strainer and strain into bowl. Place small bowl onto cabbage mesh and slowly add pressure. The juice is ready to drink. May store for approximately 3 days.

This recipe can be modified into a powerful cheap pro-biotic formula. Just fill the blender full of cabbage, add 3/4's blender of water. Blend for 1 min and let the mix sit at room temperature for 3 days. Strain off the pulp and you have your formula. Consume 1/2 cup with equal parts water 2-3 times daily. Word to the wise, this stuff stinks! You might want to take mix outside when drinking and mixing. More formula can be made by adding a cup of pro-biotic juice to fresh juice and let it sit for 24 hours. Probiotic recipe taken from Chris Gupta: http://www.eregimens.com/therapies/Diet/Cultured%20Cabbage.htm