Inga’s mom, Stephanie, spent the Christmas holiday with us and she brought with her a marvelous treat: the “Harry Potter” books on cassette tape. If you are unfamiliar with them, it’s the story of a boy born to a wizard and a witch. Upon their deaths from battling with a powerful, dark wizard, Harry ends up spending his childhood with his mother’s non-magical sister’s family. Non-magical people are referred to by the magical community as “muggles” which is used to label anyone who goes to great lengths to avoid the use of magic. Harry’s Aunt and Uncle frown severely on all things magical and do their best to quash any magical leanings on Harry’s part, to no avail. On his eleventh birthday, a letter arrives from Hogwart’s School of Wizardry and Witchcraft stating that he’s been admitted thus starting his formal education in the magical arts and his mysterious heritage. Inga and I are now on the third book of the series and we can’t wait each evening after work to gather in the living room and be read to about Harry’s magical adventures.

The whole bit about “muggles” really has me thinking about how we really do go to such great lengths to avoid magic, instead relying on logic and science. I find this very odd since regardless of culture, we all share ancient myths of magic and miracles. I can only speculate why certain human cultures turned away from magic. Magic to me is the act of co-creation, the combining of shared intentions and energies to create something greater than the sum of the inputs. When this act of co-creation is grounded in the frequency of Light and Love, we get miracles. If that is indeed what magic is, why would we turn away from that? Well, I do know from experience that co-creation is messy, requires a lot of discipline and constant enlightened collaboration with other entities. It looks like we Europeans, during the Middle Ages, decided on a seemingly simpler course of action of carving out a “living” for our families by taking a reductionist approach to the complexities of life. Sure, it got the job done but it certainly has not been grounded in Light and Love.

Because of that lack of grounding, what we’ve created in this modern age is clearly not sustainable environmentally or economically. Just look at the exorbitant expense that is incurred by having to clean up all the industrial waste that is made. It gives me hope when I see signs of big corporations figuring out that it is far cheaper and smarter to do things wisely and pro-actively.

Bill Ford, the great grandson of Henry Ford and chairman of the Ford Motor Company, is spending billions to clean-up and revolutionize one of Ford’s manufacturing plants in Michigan. The design calls for creating a “living roof” on all the buildings, a carpet of plants that will absorb carbon emissions and rainfall and lower the interior building temperatures. (Could this be an example of human and elemental co-creation?) If it really works, Ford is going to convert all of their 140 plants in 26 countries and make the design available to everyone at no charge. To learn more, read Revolution at the Rouge – Can Ford profit by going green? by Paul A. Eisenstein.

I, for one, feel that we’ve given the ungrounded logic and science route a thorough test run and I’m ready to try something different and better. I’ve been preparing my whole life for this and people keep showing up in my life that are willing to help me explore what is possible. I reunited with such a person the other night. We both feel that we shared a lifetime back in the 1800s where I, as a Scottish American officer in the Union Army, and he, as an Apache, teamed up to look for a way to merge the European culture of science and logic with the Native American Shamanistic culture. In this lifetime, he calls it combining the Cross with the Spiral, the Spiral being a representation of the mystical journey we are all on. So what are we going to do this time to achieve this? We don’t know yet but I suspect it will be a fascinating adventure.

The other day, a friend that I work with was exploring with me how to we can cause harmonious and sustainable change in our work environment. We recognized how difficult it is to break free of the status quo in order to see what is possible. We’re all pretty good at imagining a different reality but getting into action based on a sustainable model is where the real magic, and challenge, lies. We began to explore the concept of balancing and combining the energies from the three realms and we labeled them as follows: Etheric, the realm of light and love; Astral, the realm of the imagination and Physical, the realm of action. I admit this is pretty heady stuff for the work environment but the challenges we are facing at work essentially demand a highly creative and sustainable approach. So how do we start this process? He and I do know from experience that personal and shared Intention is the key to making this Alignment possible. And whether you are a Christian that prays or a Wiccan performing magical rituals, you may see common ground here.

Here are some more signs of co-creation, based on Light and Love, that I’m seeing around me:

• A friend and his roommate have invited Elementals to co-habit their living space. The Elementals are coaching them on how to make the space more conducive by addressing the Feng Shui issues of eliminating clutter, changing room colors, etc. What will they co-create in this balanced, harmonious living space? Stay tuned!

• The Northwest Earth Institute is offering a free, eight-session course taught by volunteers called “Voluntary Simplicity” in which the participants “explore the material and psychological distractions that prevent us from caring for the Earth” and “consider how life might be enriched through the practice of simplicity”. Their mission statement is: “Motivating individuals to examine and transform personal values and habits, to accept responsibility for the Earth, and to act on that commitment.”

The choice is up to us: do we create with Love or something less than Love? Do we create independently or do we join with others and bravely explore what is really possible? What will we co-create when we lay our fears aside, follow our hearts, use the power of logic wisely, work harmoniously with the Elementals and the energies of the heavens while letting Divine Love guide our efforts? It’s the only thing that truly excites me anymore and while it is not an easy path to follow, I feel truly alive and joyous when I walk it. */:-)