WatkinsPublishing&SterlingPublishingInc.

Present

(:WPYP[\HS1V\YUL`;V^HYK(:JPLU[PJ;OLVY`VM,]LY`[OPUN

*6<5;+6>5[V*6/,9,5*,
(VULZ[VWLHZ`[VYLHKZWPYP[\HSZJPLUJLIVVRI`ILZ[ZLSSPUNH\[OVY

/(A,3*6<9;,5,@
AS FEATURED ON COAST TO COAST RADIO
Read fascinating new insights into why some scientists believe that our
ultimate journey home back to coherence (which means everything
coming together as one) is unfolding.
Find out more about life after death, orbs, time travel, multiple
universes, spontaneous healing, reincarnation, how to manifest
miracles as well as how its possible for objects to store information.
Understand why increasing numbers of people are experiencing intense
spiritual awakenings and why miracles will shortly become more
commonplace.
COUNTDOWN TO COHERENCE will lead you to a radical new understanding
of who you really are, where you need to go - why - how to get there, and
how much more you are capable of than youve ever previously imagined.

Uri Geller says of Countdown to Coherence

THE transformational book of our time
www.urigeller.com
For more details on Hazel Courteney and her work log onto

www.hazelcourteney.com

ON SALE IN
THE UK & US NOW
$16.95 / 10.99
ALSO AVAILABLE
ON KINDLE

Authority on spirituality
and healing since 1987

Editorial address:
9 Nine Acres, Midhurst,
W Sussex GU29 9EP
Tel: 01730 816799
www.caduceus.info

Editor:
Simon Best, MA
simon@caduceus.info
Founder
Sarida Brown
sb@caduceus.info
Administrator:
Alexander Best
Tel: 01730 816799
Fax: 01730 816799
alex@caduceus.info
North American editor:
Angelina di Fazio, PhD
adifazio99@comcast.net
Editorial Panel:
James DAngelo, Teresa Hale,
Zerbanoo Gifford, John Hunt,
Sally Peterson, Roger Taylor
Advertising Manager:
Simon Yeoman-Taylor
ads@caduceus.info
Tel: 0208 9438138
Design:
Jeremy Foster
www.foster-design.net
Advisory Panel:
Peter L Dewey, Warren Kenton,
David Lorimer, Barbara Marx
Hubbard, Dr Cyril Smith, Dr Robert
Verkerk, Dr Johannes Witteveen
Copy Dates:
Issue 83 Spring 2012
Editorial: end January
Advertising: end February
Issue 84 Summer 2012
Editorial: end April
Advertising: end May
Issue 85 Autumn 2012
Editorial: end July
Advertising: end August
Issue 86 Winter 2012
Editorial: end October
Advertising: end November
Subscriptions:
See page 33 or online
Proprietors:
Caduceus Journal Ltd.
9 Nine Acres, Midhurst,
W Sussex GU29 9EP, UK
Distribution:
outlets@caduceus.info
Caduceus is a member of INK
(www.ink.uk.com)
Cover:
Classical, eight-fold symmetry
in a Gazonia expressed
beautifully in three forms
(photo: Keith Critchlow)
ISSN: 0952-4584
Disclaimer: The views expressed in
this journal are those of the individual
writers, and are not necessarily those
of the Editor and the Editorial panel.
2011 Caduceus Journal Ltd.
Printed in the United Kingdom

Contents
features

Issue 82, Autumn-Winter 2011

Ecocide a crime against the planet? ...............................3

Sam Burcher reports on the first trial of the proposed crime
of Ecocide

Flowers express hidden sacred geometry...........................6

by Prof Keith Critchlow
Reveals how flowers manifest inherent mathematical design

Yoganandas Kriya Yoga teachings ...................................10

by Brother Santoshananda
Describes his approach 150 years after its resurrection

Gut dysbiosis triggers Gut and Psychology Syndrome ..13

by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride
The variety of illnesses arising from disturbed gut absorption

Lighting the way in marine conservation .......................16

by Amanda Banks
The activities of conservationists in the US, Canada and Peru

Claudio Naranjo teacher by eloquent example ...........20

by Charles Keck
Recalling when he first encountered the man and his ideas

Top US scientist warns against glyphosate .....................28

Sam Burcher reports on a meeting of the All-Party Group
on Agro-ecology

regular columns
New Global Festivals Steve Nation.................................4
Looking ahead to 2012: Year of Sustainable Energy, Cooperatives
and culminating cycles

Poetry: In Tune with the Spirit .......................................19

Jay Ramsay assesses Mary Olivers Of Love

Books ................................................................................22
The Hidden Geometry of Flowers: Living Rhythms, Form and
Number; Dirty Medicine: The Handbook; Opening the Door to the
Worlds; 2012 A Clarion Call; Environmental Art Therapy and
The Tree of Life; In the Shadow of the Buddha; The View Beyond
Sir Francis Bacon: Alchemy, Science, Mystery

Briefings ...........................................................................36
Electrosensitivity conference covers range of triggers; Laptop Wifi
radiation affects sperm motility and DNA fragmentation; Danish
mobile phone/cancer study rebutted in BMJ; US prisons sued over
soy-laden diet; Canadian First Nations sue Shell over tar sands
destruction; Giordano Bruno Globalshift University; Alfred Riggs
tribute; Ozonated olive oil cream with special properties; Our
Future Planet; New Hawkwood principal, Soka Gakkais 50th
anniversary in Europe

indexes and forms

Advertisers index ..............................................................30
Subscription form/back issues.........................................33
Diary entry form..............................................................34

In this issue
by SIMON BEST

he arresting cover image speaks to the extraordinary

world of flowers and plants and the hidden geometrical
design and structure they express. Prof Keith Critchlow
demonstrates the intimate connection between petal arrangements and the different mathematical components represented in sacred geometry, the variety of which he comprehensively expands upon in his new magnum opus that is also
reviewed in this issue an amazing tour de force.
Known to many for his best-selling autobiography,
Paramahansa Yogananda brought Kriya Yoga to the West in
1920, founding the Self-Realization Fellowship in the USA,
where he arrived. In the 150th year since it was resurrected,
Brother Santoshananda, based at its Los Angeles centre, outlines the principles and practice of Kriya Yoga that is a way of
life to its thousands of worldwide followers.
Protecting the whale and dolphin population is increasingly a focus of conservationists everywhere. Amanda Banks
was fortunate to be able to follow three dedicated individuals
in the US, Canada and Peru who have close encounters with
these creatures on a daily basis. Their work and dedication
should inspire us all.
Gestalt therapist Claudio Naranjo is perhaps best known
for his work on the Enneagram of Personality but Charles
Keck recounts his personal encounter with the man and his
ideas and why he got involved in promoting his truth. A
revealing insight into a pioneer who, normally based in the
US, will be re-visiting the UK early next year.
Problems with gut absorption of nutrients and the range of
physical and mental disorders this can trigger is the subject of
Dr Natasha Campbell-McBrides instructive article, which
emphasizes the strong link between diet and psychological disturbance. It should be required reading for all paediatricians
and those dealing with the ever-increasing number of children
and young adults displaying ADHD, autism, dyslexia and
related cognitive malfunction especially clinicians who use
powerful drugs to treat such syndromes.
Finally, Sam Burcher reports on two important London
meetings. The first was a mock trial of the proposed crime of
Ecocide, which seeks to establish environmental destruction by
companies anywhere in the world as a crime against the planet.
The other was a meeting of the All-Party Group on Agroecology at the Houses of Parliament at which eminent
American plant pathologist Prof Don Huber warned of the
dangers of the pesticide glyphosate and recounted the problems it has caused US farmers. Its effect on the bee population
is also a cause for deep concern. All of which underlines the
need for all of us to be vigilant in caring for our life-supporting Earth and defying those who would greedily exploit it.
Future format of Caduceus
The ongoing worldwide economic downturn, which shows
little sign of improving in the short-term, has pressured many
publications to convert to a digital-only format, saving the
considerable print/distribution costs. Caduceus has resisted
this trend, largely due to the generous support of a few individuals, and wishes to continue to do so. But you, the reader,
can help make a significant difference. If regular readers convert to subscribers and the latter introduce just one new person (thanks to those who have), the difficulty would resolve.
As 2012 looms, with all its expectations, creative and
destructive, we are grateful for your continued support to
bring you the knowledge and wisdom to guide you through
these challenging times. We wish you a relaxing seasonal break.

issue 82 CADUCEUS

Caduceus online
Our website (www.caduceus.info) is attracting a lot of
interest as well as advertising. We have also added an
affiliate programme and aim to expand other facilities,
such as audio-visual, shortly.
Those wishing to advertise either online or in the
magazine can download the rates from the site. You can
also follow us on Facebook and Twitter by searching for
Caduceus Journal.

Caduceus App
See our new App on the Apple
App Store listed under Health.
For advertising details see page 30.

what is Caduceus?
(ka-dew-see-us)

he caduceus is a symbol for the eternal

science of transformation. Opposing
forces in everyone and everything such
as activity and receptivity, light and dark, masculine
and feminine, interact and create a spiralling process of
increasing power, purpose and purity until a state is born
beyond duality. At one level it can be seen operating as
sexuality, at another as a political process, at another as the
chemistry of the awakening psyche, opening beyond polarity,
time and space, when the Divine is born in us, on earth.
The caduceus symbol is found across the cultures and
histories of the world, and is used by scientific and natural
medical and healing professions alike.
Caduceus is a journal about healing in this deeper sense.
It seeks healing into wholeness. It is published independently
and the staff and contributors are drawn from a wide and
diverse experience of healing and spirituality.

Ecocide: A crime
against the planet?
Sam Burcher reports on the first trial
of the proposed crime of Ecocide
nding up in court was probably
the last thing on the mind of
Tony Hayward, BPs former
CEO, when he made the insensitive
statement that he wanted his life back
during the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, which killed 11 men in the Gulf
of Mexico in 2010.
But this scenario was played out in
the Supreme Court in London on 30
September, when two CEOs of oil companies were found guilty of Ecocide.
The trial, however, was a mock one,
organised by environmental lawyer,
author and barrister Polly Higgins, to
test the robustness of Ecocide, her proposed legal mechanism to halt the
extensive destruction of the planet.
The prosecution, the defence, the
judge, the jury and the expert witnesses
were made up of real people. Only the
defendants, played by actors, and the oil
companies were fictional. The indictments were based on two real-life environmental events.
The first count concerned the Deepwater Horizon oil spill where 250 million
gallons of crude oil poured into the deep
ocean creating a dead zone of some 200
square km, killing and oiling birds, and
damaging the pristine mangrove swamps
in the Mississippi Delta. The leak was not
capped for four months.
Two further counts against both
defendants related to the destruction of
Canadas ancient Boreal Forest, where
extracting oil from bitumen in the
Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta is creating a large number of toxic tailing
ponds, some 12 square km (see page 38).
Landing on tailing ponds consisting
of chemicals and oil is disastrous for the
millions of native and migrating birds
arriving at one of the largest mating and
nesting habitats anywhere on the planet.
From the air the ponds appear as glistening lakes; some 1,600 birds died in
one contamination incident.

Michael Mansfield QC, leading the

prosecution case, acted as if the Ecocide
Act had already passed into domestic
law to reflect his concerns about crimes
against the environment and as a trustee
of the planet.
Mansfield explained in his opening
remarks that in this case the intention of
the defendants is irrelevant, its about the
consequences. The corporation is not on
trial here. He said, The important difference is that the international community, by integrating these principles, is
holding the CEOs personally responsible for the systems within individual corporations that have caused the damage.
Unanimous and majority guilty verdicts were returned on both CEOs for

Main picture: Tailings pond north of Syncrude

processing facility and upgrader. Photo: Pembina
Institute Above: (lr) Sue Dhaliwal, Tar Sands
Network, Jenny Sheriff, Polly Higgins, Azul Thorne,
founder of Food from the Sky, and Lucy Gilliam, from
Climate Rush. Photo: Sam Burcher.

causing harm to birds in the Alberta tar

sands. However, a not guilty verdict
was returned for ecosystem damage during the Deepwater Horizon spill. This is
perhaps because BP paid out over 40m
in donations to wildlife centres and
remedial costs at the time.
BP has now set up a $20bn compensation fund, but damages to human
health were not considered in the mock
trial. However, evidence that there was a
surplus of Co-Rexit, the chemical dispersant authorised by the US agencies
cleaning up the oil came as no surprise.
Co-Rexit is found to affect red blood
cells, skin irritation, liver, kidney failure.

It was banned in the UK in 1998 and

elsewhere in Europe, hence the available
stockpile deployed after the spill.
There were numerous reports of a
Gulf blue plague, an illness resulting
from the clean-up operations, which
included the use of a BP, genetically
modified oil dispersant.
In Canada, the health of First
Nations communities is also affected. In
2009 concerns were raised by the Alberta
Health Services about the elevated cancer rates in locals living near the tar
sands. These types of cancers have been
directly linked to petroleum production.
Polly Higgins proposed the Ecocide
Act in 2010 which, if properly
enshrined into international law under
the 2002 UN Rome Statute, would
make Ecocide the fifth crime against the
peace of the planet. The four existing
international crimes against peace are:
Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity,
War Crimes and Crimes of Aggression.
She argues in her book Eradicating
Ecocide (www.eradicatingecocide.com)
this years Peoples Book Prize-winning
book, that peace is unachievable whilst
the rules of the game continue to protect commercial expropriation of the
planet for profit. Im not anti-profit,
but profit out of destruction is wrong.
Its a shift from the protection of the
individual and corporate interests to the
protection of the public, environmental
and societal interests.
Polly has already successfully drawn
up the Universal Declaration for Planetary Rights (2009), which was taken up
by the Bolivian Government after the
Copenhagen climate meeting.
After the trial she told me, Conviction of two CEOs for Ecocide of the Tar
Sands is affirmation of how much we
need this crime to be placed on the
statute books. Today it is the norm to
destroy the Earth without consequence,
tomorrow it will be a crime in law.
issue 82 CADUCEUS

NEW FESTIVALS FOR

OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY

Looking ahead to 2012

Year of Sustainable Energy,
Cooperatives and culminating cycles
by Stephen Nation
ext year, 2012, will undoubtedly
ring bells for many Caduceus
readers as a year of enormous
significance. Its not just the Mayan calendar focus on the Northern hemispheres winter solstice. Other preChristian sources also point to the year
2012 as being of special significance in
the grand transition of the Ages.
In the esoteric teachings that emerged in the first half of the 20th century
there is a similar focus on 2012 in general, and the solstice, December 21st
(the focal point of the Mayan calendar),
in particular.

issue 82 CADUCEUS

Cycles of Full Moon and Venus

In 1942, Alice Bailey wrote that a week
of group impact occurs from 2128
December every seven years. This week
should be regarded as pre-eminently the
festival week of the New Group of
World Servers (the group of all who
love and serve from all faiths and
nationalities). She adds that if this Week
should at any time fall at the period of
the full moon, the opportunity will be
most significant. In 2012 the Capricorn
Full Moon occurs on December 28th.
Rudolf Steiner wrote of two significant cycles that will come into play in

2012 both of which draw on astronomical and planetary alignments. The 33year rhythm is important in the life of the
individual. Actions and creative thoughts
in our lives are said to plant seeds that
take 33 years to mature and reverberate
through our lives and societies.
This 33-year rhythm reflects the cycles
of the solar and lunar calendars. A solar
year is about 11 days longer than a lunar
year and it takes 33 years for the cycles
of the Sun, Moon and Earth to return to
a balanced rhythm. The year 2012 marks
the completion of a 33-year cycle.
On June 6, 2012, Venus, when
viewed from the Earth, will make a rare
transit across the Sun. These transits
happen in pairs over an eight-year
period, separated by over 100 years. The
first of the pair on this round was in
June, 2004. The next pair of transits will
be in December, 2117 and 2125. Steiner
comments that these transits bring
about great changes especially in setting weather patterns.
Astrologically, one of the things making the year 2012 especially interesting

is that it marks a heightening of the tension and stress that comes with the sixyear period (201115) when the planets
Uranus (in Aries) and Pluto (in Capricorn) are in square (90 degrees) to each
other. During June and September,
2012, they will be exactly squared for
the first time in this period it will happen again another five times before the
end of 2015.
In the simplest of terms this suggests
a time of deep and profound transformation coming through crisis and the
opportunities that crisis always presents.
It also implies the possibility of fresh,
Uranian insight, seeing intuitively into
the essence of things.
In her blog, British astrologer Lara
Owen, writes of shocking and surprising
events during this tension between
Uranus and Pluto with the potential for a
surge in democracy and the deeper spirit
of personal engagement and involvement
in the direction of our societies.
She also describes a deep identity
change, possibly including recognition
of the presence of extra-terrestrial life
and a growing sense of our oneness as a
human family. The difficulties we collectively encounter during this phase have
the potential to induce many to rise to a
new level of psychological maturity
So, what are to make of these predictions and planetary alignments? And
how might they influence our meditations and ponderings on the themes,
conferences and special Days of the
United Nations?
2012 International Year of
Sustainable Energy and
Cooperatives
2012 will be observed by the UN as
International Year of Sustainable Energy
for All and International Year of
Cooperatives, two themes that provide
very specific lenses through which we can
explore what the deep changes hinted at
by esoteric teachings and astrological
alignments might mean for the world.
Very few serious thinkers expect any
of the planetary alignments to produce
immediate, sudden changes, although
there may be singular events that shake
up consciousness. The sort of deep identity changes among individuals and societies that have been predicted are already
in process of emerging and we can simply expect this emergence to speed up.
The themes for the year provide a
good way of looking at the sort of
changes that can be strengthened in
response to a maturing of consciousness.
For example, we could look for and

expect to see a noticeable leap in the

number of sustainable energy initiatives
around the world and in the public's
demand for them.
Perhaps the annual Climate Change
negotiations to take place in Korea
toward the end of 2012 might, against
all current predictions, see some significant movement. An increase in the number, the size and the pervasiveness of
cooperatives, as a model of economic
activity, would be another very concrete
way of measuring human response to the
subtle forces flowing through the psyche.
Rio+20
There is one event on the international
calendar that we can expect to be hugely
significant: the 20-year anniversary of
the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro
in 1992. The 2012 event, officially the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, is popularly known
as Rio+20, and it will again be held in
Rio.

The 1992 event played a huge role in

the awakening of humanity to the vision
of sustainable development and also in
mobilizing popular networks around the
world as well as indigenous networks. It
marked the start of a period through the
90s when, in the aftermath of the Cold
War, governments gathered under the
auspices of the UN to ponder and discuss global responses to major problems
facing humanity and the planet.
These were huge sparks in the igniting
of movements for global concern
because, while governments discussed
and negotiated, tens of thousands of people of concern from all over the planet
met in the same city to put pressure on
the governments and, more importantly,
to plan their own globally coordinated
peoples initiatives. Rio in 1992 is of
huge significance as a moment in time
when the global environmental movement emerged onto the world stage.
For esotericists it is important to note
that Rio+20 is scheduled to take place
from June 46. The Full Moon when
the Sun is in Gemini (the Festival of
Humanity and World Invocation Day,
the most important Full Moon of the
year in the Bailey tradition) is on June 4,

2012. And the day when the Conference

ends is the day of the Venus Transit.
What this means is that this important Earth Summit, convened during a
Year of Sustainable Energy for All, will
be held at a time when there is a tide of
Light flooding the psyche. In a metaphysical sense this creates an opportunity for lighted values, values reflecting
a sense of the wholeness and unity of
Life, to become a stronger force in
human affairs.
For meditators it is a time to expect
to see a maturing of the human will to
bring to birth economies and cultures
that reflect this wholeness principle.
Cooperatives and Sustainable Energy for
All are excellent headlines, symbolizing
the sorts of initiatives (from people,
business and government) that we
should expect to grow markedly in
response to the inflowing energies.
This is not to say that a favourable
alignment of energies for Rio+20 means
that success in achieving the goals of
the conference (either for governments
or for peoples groups) is guaranteed. It
just means that the wind will be behind
the backs of those (again from governments or any groups) who are
committed to a more sustainable,
greener, economy. As always, the opportunity is for we human beings to use the
available energies to refine, empower
and mobilize the will to lift our individual and collective lives into a greater
resonance with the good, the beautiful
and the true.
References
Maret K, The Mystery of AD 2012, in The
Mystery of 2012, Predictions, Prophecies &
Possibilities, Boulder, Co, Sounds True, 2007
(reviewed in issue 76).
Bailey A, Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II. Lucis
Press, London & New York, 2004, p. 196.

Steve Nation has been involved in

service work inspired by the Alice
Bailey teachings for many years.
Together with his late wife, Jan, he
is co-founder of Intuition in Service
and the United Nations Days &
Years Meditation Initiative.
Together with his wife, Barbara
Valocore, he is Co-Convenor of the
Spiritual Caucus at the United
Nations. Please Hold in the Light
is his monthly email newsletter on
forthcoming UN events available
from: info@intuition-in-service.org .

Facing page: a family in Tarialan, Uvs Province, Mongolia, uses a solar panel to generate power for their ger, a traditional Mongolian tent. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

issue 82 CADUCEUS

Keith Critchlow, whose new magnum

opus, The Hidden Geometry of Flowers, is
reviewed in this issue, demonstrates how
the design and structure of flowers display
inherent, underlying mathematical
principles that can validly be called sacred
geometry, in Part 1 of a 2-part article.

Hidden
Geometry
Flowers reveal the sacred
geometry of the cosmos
he greatest loss to 20th century
humanity has been the loss of
the symbolic dimension so
said Dr Martin Lings, the authority
on both Shakespeares esoteric dimension and the inner meaning of Sufism.
Symbolism means uniting things in
depth of meaning.
Brian Goodwin, biologist, mathematician and holistic scientist (who
sadly died in July, 2009) stated succinctly that there were three taboo
subjects for all students of science of
his generation in the 1960s, namely
consciousness, qualities and animism.
All these key aspects of our world are
now on the agenda, as he says the
amazing thing being that such subjects
could ever have been off the agenda.
He was an advocate of what has
been described as holistic science, in
which emotion and intuition rank
equally with rational analysis of natural
phenomena. This is an approach that
was inspired by Goethe yet it is as
ancient as wisdom itself. The wisdom

issue 82 CADUCEUS

traditions invariably advocate wholeness

of approach and unity of goal.
Consciousness cannot be an exact science, as it has at least four levels of
being, yet maybe the solution lies in our
approach to exactitude, particularly in
these days of quantum science.
This discussion or debate between
the absolute, the relative and the con-

We only too easily

confuse our definitions of
Reality and Absolutes with
Actuality and Relatives
junctive (which Plato called the soul) is
not new. Plato inherited his wisdom tradition via the Pythagoreans, who are
especially relevant to the problems of
our own times. We only too easily confuse our definitions of Reality and
Absolutes with Actuality and Relatives.
Reality has been significantly demoted
by the physical scientist.

Number reflects different

meanings
A good example of levels of meaning is
number. First, it needs to be established
that, traditionally, there is a detectable
hierarchy of the nature of number. The
three levels can be described as:
a) Archetypal number incomposite;
complete at nine; limited; real yet
summed at ten as the return to unity.
b) Mathematicians number abstract,
indefinitely multiple; unlimited; mentally manipulated by the human mind.
c) The Numbered that is, the material
embodiment of number, one of something, and so on; actual numbering.
The first two aspects of number taken
in this way are evidently abstract in the
sense that they can be treated without
regard to any necessary attachment to
actual or physical things. The difference
between them is, however, profound.
The archetypal numbers remain the
qualitative key to numbers per se (Fig 1).
The mathematicians numbers can
(and are) manipulated endlessly without

Fig 1. The fundamental symmetries of Nature. All article images: Keith Critchlow.

The numbered or numerical aspect

of all materiality can be seen clearly in
the atomic structuring of all of the physical world as well as a group of, say,
seven apples in a bowl.
How does this affect the way we
might see things?

Flowers are the natural

childhood wonder.
Regaining this sense of
wonder is the basis of all
awakening consciousness

any recourse to qualitative or symbolic

value and there are many conventions
in current use. This last is a technical
and quantitative discipline, yet not
intrinsically removable from the philosophical perspective of the original
archetypal numbers.

The awakening power of plants

Flowering plants and the green world
not only play an all-important role in
creating the air we breathe, without
which we could not inhabit dry land,
they also have a vital role in the miraculous awakening of human consciousness, one that raises us to the level of
responsibility that we define as human.
Mathematical forms open up the objective world for us.
Breath (pneuma) is translated as

spirit in the authorized King James version of the Christian New Testament. As
you, the reader, follow these lines,
remember to be aware of the breath you
take and maybe recall the debt you owe
to the green world; after this, contemplate any flower and consider its path
into being and how the flower itself indicates symmetry and number. (Plato called
the awakening of mathematical consciousness, anamnesis or remembering.)
Flowers are the natural childhood
wonder. Regaining this sense of wonder
is the basis of all awakening consciousness. Although flowers are intrinsically
mysterious, they do reveal pattern to
us. The very word pattern is the origin
of re-cognition. Without pattern we
cannot make sense of anything; so pattern is the great reminder.
The word itself has associations with
the French, patron, and Latin, pater.
Pattern is thereby synonymous with
recognition and the power of consciousness. This ensures that we are inseparable from flowers as are all subjects from
objects. All subject-object relationships
are mutually sustaining.
The beauty and balance of the face of

Fig 2. Three-, four-, five- and six-fold (large picture) symmetries and proportions in flowers and geometry.

issue 82 CADUCEUS

Fig 3. The symmetries of specific flowers representing threeness to sixness.

Whether Greek pebbles or flowers?

Symmetry is a fine example of a metaphysical principle. Clearly physical
things can be arranged in symmetrical order but the symmetry itself is quite
independent of the things, whatever they may be. Thus we see how symmetry is a primary bearer of archetypal numbers a very good example of
the bridge between the intelligible principles and the sensory world that is
formatted by them.
In Fig 3 we have shown the first line of spherical marbles in their natural
symmetries from three through six. This is a reminder that these simple
even archetypal spheres were the basis of all mathematical calculation in
the times of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, even Euclid. There were no separate number symbols.
The wisdom of the Hellenes was to keep number and geometry together
in their marbles so that number and geometrical shapes were never separated. And each marble was a reminder of the principial unity.
We next follow with a line of flowers whose petals range from three to
six, symmetries that are easy for the eye to grasp directly. The following line
is the geometrical analyses of each flower in orthogonal lines.
Finally, the last line demonstrates the close relationship between the
enforming geometry and each actual flower. Here we can reiterate the fact
that the geometers are expressing timeless Realities, whilst each flower in
this world is expressing the principle of actuality.

a flower are the most natural and repetitive reminders of the laws of mathematical and spatial order, the laws underlying beauty. As Socrates says in the
Republic, Geometry is the art of the
ever true.1

issue 82 CADUCEUS

The constant reminder that flowers

are emissaries of the ever-true reminds
us that we live in a cosmos not a chaos.
When Galileo Galilei wrote in 1623
about astronomy, The grand book of
the Universe was written in the lan-

guage of mathematics and its characters

are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without which it is impossible to understand a single word of it, is
this not also true of the inner beauty of
flowers? It is one thing to enjoy flowers another to understand their full
dimensions of meaning for us as developing human beings. They are the emissaries of all ordered relationships presented in beauty.
Each part of the natural world is
inseparably related to each other part
otherwise the word universe could have
no meaning. The author is convinced
that the rediscovery of complete interrelatedness or wholeness is essential at
this point in human history.
The fractioning of our minds and the
increasing categorization that encourages
this leads obviously and inevitably to the
fractioning and divisions in our worldview. This eventually becomes fractures
in the balance of Nature as a whole, giving rise to inevitable conflict, as we are
all only too aware today. Surely we have
differences, but we are also embraced by
samenesses. It is recognizing the conceptual balance between them that can
be called the harmony of being.
The consequence of treating the vegetative world as merely fodder for ourselves as well as animals has real dangers,
as pointed out by Krishnamurti:
If you lose touch with Nature you
lose touch with humanity.
Geometries manifest in
different flowers
Petals unfold in quite clear symmetries
on the whole. This integrates our awareness both of the abstract nature of symmetry as well as the fact that this quality
is determining the pattern of the flower.
The relationship between ourselves
and flowers and plants will always
remain essentially powerful yet mysterious. Albert Einstein is said to have frequently quoted the Biblical phrase, All
flesh is grass.
We need, particularly at this point in
human history, where so many and so
much of our foodstuffs are artificially
processed, canned and packaged, to be
reminded of the total debt that we owe
to the vegetal world for our own bodily
fabric, just as we need to be reminded of
the essential relationship between the
insect world particularly the bees
and the fertility of plants. No bees, no
plants. No plants, no people. No pollen,
no flowers. If there is no pollination,
there can be no new generation of the
vegetal kingdom.
The bee is so important as a bridge
between the worlds of plant and insect

Fig. 4. Seven-fold, eight-fold and nine-fold symmetries in the plant world.

and human that there is even a whole

chapter (Surah) of the The Holy Quran
entitled The Bee. (In the Judaic/
Christian Old Testament bees are
famously mentioned in Judges 14:8,
where Samson is fed by honey in the
body of the lion he has killed, from
which we get the riddle: Out of the
strong came forth sweetness.)

Conclusion
As the distinguished American farmer,
Luther Burbank, said: The truth is
that life is not material and that the
life stream is not a substance.
For those who live intimately with
the natural world like farmers and gardeners, this conclusion is the great
unspoken knowledge or green

The Geometry of the Sectioned Apple

As we, somehow, are more used to cutting an apple lengthwise, in this case
we have cut the apple across so that we cut through the pips or seeds. This
offers a quite different view of the symmetry and thereby sacred geometry
of the apple.
The extremities of the outer part of the pips or seeds coincide well with
the crossover points of the pentacle or five-pointed star that is determined
by the outer perimeter of the apples skin.
The other feature often less noticed is the set of ten yellow points in the
inner structure of the flesh of the apple. These are found by drawing a circle
through the intersection points of the curved pentacle and the straight pentacle or five-pointed star.
I have also suggested the geometrical basis for the seeds based on
simple vesica forms.2 These come from another five-pointed star constructed from the surrounding then yellow points.

wisdom. The sages of earlier human

societies taught that Nature was the
great educator. The Chinese Master
Chu Tzu or Chu Hsi (ad 11301200)
says in his commentary on Yang and
Yin, the two most fundamental universal forces:
The teachings concerning the Yang
and Yin and the five elements (or agents
of materiality) are made visible in the
book of Nature so that humanity may
learn. A simple statement with
immense significance.
References
1. Platos Republic, Ch 3.
2. Critchlow K. The Hidden Geometry of
Flowers, Floris, Edinburgh, 2010 (see Reviews).
[For an in-depth overview of the expression of
sacred geometry principles in many facets of
biology, music and the cosmos, see 2-part article by Richard Merrick in issues 78 and 79.]

Professor Keith Critchlow is a

well-known lecturer, author and a
founding member of Research Into
Lost Knowledge Organization
(RILKO), a Director of Studies of
Kairos and a founding member and
President of the Temenos Academy.
He is Professor Emeritus and
founder of the Visual Islamic and
Traditional Arts Programme at the
Royal College of Art, now the
Princes School of Traditional Arts.
He has been a senior lecturer at the
Architectural Association in London
and has taught Islamic Art at the
Royal College of Art. His previous
books include Order in Space
(1975), Islamic Patterns: An
Analytical and Cosmological
Approach (1999); Time Stands
Still: New Light on Megalithic
Science (2007) reviewed in
issue 73.
issue 82 CADUCEUS

YOGANANDAS
Kriya Yoga teachings
A practical spiritual path for contemporary life
Celebrating 150 years since Kriya Yoga was resurrected,
Brother Santoshananda describes how its techniques and lifestyle
enable its practitioner to experience union with God
n 1920 a young swami from India
first set foot on western soil, as the
Indian delegate to an International
Congress of Religious Liberals convening in Boston, Massachusetts, to deliver
a speech on the science of religion.
Paramahansa Yoganandas arrival would
mark the beginnings of his profound
impact on Western truth-seekers and of
the growing recognition of his role as
the father of Yoga in the West.
Yogananda was instructed by his ven-

10

issue 82 CADUCEUS

erable line of gurus to bring the ancient

science of Kriya Yoga to the west and it
was for this purpose that he established
the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in
1920, the same year as his arrival in the
USA. Originating millennia ago in India,
Kriya Yoga includes certain techniques of
meditation whose devoted practice leads
to realization of God. These methods
serve to quiet both body and mind, and
make it possible to withdraw ones energy
and attention from the usual turbulence

of thoughts, emotions and sensory perceptions. In the clarity of that inner stillness, one comes to experience a deepening interior peace and attunement with
ones soul and with God.
It was in the autumn of 1861
exactly 150 years ago that Kriya Yoga,
the sacred science of soul-realization,
was resurrected after centuries of neardormancy (during which time it was
taught only to ascetics) and made accessible to earnest seekers. It was then that

Lahiri Mahasaya, who lived as a householder with family and work responsibilities, experienced his first encounter
with his guru, Mahavatar Babaji, and
received Kriya Yoga from him a seminal meeting that has been immortalized
in the pages of Yoganandas Autobiography of a Yogi. Babaji later requested
Lahiri Mahasaya's disciple, Swami Sri
Yukteswar, to train Yogananda and send
him to the West to give this soul-revealing technique to the world.
Royal path of Raja Yoga
The Kriya meditation techniques are at
the core of the Raja Yoga path taught by
Yogananda. Raja Yoga is the royal or
highest path to God-union and it entails
a way of life that leads to perfect unfoldment of body, mind and soul, based on
scientific meditation techniques (such as
Kriya) as the surest means for realizing
God. It embraces the highest essentials
from all other forms of Yoga. These
include Bhakti, devotion; Jnana, wisdom;
Karma, right action; and Hatha, which
deals mainly with physical postures of
the body, to render it fit for meditation.
Kriya Yoga, specifically, involves conscious control of the life-force, or cosmic energy, and of our consciousness. As
we control these, the breath automatically calms down and becomes controlled in a natural way. Calming the
breath by Kriya practice enables the
consciousness to be drawn to higher levels of perception, gradually bringing
about an inner awakening of ones true
self the soul.
The Sanskrit root of the word kriya
is kri, literally to do, to act and react.
The same root is also found in karma,
which is the natural law of cause and
effect. The action of practising the technique of Kriya causes a definite effect.
Thus, Kriya Yoga is union (yoga) with
the Infinite through a certain act or rite.
Practising Kriya is a conscious action, a
pure spiritual action. Thats the difference between it and most other actions,
which involve the law of karma.
The equilibrating law of karma is of
action and reaction. Whatever energies a
person sets in motion will return to him,
either in this life or a future life. An
understanding of karma as the law of
justice helps us to make sense of the
seeming inequities of life. Kriya Yoga is
the highest form of action because it liberates our souls from the consequences
of our karma and from delusion.
The goal of Kriya Yoga is to help liberate our souls and thus make us realize
our oneness with God. We are souls
made in the image of God but we are
unaware of our souls because they are

Facing page: Paramahansa Yogananda at the 1950 dedication of SRF Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades, California.
Above: A meditator at the international headquarters of Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles.

obscured by past karma and ignorance,

or delusion. Paramahansaji gave the
example of a nugget of gold covered by a
crust of dirt, which hides the gold underneath. The gold symbolizes the soul,
covered by a crust of delusion and past
karma. As we practise the technique of
Kriya, the crust is burned off, gradually.
As karma and delusion fall away, we
become aware of our souls within. With
this growing awareness, we are more able
to use our intuition to guide us in our
everyday lives. Instead of being compelled by habit or past karma or conditioning, we start to behave according to
the spiritual wisdom and the guidance of
our souls unfolding from within.
Three meditational techniques
Paramahansaji taught three main techniques of meditation in addition to Kriya
Yoga. The Technique of Energization
deals directly with the prana, the cosmic
energy by which we are all sustained.
Through the practice of this technique,
we consciously draw prana into the body,
recharging it with cosmic energy. The
Technique of Energization helps us see
that we are sustained by Gods divine
energy all the time. This technique also
revitalizes and rejuvenates our bodies,
preparing them for meditation.
The Technique of Concentration
enables us to develop our powers of
attention and concentration just by
observing our breath, by watching our
inhalation and exhalation. As we practise
this technique we naturally become the
silent witness of our breath. We become
calm and aware of our souls, realizing we
are not the body, not the mind, but the
soul made in the image of God.
Practice of the third technique, the

Technique of Meditation, brings direct

experience of God as Aum, or Holy
Ghost, that aspect of God which creates
and sustains all things. This technique
expands our consciousness beyond the
limited body and mind and helps us
realize our infinite divine potential.
After practising these three techniques regularly for at least a year, students of the SRF Lessons can then
request to learn the higher technique of
Kriya, which is the quickest way to
God-realization.
Complete way of life
Kriya Yoga is more than just the regular
practice of meditation techniques. It
encompasses both a complete philosophy and a way of life. Paramahansaji
teaches that the first goal of life is to
find God and realize our oneness with
Him. The second goal is to realize that
each one of us as an individual has a
purpose here on Earth and to learn to
live our day-to-day lives in harmony
with Gods divine intentions. We tend
to think there is a division between these
two goals, but they are not separate;
they unfold together. They are two sides
of the same coin. The first is to go back
to the Source and the second is to
unfold, manifest and express the Source.
The unfoldment of our everyday lives
cannot be separated from our practice of
meditation because as we practise regularly and go deeper into the practice, we
begin to see life in a different way. We
see that Yoga is a way of life, not merely
a philosophy to conceptualize, but to
realize and express in every aspect of our
lives. If a practice cannot help us to
improve our everyday life, it is not Yoga,
for Yoga is part of life.
issue 82 CADUCEUS

11

then we take proper action, guided

through our soul intuition.

In the centre, from left to right, SRF monastics Brother Jayananda and Brother Sevananda, with members of
the London Centre of Self-Realization Fellowship.

The science of Kriya Yoga

Excerpt from Yoganandas Autobiography of a Yogi (SRF, LA, California.
Reprinted with permission)
Kriya Yoga is a simple, psychophysiological method by which human blood
is de-carbonated and re-charged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current to rejuvenate the brain and spinal centers. By stopping the accumulation of venous blood, the yogi is able to
lessen or prevent the decay of tissues. The advanced yogi transmutes his
cells into energy. Elijah, Jesus, Kabir and other prophets were past masters
in the use of Kriya or a similar technique, by which they caused their bodies
to materialize and de-materialize at will.
Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his great
guru, Babaji, who rediscovered and clarified the technique after it had been
lost in the Dark Ages. Babaji renamed it, simply, Kriya Yoga.
The Kriya Yoga that I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century, Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, is a revival of the same science
that Krishna gave millenniums ago to Arjuna; and that was later known to
Patanjali and Christ, and to St John, St Paul and other disciples.
Kriya Yoga is twice referred to by Lord Krishna, Indias greatest prophet,
in the Bhagavad Gita. One stanza reads: Offering the inhaling breath into the
exhaling breath and offering the exhaling breath into the inhaling breath, the
yogi neutralizes both breaths; thus he releases prana from the heart and
brings life force under his control. (Bhagavad Gita IV: 29).
The interpretation is: The yogi arrests decay in the body by securing an
additional supply of prana (life force) through quieting the action of the lungs
and heart; he also arrests mutations of growth in the body by control of
apana (eliminating current). Thus neutralizing decay and growth, the yogi
learns life-force control.

In order to achieve these goals,

Paramahansaji teaches the foundational
steps of spiritual living, the things that
we should do and the things we should
not do. For example, we should cultivate
honesty, compassion and reverence for
the Divine. These are the basic moral
principles of all religions. But in order
to progress spiritually, we have to
include meditation on the soul.
There are two aspects in religion, the
esoteric and the exoteric. To put it simply, it is to do good, to love God and to
meditate. Yoga involves both, but it
leads from the outer, behavioural guidelines to the inner aspect of meditation.

12

issue 82 CADUCEUS

We should not stay only on the external,

but continue on to follow the inner
steps leading us toward self-realization.
Introspection, prayer and affirmation
are connected to the whole process of
soul-realization. For instance, if we
become overwhelmed by a problem, we
may find were not making much progress, spiritually or otherwise. As a first
step, we can use introspection to find the
cause of our difficulty, to become aware
of what is holding us back.
Once we have done that, we find an
appropriate affirmation to help us solve
the problem. Along with that, we pray,
asking Gods help and guidance. And

Praying for others and

world peace
Prayer for the health and well-being
of others, and for world peace, is an
important part of the spiritual path.
Paramahansaji devoted a great deal of
his time to praying for others. He began
the Self-Realization Fellowship Prayer
Council, made up of SRF monks and
nuns, to help with this effort. The
Prayer Council also guides the work of
the SRF Worldwide Prayer Circle, an
international network of people who
augment the work of the Prayer
Council. This is an essential part of the
spiritual path and it will help uplift the
whole world.
There are many practical benefits of
practising yoga meditation, calmness
being the first benefit for most people. It
is important to be calm and peaceful in
a world of stress and tension. Meditation frees us from stress and tension.
Yogananda said, Meditation is relaxation in God.
Peace is the basic foundation of all
spiritual experience to come. In peacefulness we become aware of our soul, of
its love and joy. Realizing that, we begin
to express and unfold the attributes of
our soul in every sphere of life, including
our relationships, our work, everything.
Meditation is a process that contributes to the healing of the body, mind
and soul. As we become more relaxed
and peaceful, the life energy flows more
freely into and through us. Also, the
mind becomes clearer, more focused. We
are more mindful and more able to give
our complete attention to whatever we
are doing, so we become more effective
in all areas of our lives. And, of course,
we begin to receive the guidance of our
souls, which helps us achieve success and
fulfillment. These are some of the ways
the path of Kriya Yoga brings benefits
that permeate all areas of life.
Brother Santoshananda, whose
name means joy through contentment in all circumstances, has been
a Self-Realization Fellowship monk
for more than 50 years. He presently
serves as minister at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in
Pacific Palisades, California. For
more about the life and work of
Paramahansa Yogananda, his SelfRealization Fellowship and SRF
Centres in the UK and around the
world, visit www.yogananda-srf.org

jointed picture of overlapping

neurological and psychiatric conditions.

Gut and
Psychology
Syndrome
Natasha Campbell-McBride describes the links
between disorders of gut absorption and flora
dysbiosis and a variety of physical and psychological
disorders that she treats with nutritional protocols
Picture: Escherichia coli, one of the many species of bacteria present in the human gut

e live in the world of unfolding epidemics. Autistic spectrum disorders, Attention

Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/
ADD), schizophrenia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and other
neuro-psychological and psychiatric
problems in children and adults are becoming more and more common.
In clinical practice these conditions
overlap with each other. A patient with
autism is often hyperactive and dyspraxic. There is about 50 percent
overlap between dyslexia and dyspraxia,
and 2550 percent overlap between
ADHD/ADD and dyslexia and dyspraxia. Child-ren with these conditions
are often diagnosed as being depressed

and as they grow up they are more

prone to drug abuse or alcoholism
than their typically developing peers.
A young person diagnosed with
schizophrenia would often suffer from
dyslexia, dyspraxia or/and ADHD/
ADD in childhood.
When we start examining the patients with these so-called mental conditions, we find that they are also
physically ill. Digestive problems, allergies, eczema, asthma, various food intolerances and immune system
abnormalities are universally present
among them. We have created different
diagnostic boxes to fit these patients in
but a modern patient does not fit into
any one of them neatly. The modern patient, in most cases, fits into a rather dis-

Digestive system
dysfunction
Why are all these conditions
related? What underlying problem
are we missing?
To answer all these questions
we have to look at one factor that
unites all these patients in a clinical
setting: the state of their digestive
system. I have yet to meet a child or an
adult with autism, ADHD/ ADD, dyspraxia, dyslexia, schizophrenia, bipolar
disorder, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder who does not have
digestive abnormalities.
In many cases they are severe enough
for the patients or their parents to start
talking about them first. In some cases
the parents may not mention their
childs digestive system yet, when asked
direct questions, would describe a plethora of gut problems. But what have
digestive abnormalities got to do with
these so-called mental problems? According to recent research and clinical
experience a lot! In fact, it appears that
the patients digestive system holds the
key to the patients mental state.
Typical scenario in clinical practice
Before examining the patient it is very
important to look at the health history
of the parents. Whenever the parents are
mentioned people immediately think
about genetics. However, apart from
genetics, there is something very important the parents, mother in particular,
pass to their child: their unique gut
micro-flora.
Not many people know that an adult
on average carries 2 kg of bacteria in the
gut. There are more cells in that microbial mass than there are cells in an entire
human body. It is a highly organised
micro-world, where certain species of
bacteria have to predominate to keep us
healthy physically and mentally. Their
role in our health is so monumental that
we simply cannot afford to ignore them.
Before going into detail about the childs
gut flora below, l will focus on the source
of the childs gut flora the parents.
After studying hundreds of cases
of neurological and psychiatric conditions in children and adults, a typical
health picture of these childrens mothers has emerged.
A typical modern mother has not
been breast-fed when she was a baby
because she was born in the 60s or 70s
when breast-feeding went out of fashion.
Why is it important? Because it is wellissue 82 CADUCEUS

13

known now that bottle-fed babies

develop completely different gut flora to
the breast-fed babies. This compromised
gut flora in a bottle-fed baby later on
predisposes her to many health problems.
Having acquired compromised gut
flora from the start, a typical modern
mother has had quite a few courses of
antibiotics in her childhood and youth
for various infections. It is a well-known
that antibiotics have a serious, damaging
effect on gut flora because they wipe
out the beneficial strains of bacteria in
the gut.
At the age of 16 and sometimes
even earlier the modern mother was
put on a contraceptive pill, which she
took for quite a few years before starting
a family. Contraceptive pills have a devastating effect on the beneficial bacteria
in the gut.
One of the major functions of the
good bacteria in the gut flora is controlling thousands of pathogenic and opportunistic microbes. When the beneficial
bacteria get destroyed, the opportunists
get a special opportunity to grow into
large colonies and occupy large areas of
the digestive tract. A modern diet of processed and fast food provides perfect
nourishment for these pathogens and
that is a typical diet a modern mother
had as a child and a young adult.
As a result of all these factors todays
mother has seriously compromised gut
flora by the time she is ready to have
children. And, indeed, clinical signs of
gut dysbiosis (abnormal gut flora) are
present in almost 100% of mothers of
children with neurological and psychiatric conditions.
But why are we talking about the
mothers gut flora? Because her baby is
born with a sterile gut. In the first 20 or
so days of life the babys virgin gut surface
gets populated by a mixture of microbes.
This is the childs gut flora, which will
have a tremendous effect on this childs
health for the rest of his/her life.
Where does this gut flora come from?
Mainly from the mother at the time of
birth. So, whatever microbial flora the
mother has she would pass to her newborn child. Fathers with abnormal gut
flora contribute to the bodily flora of
the mother and, through her, to the gut
flora of the child.
Functions of gut flora
Gut flora is something we do not think
much about. And yet the number of
functions the gut flora fulfils is so vital for
us that if some day our digestive tract got
sterilised, we probably would not survive.
The first and very important function is appropriate digestion and absorp-

14

issue 82 CADUCEUS

tion of food. If a child does not acquire

normal, balanced gut flora, then the
child will not digest and absorb foods
properly, developing multiple nutritional deficiencies.
Apart from normal digestion and
absorption of food, healthy gut flora
actively synthesises various nutrients:
vitamin K, pantothenic acid, folic acid,
thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), cyancobalamine (vitamin B12), various amino acids and proteins. Indeed, when tested, people with
gut dysbiosis always present with deficiencies of these nutrients. Clinical
experience shows that restoring the beneficial bacteria in their gut is the best
way to deal with these deficiencies.
Apart from taking a vital part in
nourishing the body, beneficial bacteria
in the gut act as the housekeepers for the
digestive tract. They coat the entire surface of the gut, protecting it from
invaders and toxins. Lack of beneficial
bacteria would allow disease-causing
microbes to grow and occupy large parts
of the digestive system, causing damage
and inflammation in the gut wall.
So, it is no surprise that when the gut
flora is abnormal, the digestive tract
itself cannot be healthy. Indeed, most
patients with learning disabilities, psychiatric disorders and allergies present
with digestive problems: constipation
and diarrhoea, infantile colic and
abdominal pain, bloating and flatulence,
reflux and indigestion.
A baby is born with an immature
immune system. Establishment of
healthy, balanced gut flora in the first
few days of life plays a crucial role in
appropriate maturation of the immune
system. If the baby acquires compromised gut flora from the mother, then
the baby is left immune-compromised.
The result is lots of infections followed
by lots of courses of antibiotics, which
damage the childs gut flora and
immune system even further.
Well-functioning gut flora is the right
hand of our immune system. Damage
inflicted upon the gut flora typically
leads to an imbalance between major
parts of immunity, resulting in allergies,
asthma, eczema and autoimmunity.
So, a child born from parents with
abnormal gut flora did not receive normal gut flora from the start and then
had it damaged even further by repeated
courses of antibiotics and vaccinations.
As a result, these children commonly
suffer from digestive problems, allergies,
asthma and eczema.
But apart from that, in children and
adults who then go on to develop neu-

rological and psychiatric problems

something even more disruptive happens. Without control of the beneficial
bacteria, different opportunistic and
pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi
have a good chance to occupy large territories in the digestive tract and grow
large colonies.
Yeasts and Clostridia
Two particular groups that are most
commonly found on testing are yeasts
(including Candida species) and the
Clostridia family. These pathogenic
microbes start digesting food in their
own way, producing large amounts of
various toxic substances, which get
absorbed into the blood stream,
carried to the brain and cross the bloodbrain barrier.
The number and mixture of toxins
can be very individual, causing different
neurological and psychological symptoms. Due to the absence or greatly
reduced numbers of beneficial bacteria
in the gut flora, the persons digestive
system, instead of being a source of
nourishment, becomes a major source of
toxicity in the body.
Many toxins have not been studied
very well yet but some have received a
considerable amount of research.
Acetaldehyde and alcohol
What have these substances got to do
with our patients? The most common
pathogenic microbes shown to overgrow
in the digestive systems of children and
adults with neuro-psychiatric conditions
are yeasts, particularly Candida species.
Yeasts ferment dietary carbohydrates,
producing alcohol and its by-product
acetaldehyde. An overgrowth of yeast in
the gut would constantly supply the
body with these poisons flowing from
the gut into the bloodstream. This condition was first described by Japanese
researchers in the 70s and 80s and
named an auto-brewery syndrome.
Acetaldehyde is considered to be the
most toxic of alcohol by-products. It is
the chemical that gives us the feeling of
a hangover. Children who acquire
abnormal gut flora with a lot of yeast
from the start may never know any
other feeling.
Acetaldehyde has a large variety of
toxic influences on the body. One of the
most devastating influences of this
chemical is its ability to alter the structure of proteins. Acetaldehyde-altered
proteins are thought to be responsible
for many autoimmune reactions and
patients with neuro-psychological problems are commonly found to have antibodies against their own tissues.

Raw milk is a nutritious, probiotic-rich,

immune system booster
Raw, organicmilk is one of the oldest probiotic foods on the planet; it contains microbes beneficial to health and provides food for these supportive
microbes. If you leave raw milk at room temperature, it will naturally curdle
and turn into a yoghurt-like food full of probiotic bacteria, very nourishing
and easy to digest.
Apart from its probiotic component boostingyour immunity, raw organic
milk is a perfect food for the immune system. Milk from any animal is, in
effect, her white blood with red blood cells removed. It is alive, full of living
and active immune cells (neutrophils, lymphocytes, antibodies, etc), vitamins, enzymes and other nutrients thatboost immunity.
Pasteurisation kills the milk, destroying the immune cells, antibodies
andmany vitamins andenzymes, which renders the milk useless for
theimmune system. But as if that were not enough, pasteurisation changes
the chemical structure of proteins and other nutrients in the milk. Many people react tothese proteins and other nutrientsmutilated by pasteurisation
and become allergic to milk; in many cases when the person switches to
consumingthe milk raw, there is no allergy.
Milk contains a natural sugar, called lactose. Raw milk contains an
enzyme, lactase, that breaks down this sugar. Pasteurisation destroys this
enzyme, which makespasteurised milka problem formany people because
theycannot digest lactose and thus become lactose-intolerant, with a host
of unpleasant symptoms. A large percent of lactose-intolerant people can
drink raw milk without any problem. [See Caduceus 80s comprehensive article: Drinking raw milk the pros and cons of processing]

Clostridia neurotoxins
There are about 100 different Clostridia
species known so far. They are present
in the stools of people with autism,
schizophrenia, psychosis, severe depression, muscle paralysis and muscle tone
abnormalities and some other neurological and psychiatric conditions. Many
Clostridia species are normal inhabitants
of the human gut.
For example, Clostridium tetani is
routinely found in the gut of healthy
humans and animals. Everybody knows
that tetanus is a deadly disease, due to
an extremely powerful neurotoxin that
Clostridium tetani produces. The latter,
which lives in the gut, is normally controlled by the beneficial bacteria and
does us no harm because its toxin cannot get through the healthy gut wall.
Unfortunately, the patients we are
talking about do not have a healthy gut
wall. In gut dysbiosis these powerful
neurotoxins get absorbed through the
damaged gut lining and then cross the
blood-brain barrier, affecting the
patients mental functioning.
Yeasts and Clostridia have been
given a special opportunity by the era
of antibiotics. Broad-spectrum antibiotics do not touch them, while killing
the beneficial bacteria in the gut,
which normally control the yeasts and
Clostridia. So, after every course of
antibiotics these two pathogenic
groups get out of control and overgrow.
The patients that concern us usually
are exposed to numerous courses of

antibiotics almost from the beginning

of their lives.
Gluteomorphins and
casomorphins
Opiates are drugs like opium, morphine
and heroin that are commonly used by
drug addicts. What have they got to do
with our patients?
Gluten is a protein present in grains,
mainly wheat, rye, oats and barley. Casein is a milk protein, present in cow,
goat, sheep, human and all other animal
milk and milk products. In gut dysbiosis
these proteins do not have a chance to
be digested properly before they get
absorbed in the form of substances with
similar chemical structure to opiates,
like morphine and heroin.
There has been quite a substantial
amount of research done in this area by
doctors Dohan, Reichelt, Shattock, Cade
and others, where gluten and casein peptides, called gluteomorphins and casomorphins, were detected in the urine of
schizophrenic patients, autistic and
ADHD children, patients with depression and autoimmune conditions. These
opiates from wheat and milk get through
the blood-brain barrier and block certain
areas of the brain, just like morphine or
heroin would do, causing various neurological and psychological symptoms.
Gut and Psychology Syndrome
I have mentioned a few toxins found in
these patients; there are many others
being studied. The mixture of toxicity in

each child or adult can be quite individual and different. But what they all have
in common is gut dysbiosis (abnormal
gut flora). The toxicity that is produced
by the abnormal microbial mass in these
patients establishes a link between the
gut and the brain. That is why it is logical to group these disorders under one
name: the Gut and Psychology
Syndrome (GAPS).
GAPS children and adults can present with symptoms of autism, ADHD,
ADD, OCD, dyslexia, dyspraxia,
schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, sleep disorders, allergies, asthma
and eczema in any possible combination. These are the patients who fall into
no current medical category.
Any child or adult with a learning disability, neurological or psychological
problems and allergies should be thoroughly examined for gut dysbiosis. Reestablishing normal gut flora and treating
the digestive system of the person has to
be the number one treatment for these
disorders, before considering any other
treatments with drugs or otherwise.
Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAP
Syndrome or GAPS) establishes the connection between the state of the patients
gut and the functioning of the brain.
This connection has been known by
medical researchers for a very long time.
The father of modern psychiatry, French
psychiatrist Phillipe Pinel (17451828),
after working with mental patients for
many years, concluded in 1807:
The primary seat of insanity generally is in the region of the stomach and
intestines. Long before him Hippocrates
(460370 BC), the father of modern
medicine, said: All diseases begin in
the gut!
The more we learn with our modern
scientific tools, the more we realise just
how right they were!
References are available from the author.

Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride,
MD, MmedSci (neurology),
MmedSci (human nutrition), runs
a clinic near Cambridge treating a
range of psychological and physical
illnesses using a nutritional protocol,
as described in her book, Gut and
Psychology Syndrome. Natural
treatment for autism, dyspraxia,
ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, depression and schizophrenia, the 2nd
edition of which will be reviewed in
the next issue. More information:
www.gaps.me .
issue 82 CADUCEUS

15

Amanda Banks reports on the

inspiring work of three
dedicated cetacean
conservationists in the USA,
Canada and Peru

Lighting
the way
in marine
conservation

ur planets oceans are currently

home to many cetacean species
(whales and dolphins) struggling to survive the aftermath of the
whaling years. The latter began around
1,000 years ago, reaching its peak in
the late 1800s and early 1900s. During
the 1930s the need to conserve whales
gradually gained recognition but by this
time many species were on the brink of
extinction. Today, although some
species populations are recovering, this
recovery is impeded by human activities
detrimental to both cetaceans and
entire ocean ecosystems.
I recently had the good fortune to
work alongside three cetacean researchers
on the North and South American continents: Peggy Stap, a killer whale
researcher in Monterey Bay, USA; Laurie
Murison, a North Atlantic right whale
researcher on Grand Manan Island,
Canada; and Stefan Austermhle, a
marine and dolphin researcher in Lima,
Peru. Each of these individuals has the
desire to live a life at sea, engaged in
studying the animals they love. But,
given the threats that all cetaceans face,
they are driven to accept the added
responsibility of attempting to conserve
our planets ocean giants.
During the three months in which I
accompanied and interviewed each conservationist, I was struck by the flexibility

16

issue 82 CADUCEUS

demanded of them to combine their

research and eco-tourism activities with
education, conservation and humanitarian initiatives. I was also humbled by
their relentless dedication to the cause;
working seven day weeks, year in, year
out, sometimes in the face of frustrating
apathy from the outside world. I interviewed them about the array of conservation strategies their organizations implement and asked them for their thoughts
on how we could all play our part to protect our worlds oceans with better grace.
Peggy Stap, Marine Life
Studies (MLS)
Peggy Stap is a bubbly, positive, energetic, creative woman. Her background
is unusual; she did not discover whales
until she was 40 and on a whale-watching trip to Hawaii. Prior to this she
studied medical technology and worked
in such diverse areas as landscape gardening, textile design and greenhouse
construction. After 10 years of determined hard work and cetacean research
experience, she established MLS with
the aim of studying killer whales.
Peggy is relatively lucky; Monterey
Bay is not facing major environmental
threats. The bay is part of a protected
sanctuary, set in a relatively prosperous
area, and is a rich feeding ground for
many cetacean species. However, even

here, conservation issues demand

Peggys attention and influence the
remit of MLS.
Conservation initiatives
Many children grow up here without
even visiting the ocean, she told me. If
understanding breeds love, breeds
action, then the opposite is also true;
a lack of understanding breeds apathy,
breeds inaction. Much of MLSs work
has therefore become focused on educational activities, in particular with children from the local community.
We must encourage children to be
the environmental stewards of the
future and show them that the choices
they make every day, like whether to use
plastic bags, can make a huge difference. One such initiative, the Junior
Research Scientist Program, teaches
local school children the skills necessary
to become a whale researcher.
With significant numbers of whales
migrating to and through the Monterey
Bay area, a second issue is whale entanglement, which constitutes a major
cause of whale injury and mortality in
many of the worlds oceans.
When a whale becomes entangled in
marine debris it can suffer a slow and
painful death through malnutrition and
infection. Prior to 2006 in the Monterey
Bay National Marine Sanctuary, no for-

Main picture: Leaping humpback whale. Top right: Working together with
fishermen to release a harbour porpoise from a herring weir on Grand Manan Island.
Photo: Sara Wormell. Bottom right: Two endangered North Atlantic Right Whales
raise their heads as they socialise off Grand Manan Island. Photo: Laurie Murison

malised team existed to deal with this

problem. In 2006, MLS, in collaboration with other organizations, spearheaded the establishment of W.E.T
(Whale Entanglement Team). By 2009
the organization had delivered training
and established a public, emergency free
phone number.
Individual responsibility
Peggy works at a local level in cooperation with the community. Not surprisingly, when I asked her about the roles
we can all play to care for this planet,
she talked passionately about individual
responsibility.
There are simple choices which
everyone can make such as picking up
litter, using cloth bags, saying no to
plastic and donating to conservation
organizations. Peggy believes in the role
of individuals at a grass roots level to
influence the behaviour of others.
If I influence just two people who
influence two people, who influence two
more people very quickly that influence has expanded to thousands of people. If we want our leaders to do more,
we must tell them so by writing emails
and signing petitions. If we want businesses to change their habits we must
buy from ethical businesses and write to
manufacturers. Peggy summed up the
meaning of personal responsibility very

eloquently with the following words.

When I am on my deathbed it is me,
and me alone, who will either suffer
from having stored up guilt over my
actions on this planet, or be at peace
from knowing I have lived my life trying
to make a difference.
Laurie Murison, Grand Manan
Whale and Seabird Research
Station (GMWSRS)
Laurie Murison is a grounded, calm,
curious problem-solver and mediator.
Her early interests lay in terrestrial mammals and she studied for a degree in biol-

There are simple choices

which everyone can make
such as picking up litter,
using cloth bags, saying no
to plastic and donating
ogy. However, living in Canada provided
greater opportunity for studying sea
rather than land mammals and she was
drawn to take a marine mammals course.
This in turn led to a Masters degree
studying North Atlantic right whales in
the Bay of Fundy. Upon completion, she
decided to stay in the bay and remains to
this day on Grand Manan Island as executive director of GMWSRS.
In the Bay of Fundy, and nearby Gulf

of Maine, pressing matters affect the

lives of cetaceans. Fishing and shipping
are major industries in the area with
impacts on whales ranging from entanglement and ship collisions to chemical
and noise pollution. Throughout the
years, GMWSRS has inevitably played a
role in this challenging and, at times,
controversial arena.
Conservation initiatives
In 1991 GMWSRS implemented the
harbour porpoise release scheme in
response to harbour porpoises becoming
trapped in fishing weirs. The organization developed a formalised release program involving fishermen and rescue
team working together to free the porpoise without any loss of fish.
Three generations of fishermen have
since been involved in the scheme. It
may sound wonderfully simple but the
program was initially a challenge to
establish, requiring time and flexibility
to create a relationship of trust with the
fishermen. You have to remember that a
fisherman is going to be economically
driven more than animal welfare driven.
The solution has to be cost-effective for
him. The harbour porpoise release program is unique and remains to this day a
rare example of biologists and fishermen
successfully cooperating together.
Ship collisions constitute another
issue 82 CADUCEUS

17

tion led dive research expeditions in

Perus coastal ocean and inland lakes.
Peru is not a simple country in which
to work as a researcher and conservationist. Poverty and corruption create many
complex issues such as illegal practices, a
lack of understanding of environmental
issues and a lack of financial resources.
The most enjoyable aspect of Stefans
work is operating his eco-tourism company, Nature Expeditions, where he can
immerse himself in Perus diverse natural
wonders and educate tourists. However,
with social, economic, environmental
and political pressures all combining to
create problems in desperate need of
addressing, Mundo Azuls remit has had
to expand and become increasingly
inclusive over the years.

Bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Lima.

major cause of whale injury and mortality, of particular concern for North
Atlantic right whales, whose current
population numbers 450500 individuals. As well as educating local boat captains about how to avoid collisions with
whales, GMWSRS inputs its photoidentification data to a central catalogue
of all right whale IDs. The catalogue
forms an ongoing picture of such details
as the distribution of whales at different
times of year and the location of prime
feeding areas. This in turn allows for
effective implementation of the Canadian North Atlantic right whale recovery plan, initiated in response to the
desperate plight of these whales.
The plan has achieved such advances as
the moving and narrowing of shipping
lanes to avoid critical right whale
habitat areas.
Collective responsibility
Given Lauries skills in taking regard of
widely differing needs and points of
view, it is not surprising that her
thoughts on mankinds role on this
planet focus on collective responsibility
and our cultural habits which, throughout history, have impacted negatively on
marine life.
From our 1,000-year-old exploitation of right whales for oil to our current fishing of krill (the foundation
upon which entire ocean ecosystems
depend), our collective, trend-driven
decisions have left their marks. Laurie
believes strongly that one particular
issue needs addressing.

18

issue 82 CADUCEUS

The one factor that has the most

damaging impact on this planet is unsustainable population growth. When the
population keeps growing and the need
for resources and material goods increases, then any positive changes we
make get cancelled out. Economists tell
us growth is important; but we cannot
afford to keep growing! We need to create a steady-state system and stabilize our
population. This is the only way for our
positive actions to overtake our negative
ones and actually make a difference.
Laurie believes this process must be carried out in partnership with investing in
the development of technology.
In the developed countries we need
to reduce our impacts per person. In
developing countries people have the
right to want what we already have.
Technology can provide ways for these
things to leave a less damaging footprint.
Stefan Austermhle,
Mundo Azul
Stefan is an intense, serious-minded,
strong individual who, in his own
words, is highly opinionated! Stefans
interest in animals began in his early
twenties in Germany after hearing a
badly delivered presentation about the
ozone layer. His belief that he could
have delivered a better one led him to
join Greenpeace and undertake a biology degree. He was involved in the
political animal rights movement before
meeting his wife, Nina Pardo, moving to
Peru and collectively forming Mundo
Azul. From 1999 onwards, the organiza-

Conservation projects
An early example of the organizations
conservation efforts is their work to
eradicate dolphin killing. A major campaign headed by Nina and a conservationist, Olga Rey, succeeded in establishing a landmark law in 1996 prohibiting
the trade in dolphin meat. However we
discovered that it continued illegally,
with meat being sold at local fish markets up and down the country.
Mundo Azul carried out undercover
investigative research into the extent of
the problem, collaborated with and educated law officials, the media and the
public, and lobbied the outside world
for financial support. Unfortunately,
even though the organization gained the
support of police, court judges and
politicians, a lack of funds has so far
prevented Mundo Azul from completing
the task.
A recent example of the organisations broadening focus is their involvement in a social conflict project. Stefan
was asked to spearhead a campaign to
prevent a wealthy Peruvian company
from developing a port called Ancon, a
development that would have had a
detrimental impact on the local people,
economy and environment.
The company was utilizing traditional tactics of bribery and threats to
ensure the ports development and our
role was to educate and unite all factions
of the local community to fight the proposals. The landmark case was won and
this summer the bay was declared
untouchable by law.
Need to change conservation community
Stefans experience in dealing with corruption and with non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) has given him
strong views on how the conservation
Continued on page 27

IN TUNE WITH THE SPIRIT

Edited by Jay Ramsay

Of Love

Mary Oliver (b. 1935)

ary Oliver is pretty well a household name

among the alternative and wider, literate
community, a genuinely popular poet who lives
in New Hampshire, where Robert Frost and e.e.cummings
also thrived.
With her feminine values of sensitivity and sensuality,
her empathy for Nature in all ways and, more recently,
Christianity as a spiritual reality, she combines rare and
relevant elements into a profound poetry of life, where
what her writing witnesses and celebrates is what it
describes and not just language at its other selfreferential (and increasingly irrelevant), literary extreme.
Her well-loved poem Wild Geese begins with the line:
You do not have to be good (always a relief for anyone
reading it!), You only have to let the soft animal of your
body/Loves what it loves.
This sense of returning to what is natural in reading her
work is what makes it so accessible and significant, with
its transparent style assured in its luminous simplicity.
Bloodaxe are now her UK publishers; this poem is taken
from a recent collection.
As a meditation on love it is both passionately personal
and transpersonal; truly, about loving everything (her
insight into what the heart is capable of after heartbreak),
pointing to the origin of Creation itself where God really is
Lovebeyond all religions. It is the unconditional love we
are being called to through each other, too, in our intimate
relationships, that is loves own evolution: and actually
ours, as human beingsnowhere else to go!

Note: Of Love is taken from Red Bird (Bloodaxe, Northumberland,

2008), who have also recently published Neil Astleys third anthology,
Being Human, to be reviewed next issue.

I have been in love more times than one,

thank the Lord. Sometimes it was lasting
whether active or not. Sometimes
it was all but ephemeral, maybe only
an afternoon, but not less real for that.
They stay in my mind, these beautiful people,
or anyway beautiful people to me, of which
there are so many. You, and you, and you
whom I had the fortune to meet, or maybe
missed. Love, love, love it was the
core of my life, from which of course comes
the word for the heart. And, oh, have I mentioned
that some of them were men and some were women
and some now carry my revelation with you
were trees. Or places. Or music flying above
the names of their makers. Or clouds, or the sun
which was the first, and the best, the most
loyal for certain, who looked so faithfully into
my eyes, every morning. So I imagine
such love of the world its fervency, its shining, its
innocence and hunger to give of itself I imagine
this is how it began.

Illustration: Christine Barnett.

Jay Ramsay is a poet, UKCP accredited, psychosynthesis

psychotherapist and NFSH healer in private practice in
Stroud, London, Glastonbury and Totnes, who also works
by phone and via Skype. He also runs monthly
groups: Soul Talk and Heart to Heart for men
(www.jayramsay.co.uk). Some of his own poetry is also on
his website (with audio recordings) as well as his available
books via Amazon. His most recent poetry book is Places
of Truth available from him for 12 including p&p:
5 Oxford Terrace, Uplands, Stroud, Glos GL5 1TW
(cheques to Jay Ramsay). For his various poetry workshops
and retreats through 2012, visit www.jayramsay.co.uk/
www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk and see Diary page.
Christine Barnett is an artist and healer who has developed unique and transformational, healing painting workshops that she runs from her studio in the Cotswolds. Days
include heart chakra, goddess, sacred mandala, sacred tree,
butterfly, abundance and others: ww.christinebarnett.co.uk
issue 82 CADUCEUS

19

Claudio
Naranjo

Teacher by eloquent example

Charles Keck recounts how he came to
encounter Dr Claudio Naranjo and his unusual
ideas and approach to handling lifes issues,
eventually getting involved with promoting
them in both Mexico and the UK
he history of spirituality is,
among other things, a tale of
teachers and disciples. However,
in our secular and individualistic climate the idea of needing or wanting a
spiritual guide is not a commonplace.
We may look to guidance from psychotherapists, counsellors or coaches to
help us improve our lives in the temporal/material realm. We are encouraged to
seek advice on relationships, on avoiding
depression and obsessions, on careers,
anger management, parenting, on gener-

20

issue 82 CADUCEUS

ally becoming a better, more able, balanced and efficient person.

Even so, it took me time to recognize
that I needed help in learning how to
negotiate my temporal/material existence and had turned 35 before I realized that I could not disarm my demons
or unravel my convolutions alone,
through my own thinking, but would
need some help.
But even then, it never really occurred to me that I might be in need of a
spiritual teacher; I did not feel the lack.

Guidance on my relationship to the

mysterious dimension of life, my relationship to the eternal, the unspeakable,
the unknowable, was not part of my
world map.
I was incapable of thinking that
another person might have a fuller
understanding and experience of consciousness than myself, or that there
could be different ways to approach the
mind, or that the examination of mind
could be construed as a spiritual endeavour. For me, we were all equidistant
from God and God was very far away.
Nor had I met anyone that claimed to
have a direct experience of the divine,
an epiphany, and thus was able to speak
directly of coming up close to God.
Encountering Claudio Naranjo
So, when I finally met Dr Claudio
Naranjo I was not looking for anything
more than a route to becoming more
effective, more normal, happier. I
believed and hoped that this could occur
rationally, through understanding and
mapping cause and effect and hence dominating the territory of my own life. Yes, I
might have to shout and scream a bit, and
wrestle with emotions in psychotherapeutic processes, but essentially I would be
thinking my way out of the labyrinth.
So you could say that I was not quite
ready to meet a man whose advice
included that we should view life as
though it were a dream, fundamentally
unreal, an elaborate creation of our own
minds; a dream consequently not to be
taken so seriously, not, perhaps, to be
picked over ad nauseam.
To experience life as a dream was to
be liberated, not through the penetration of its incidents, twists and turns,
but by understanding something about
the fundamental nature of our experience. This experience is not as descriptive of reality as we hope. Every life is a
dream and perhaps part of one big, collective dream. And to experience the
dream is to diminish the nightmare.
I first heard Claudio Naranjo advise
us to see life as a dream nearly 10 years
ago. Of course, it was not the first time
I had heard this idea. The Life is a
Dream mantra was a commonplace of
the 60s, inspired in part by the drug
culture that had opened people up to
alternative realities. As such, I doubt
these words alone would have had much
impact on me.
However, by the time Dr Naranjo
said them I had already spent many days
listening to his meandering descriptions
around the nature of ego, interspersed
with jokes that perfectly illustrated the
idiosyncrasies of human character and

these, in turn, mixed with snippets from

the lives of the saints and spiritual teachers, and by questions to and from his
audience.
I sat and listened, hanging on every
word, every turn in his argument, every
deviation from its thread and eventual
and almost miraculous return. There
appeared to be something dream-like in
his delivery, a relaxed and quirky intelligence that wove dense textures around a
directionality and implacable logic.
There was no visible programme, we
followed his inclinations, his changes of
direction, enthralled in his yarn and his
faith in the spoken word, in his capacity
to transmit sophisticated knowledge and
experience without gimmicks or aids,
relying only on his presence and the
receptive capacity of his audience.
If Claudio Naranjo had been a
seeker he described this as his principle quality he had also obviously been
a finder. And what he seemed to have
found was an eloquent, amused, compassionate and tough implacability. In
short, the messenger had become the
message and visa versa.
Seekers After Truth
programme
Over the subsequent years of my
involvement in Dr Naranjos Seekers
After Truth retreat programme, I came
to see that not only did he himself
embody the message, he had also been
able to create a sophisticated teaching
programme with an extensive team of
collaborators that was, by design and
implementation, also able to embody
that same message.
Dr Naranjo not only had sought and
found, he had created a practice that
could contain the enabling, seeking and
finding of thousands of people. Not
only that, this same programme looked
to a spiritual flourishing but did not
ignore the dark side of our human condition and worked from the principle
that the only way out is through.
Although Dr Naranjo is best known
for his pioneering work on the Enneagram of Personality, he claims that his
most important gift to the world is his
teaching vehicle, the Seekers After Truth
programme. Whilst it is organized
around his sophisticated and challenging
understanding of the Enneagram, more
importantly it frames this knowledge
within the context of cathartic, contemplative and expressive practises of self
that invite the participants to identify
and begin important transformations.
One cannot help but grow.
My work with Dr Naranjo began in
2001 in Mexico where I was living when

Facing page: Claudio Naranjo at Gaunts House, Dorset, this September.

Above: The Journey of Life, a series of four paintings Childhood, Youth, Manhood and Old Age by the
English-born, American painter Thomas Cole (180148), depicts not just the traveller but also their guide in
the form of an angel. In this painting, Manhood, this guide is a distant figure but nonetheless its presence holds
out hope that the trouble ahead will not be in vain. The presence in our lives, near or far, of a spiritual teacher
holds out a similar hope that there is a journey to be made and that this journey is worth the effort.

Dr Claudio Naranjo was born in Chile and trained as a psychiatrist. His first
teacher was the poet and sculptor, Totila Albert, a significant presence in his
formative years. Later, moving to California, he became a disciple of Fritz Perls
in Esalen, after which he went on to study the Enneagram of Personality with
Oscar Ichazo. In parallel psychological teachings he is a longstanding student
of Buddhism under his mentor, Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche.
Dr Naranjo is best known for his pioneering work with the Enneagram of
Personality and among Gestalt therapists. His teaching has concentrated until
now within the Spanish-speaking world, but his influence extends into the
English-speaking world through his many books and via his original pupils,
who went on to found the American school of the Enneagram of Personality.

I met him. When I finally returned to

the UK in 2008, after 17 years in
Mexico, I remembered one of his reflections about the mythical journey,
specifically the motif of the magical
pearl, sought and found in foreign
lands, which is brought back home as
an offering and as a testament to transformation. It seemed to me that the
pearl of my exile was the teaching of
Dr Naranjo.
To me at least, there was some poetic
logic when I was able to organize, in
December, 2010, his first teaching visit
to the UK; doubly poetic in that it took
place at The Study Centre in London,
founded by that other great teacher of
the Enneagram, Ouspensky, thus underlying that tradition of spiritual teaching
running through and from Gurdjieff.
Since then Dr Naranjo has returned
to lead one retreat here in the UK in
September, 2011. Once again he demonstrated that rare gift of being able to
embody the message. In March, 2012,
following on from these first events, his
Seekers After Truth programme will

begin in the UK. I am hoping that it

will create a space for others to experience his teaching through eloquent
example and mark the beginning of a
new journey for myself, this time on
home territory, and with the benefits of
my discipleship to guide me.
For more information on Dr Claudio Naranjo,
the Enneagram of Personality and the Seekers
After Truth programme starting in the UK, see:
www.naranjoinstitute.org.uk ; info@naranjoinstitute.org.uk ; 07980 066779.

Charles Keck lived and worked in

Mexico for 17 years, where he set up
a Seekers After Truth programme
for teachers and people from the
human professions. He trained
as a mind-body therapist and is currently finishing a doctorate at the
University of London. He created
the Naranjo Institute in 2010 with
a view to bringing Claudios work to
the UK.
issue 82 CADUCEUS

21

BOOKS

cesses leads to the consideration of

the recurring symbol of the Tree of
Life motif common to many cultures.
The book concludes with the notion
that flowers give a wondrous insight
into both the visible and invisible
aspects of Creation. The esoteric saying that Truth, Goodness and Beauty
are keys to understanding hidden laws
of the universe gives a clue to the purpose of Existence, as it expands into
the ultimate blossom.
As well as being informative and
eye-opening, reading this book is
refreshing, like a visit to paradise.

The Hidden Geometry of

Flowers: Living Rhythms,
Form and Number
by Keith Critchlow
Floris Books, Edinburgh, 2011.
Softback, 412pp, 30.00.
ISBN 978-086315-806-3

Reviewed by Zev ben Shimon

Halevi (Warren Kenton)
his book is a definitive work on
the geometry of the relationship
between Nature and the Cosmos. Its text and extraordinary set of
photographs and diagrams indicate
that there is a Divine Plan that governs
the physical dimension as well as the
hidden universes beyond. Professor
Critchlows masterwork is the product
of a lifelong labour of love and observation, illustrated with many of his
personal drawings.
The Foreword by HRH The Prince
of Wales agrees with the view that
there is more than science can perceive at work behind the composition
and evolution of the world. In this present epoch of materialism, a recognition of Divine organisation is vital as a
purely physical view of Existence is a
dead end. Indeed there is much more
to flowers than just biology and organic beauty.
The exposition begins with a philosophical vision of Nature, showing how
it is carefully organised despite appearing to be a chaos of wilderness.
Drawing upon ancient, medieval and
modern sources, images and concepts
are used to examine the hardware of
Nature and the pure metaphysics of
Platos system of Solids, Forms and
Ideas, which correspond to the body,
soul and spirit. Out of this study
comes the notion that there is a vast
micro-macrocosmic hierarchy behind
even the most simple bloom. This is
seen in the pictures of the globeshaped dandelion seed head and the
spherical blossom of a galaxy.
The author then asks the crucial
question, What is life?, a mystery general science has not yet answered
despite the most advanced technology.
The process of evolution through the
stages of mineral, plant and animal to
human is a miracle that has no explanation in purely physical terms. Something
other is coming from the invisible and

22

issue 82 CADUCEUS

higher worlds that the great religions

and philosophies speak of.
From this important point of departure, the text moves on to the mathematics and geometry of flora, revealing
the precise patterns of their anatomy.
Parallel to this are traditional mystical
diagrams and mandalas that echo the
same principles at work in Nature. Also
noted are the psychological and spiritual effects plants have on the individual and society, as well as their influence on history and mythology. This is
demonstrated powerfully in the illustration of the magnificent rose window of
Chartres Cathedral.
The laws of organic life are then
related to the celestial cycles that generate and stimulate particular plants.
Seasonal rhythms are examined along
with the different speeds of growth,
followed by a study of seeds, buds
and blooms in their unfolding symmetry. The spiral is also considered as a
specific dimension in the formation of
flowers. This is borne out by a series
of illustrations that reveal the unique
geometric configuration of various
species. Each model appears to be
designed to resonate with a specific
time and frequency of light. The finest
example of this is the picture of the
rose, the perfect archetype of organic
function, geometry and beauty.
A detailed exposition of the basic
geometrics that compose flora is then
presented, leading to a mathematical
appreciation of the three dimensions of
space. The many figures demonstrate
a wide variety of modes that enable
the Life principle to manifest in different ways. This is particularly striking in
a vertical graphic depicting the increasingly narrowing shapes of trees
from the tropical, broad-based hardwood to the slender northern pine. The
section on photosynthesis and the
daily breathing cycle of plants as well
as their growing and decaying pro-

Zev ben Shimon Halevi (Warren

Kenton) has written 14 books on
Kabbalah, the metaphysical system of
Jewish mysticism. He teaches worldwide
and he is the head tutor of the international Kabbalah Society (www.
kabbalahsociety.org) and also a Fellow of
the Temenos Academy.

Dirty Medicine:
The Handbook
by Martin J Walker
Slingshot Publications, BM Box
8314, London WC1N 3XX, 2011.
305pp, Pb, 15 plus p+p (from
www.slingshotpublications.com).
ISBN 978-0-9564093-1-7

Reviewed by Adam Smith

e need more books like this.
For many reasons, natural
healthcare finds itself on the
back foot in 2011 and in a big way.
Ideology, commerce and vested interests loom darkly over mainstream
healthcare, narrowing its course until
health modalities that dont fit the
mainstream view are pushed into the
cold. Everyone on the natural healthcare side is feeling the pressure,
whether users, practitioners, suppliers,
manufacturers, retailers or simple
advocates. Unfortunately, the anti-natural healthcare lobby presents itself in
so many forms that its difficult to keep
track and even more difficult to
organise against. This is where Martin
Walkers brilliant book comes in.
Back in 1993, a book appeared that
traced the battles between orthodox
medicine and natural healthcare from a
specifically UK perspective. Other
authors, including Harris Coulter,
Morris Beale and Eustace Mullins, had
done a similar service to US history,
but this book was among the first, if

not the first, to take such a wide-ranging, historical and forensic approach to
the subject in the UK: Dirty Medicine
by Martin Walker.
In 2011, things have changed and
his new book offers both a major
update to and a new approach. In Dirty
Medicine: The Handbook, Walker
rejects the narrative style of his earlier
book in favour of a reference work,
containing brief but essential information on the key players arrayed against
natural healthcare.
Walkers thesis is that science, once
a noble pursuit dedicated to the
advancement of humankind and its
understanding of the world around us,
has been subverted by industrial
notions of profit, commerce and technology. Real scientists those
unconnected to vested interests and
who pursue the truth in an objective
manner are increasingly rare, while
corporate science has stopped being a
method to explore the universe and
become an ideology, often referred to
as scientism.
Now that science has stopped
working to benefit humanity and
merely works to enrich industry, says
Walker, people are realising that many
of its technological goodies do not
despite all the breathless propaganda
improve their lives; and frequently,
do precisely the opposite. This pits the
people against the corporate scientists
and, by default, our governments,
whose policies, beliefs and even personnel are often indistinguishable from
those of the corporations. Corporate
science marshals its enormous
resources to portray its greedy, dishonest and often plain harmful actions
as the greatest gift to mankind a
tricky task requiring an army of propagandists. Modern medicine is the
epitome of this phenomenon.
Its an attractive theory and one that
works in the context of orthodox
medicines relentless quest for a
healthcare monopoly that stretches
back to the time of Henry VIII, the
apothecaries and the Herbalists
Charter. Its easy to see why Walker
defines the threat as coming from a
tripartite construct [made up of] the
medical establishment, the pharmaceutical industry and a section of the
scientific community, which has been
working to counteract the rise of
alternative and complementary
medicine, the advent of the environmental health movement and the
privatisation in part of the [UK National
Health Service].
But things look even worse if we

issues or the necessary response.

Everyone is affected by having his or
her healthcare options restricted,
whether patient, practitioner, product
distributor or manufacturer, old or
young, sick or healthy. That very
British attitude of sitting on the fence
and hoping things will sort themselves
out must be discarded and our rights
reclaimed, as Walker underlines in the
closing paragraphs of this rousing,
amusing, vitally important book.

raise our eyes to the European horizon. Take into account the new rules
and regulations coming from the
European Commission (EC) and we
have a four-pronged threat; five if
Member State regulators are considered separately from the EC; and six if
the wider threat to our food supply
from Codex Alimentarius is included.
Most of the book is given over to
details, histories and juicy tidbits on
the spectrum of the anti-natural healthcare operators. This is a treasure trove
of information for researchers and
activists alike, running the gamut from
individuals, through organizations, to
skeptic websites. Even better is that
Walkers prose is the writing of a man
fired with passion and directed anger,
which has allowed him to pull off a difficult trick with ease: a reference work
that can be read from A to Z by anyone
with even a vague interest in the topic.
After stating the problem, Walker
looks to the future while acknowledging
the past. His chapter on The Antidote
highlights writers and activists both historical and present-day who have dived
into the thick of the struggle to maintain
our rights to self-determination in
healthcare. Its particularly refreshing to
find a book list that will enable anyone
to gain an historical perspective on the
modern situation.
Finally, for all the budding activists
out there, the chapter on Organising
and Fighting Back offers a crash
course in getting involved, with
Walkers 20-odd years of experience
illuminating his advice. Its vital to
remember how often resistance actually works and Walker gives some case
studies to show how its done.
Walker leaves the reader in no
doubt as to the universality of the

Adam Smith BSc, ARCS, is Science

and Communications Officer for the
Alliance for Natural Health International
(ANH-Intl), an internationally active
NGO working toward protecting and promoting natural approaches to healthcare
through its unique application of good science and good law: www.anh-europe.org;
adam@anhinternational.org;
01306 646600.
An unedited version of this review,
including a further reading list, can be
found at http://tinyurl.com/3jxtz2z

Opening the Door to

the Worlds
by Dr Annie Paxton
Basidian Publishers, London, 2009.
Pb, 339 pp, 12.99.
ISBN 978-0-9562290-0-7

Reviewed by Pippa Merivale

he energy that drives the universes is love. This is the core
principle elucidated in Dr Annie
Paxtons excellent handbook for
healers, spiritual seekers and scientists concerned for our health and the
future of the planet.
When Nikola Tesla discovered what
he termed radiant energy in 1901, he
knew that the harnessing of it would
be a giant step forward in our development. To an early 20th-century scientist, it was a new discovery; to the
mystic, this was long familiar as the
Akasha of Eastern traditions, the Ether
or Quintessence of Aristotle and the
West; through the 20th and 21st centuries it has come to be seen and
sought by our scientists as the dark
matter or zero point energy, which
will indeed fuel our future.
Around the same time as Tesla
worked to capture the radiant energy,
Teilhard de Chardin also told us about
this fuel, telling us that after harnessing
the forces of the winds and the tides
and gravitation, the day would come

issue 82 CADUCEUS

23

when we would harness for God the

energies of love. He knew that to
engage with love as an energy force
would be a quantum leap in humanitys evolution: and on that day, he
wrote, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire.
Dark matter, or zero point energy,
that radiant force that still remains
when all other energies have been
removed, is the love that holds the universe, or the universes, together. The
workings of that energy, for purposes
of both physical healing and the evolution of every life form, are beautifully
explained in this generous and dedicated work.
In her warm, no-nonsense, humorously self-deprecating style, Dr Paxton
enlisted the support of the medium,
Dorothy Chitty, to embark on a series
of conversations with the Basidian, a
group of highly developed souls from
Sirius. The conversations led to Earthcore travel and Cosmic travel: journeys
short in earth-time but high in the lifeforce required to make them. The
resulting offering is an act of love for
humanity and our damaged planet,
given by a woman in already frail
health: she died soon after the book
was completed.
The early part covers the principles
and some of the powerful healing
methods that the Basidian wished to
communicate: as a medical doctor, the
author had an eye for detail and practical content, and the explanations of
the way in which healing energy works
at the inter-cellular level will be useful
for many practitioners of energy medicine. The Basidians insistence on our
human need to deal with our stuff

24

issue 82 CADUCEUS

instead of repressing our negative

emotions down into our bodies is also
a core element in their teaching.
The greater part of the book,
though, has to do with the healing of
our consciousness and our world.
They tell us what we are really doing
here, what all life in the universe is
doing. In Paxtons words, Evolution
will continue until all beings understand one another completely.
Through a wide variety of these
conversations and journeys we are
given immense hope for the future as
we see and feel the nature of dark
matter, or the energy of love, and discover the deeper and more hidden
functions of the elements that this fundamental energy carries: the profound
healing and regenerating effects of
water, the purpose within fire to create
new life forms, the power of air to
return us to our more natural, telepathic state.
We see why the removal of oil, the
Earths own lubrication system, has
damaged her body so much, but also
how we can change ourselves to
ensure that the full cataclysm we have
invited is averted or minimized. We
see the colours, patterns and mechanisms whereby our thoughts of war
and hatred create thick coatings of
energy around the planet that not only
keep us in separation but shield the
Earth from the universal love that
would heal it but we also see how to
play an active part in dissolving the
fear-matrix so that life on Earth will not
only continue but eventually return to a
pristine state of beauty and health.
Paradise will indeed be regained: how
we get there and how long it takes is
largely up to us.
After sections on the authors own
background, on medicine for the 21st
century, on the Earth and its turbulence, and on the nature of the universe,
the Basidians finish with a description
of the evolution and development of
the soul that will bring inspiration and
hope to anyone whose faith or
courage is flagging. Dr Paxton stated
clearly in an interview that this is not a
general book, it is a textbook but
with its blend of overview and fine
detail, I thoroughly recommend it as a
welcome addition to the library of any
student of healing, energy medicine
and frontier science.

Philippa Merivale is the founder of

Metatronic Healing (www.
metatronic-life.com), which she described
in issue 78, and the author of Harps of
Gold, 2011 (via Amazon).

2012 A Clarion Call:

Your Souls Purpose in
Conscious Evolution
by Nicolya Christi
Bear & Co/Inner Traditions,
Rochester, VT, USA, 2011. Pb,
200pp, 13.99. ISBN978
159143129-9

Reviewed by Peter Rae

his is a calm and calming book.
Calm, because Christi clearly
writes from a place of knowing,
indeed she repeatedly makes reference to gnosis (to know that I know
without knowing why I know); and
calming, because it introduces none of
the sensationalist aspects many
writers and commentators feel moved
to attach to this date.
Although the author hints at the
possibility that on the day of 21st
December, 2012, something spectacular may occur due to astrological alignments coinciding with Mayan Calendar
predictions, she slightly hedges her
bets by admitting that nobody can ultimately be sure of what might happen.
The strength of the book lies in its evolutionary message change is coming,
indeed not only are the signs already
around us, but many of us will be
experiencing this in our bodies, our
lives. By explaining what many of
these symptoms are and why they are
manifesting, Christi manages to present as natural the process of change,
which heralds the emergence of homo
luminous, as the next evolutionary leap
for homo sapiens.
The book skilfully weaves a tale

around the origins of the Mayan

Calendar; the transition of humanity
from the third to the fifth dimension;
the need to evolve psychologically and
emotionally into who we truly are,
rather than remain those shadows of
Self current society has turned us into.
The author draws on many traditions
to illustrate the message that Yes, we
can and provides a wide range of
structured explanations, exercises and
recommendations on changing our
inner and outer environments.
Nicolya illustrates most beautifully
the struggle between ego and Self, by
telling a story of the latter seeking to
negotiate entry into a locked room occupied by the ego, which results in an
agreement being drawn up between the
two and a surprise letter of thanks and
appreciation being appended by Self.
The joy of this book is that it will
appeal to those just awakening as well
as those who have consciously trodden
their path toward consciousness for
some time: while for the former there
might be a lot of information packed
into the narrative, the easy style permits
reading through the book without having to pause and wonder what might be
meant. The research and contemplation
can follow after finishing it.
For the older hand, it is a delight to
see how the author has joined in narrative so many aspects of our journey
into the Age of Shift. Tucked away in
this lightness of the narrative are many
profound truths that would lend themselves to be taught, explored and discussed in powerful workshops and
symposia, as indeed the author does
offer on her global mission to help
those still asleep to wake up in the
months remaining.
2012 is far from the end, it is rather
the beginning of the new the end of
the evolution of consciousness perhaps, the beginning of conscious evolution most certainly. How quickly we
build on this shift will depend entirely
on the awareness and intention as
many of us as possible are willing to
bring to the party. Nicolya describes
the consecutive waves of souls who
have incarnated from around the
1930s/40s as the light workers, then
the indigos, then the crystals and
finally, soon, the rainbows.
The author states that the book contains channelled information which, in
some places, is abundantly manifest. As
this reviewer enjoys the privilege of
being part of the Continuum Partnership, a cosmic collective, he knows
first-hand how wonderfully uplifting it is
to bridge the worlds and almost no

longer notice that this is something still

quite unusual. Christis book points
toward the day when embracing the
worlds will have become the norm.
This is the book I would recommend, nay give, to anybody trying to
understand the significance of what is
going on in their lives and surroundings
now and wondering how to work with
these changes and dynamics during
the very short time remaining between
now and the turning point, at least
symbolically, represented by 21.12.12.
I would also urge those who are
fearful of what the 2012 brouhaha
might mean to pick up this book, too,
and to reflect on its central message of
joy, joy at a transformation that is
finally taking place and that so many of
us have been working toward and
mid-wifing for these many years. Fear
is the one emotion we each have to
shed if we wish to be able to receive
the subtle guidance that is increasingly
available to those who can hear and
sense these new, fine energies.
A core message of this important
book is encapsulated in the Hopi saying, We are the ones we have been
waiting for. We have waited long
enough; this book invites us now to
give expression to that which we
expected those we have been waiting
for to deliver.

Peter Rae, a former international banker,

is the founder/developer of the
http://lightlivinglaboratory.com and publisher of Opening the Door to the
Worlds, also reviewed in this issue.

Environmental Arts
Therapy and the Tree
of Life
by Ian Siddons Heginworth
Spirits Rest, Exeter, 2009 (2nd edn;
www.environmentalartstherapy.co.uk).
Pb, 168pp, 14.95.
ISBN 978-0-9563863-0-4

Reviewed by Jay Ramsay

an Siddons Heginworth is a man
who is unusually creative and at
home in Nature. He is deeply an
artist-healer (a phrase I found myself
coining 20 years ago for a new kind of
synthesis), where his therapeutic work,
both for the NHS and in private practice, is strongly connected to both
ritual and play.
Ian is also a father with small children and lives on the land near Exeter

with his wife Marianne, to whom this

equally unusual and fascinating book
is dedicated. It charts the course of
the year the Celtic year (starting at
the end of October) and is a rich
meditation on each month of the year.
The book is a continuous circle as well
as cycle and, at one chapter a month,
even the busiest person could read it.
Each chapter blends meditation
in/on Nature with psychological reflection and insight, and with illustrations
from the world of story/storytelling. Ian
uses these to illuminate the transitions
and initiations he is describing in our
own lives between child and adult, and
the seasons between Samhain (Halloween), Imbolc (the first signs of Spring)
and Beltane (the fire and sexuality of
May, with its potential for real union)
before autumn and the red of the year
beckons again.
These are the permanent archetypal
ingredients of our lives seen as a deeper passage and what is so compelling
about this book is that it consistently
plumbs and touches this deeper level
of soul beneath the relative shallowness of our more superficial preoccupations.
It is a book that helps you, as
Thomas Moore would say, to care for
your soul: it is in that psychological
vein, but for me it touches deeper
because of the way it re-ensouls the
seasons we have largely forgotten,
outside of esoteric and Druidic circles.
At the same time it touches powerfully on the existential moments where
we come to realize that our lives are an
accumulation of the choices we make.
And as he reflects (August, p. 151):
Choosing life means living simply,
enjoying simple pleasures. There is a
issue 82 CADUCEUS

25

guiding voice within each of us that,

just like Ivans wolf, knows exactly
what we need and what we dont. We
just have to take time to listen.
Intuition, which we re-discover
through our naturalness, is the key to
navigating these timesand our more
magical lives. This book, with its balancing between light and shadow, is a
lovely as well as reliable guide.

Jay Ramsay is a poet, UKCP-accredited

psychotherapist and healer in private practice; see www.jayramsay.co.uk .

In the Shadow of
the Buddha
by Matteo Pistono
Hay House, London, 2011. Pb,
227pp, 10.99. ISBN9
781848504219

Reviewed by Jonquil Cooper

n this book Matteo Pistono
recounts his spiritual journey in
Tibet. His first encounter in 1999
takes a decade to unravel, as the
unexpected tests of faith deepen his
practice against insurmountable risks
and personal danger.
Initially, Pistono is drawn to follow
the steps of his teachers previous
incarnation, Teron Sogyal (18561926),
a horse-riding bandit who became a
great mystic master, revealer of hidden
spiritual treasures and teacher to 13th
Dalai Lama, the predecessor to the
Dalai Lama of today. What happens
along the way is another story, through
which Pistono discovers his dharma/
responsibility in the world.
Pistonos devotion to Tibetan
Buddhism and its lineage creates a
personal quest for him, as he is compelled to convey, record and gain evidence of the horrific, torturous stories
he encounters for human rights
activism in the West. It is through this
underlying narrative that he weaves
the recent history of Tibet, its colonization by China and human suffering.
Following the footsteps of Teron
Sogyal he describes Tibets complex
past and its ultimate downfall. China,
Russia and Britain all vied for Tibet.
Since 1816 Tibet had watched Britain
gain control over Nepal, Kashmir,
Ladakh and Sikkim and understood
that its sights were now on the whole
Tibetan Plateau. The Dalai Lama conscripted all healthy, able men to fight
against the British, initiated the com-

26

issue 82 CADUCEUS

mencement of prayers at three great

monasteries and encouraged all yogis
to support the effort, though their
power of prayer. For six months they
battled; eventually Britain lost, unable
to defeat Tibets protective shield of
prayer and positive merit. However,
inner struggles within the powers of
Tibet would eventually deplete the
reservoir of spiritual favour.
It seems every nation carries the
seeds of corruption and no less so than
in Tibet where obsession for power and
glory came with insurmountable spiritual powers and black magic. The great
founder of Tibetan Buddhism,
Padmasmbhava, prophesized Tibets
downfall would come from within its
own borders but that did not stop Teron
Sogyals sense of duty to protect the
Dalai Lama from these forces, despite
the countrys ultimate destruction.
1899 was the beginning of the end
for Tibet. The 13th Dalai Lama ascended the throne and, consequently,
Regent Demo of Tengyeling stepped
aside. Demo was head of the largest
and most powerful monastery in Lhasa
and the loss of his political power
upset quite a few people, notably his
nephew, Norbu, who was manager of
the estate. As manager, Norbu accumulated the wealth for the estate,
mostly through Vajrayana (tantric)
practitioners and their ability to yield
wealth. Norbu believed that if he was
able to cast a spell on the Dalai Lama
and he were to die, the Regent would
be re-instated.
The courageous steps Teron Sogyal
takes to protect the Dalai Lama inspires Pistono on his journey and
reminds the reader of the moral values

a spiritual path teaches, as he describes his inner battles and sense of

duty. During one particular episode,
when Pistono wants to give up his
work in Tibet to meditate instead for a
year, his Tibetan teacher reminds him:
Who will be the object of your
compassion if you are alone in a hut or
cave? Just like the warrior Terton
Sogyal, you must take your responsibilities seriously. You must not think
you have the power to effect change
with prayer only. Prayer is important
but when combined with wise action,
prayers become manifest. The moral
compass that is woven in Tibetan
Buddhism becomes the platform for
Pistonos dharma and the process for
purifying his inner demons.
Matteo Pistono eloquently understands that the question in politics is
not whether a government will survive
but when will it actually fall? In his book
his 'inner pilgrimage elaborates the
wisdom that a spiritual path is not disengaging with the temporary world but
actively participating in it, for the benefit of human kind.

Jonquil Cooper made a unique, filmed

trip to Tibet last year which she recounted
in Caduceus 81 (see our website for her
trailer). She is organising another pilgrimage to Tibet and Mt Kailas in 2012. More
details, see: www.yogajonquil.com .

The View Beyond: Sir

Francis Bacon Alchemy,
Science, Mystery
Edited by Dave Patrick
with over 20 visionary contributions.
Polair Publishing, London, 2011. Pb,
280pp, 12.99 + p&p (0207
6036779), ISBN 978-1-905398-22-5.
(Available from Cygnus Books:
01558 825500)

Reviewed by Julia Fairfax

n the world of the occult and esoteric matters, Sir Francis Bacons
name is frequently heard. In this
investigation into his world by a wide
variety of highly successful contributors, a number of matters come to light
and are examined in some detail from
a variety of angles. The purpose of this
text is in some part to honour the
450th anniversary of his birth.
This particular journey offers us an
insight through a variety of different
lenses. Writers include Rose Elliot,
who focuses on the likelihood of
Francis Bacon writing the Shakespeare

Continued from page 18

world itself needs to be reviewed for conservation efforts to
succeed. Stefan believes that the drive to conserve has to a
large extent been lost in many of todays larger NGOs.
Highly dedicated, self-taught individuals have been
replaced by PhD graduates who see being a conservationist as
a career, rather than a passion. With huge sums of money
required to pay competitive salaries, NGOs develop a cyclical
need to maintain their own financial structures. Conservation
has become business. Grassroots organizations in countries
such as Peru, who rely on outside financial aid, feel the brunt
of this system.
American NGOs implement a non-democratic, top-down,
decision-making process. They seek local, grassroots organizations knowledge of a subject for free, design a project they
can sell to their donors, then offer those organizations the
opportunity to implement the project as hired hands rather
than equal partners, with 4060% of funds remaining with the
American NGO. European NGOs fund many projects with
small grants to local organizations, with a stipulation attached
that the grant must not pay for wages. The grassroots organization faces the problem of how to survive financially, while the
European NGO can inform its donors that it is supporting 20
projects worldwide.
Stefan believes that for conservation to regain its potency,
this problem must be addressed. The global solution is for
large-scale European and American organizations to fund
work in less well-off countries with an equal decision-making
process, while restricting the proportion of funds they keep
for themselves.
The way forward
Peggy, Laurie, Stefan and their organizations, along with many
others, will undoubtedly continue their efforts to ensure that
cetaceans will be gracing our seas well into the future.

plays and comes up with some convincing evidence to support her argument. I found this one of the most
enjoyable contributions because this
idea has been mooted so many times
yet unconvincingly and for the first
time I felt that Roses evidence had
substantial weight to it.

Stefan researching the illegal killing of dolphins for human consumption.

Without their dedication the oceans might be in an even

more critical state than they currently are. However, the task is
obviously too great for a few passionate people alone. Individually, organizationally (be they conservation- or businessfocused) and collectively, we need to take responsibility and
find the willpower to act wisely and generously.
Stories of dedicated conservationists can only light the path
ahead so far; how much brighter would our worlds outlook be
if everyone had their own inspiring account of day-to-day caring, positive, purposeful action?
For more details, see: www.marinelifestudies.org/ ;
www.gmwsrs.org/main.htm ; http://mundoazul.org/ .

Amanda Banks is a freelance writer who writes factually

about conservationists and fictional stories with spiritual
and psychological themes. See: http://amandabanks.com/blog/

Many of the contributors, including

Peter Dawkins, highlight how relevant
Bacon is today. All of the contributors
focus on different facets of Bacons
contributions, from his Great Instauration which Peter explains simply and
coherently; to Frank Perry who examines Bacons study of the Seventh Ray
and manifestations in many forms,
especially focusing on music.
Dave Patrick and Mark Harris look
at Bacons desire to help humanity
through utopian visions for the future,
such as his New Atlantis. All of the
contributors share a common theme:
the whole issue of reincarnation and
Bacons various lives, including that of
St Germain. This is one of many
threads running through the book as
well as analysis of his contribution to
science, religion and politics.
Phillip Lindsay offers an in-depth
analysis of this particular theme and
examines possible reincarnations of
Bacon, as well as the cycle of rays and
what this may mean. He suggests that,
among others, Bacon was originally
incarnated as St Alban, who died in
209AD, and then five later incarnations, including Comte St Germain

(173584) and that now he lives on as

the Lord of Civilisation born in 1925.
What I found interesting is that a
few of the contributors were also willing to highlight the fact that during his
life as Bacon, he was also involved in
various malign activities, both as a
Freemason and in countless political
and financial plots. Some of his callousness is also documented, particularly his view that animals are here for
our amusement and torture.
There is no doubt that Bacon was a
huge influence and clearly a genius.
For those who know little about him
the book is a very useful analysis of all
his contributions to the worlds of science, religion and the occult. For those
who love anecdotal and factual historical analysis, this is a perfect read and
sheds considerably more light on
Bacons contribution to our esoteric
understanding. However, it does come
with a word of caution; it is not a light
read, more a worthy tome requiring
serious study.

Julia Fairfax is a healer people, places

and horses as well as student of the esoteric. www.juliafairfax.com .
issue 82 CADUCEUS

27

Top US scientist warns

against glyphosate
Sam Burcher reports from the All-Party Group
on Agro-ecology at Westminster
n 1st November Prof Don
Huber, an eminent American
plant pathologist, who has
raised the alarm about a new pathogen
relating to GM feed and a broadspectrum pesticide called glyphosate,
addressed an invited audience at the
House of Commons.
Huber explained that glyphosate, the
active ingredient in Monsantos Roundup, changes soil biology and the organisms that normally provide natural biological control or disease-suppressive
activity are very susceptible to damage by
glypho-sate, causing an increase in crop
disease. He warned that in the US entire
groups of organisms do not exist anymore in the soil. This renders glyphosate
useless because you cant kill off plants
in sterile soil; it could also explain why
pesticide application rates there have trebled in the last few years and why the
FDA has increased the level of glyphosate permitted in foods.
Glyphosate also has a devastating
effect on the micro-nutrients. Manganese
and zinc levels in the US have gone from
excess manganese in crops, feed and food
15 years ago to a deficit today. Levels are
dropping even more dramatically in GM
crops. Huber reported a third less manganese available in GM alfalfa animal
feed and severe deficiencies in zinc compared to non-GM alfalfa. Human inflammatory bowel disease, which is strongly
linked to GM feed, has increased 40-fold
since 1992 in the US.
American vets say they universally
find manganese deficiency as a cause of
disease in swine and cattle, which is
forcing producers out of business.
Glyphosate has now been linked to
human birth defects. This has prompted
the Earth Open Source report, Roundup
and Birth Defects, Are The Public Being
Kept in the Dark? EU officials have
delayed a review on it until 2015.
Even more worryingly, when the
Livestock of America Cattlemans
Association gave testimony before the
US Senate Agricultural Committee in
2002 they were concerned that cattle fed
GM feed were prematurely ageing. Their
stomach linings were yellow, which is
characteristic of an allergic response,

28

issue 82 CADUCEUS

Professor Don Huber. Photo: Sam Burcher.

compared with the cattle fed non-GMO.

Their guts were leaking and high numbers of animals were experiencing reproductive failure. Vets discovered a viruslike pathogen, as yet unnamed.
Huber wrote to the US Secretary of
Agriculture in November, 2010, asking
for help to do the research and get the
resources needed to identify this unnamed entity. So far there has been no
follow-up to his findings. But he has
had an opportunity to meet directly
with USDA top officials.
I hoped that we would get a response
so that the Secretary could release his
personnel to help and co-operate with
us, he said. That didnt come and,
instead, he deregulated Roundup Ready
GM alfalfa10 days after I had asked him
for help with this critical research.
Bees and glyphosate
Bees are undoubtedly affected by glyphosate and GM alfalfa. The Pesticide
Action Network (PAN) is stepping up its
campaign to protect bees. It hosted the
2010 London Bee Summit and this year
is sending scientists, lawyers, doctors and
beekeepers to testify at the Permanent
Peoples Tribunal (PPT) in Bangalore,
which started on 3 December. It will
hear cases brought against six multinational, agrochemical companies, which
stand accused of violating human rights
to health, livelihood and life.
Cases from the UK and Europe will
focus on the loss of bees and other pollinators due to neonicotinoid pesticides

developed and sold by Bayer. Other

concerns are the suffering of families
from organophosate pesticides (OPs)
and the wilful suppression, corruption,
manipulation and distortion of science.
Taking the multinationals to the PPT
will give voice to the unheard victims of
pesticides around the globe. The World
Bank estimates 355,000 people die each
year due to toxins relentlessly promoted
by the six largest companies: Monsanto,
Syngenta, Bayer Crop Sciences, Dow
Chemicals, Dupont and BASF.
Also under indictment are the IMF,
the World Bank and the WTO, which
are specifically geared to support massive corporate profits rather than human
and ecological well-being. Germany,
Switzerland and the USA are also
indicted for colluding with and failing
to regulate corporate power. The defendants will be summonsed to give their
perspectives and responses.
Launched in 1979, the PPT has so
far held 35 international sessions exploring various human rights abuses. It provides alternative judgments and legal
articulations that are essential to serve
justice for both historic and continuing
crimes against humankind.
As part of its extended 750,000 Plan
Bee campaign, the Co-Op is helping to
identify and connect corridors of land to
create and secure habitats for pollinators.
The Bee Roads pilot project, in conjunction with Buglife, the UKs leading invertebrate charity, will engage local people
in restoring flower rich meadows with
the native plants that bumblebees, honeybees and butterflies love, such as red
clover and lesser knapweed. The Co-Op
has given away 300,000 packets of wildflower seeds to support the campaign.
The UK has lost a whopping 97% of
its wildflower meadows since the 1930s.
In the past 25 years over half of our
honeybees have gone, along with three
quarters of our butterflies and two
thirds of moths, all of which are the primary pollinators of vital food and flower
crops. The first Bee Roads start in
Yorkshire, where farmers and others will
sow wildflowers in two long strips, eventually stretching north to south and east
to west across the entire county.
Bee Roads is a practical response to
the recent Government White Paper on
the Natural Environment, the first for 20
years, which places the value of Nature at
the centre of conservation choices.
Sam Burcher, MSc, has long experience as an environmental journalist; www.samburcher.com .

POLAIR PUBLISHING

The Path
of Healing
A Sufi activity sharing the
treasure of spiritual wisdom and
practice for healing, offering:
Distant healing through prayer
to receive healing please phone
01974 831091 or 01926 313416
Training in healing and self-healing
evenings, day workshops and courses
regionally and in London for all interested
Retreats for healing, harmony
and relaxation
Continuous development
programmes

THE VIEW BEYOND Dave Patrick

(ed.) with over 20 contributions
from experts in all elds. Shows
that Francis Bacons project for the
advancement of knowledge included an esoteric understanding that
goes far beyond the current materialistic scientic worldview. In doing
so, it provides the essential missing dimension for a cultural renaissance emerging from Western civilization. David Lorimer, Scientic
and Medical Network. 288pp, 234 x156
mm, ISBN 978-1-905398-22-5 12.99

The Sufi Healing Order includes 10 centres

around the UK. The Sufi tradition is an inclusive
universal mysticism with ancient roots, often
called the path of the heart, which seeks to be
ever-renewing and ever-relevant.
For information:
The Sufi Healing Order 01974 831091
or infouk@sufihealingorder.org

IGNITING
SOUL
FIRE

Gaye Mack



 







 







 










 








  
 








 

!"#

 
$%&'()*'+&(,

 
 





  



CENTAURY
FOR
VIRGO
Debbie
Sellwood

Two essential books on Flower Essences. Gaye Macks (192pp, 216x138mm,

10.99) links Dr Bachs with the
chakras and astrology, while Debbie
Sellwoods (288pp, 244x174mm, 12.99)
provides a complete home reference
- with an astrological component.
FROM SHOPS, ONLINE BOOKSELLERS,
OR DEEP BOOKS, 020-8693 0234 - OR
W W W. P O L A I R P U B L I S H I N G . C O . U K

issue 82 CADUCEUS

29

Advertisers Index

Tel: 0208 9438138

Advertising Rates

Courses and Retreats

Chalice Well....................................................31
Hawkwood .....................................................32
Montanara Retreat ..........................................35
Odyssey ..........................................................31
Tattered Butterfly............................................32
The Redwood House ......................................30
Products
Annette Armstrong .........................................33
Bio Energy Products ....................................IBC
Bobbys Healthy Shop ...................................BC
Duneland........................................................39
Health Kinesiology .........................................32
Health Wake Up .............................................29
Helios .............................................................33
John Allen.......................................................29
Naranjo Institute ..........................................IFC
Oceans Of Goodness ......................................39
Phi Harmonics................................................30
The Reconnection...........................................32
Sulis Health ....................................................33
Universal Essences...........................................39
Watkins Bookshop ..........................................35
Publishers
Cygnus............................................................39
Hay House ..................................................IBC
Inner Traditions ..............................................35
Isohm..............................................................33
Labyrinth Books .............................................30
O Books..........................................................30
Polair Publishing.............................................29
Watkins Publishers ......................................IFC
Spirit
Community of Interbeing...............................31
Inner Wonder .................................................29
John Campbell................................................32
Share International ......................................IBC

Caduceus launches new App

Double your exposure

We have now launched a new App(lication). On it

you will be able to get the latest issue of Caduceus
straight to your pocket, as well as several back
issues. Our Android App will also be available
soon. We aim to add video content shortly. Search
under the Health section of the App Store. We
can offer advertising on our App which has a
potential audience of hundreds of thousands.

All magazine advertising is also placed free of

charge on our website for 3 months, which now
gets over 100,000 hits per month.
This means you are given huge exposure in two
different mediums for one low price. None of our
competitors offer this benefit.
Download our media pack from our website for
details of more benefits and readership information.
Please add Vat to all prices.

Caduceus increases distribution

We have now increased our distribution from
4,000 to over 70,000 in the UK and rest of the
world by partnering with similar organisations.
In N America we are in some 1,000 outlets,
including Barnes & Noble, Books a Million and
HDS.

Magazine display advertising rates

Online adverts
Please supply as GIF files, which can be animated.
Caduceus also offers a design service.

B&W (mm)
500 190w x 266h
300
93 x 266
190 x 130
Third page
295
220 190 x 130
125 x 130
Quarter page 215
170
93 x 130
Sixth page
145
90
60 x 130
125 x 62
Twelfth page
70
50
60 x 62
Back cover position normally attracts a 20%
premium. Series discount: 1015%.

Advertising copy dates (quarterly):

Website advertising rates

Issue no
Issue 83
Issue 84

month (pixels)
Top right sidebar
140 200w x 300h
Right sidebar
115 200 x 300
Bottom of homepage
90 350 x variable
Left sidebar
65 150 x 150
All website adverts link to your website and adverts
on the left and right hand side are displayed to
customers throughout the site, not just on the
home page. This increases your exposure and is a
service similar magazines do not offer.

Advertisement requirements
Printed adverts
Please supply as PDF or JPEG files at 250ppi.
Colour adverts should be in a CMYK format.

Copy deadline
7 March 2012
7 June 2012

Advertising Information
For all advertising enquiries contact Advertising
Manager Simon Yeoman-Taylor on
0208 9438138 or ads@caduceus.info .

Full page
Half page

Colour
700
400

Inserts
Price per 1,000 (less than 10g): 65 to outlets,
70 to subscribers.

Diary of events:
Printed diary
30/event (+ vat); includes online for 3 months
Online-only diary
10 for the first month; 5 per extra month.

Classified entry:
Printed classified
80p/word; min charge of 20 + vat (24 words);
includes online for 3 months.
Online-only classified entry
10 for the first month; 5 per extra month.

www.caduceus.info

For books that heal the spirit, mind, body and planet
www.ayni-books.net www.earth-books.net www.changemakers-books.net
(sister imprints to www.o-books.net)
Seasonal Awareness
and Wellbeing

The Protein Myth

Letting Go of Ed

by David Gerow Irving

by Pippa Wilson

by Marie-Claire Wilson

Find peace and health

by renouncing meat and
dairy in your diet.
978-1-84694-673-8
11.99 $19.99
Earth-books

A practical, gentle,
hopeful guide to letting go
of your eating disorder.
978-1-84694-698-1
9.99 $16.95
Ayni-books

Reveals how to banish the

winter blues by adapting
your wellbeing practices
to the seasons.
978-1-84694-469-7
12.99 $22.95
Ayni-books

All titles available today in highstreet and online bookshops

30

issue 82 CADUCEUS

A Better World is
Possible
by Bruce Nixon
a voice of sanity, wisdom
and commonsense
Satish Kumar;
Read it and play your
part Baroness Helena
Kennedy QC
978-1-84694-514-4
14.99 $26.95
Changemakers-Books

CHALICE WELL TRUST

Conference 2012

Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th June

UnitY
So powerful is the light of unity
that it can illuminate the whole earth
` `
Bahaullah.
Persian Theologian and Philosopher. b.1817

ERVIN LASZLO / GLENNIE KINDRED / STEVE NATION / FLO AEVEIA

~ 8 Exploratory Workshops ~ 4 Inspirational Speakers

~ 2 Exciting Days ~ 1 Vision
Early-bird tickets 70 until 31/12/2011 95 from 01/01/2012
Book now @ www.chalicewell.org.uk
Tel: 01458 831154
Chalice Well Trust, Chilkwell St., Glastonbury BA6 8DD
Registered Charity No. 204206

issue 82 CADUCEUS

31

32

issue 82 CADUCEUS

Subscribe to Caduceus
Please send Caduceus to
Name: ...............................................................................................
Address:...........................................................................................
...................................................... Postcode:..................................
Telephone:.................................. email:.........................................
Type of subscription required
UK
1 year

Europe
2 year

Rest of World
3 year

Subscription to start with this issue (no 82)

or issue no......

You may also wish to take this opportunity to help us!

To support the work of Caduceus I wish to donate
Total ..........................................
Please make cheques payable to Caduceus and send with this
card to: Caduceus, 9 Nine Acres, Midhurst, W Sussex GU29
9EP. Or go to website (above) and pay via our PayPal service.
If this is a gift for a friend add your own details below:
Subscribers Name:........................................................................
Address:...........................................................................................
...................................................... Postcode:..................................

OCCULT KNOWLEDGE
& TRUTH

An announcement for genuine seekers only

There is a SECRET order that teaches the

Sublime Occult Mysteries. Many make
such claims few possess the ability to
fulfil them. Nevertheless, the Ancient Holy
Mysteries have been re-established in
order that GENUINE seekers may find the
TRUE LIGHT.
If you REALLY want to study the Ancient
Mystery Teachings in their entirety as
never before revealed, please write to:
IRS, Dalton House, 60 Windsor Avenue
London SW19 2RR, UK

www.isohm.com

Telephone:.................................. email:.........................................
( Sterling or Visa/Mastercard via website)

1 year:
2 years:
3 years:

UK

Europe

Rest of
the World

19.00
32.00
45.00

25.00
39.00
57.00

29.00
45.00
65.00

Subscribe online:
www.caduceus.info/
subscribe.htm

price:

69.95 (+4 UK p&p)

For back issue details, ring

01730 816799 or email:
simon@caduceus.info

issue 82 CADUCEUS

33

Diary and Classified

Diary

All magazine diary entries are also placed FREE of charge on our website, which receives
over 100,000 hits per month. This means advertisers obtain huge exposure in two mediums for
just 30+Vat. Visit www.caduceus.info and ll out our online form to book your entries.
Online only diary entries are also available, starting at 10 a month.
23 Feb
Thur
Holistic Sound as a Healing Force
James DAngelo
Aquarius Severn, 2 Wolseley Terrace, Oriel Rd,
Cheltenham, 810pm.
www.aquariussevern.com, 01242 228796.
2526 Feb
SatSun
Achieve Wholeness/ Happiness/ Well
Being with Faliese Hazel Saville
The Golden Hill Centre, Bryneiddan, Panteg,
Whitemill, Carmarthen, SA32 7HD, 10.30
am5.30pm, 95 (85 if paid 2 weeks in
advance), Achieve Wholeness/Happiness/Well
Being with Faliese. Release pain/ blocks to
creativity/ limiting past programming/ bad
feelings. Find inner peace, love, joy & harmony,
realigning to Source. Win Free Course
attendance + 25% off the full cost for 10
runners up. www.goldenhillcentre.co.uk.
hazel@lifechangetherapy.co.uk, 01267 290335.
1011 March
SatSun
Body in Relationship Silke Ziehl
The Open Centre, 188 Old Street, London,
EC1V 9FR, 10 am6 pm, 110. Improve your
relationships by updating old body-mind
patterns of connection, 07764 200113.
1011 March
SatSun
The Art of the Invisible Rachel Corby
Horsley, Gloucs,10:00 am16:00, 120,
Journeys with Plant Teachers. Unearth the deep
rooted wisdom of the green people through
connecting with plants and their spirits. For
details and other Sacred Plant Medicine
workshops visit www.gatewaystoeden.com,
07772137719
710 April
SatTue
Into Christ Consciousness
Gillian Paschkes-Bell, Janice Dolley
Findhorn Foundation, The Park, Findhorn,
Forres, Moray, IV36 3TZ, 12:0016:00, 395 /
495 / 595 including accommodation & all
meals. An experiential and participatory

gathering in which we open to an expanded

consciousness beyond the polarities of male
and female, spirit and matter, dark and light
where we meet, balance and are reconciled.
Contributors include William Bloom,
Fionntulach (Head of the Cile D order),
Jeddah Mali, Julia MacDonald (master NLP
practitioner), William Meader (esoteric
teacher), Philip Roderick (Christian priest and
musician) and Fay Barratt, (interfaith
minister), For more information and booking,
see www.findhorn.org/intochristconsciousness,
Dedicated website www.intocc.net ,
01309 692393.
2729 April
FriSun
Moving From Fear to Love
Jay Ramsay
Hawkwood College, course 173, The
momentous changes of our times are inviting
us to something different not just courage,
flexibility, openness but moving beyond
fear-based habits, addictions, co-dependent
relationships, or no relationships at all to
Love. This workshop guides us through a
process of remembering, engaging, releasing,
renewing and affirming ourselves and others,
involving solo and partner work, visualisation,
meditation, creativity and movement/dance.
Fully inclusive residential single 216; shared
186 inc meals except breakfast, nonresidential 146, 46pm, 27 April, course
ends 4pm, 29 April, Jayramsay@o2.co.uk,
www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

Classied
Courses
Energy Readings and Energy Clearing.
Energy Readings let you see your energy field
and chakra alignment using a GDV camera.
Energy Clearing Sessions can release energy
blockages, balance and boost the energy field

diary entry form

as well as improving chakra alignment. A

simple, relaxing therapy to enhance your health
and wellbeing. Energy Readings taken before
and after the Energy Clearing allow you to see
its beneficial effect. Sessions with Freya Lawton
in Bath and Somerset. www.energyclearing.co.uk
info@energyclearing.co.uk or 07809 140937.
Love, Magic, Miracles Conference. In the year
of the Findhorn Community's 50th Birthday a
special, week-long Autumn 2012 conference at
the Findhorn Foundation celebrating Love as
the greatest power on Earth. (September 295
October). Presenters include Andrew Harvey,
Robert Holden, Caroline Myss, Marko
Pogacnik and David Abram. Bookings taken
now. www.findhorn.org/lovemagicmiracles
01309 691653.
Leamington Meditation Group. Sarida Brown.
Releasing tension and self-limiting patterns
through breath, mind-training and practices with
energy, sound, light and healing. Inspired by the
ancient Sufi tradition, the path of the heart,
which honours all religions. Alternate Thursdays.
Details: sufi@caduceus.info and 01926 422388.

Journal
Pagan Dawn quarterly journal of the Pagan
Federation, Europes oldest Pagan organisation.
3.25 per issue, 12/yr (4 issues) (UK), free to
members, membership 18 pa (UK) Subscribers
can also buy back issues: www.paganfed.org.
Pagan Dawn, PO Box 14268, Anstruther, Fife
KY10 3YA, Scotland; publications@
paganfed.org.

Sales
Margaret Walker Karmic Astrology. 35,
Karmic Astrology: fascinating, comprehensive
interpretation of your birth chart. Find
direction, understand your life purpose, identify
your soul lessons. Unique Christmas gift.
www.karmicastrologyreports.com,
rainbowsend@talktalk.net, 01522 589148

please photocopy for more than one entry

To publicize your event to our wide and interested readership, send in or fax this form or book and pay direct with credit card on our website
www.caduceus.info . I enclose my fee of 30.00 per entry + 6 Vat at 20%. Once booked, all diary listings go onto the Online Diary page FREE
until end of March 2012. Issue 83 will cover the period from April 2012 onwards. PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS.

1 Date/s .................................................................................................
2 Days (e.g. Fri-Sun) ............................................................................
3 Title of event/course (35 characters max) ..................................
..................................................................................................................
4 Names of teacher(s)/leader(s) ........................................................
..................................................................................................................
5 Explanation (10 words maximum) .................................................
..................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................

6 Venue......................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
7 Times ...............................................................................................
8 Cost ..................................................................................................
Yes
No
9 Wheelchair access?
bk Contact organization name ................................................
.....................................................................................................
bl Telephone ..............................................................................
bm email OR website .................................................................

I enclose my fee of 36.00 per entry (including Vat). Please make all cheques payable to Caduceus and send with entry form to:
Caduceus, 9 Nine Acres, Midhurst, W Sussex GU29 9EP Tel: 0208 9438138
You can put your listing online with our 48-hour express service: see www.caduceus.info/Diary

34

issue 82 CADUCEUS

issue 82 CADUCEUS

35

BRIEFINGS news, reviews and events

Electrosensitivity
conference covers
range of triggers
he electrosensitivity campaigning
group, UK-ES (www.es-uk.info),
held its second conference in
September, at the head offices of food
producer, Samworth Brothers in Melton
Mowbray, whose CEO, Brian Stein,
himself ES, is a trustee of both ES-UK
and the Radiation Research Trust.
The very low radiation levels at the
venue was very helpful for the 100
attendees, the vast majority of whom
quite seriously sensitive, who heard a
variety of talks:
Dr Andrew Tressider, a trustee of
ES-UK, practises as a GP in Somerset
and is electro-sensitive himself, spoke
on The GPs Perspective. He described his own history, which would
resonate with many ES sufferers, and
then outlined several case histories.
Case 1: Woman, 40, suffering from
three migraines a week. He suggested
removing the cordless phone base station beside her bed - now she only
suffers one or two a month and has
come off preventative medication.
Case 2: Man, 64, yoga teacher. After
installing a new WiFi router he suffered
progressive tiredness, irritability, hip
and other aches over three months.
After removing router he was restored
to previous health within two weeks.
Case 3: Boy, 4. Three months after
a dose of flu he remained unwell, with
fevers and poor sleep. Moved into
mothers bed, father slept in child's
bed and found it hard to sleep there.
Hospital could find no cause for child's

Laptop Wifi radiation

affects sperm
motility and DNA
fragmentation
he first study to look at the effects
on sperm from laptops connected
via Wifi has found disturbing results.
Reproductive medicine researchers
in Cordoba, Argentina, exposed a sample of sperm from 29 men for 4 hours to
laptops enabled by Wifi vs a control
sample and found a significant decrease in progressive motility and an

36

issue 82 CADUCEUS

ill health. A WiFi router was moved

from room next door to childs bedroom and the baby alarm (near head of
bed) was disconnected. The child
immediately returned to normal health.
Dr Tressider pointed out that none
of these cases would have been resolved had he not been ES-aware and
either asked the right questions or, in
the last case, actually made a home
visit with an electro-smog detector.
But among GPs he is one of a tiny
minority who would suspect EM radiation. Also at present no information
about ES nor EMR is provided for GPs
while training or in follow-up courses.
Dr Erica Mallery Blythe presented
a discussion of present management
and diagnostics. Having given up a
successful career in emergency
medicine because of her own electrosensitivity, she has spent the last two
years both attempting to regain some
modicum of health for herself and
researching the area. She gave a long,
very well received and helpful talk now
available on the ES-UK website.
Professor Denis Henshaw, from
Bristol University, gave a fascinating
talk on some of the science behind
EMF and health but asked whether
anyone will take any notice? He discussed power frequencies and magnetic fields and the disruption of nocturnal melatonin by magnetic fields. He
also described how animals (birds,
mammals, fish and humans) sense
and use magnetic fields through mag-

increase in sperm DNA fragmentation

(Abendario C et al. Fertility and Sterility,
2012, in press). The researchers underline that this is a non-thermal effect,
thus adding to the evidence that Wifi
and other EM radiation can produce
adverse effects without heating tissue.
Shawn Abrell, the US lawyer suing
Portland Public Schools in Oregon on
half of David Morrison and his daughter
(see issue 81), commented: This adds
further evidence to our case that WiFi
in schools can be harmful, increasing
my confidence that our case, currently
set for June, will be successful.

netic particles (magnetites and cryptochromes) in beaks, eyes and brains

and how this can be disrupted by
man-made EMFs. His talk, with notes,
is downloadable on the Human
Radiation Effects Groups website.
Alasdair Phillips, of Powerwatch
(www.powerwatch.org), presented the
latest developments in the ES world,
pointing out that, although very worrying developments were taking place,
such as the spread of the smart meter
network, significant strides in public
and government awareness had been
made, such as the WHOs International
Agency for Research into Cancer's
classification of mobile phone radiation
as a Group 2b carcinogen.
In addition, the Council of Europe
has recommended that WiFi and
mobile phones should be banned in
schools and that acceptable threshold
values for electromagnetic radiation
should be re-assessed and lowered.
Thomas Saunders, a successful
architect who retired 20 years ago,
during which time he studied the built
environment which, he argues, has
dramatically influenced our health. His
book, The Boiled Frog Syndrome
Your Health and the Built Environment,
distills the evidence.
However, his talk focused not so
much on how our buildings are damaging us but on how electro-sensitives
should be using the Disability and
Equality Act (2010) to their own benefit. The definition of disability under
the Act states that a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental
impairment that has a substantial and
long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal, day-to-day
activities.
He made the point that a strict
reading of the Act should not exclude
someone suffering from electro-sensitivity, even if the condition is not recognized as a medical disability.
Report based on original on
www.foodmatters.co.uk by Frances Dale.

Danish mobile phone

study rebutted in BMJ
Danish mobile phone/brain cancer
study published in the British
Medical Journal that claimed to
show no link has been comprehensively rebutted by Alasdair Philips and
Graham Lamburn in a published letter
to the BMJ (BMJ 2011;343:d7899,
6 Dec).
They reveal at least four major
flaws that invalidate the study, which
they state should be disregarded.

US prisons sued over soy-laden diet

itigation challenging the use of soy
foods in Illinois prisons is going
ahead after a September ruling
emphasized the importance of scientific
and medical testimony at the trial.
The six plaintiffs are represented by
the Weston A Price Foundation (WAPF),
a leading voice on the dangers of soy
foods, especially when consumed in
large amounts.Involved in this suit
since June 2009, the Foundation is
seeking an injunction against serving
soy-laden meals to Illinois prisoners.
The lawsuit claims that feeding of soyladen food constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the
eighth amendment to the Constitution.
The lawsuit also alleges that a private corporation and its doctors have
been negligent in failing to provide

adequate medical care to each of the

plaintiffs, who are suffering bodily
injury and adverse health effects from
being fed too much soy.
The use of soy in prison meals
began when Rod Blagojevich became
Governor of Illinois in 2002. In January,
2003, inmates began receiving a diet
largely based on processed soy protein, with very little meat. In most
meals, small amounts of meat or meat
by-products are mixed with 60-70 percent soy protein; fake soy cheese has
replaced real cheese; and soy flour or
soy protein is now added to most of
the baked goods.
Early in 2007, the WAPF began
hearing from inmates who were suffering from a myriad of serious health
problems due to the large amounts of

soy in the diet. Complaints include

chronic and painful constipation alternating with debilitating diarrhea, vomiting after eating, sharp pains in the
digestive tract, especially after consuming soy, passing out, heart palpitations, rashes, acne, insomnia, panic
attacks, depression and symptoms of
hypothyroidism, such as low body
temperature (feeling cold all the time),
brain fog, fatigue, weight gain, frequent infections and thyroid disease.
A related case in Florida, Eric Harris
vs Keefe Commissary Network, seeks
a class action against the Florida
Department of Corrections for using
large amounts of soy in prison meals.
Details: www.westonaprice.org .
[See article on soy dangers in
issue 81.]

FDA allows raw milk

across state lines for
personal consumption

Watkins Books
launches spiritual
initiatives

n a November 1st statement, concurrent with a raw milk freedom rally

held outside FDA headquarters in
Silver Spring, Maryland, the FDA conceded that it has never taken, nor
does it intend to take, enforcement
action against an individual who purchased and transported raw milk
across state lines solely for his or her
own personal consumption.
This statement reverses FDAs prior
position in which it reserved the option
to take action against consumers
crossing state lines with raw milk. A
caravan of mothers brought raw milk
across state lines on November 1 and
served it to rally participants in front of
FDA headquarters.
Unfortunately FDAs announcement
is filled with the same misinformation
that it has spread in the past, said Sally
Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A
Price Foundation that sponsors A
Campaign for Real Milk, aimed at universal access to clean raw milk. FDA
continues to insist that raw milk is dangerous, when even the agencys own
exaggerated list of outbreaks shows
that raw milk is safer than other foods.
[See article on raw milk, issue 80]

atkins Books has undergone a

series of transformations since it
was bought out of administration in
March, 2010, by American Etan Ilfeld.
As Londons oldest esoteric bookshop
(around since 1893), it has a wealth of
knowledge that Ilfeld hopes to share
with the rest of the world.
Watkins has launched an interactive
spiritual map on their website, which
anyone can contribute to. The map
includes ley line nodes, inspirational
building andlocations that have led to
epiphanies and moments of enlightenment: http://tinyurl.com/bt3rspl .
Watkins has also published a spiritual app for the iPhone/iPad and
Android platforms.The app features a
GPS-powered Spiritual Sightings Map
that allows you to see spiritual and
paranormal places near your location.
All places are submitted by other users
and you can share your own sightings
by filling out quick details under submit report.
The app also has a range of ebooks
including free titles such as Freud's
Dream Psychology and Herman
Hesses Siddartha.The app is available on both the Android App Market
and Apples iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/
d9zqhfe . In 2012 Watkins will be publishing a series ofinspirationalapps.
Meanwhile, the physical bookstore
is as busy as ever and now open
seven days a week. The shop has
been at 19 Cecil Court since 1901 and
Ilfeld hopes to see it stay there for at
least another century.

WAPF 2012
conference
he London Chapter of the Weston
A Price Foundations (WAPF) next
annual conference will be on 1718
March at Epsom Downs Racecourse.
Speakers include Sally Fallon-

Morell, Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride,

Dr John Turner, Prof Ton Baars, Prof
Paul Connett, Dr Stephanie Seneff, Dr
Elizabeth Wells, Dr Barry Groves,
Kathryne Pyrtle MA, Dr Craig Rose and
Simon Ranger of Seagreens.
A 4-DVD set of its 2011 London
conference, featuring Dr Kaayla Daniel;
Dr Malcolm Kendrick; Dr Natasha
Campbell-McBride, Dr Barry Groves;
Zoe Harcombe; Graham Harvey and
Jerry Brunetti plus a special movie
preview of Trufflepig Films soon to be
released The Moo Man, is now available covering the full 14 hours of the
conference, with live video and slides,
at the introductory price of just $40/25
+ free shipping in the USA & Europe.

Visit www.westonaprice.org/london to buy,

view preview clips and watch free videos of
the 2010 conference.

issue 82 CADUCEUS

37

Canadian First Nations

sue Shell over tar
sands destruction

Protestors gather outside the Shell Centre in London. Photo: Sam Burcher

he UK Tar Sands Network served

papers to Shell UK executives on
behalf of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) on 30 November. ACFN plans to sue Shell for failure to meet contractual agreements
made between Shell and the First
Nations regarding existing tar sands
projects within ACFN traditional territory and Canadas pristine Athabasca,
a UNESCO heritage site (see p3).
Chief Allan Adam, along with the
ACFN's entire council, simultaneously
rallied outside Shell Canada corporate

Seaweed Health
Foundation
he Seaweed Health Foundation
has been launched as an independent, not-for-profit forum for research,
aimed at raising awareness of the benefits of human food quality seaweed
for food and health.
Owned by its members on an equal
basis, they work together to achieve
their aim of acting as a platform to represent the entire seaweed supply
chain. Getting seaweed into the daily
diet underpins their research focus of
various aspects of nutrition and wellness, salt replacement, obesity and
weight management as a wholefood
and standards development.
Members and partners have won
numerous accolades, such as: a paper
on obesity in Appetite for Sheffield
Hallam University using Seagreens;
and grant funding for Gee Lawson and
Teesside University to investigate salt
replacement in ready meals. Their salt
replacement work in bread was highlighted by Research Councils UK in

38

issue 82 CADUCEUS

HQ in Calgary to hold a press conference. After years of agreements with

Shell Oil, the Athabasca Chipewyan
people have decided to risk everything
by challenging Shells practices.
Were drawing the line and taking a
strong stand againstShell. ACFN
wants no further developments until
Shell is brought to justice and our
broader concerns about the cumulative impacts in the region are addressed, stated Chief Adam.
The agreements were meant to
ensure Shell would provide a number
their Big Ideas for the Future report
(www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/
publications).
More information: Dr Craig Rose:
craig@seaweedhealthfoundation.
org.uk .

East Whins
Co-housing at Findhorn
he East Whins Co-housing cluster,
currently being developed in the
heart of The Park Ecovillage at Findhorn, sees the fruition of a long-held
dream to create homes for more people who share the transformative
vision of this remarkable place.
This co-housing cluster is the next
step in Findhorns commitment to living lightly on the land. The houses and
flats have been designed to high ecological specifications and encourage
social integrity by incorporating shared
facilities, such as a common room with
kitchen, laundry and drying room.
The project is being developed by
Duneland Ltd, a community company
set up to ensure any future develop-

of measures to lessen the impact of tar

sands mines on ACFN. Besides the
lawsuit, ACFN also plans to oppose all
future tar sands projects by Shell.
Tar sands have been widely recognized as the most destructive project
on Earth because of the serious
impacts on treaty and aboriginal rights,
ecological destruction and global
greenhouse gas emissions, said
Suzanne Dhaliwal of the UK Tar Sands
Network (www.no-tar-sands.org).
Shell Canada recently submitted
proposals to expand its current tar
sands operations which, if approved,
would more then double their production. This would translate
into further encroachment of open
pit mines on ACFN traditional lands
and into the pristine wilderness of
the Pierre River, a previously
untouched area.
Chief Adam stated, We dont want
our community to become the next
Niger Delta, where Shells unregulated
actions have left communities devastated and the need for a 30-year
clean-up estimated to cost $1bn.
An international coalition of indigenous and environmental groups, including Keepers of the Athabasca, Greenpeace, Indigenous Environmental
Network, Sierra Club Prairie, AWA,
Pembina, Council of Canadians, International Indigenous Treaty Council,
Dene Nation, Platform, London Mining
Network, UK Tar Sands Network and
People & Planet endorsed the action.
ment of land is in keeping with the
communitys overall ethos. To find out
more, visit www.duneland.co.uk .

Giordano Bruno
GlobalShift University
he Giordano Bruno GlobalShift
University, the first online university
to make high-quality, fully accredited
university education accessible to
young people in all parts of the world,
held its Founding Congress at the
Budapest Historical Museum in the
Royal Castle of Hungary on 9 September and will open for degree enrollment on the five continents as of March,
2012. Prof Ervin Laszlo is Chancellor of
its Centre for Advanced Study.
Its first program, 2012: Know The
World, Know Yourself is open to
action-oriented change agents of
today, for tomorrow, from any walk of
life.No previous experience or schooling necessary only a passion to
question everything and a desire to
change the world. More details:
http://bit.ly/vwrZ9J .

issue 82 CADUCEUS

39

Alfred Riggs
19252011
A tribute to the engineer, dowser,
geobiologist and healer and real
gentleman by Alasdair Philips,
Director of Powerwatch
(www.powerwatch.org.uk)
lfred (Alf) Riggs was trained as
an engineer and applied practical engineering common-sense
to his work. His interest in earth radiation began in the mid-60s and dominated his work and interests for the
next 45 years. He strongly supported
systematic research and development
into dowsing and was, for a long time,
head of science and technology for the
Earth Energies Group of the British
Society of Dowsers. Over the years he
was very successful in improving the
quality of life for a great number of
people all over the world while also
gaining recognition and respect within
academic circles.
Based on his investigations he concluded that certain types of radiation
in isolation or in combination with other
toxic fields or substances are consistently found to be present with a number of serious and debilitating diseases.
This was particularly the case where

Unique ozonated
olive oil cream
ctivated Oxygen Ltd has been using
medical grade ozone to treat a variety of illnesses, including a 100 percent
success with MRSA, for over a decade
(see issue 66). Now they have applied
their unique process using ozonated
olive oil to develop a new face cream,
Secrets of Skin, that seems to possess
very special properties.
The oil is combined with a gas comprising single oxygen atoms that link to
the olive oil, resulting in a gel containing active oxygen. It is the ability to
stabilise this within the gels that is the
unique aspect of the manufacturing
process. Other techniques cannot control or sustain single oxygen atoms for
any length of time, especially not to the
extent achieved in this cream.
Oxygen deficiency is a common
cause of ageing. If the skin suffers
insufficient oxygen, it can result in
reduced cellular activity, premature
ageing and a loss of firmness. The testimonials on their site indicate the new
cream is producing effects other
creams would envy.

40

issue 82 CADUCEUS

individuals slept or otherwise spent

long periods of time in one location.
He assessed properties by dowsing
for earth radiation. He measured magnetic fields and was convinced that it
was the gradient of the field change (ie.
how variable it was over short distances) that caused the most harm to
health often in combination with geopathic stress. He usually recommended
people to sleep on wooden beds with a
mattress containing no metal springs.
He also measured EM fields with scientific instruments and was most concerned about electro-pollution before
most people had ever heard the term.

Currently, their special offer of 48

(normally 75) and 3 for 2 applies till
December 31st but Caduceus readers
can get a further 10% discount by
quoting CAD82 when ordering at:
www.secretsofskin.com .

Soka Gakkais 50th

anniversary in Europe
elebrations to commemorate the
50th anniversary of the founding in
Europe of the lay-Buddhist movement,
Soka Gakkai International (SGI), took
place during October in the UK,
Netherlands, Denmark, Germany,
France and Spain culminating in a
pan-European meeting of 5,000 members in Rome.
SGI, a world-wide, socially engaged
movement with more than 12m members, works to promote peace, culture,
education and sustainability based on
Buddhist ideals.
Today more than 105,000 people
practise and meet regularly in 42
countries across the continent.

See issue 80, p 40; www.sgi-uk.org .

I first met Alf in the mid-'80s, which

led to meeting up every year or so,
exchanging the latest news and thinking about Earth energies and electrobiology and health. He was always
very interested in the latest instrumentation and keen to prove dowsing to
scientific non-believers.
A good dowser is very sensitive to
vibratory patterns and tunes in to the
substance or energy being investigated. This faculty in man appears to
be similar to that used by homing
pigeons, dogs, whales, etc, in finding
their way home. There is now plenty of
peer-reviewed, scientific literature
showing animal and bird sensitivities
down to about 10 nanotesla, ELF magnetic fields a tiny field level. Medicine
and the prevention of disease are moving into a new era where geobiology
and the detection of geopathic and
other energies by dowsing as well as
the use of scientific instruments (for
EMF/RF fields) are becoming increasingly acceptable.
Alfred Riggs played an important
role in developing acceptance of geopathic and electromagnetic stress and
personally helped many people. They
and others just discovering this field
owe him a huge debt.

(One of his two sons, Edwin and Roy, carries out similar surveys and training sessions: www.royriggs.co.uk)

Our Future Planet

ased in Bath, Our Future Planet is
an online community, think tank
and information resource that aims to
be the platform to create global
change in the real world today. Their
long-term goal is to create a cooperative planet through greater connections, knowledge transfer, discussion
and action. A community of planetary
citizens, we care about the future of
our planet and wish to contribute to
positive change (www.ourfutureplanet.org; 05603 440097).

Tattered Butterfly Arts

new eclectic arts organisation
informed by the inspiration of the
world's ancient and earth-wise cultures, Tattered Butterfly Arts,works to
create an artistic, dance-orientated
environment where participants are
invited to explore the phenomena of
relationship between the natural world
and us humans.

Details: www.tatteredbutterfly.org ;
01736 364321 / 07967 430303.