Meditation

secretsoftheserpent

We have a gross misconception of what meditation is. Most think that they have to sit like a monk and have their hands out. All this does is have you doing something you think you have to do. Meditation is not doing, it is being. Meditation itself means to think or ponder about something, but the act itself is supposedly trying to quiet the mind. In this post I will not tell you how to meditate. You must be your own light! Your light can not be sparked or turned on by someone else. If it is, it can be turn off by someone else. I will show you what meditation was to the ancients, so you can implement it in to your own life and help brighten your own light.

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Two More Reasons To Add Mushrooms To Your Holiday Menus

Greetings!

If you’re looking for reasons to eat more mushrooms, read on.

Two new relevant studies were published in the scientific literature this past year, each one highlighting the importance of mushrooms in the human diet.

1. Mushroom consumption and mild cognitive impairment

As part of a recent study design, and to determine any association between mushroom consumption and mild cognitive impairment, researchers in Singapore analyzed diet and lifestyle factors of 663 participants over the age of 60.

After controlling for factors including age, education, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activities, meat consumption, and vegetable consumption, participants who consumed greater than 2 portions of mushrooms per week had lower odds of having mild cognitive impairment compared to participants who consumed mushrooms less than once per week.

Findings were similar in males and females, and results were published in the Journal Of Alzheimer’s Disease. Researchers concluded: “Mushroom consumption could be a potential preventive measure to slow cognitive decline and neurodegeneration in aging.”

2. Mushroom consumption and prostate cancer

A brand new study published in the International Journal Of Cancer looked at the association between mushroom consumption and prostate cancer in over 36,000 Japanese men between the ages of 40 and 79.

This was the first long-term cohort study ever published on the subject. (A cohort study follows participants over time to determine the incidence of, or mortality from, a disease or other outcome.)

Results indicated that higher mushroom consumption in men over the age of 50 was related to a lower risk of incident prostate cancer. Additionally, researchers found a beneficial effect of mushroom consumption on the prevention of prostate cancer regardless of clinical stage of tumor development (localized or advanced and metastatic).

Researchers in this study concluded that “habitual mushroom intake might help to reduce prostate cancer risk.”

So… if you needed yet another reason to eat more mushrooms, perhaps these two studies will influence your decision in a positive manner.

Lastly, today (Sunday) is the last day to enroll in Foraging Wild Mushrooms, as registration will close at midnight. This online course is designed to teach you the skills necessary to safely and confidently harvest wild fungi for food, for medicine, for study, and for fun.

Additionally, a portion of all proceeds derived from course sales will be donated to the Pennsylvania Parks & Forest Foundation — a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to inspire stewardship of Pennsylvania’s beautiful state parks and forests.

You can learn more about the course here.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll consider adding more mushrooms to your holiday menus!

-Adam Haritan

Sacred Dreaming the Winter Solstice

The Druid's Garden

” When the body is awake the soul is its servant, and is never her own mistress. … But when the body is at rest, the soul, being set in motion and awake … has cognisance of all things-sees what is visible, hears what is audible, walks, touches, feels pain, ponders”- Hippocrates, Dreams

Entering the Dreaming (Hawthorn card from the Plant Spirit Oracle Deck)

Dreams are a critical part of what it means to be human–every night, we dream. We may not remember our dreams. Our dreams may be fun, terrifying, illuminating, or simply mundane. There is magic in dreaming, and magic in our dreams. This magic of dreaming is particularly useful to consider at this time of year, at the Winter Solstice, when the darkness is all-consuming, the sun lays so low on the horizon, not even seeming to be able to bring power and light to the world. …

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What is Consciousness?

secretsoftheserpent

Consciousness is everything. It is fundamental. We have no idea what Consciousness really is. We think that because we are alive we are conscious. That maybe true, but we are not conscious of consciousness. Science thinks consciousness comes from our minds and reality is just a bunch of random molecules and atoms banging around. Neuroscience knows nothing. Quantum physics is as close as we will get to understanding consciousness unless we change how we view consciousness. If a scientist actually understood consciousness, they would not be a scientist anymore. They would be a Mystic.

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