Article in the May issue of "Come to Woodstock" newspaper

Priestesses of Woodstock, Part 1
by Cassia Berman

People come to Woodstock because there’s a special vibration here. You can feel it as you walk down the street, coming from the streams and waterfalls that lace through the business district, from the sacred mountains that surround the town, from the woods that give the town its name, and….from the shop clerks.

Though the famous Festival didn’t really happen here, Woodstock is home to its legend, and to a large number of people who are quietly dedicated, through both traditional and unique spiritual paths, to making Peace & Love a reality on this planet. Some of them work in the shops.

Reverend Ursula Carrie, founder of Church of the Sacred Earth, is one of them. Single mom of Chimayo, a very active 8-year-old who looks like a dark-haired version of St. Exupery’s Little Prince (Ursula herself bears a striking resemblance to the beautiful artist Frido Kahlo), she can be found on weekends behind the counter of the Kleinert/James Art Center gift shop, a job she’s held for 11 years, and which she loves. “When you work in a shop,” she says, “people from all different walks of life know you, but most people don’t really know that much about you.”

“What would you like people to know?” I ask her.

“The most important thing to me is the Earth—animals, plants, water, birds, every single part of everything that’s been born from the Earth is the most important thing to me in my life since I was a child,” she responds. Trained as an herbalist by Susun Weed, and as a Keeper of the Ancient Ways by many teachers, both native and western, she began the Church of the Sacred Earth project “to bring together awakened humans of all faiths for one common cause: to use our meditations and our prayers, and the light and love and power we all have, in service to the planet that is giving us life.

“I first felt the prompting to start the Church in 2000, and did everything I could to get away from it,” she confesses. Or rather, as she writes in her blog, the concept of the Church of the Sacred Earth grew inside her for nine years.

Last year, on scholarship to Dr. Jean Houston’s Mystery School, Ursula realized: “We all have an obligation to fulfill the highest destiny of our life. I always knew that this project was a major part of my Earth walk and I was hurting myself by avoiding it. But I was feeling frustrated, because I really wanted to bring together people to participate, and I found gathering people in person, live, to be an incredibly difficult task for me at this point.”

Then she realized, as she writes in her blog: “Church of the Sacred Earth is not the kind of church that is housed in a place, a specific locale. Church of the Sacred Earth is in many locales—because, among other things, Church of the Sacred Earth is a Movement. It moves with the Energies, across the Land, across the Universes….wherever two or more people gather—in silence or in whatever manner—to listen to the Earth speak and to send their individual & collected vibrations of love to the Earth. It cannot be ‘incorporated,’ or assigned a tax ID number. It cannot be Contained.”

And so, with the encouragement of Jean Houston and her colleagues, Ursula brought Church of the Sacred Earth into the world as a blogspot (www.sacredearthchurch.blogspot.com) and Facebook group, with posts that provide inspiration and information for living on the Earth in a sacred way. For example: “It is simple enough to sit quietly in the morning, or any time of day, with the Earth,” she writes, “…breathe into your heart and allow your Heart Center to Open in Empathy to Life. Send your Love and Tenderness to the birds, the foxes, the wolves, the skunks.... Love is the Only Pure Force of the Universe. All Plants and Creatures will feel the balm and strength of the Love you send and share with them.”

With donations from the Mystery School, Ursula printed 2500 postcards to send to spiritual leaders and prime locations around the world, extending the Church in “a visual invitation that people can actually see and touch,” a space where people can become aware of the sacred and connect as a community. “People can participate in any way comfortable to them; no need to renounce the path they’re comfortable with,” Ursula says, noting that different faiths are now finding evidence in their scriptures that wise stewardship of the environment is part of their religious practice.

Her own ‘worship’ is both spiritual and practical. “In between mothering, home schooling and basic life things like cleaning house, I use every moment of silence I have to sit and meditate.” As an herbalist, rather than sell the remedies she makes, she prefers to show people how to make them for themselves: “It’s more empowering to an individual and another way of deeply connecting to the Earth when you’re out there harvesting plants and making your own preparations.”

As a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) coordinator, she’ll be holding down the fort again at the weekly distribution of organically grown food that CSA members receive. “Supporting the work of local farmers is of vital importance to the health of our local community and food supply,” Ursula says. “When I go there on Wednesdays”—this year distribution starts June 2nd—“to me it’s another form of going to temple or church, a prayer in and of itself to be with this beautiful food and the wonderful members of our community who show up to pick up their vegetables.

“Like a lot of people right now,” she says in conclusion, “I’m at a time of suspension, just waiting, and meantime gathering up my higher will to do this work. This Church is mine only insofar as this is my planet and I want to live here. I just keep on truckin’. Don’t feel powerless by the largeness of what’s going on here. Every bit of love you can show to the Earth is going to be felt by her, and that’s a really good start.”

In this spirit, Rev. Ursula Carrie invites you to become aware of the spring meeting of Church of the Sacred Earth, which takes place between May 1and June 21st:
"See and feel the soil beneath your feet
as Vibrant and Pulsating with Radiance
Take Off Your Shoes
HUM"

Where is it happening? Wherever you are!!!

(For full information about the meditation and activities you can participate in, go to www.sacredearthchurch.blogspot.com or join the open Facebook group: Church of the Sacred Earth.)

Cassia Berman writes about healing, spirituality and the arts for many publications.
She teaches T’ai Chi and Qigong, and does private energy healing sessions.
You can reach her at (845) 679-9457.

Article: Catskill Daily Mail- Thurs. April 23, 2009

CATSKILL — Sheila Dent wore a green blazer Wednesday adorning a yellow, blue and green pin. The blue and green triangles, the Catskill resident said, represent the sky and Earth and the yellow background the sun.

The pin is a memento from the Protect Your Environment — or PYE — group at her Gilboa school that was organized by the State University of New York at Oneonta. The idea of environmental protection fit in with other politically charged issues in the 1960s, including the draft and a fear of nuclear warfare, she said. “It was another thing to care about,” she said. Dent, who calls herself a “true, reformed hippie,” points out that environmental responsibility is as easy as planting a tree or picking up garbage. She remembers one protest her Gilboa group held over the felling of an oak tree near the Gilboa Dam. “We didn’t win, but we were there,” she said.

Dent said her daughter, Rev. Ursula Carrie (Wilkerson), and grandson also recycle and conserve energy.

Carrie started her own church, the Church of the Sacred Earth, in Woodstock, and keeps a religious and environmental blog. She writes that humans need to be aware of what they are doing to the earth if they want their children and grandchildren to have a life of any minute quality. “The act of recycling and composting, and all those things can be utilized as a prayer to the earth,” she said. And, as an herbalist, she said, everything she does is related to the earth. She buys in bulk and recycles whatever she can to minimize her garbage, because there is no way humans can be separated from nature. She said that once people become aware of their impact on the environment, environmentally friendly actions become part of an everyday routine.

“It’s a way of life,” she said, “because there is no life without the earth.”

Winner! Lynn V. Andrews' Joshua Tree 2009 Essay Contest

Rev Ursula and Lynn at the Joshua Tree Gathering

Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM
Friday evening, May 29, 2009

(cut and pasted from Lynn V. Andrews' website)

We have a Winner!!!
2009 JT Essay Contest

"Calling in the Thunder Beings"
Author of the winning essay in the Joshua Tree Essay Contest is:
Ursula C. of Woodstock, NY.

The author of the winning essay in the Joshua Tree Essay Contest is Ursula C. of Woodstock, NY. She talked about herself and her journey on the phone this week. Here is her interview and winning essay for the Joshua Tree Essay Contest.

About Ursula
Ursula describes herself first as a Mother of a seven year old son. She herself feels she has been on a shamanic path since she was born. She said she made her first altar to nature spirits when she was seven years old. She also describes herself as empathic and has found teachers over the years to learn techniques around this innate ability. At 25 years old she realized her clairaudience ability.
Ursula has lived in the Catskills of New York for most of her life. At 23 years old she visited New Mexico for the first time and realized she was home, reconnected.
She feels the word ‘Curandera’ most accurately describes her in the world. And she feels she is here to fulfill her contract on this Earthwalk. That she has been given hints and guidance on the path as far as what she came here to do on earth and for women. She relates that she has been through many life experiences and come through them to reconnect with the power that flows through her.



Attending Joshua Tree
Ursula felt she needed to be at Joshua Tree and her Spirit Guides worked with her to realize this dream. "It’s time to answer the call. Time to gather confidence and courage and jump into the void. I feel frightened because I don’t know what’s waiting for me. There’s a lot of things I don’t know. Time to fulfill what I came here for. My Guides and Ancestors heard my prayers for help and accepted my offerings to make this [trip to Joshua Tree] possible."


Coming to Lynn Andrew’s work
"I had Medicine Woman on a bookshelf at home. One day it was just calling to me. After reading Medicine Woman, I picked up Jaguar Woman. Reading these books gave me the sense I had found the only place where I felt an understanding of where I am. A place where I feel seen and heard and an understanding of what is happening to me on my spiritual path. It made me feel good and it made me feel sad because I did not have a Circle of Women like that. [Then I thought] well maybe I should get out there with others who are going through this ascension and awakening together."


Greater Purpose
"There are a lot of us being called to do this work. Time to let go of the old stuff. As a human species, there is no model for where we are going, this ascension. I can tell you though that I have an excruciating ecstasy of love for this place, Earth."



The Winning Essay

I feel safe when it rains. I long for the darkened sky, the smell of the air as it changes. I say to my son, "It will rain soon." He says, "How do you know, Mom?" I say, "I Know." People curse the rain and I say, "Oh, I love the rain!" And strange expressions cross their faces and I wonder how they don’t understand.
*
I remember the Rains. I lay with my grandmother, then. I was so small, even still, next to her four foot eleven frame. Cuddled into the warmth of her soft body in the darkness of her room, the rain would make sleep time melodies on the slanted tin roof above her bedroom. I can close my eyes and feel us laying there, hear the sounds and feel the even rhythm of her breath. I can see the far corners of the room, where the foot pedaled sewing table stood- did she have a candle lit? Or was it the glow of Her love as I remember that helps me to see? It was many years after her passing before I understood this- That it is our love and our connection, her everlasting Presence that stays with me, that animates my love affair with the Rain. These memories of our love the ability to feel her soft warm skin pressed against me, come alive and dance again in my soul. As I became older there entered into my affair with the rain, the initiations of shock waves of the Thunderers, like sheets of earthquakes through my center column. And streaks of lightening drawing forth the low rumbling growl from my groin, through my heart to my throat and sometimes I am able to break free and release this sound, echoing back to them, growling, "Yes! Grrraagggh! Yes!" Thunder in my Being. And I laugh and laugh, for I know that they see me, that they hear and feel my love- as I feel theirs. The love we share breaks my heart open.
*
Rain tells me that I can slow down and Be. That when I feel that I will break from too much Sun beating on me, She will come and heal me. The Waters that heal the Earth. The Waters of our very Being. The trees soften, become innocent, and open. They suckle the rains like a newborn, hungry for the Life Giving Waters. Plants dance in the splashes and droplets on their faces. Some giggle, some weep. The waterfalls rush and overflow their banks, clearing away the human debris. My child and I tuck ourselves away into a corner, cozy, like cats, and sleep. And dream. We dream that the Earth is made new, and She is whole again.
*
I sorrow to see Rain go, on to the next town that needs cleansing. But I want Her to stay, just a while longer. To stay and Soothe my heart just a little more. Let me curl into my grandmother’s bed that is no longer there, and remember how much I was loved.