Friday
Community ArticlesEntering the Wood Snake Year!
A February 2025 Newsletter Message from Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective
This month we enter the Wood Snake Year. The tail end of the Wood Dragon whipped up massive fires in Los Angeles, California. The temperatures on Earth reached record levels.
How do we proceed?
Looking at the Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective’s Mission Statement written in 2019, we have our purpose. It remains the same:
To inspire and engage the warriors of Touching the Earth Collective to uphold the healthy sustainability of the sacred living environment for all beings. Clearly seeing the need for urgent response to human caused environmental degradation, Touching the Earth warriors invite individual and collective action for the rebalancing, protection and celebration of a healthy living environment.
Though our purpose remains the same, how we will achieve our purpose has and will continually change and grow. Once again, The Bess Family Foundation has offered to provide funding for our activities. They see the growth expressed as “underground mycelium” nurturing the culture of the Shambhala organization. It has been slow and steady, and they are encouraging us to do more. We must do more.
It is up to us individually and collectively to make the mission of the Collective, more clear, and shared more broadly within Shambhala. How we do this will not necessarily be in words, but must be in how we behave, act and inspire. Our wisdom is vast. Each of us has something unique to offer.
All are invited to assist in the change and growth of the Collective. We look forward to seeing and meeting online, and in-person, at Equinox Lhasangs, at the Earth Salons, at the Planet “A” book club meetings, on Nyida Sunday Gatherings, in the Newsletters, in the Google Group, at the in-person Hiveminds gatherings, and at whatever else is born this year…
Bring your heart and wisdom to the table. We are the earth!
With love from,
The Steering Committee of the Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective: Deborah Luscomb, Francie Reed, Dickie Swaback, Gregory Webster, and Irene Woodard
The Earth Salon an initiative of Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective presents…
Invitation to a New Year’s Oracle Reading: Divining the Year of the Wood Snake with David Takahashi
Sunday, February 9, 2025 from 1:00–2:30 pm Atlantic
(6 – 7:30 pm CET) Join us on Zoom (free)
Join the Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective in marking the transition into the Year of the Wood Snake with insight, divination, and a touch of ordinary magic. We will consult the ancient wisdom of the I Ching (Book of Changes) to reflect on what the coming year holds.
The I Ching, one of the oldest Chinese divination texts, serves as a guide to life’s ever-unfolding patterns. As we step into the Wood Snake Year—a cycle rich with intuition, renewal, and quiet transformation—the oracle offers glimpses into the unseen forces shaping our path. The Wood Snake invites us to shed what no longer serves, trust subtle insights, and weave wisdom into our choices. Through the casting of coins and the emergence of hexagrams, we participate in the dance of synchronicity, where ordinary moments reveal extraordinary magic.
Bring three coins—your key to unlocking the oracle’s message, an open heart, and a playful curiosity for whatever may arise. Together, we will explore the guidance of the I Ching, gathering inspiration and clarity for the year ahead.
Join us on Zoom. Passcode: sacred
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The wisdom of the Snake year encourages grace, transformation, and quiet power. Let the Book of Changes offer its timeless insight as we prepare to meet this new lunar year with presence and wonder. We look forward to sharing this moment of divination and discovery with you.
Warmly,
The Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective Earth Salonistas
We appreciate your support in any amount! Click here to contribute. Any funds contributed will be used to offer honorariums to our guest speakers.
Previous Earth Salon recordings can be enjoyed here.
*The monthly Earth Salons are an initiative of the Shambhala Touching the Earth Collective, and are curated and facilitated by Deborah Luscomb, with occasional guests.
Earth Salon News
Since September of 2020, Deborah Luscomb has been curating and hosting the Earth Salon on her personal Zoom account. She has also done most of the advertising, as well as personally paying honorariums (which were occasionally covered by donations) to presenters.
That is all changing with the year of the Wood Snake, when the monthly Earth Salon will migrate to Shambhala Online. Registration, by donation, will be with Shambhala Online and all expenses will be covered by Shambhala Online. Touching the Earth Collective is tremendously grateful to Shambhala Online for offering to take on the Earth Salon.
Don’t worry, Deborah will continue to curate and host. The format will not change. But the mailing list certainly will! Perhaps many more folks will enjoy the Earth Salon.
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