GaiasWheelYule06

May Day, Beltane, Giamonios, Bhealtainn, Lady Day, Walpurgis Eve,Walpurgisnacht, May Eve, Rudemas, Celtic Summer, Time Of The Horned God, Time Of The Greenwood Lady, Time Of The Hill Top Balefires

Oak and May,

On This Day,

Will both Heed

Those in Need.

Goddess Bright,

God of Sun,

Bless your Children

'Till our days are done

Beltaine joyfully heralds the arrival of summer. Beltaine is the last of the three spring fertility festivals, and the second major Celtic festival.

Beltane, and its counterpart Samhain, divide the year into two seasons, Winter and Summer. May is the month of sensuality and sexuality revitalized, the reawakening of the earth and Her Children.

Beltaine brings hopes of love, prosperity, friendship and peace. As we dance amongst the flowers around the Maypole our thoughts wander through our lives and loves. It is said that if you bathe in the dew of Beltaine morn, your beauty will flourish throughout the year.

The fair maid who, on the first of May,

Goes to the fields at break of day,

And bathes in dew from the Hawthorn tree,

Will ever be strong and handsome be .

(Olde English Nursry Rhyme)

Beltaine literally means "fire of Bel". Bel is known as the bright and shining one. On the eve of Beltane the Celts build two large fires. In the honor of summer they were lit, and the herds were ritually driven between them, to purify and protect the herds. The fires celebrate the return of life and fruitfulness to the earth.

Celebration includes frolicking throughout the countryside, dancing the Maypole, leaping over fires, and "going a maying".

Beltaine marks the handfasting (wedding) of the Goddess and God, the reawakening of the earth's fertility at its fullest. This is the union between the Great Mother and her Young Horned God. This coupling brings new life on earth. It is the unifying of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine forms to bring forth the third form, consciousness.

Symbols: May Pole, flowers, fauna, handfastings, butter churn, eggs, chalice, knife, flower chaplet, May baskets, bells

Colors: Red,white,green,yellow. Learn the meaning of colors

Deities: Fertility Gods and Goddesses, Flower Goddesses, Pan, The Green Man, Flora, Diana, Artemis, Faunus and Nymphs. Basically fertility Gods and Goddess and Mother figure Goddesses.

Incense And Oils: Rose, Lilac, Florals,Frankincense,Ylang Ylang,Yarrow, Basil, Camphor, Clove.

Stones: Rose quartz, emerald, sapphire, bloodstone

Foods: Dairy foods, oats and oat cakes, bannocks, honey and sweets, greens, green salads, beltaine cakes

Flowers/Herbs: Hawthorn, primrose, cowslip, rose, rosemary, birch, pine, lilac .

Activities: May Pole Dancing, gathering flowers and herbs, weaving a chaplet, gatherings of families and clans, fertility rites, handfastings, balefires, the Great Rite- symbolic fertility ritual

Animals: Rabbits, goats, honey bees, pegasus, satyrs

Drinks: red or blush wine, red or pink punch, teas of burdock, damiana, hibiscus, rose hips and saffron.

Corinna's Going A-Maying

Robert Herrick

Get up, get up for shame! The blooming morn

Upon her wings presents the god unshorn.

See how Aurora throws her fair

Fresh-quilted colors through the air.

Get up, sweet slug-a-bed, and see

The dew bespangling herb and tree!

Each flower has wept and bowed toward the east

Above an hour since, yet you not drest;

Nay! not so much as out of bed?

When all the birds have matins said

And sung their thankful hymns, 'tis sin,

Nay, profanation, to keep in,

Whenas a thousand virgins on this day

Spring sooner than the lark, to fetch in May.

Rise and put on your foliage, and be seen

To come forth, like the springtime, fresh and green,

And sweet as Flora. Take no care

For jewels for your gown or hair.

Fear not; the leaves will strew

Gems in abundance upon you.

Besides, the childhood of the day has kept

Against you come, some orient pearls unwept.

Come, and receive them while the light

Hangs on the dew-locks of the night;

And Titan on the eastern hill

Retires himself, or else stands still

Till you come forth! Wash, dress, be brief in

praying;

Few beads are best when once we go a-Maying.

Come, my Corinna, come; and coming, mark

How each field turns a street, each street a park,

Made green and trimmed with trees! see how

Devotion gives each house a bough

Or branch! each porch, each door, ere this,

An ark, a tabernacle is,

Made up of whitethorn neatly interwove,

As if here were those cooler shades of love.

Can such delights be in the street

And open fields, and we not see't?

Come, we'll abroad; and let's obey

The proclamation made for May,

And sin no more, as we have done, by staying;

But, my Corinna, come, let's go a-Maying.

There's not a budding boy or girl this day

But is got up and gone to bring in May.

A deal of youth ere this is come

Back, and with white-thorn laden home.

Some have dispatched their cakes and cream,

Before that we have left to dream;

And some have wept and wooed, and plighted troth,

And chose their priest, ere we can cast off sloth.

Many a green-gown has been given,

Many a kiss, both odd and even;

Many a glance, too, has been sent

From out of the eye, love's firmament;

Many a jest told of the keys betraying

This night, and locks picked; yet we're not

a-Maying!

Come, let us go, while we are in our prime,

And take the harmless folly of the time!

We shall grow old apace, and die

Before we know our liberty.

Our life is short, and our days run

As fast away as does the sun.

And, as a vapor or a drop of rain,

Once lost, can ne'er be found again,

So when you or I are made

A fable, song, or fleeting shade,

All love, all liking, all delight

Lies drowned with us in endless night.

Then, while time serves, and we are but decaying,

Come, my Corinna, come, let's go a-Maying

There are many excellent resources out there on the history of tattoos, but we want to share just a few highlights with you.

British biologist and naturalist Charles Darwin made the following observation about tattoos – “There is no nation on earth that does not know this phenomenon.” Tattoos have been with humankind to the far reaches of history and the far corners of the earth.

History of tattoos around the world: Tattooed mummies, preserved for thousands of years, have been found in Egypt, Libya, South America, China, and Russia. Even the Neolithic “Iceman,” the 5000-year-old cadaver found frozen in the Italian Alps in 1991, had tattoos! Thought to have been originally used as camouflage for hunting, tattoos have become a cultural norm for tribes in Polynesia, Borneo, the Pacific Islands, and Somoa. Most famous of these are the moko markings (engraved facial tattoos) of the Maoris in New Zealand. China, Russia, India, and Japan also have rich histories of tattooing.

The word “tattoo” itself first showed up in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1777. Though the origin is somewhat unclear, most historians trace it back to Captain James Cook, who returned to Europe from a South Pacific expedition in 1769. He described the markings of certain Tahitian tribes. They called the markings “tatau” meaning “to mark” (though Cook originally spelled it “tattaw”). That’s most likely where our current word comes from, though the practice existed for thousands of years – and has no doubt been called by dozens of names in dozens of countries – throughout history. Another word that has carried through today comes from Ancient Greece. In those days, branding marks were made on slaves, and the word for these tattoos was “stigma.” Today, the word “stigma” means a negative association quite often linked to a physical attribute, e.g. disability, disease, disfigurement. And – to some – tattoos!

More Recent History of Tattoos

Before the recent explosion of tattoo popularity in Western society, many people assumed that tattoos were reserved for the lower-class and societal outcasts like prostitutes, bikers, and ex-cons. They probably don’t realize that, at the turn of the century, tattoos were actually favored by royalty and the elite. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, tattoos could be found on the likes of Queen Victoria’s grandsons (Prince George and Prince Albert), on Winston Churchill (AND his mother!), on President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and on the members of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.

Around the mid-1900’s, tattoos fell out of favor among the elite, but the practice was kept alive in the west by sailors, who used tattoos to mark significant accomplishments in their voyages (e.g. after traveling 5000 nautical miles, a sailor could get a bluebird or sparrow tattoo). Of course, after spending much time at sea with no alcohol or women, a tradition emerged of a sailor entering port looking to get “stewed, screwed, and tattooed” (see a discussion of this in Madame Chinchilla’s book of the same name). No doubt this saucy motto helped contribute to the negative stigmatization of tattoos that existed from the late 1940’s onward.

Slowly, the public perception of tattoos turned around in the 50 years that followed. Early rock stars like Janis Joplin demonstrated that a tattooed person could be both “rebellious” and “popular” at the same time. Nowadays, tattoos are commonplace among rock stars and the Hollywood elite.

In fact, a survey conducted in 2002 by Vince Hemingson concluded that approximately half of the Top 100 Sexiest women had tattoos. That list included Britney Spears, Halle Berry, Alyssa Milano, Jessica Alba, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Carmen Electra, Charlize Theron, Christina Aguillera, Lucy Liu, Beyonce Knowles, Rebecca Romijn, Janet Jackson, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, Mandy Moore, Drew Barrymoore, Penelope Cruz, Meg Ryan, Pink, Kate Hudson, Kelly Ripa…and perhaps the world’s most popular tattooed woman Angelina Jolie.

What used to be rebellion is now becoming mainstream. As Durfee concludes about tattoos, “Today, they are more of a statement of people’s interest in their bodies and in all forms of body decoration, in the aesthetics of skilled design, and in the spiritual, symbolic aspects of this amazing art form”.

Signs of spring are upon us. The warm rains of spring are replacing the cold rains of winter. Fruit trees are wearing coats of color and fragrance, and the Oso Berry is announcing the return of another growing season. Around this time of year I prepare myself for the new cycle of students. Another year of teaching plant identification and wildcrafting ethics.

Wildcrafting, or gathering plant material from it's native "wild" environment is becoming very popular. Many local herbalists and wildcrafters are concerned about damage to our resources. A well-trained wildcrafter should never damage or deplete our inheritance from nature. A few actually intend to damage the environment for personal gain, but those folks will not be swayed by one article on the internet. The majority of the wildcrafters are looking for a way to connect with nature for the day, have fun, and finish with some plants for food, medicine, fiber, or art. These wildcrafting guidelines are for you.

Included in this article is a Wildcrafting Checklist that you can print and carry with you into the field. Use it every time you harvest. It will be difficult to answer all the questions. Some questions will require returning to the site every year for a couple of years. If you can't figure out if your population of plants (plant stand) is growing or shrinking, or if it's being eaten by elk, don't worry. Just be aware of these thoughts, and try to answer them as time goes on.

The biggest mistake most new wildcrafters make is harvesting the first good patch they see. There is no hurry. There may be an even better stand over the next hill or around the bend in the river. Please don't wildcraft on a busy schedule, or you'll miss many beautiful lessons that nature has to offer.

Your emotional state will greatly affect your plant and habitat locating abilities. Concerns, fears, and a constant replay of yesterday's traumas will cloud your awareness of the signs around you. When you're upset, you are more likely to miss obvious animal clues, get lost in thick shrubs of the ever spiny Devil's Club, Oplopanax horridum, or even fall off a cliff. Many places of power are inaccessible without a proper emotional state. No rock climber in their right mind would attempt a difficult ascent without a centered consciousness. The same applies to plant hunters. One must approach the earth with openness and respect if you expect to learn anything from it.

If you obtained a permit from a public agency to harvest from our public lands, you agreed to harvest a specific distance from roads and trails. Follow this sound regulation on private land also. People hiking (and to some extent driving) through the forest often wish to experience the beauty of wildflowers. Most will never leave the trail. Even if you pick a wildflower that grows back next year, someone may not learn of its special charm this year.

Wildcrafters and administrators will try to find an exact distance, but I suggest hiking until you no longer see the trail. Walking out of sight will help make your harvest invisible. A successful wildcrafter leaves fewer marks on the stand than a foraging animal. Very few human eyes will follow you off the human highways, and feeling as if you're the only folks in the woods makes it even more enjoyable to wildcraft.

Some plants are not damaged easily, and should be the first choice of a wildcrafter. Blackberry, Rubus sp., and Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, are two that are nearly impossible to eliminate, even if you dig their roots. If a piece of root stays in the ground, it will grow back. Yarrow, A chillea millefolium, can be cut with a lawnmower and still flourish regularly. Nettles, Urtica spp., when grown for fiber can have 3-4 aboveground harvests in a growing season. Plants that fit into this category are generally perennials. You can pick them and not threaten their survival.

Endangered plants are species in danger of becoming extinct in the foreseeable future. Threatened plants are likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. A species can be threatened or endangered throughout its range, which means if it goes extinct we will lose its hidden secrets forever. Many of these plants only grow in one special area (endemic). The Columbia Gorge on the border of Oregon and Washington hosts many endemic species. Peck's Penstemon, Penstemon peckii, grows only in the Ponderosa Pine Forest in Deschutes and Jefferson Counties. A species can also receive protection for part of its range. Newberry's Gentian, Gentiana newberryi, has stable populations in California, but is listed as threatened in Oregon. Deschutes County is at the end of its range, and there are less of them. Rare plants have small, localized populations. They may not be listed as threatened or endangered if the populations are both stable and numerous.

The US. Fish and Wildlife Service determines which plants receive federal protection. Unfortunately, they are very slow in reviewing candidate species. Many have become extinct while waiting to be listed. The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Fish and Wildlife of each state is responsible for determining state protection. We also have the Oregon Natural Heritage Program. This program has its own list of plants that deserve protection, but haven't made it into the clogged federal and state lists. They also have a list of plants to watch and monitor. A copy of Rare, Threatened and Endangered Plants and Animals of Oregon is available from:

The Oregon Natural Heritage Program

1025 NW 25th Avenue

Portland, Oregon 97210

(503)-229-5078

Your own local Natural Heritage Program may have a web page, check it out.

Do not pick protected plants. Unfortunately, they are not always easy for an amateur to identify. They are not always showy. There may be large amounts of them in one spot, so that they appear plentiful. There are some good picture books available. All folks who pick plants from the wild should try to familiarize themselves with the local protected plants. When in doubt, don't pick it.

Some plants are sensitive to disturbance. Please do not pick them even if they aren't protected. The Calypso Orchid, Calypso bulbosa, is a fragile plant that lives partially off leaf mold. Its little root is close to the surface, and easy prey to slugs and others. Minor disturbances can easily dislodge the root from the mold. If someone picks its flower, it can ooze fluid and essentially "bleed" to death. Even disturbing the area around it during flowering could kill it. The law does not protect this plant because it is too numerous. It is our responsibility to help sensitive plants survive.

How can you tell if a plant is sensitive? Most plants that are not green (contain no chlorophyll) are "no picks." These weird species are white, brown, red, or purple and just plain eerie. Botanists call them parasites or saprophytes. They are particularly fascinating. These include Broomrape, Orobanche sp., Coral Roots, Corallorhiza sp., and Indian Pipe, Monotropa uniflora. Other "no picks" include the Orchid Family (Orchidaceae) and almost all the Lily Family (Liliaceae). The Orchid Family includes Calypso Orchid, Calypso bulbosa, and the Rein Orchids, Habenaria sp. The Lily Family includes Trillium, Trillium ovatum, and Mariposa Lilies, Calochortus sp. These families are easy to recognize with a little practice. Not every Lily and Orchid is sensitive, but it's a good place to start. Most (but not all) of the unusual or showy plants are no picks. If you are not sure, don't harvest it.

Many books and government permit guidelines suggest harvesting 1 in 3 (33%) or 1 in 4 (25%). This has been an acceptable amount for many years. I never harvest this much of a stand. The stand is drastically changes in appearance, no matter how you pick. Even if the plants regenerate in a year or too, the visual impact alone is extreme. It changes the ecological balance by letting in light, warming the soil, etc.

One in ten (10%) is the best ratio to go by. This leaves most of the stand for reproduction and wildlife, and minimally impacts the ecosystem. All these harvesting ratios are generalizations and numbers that I personally never use. Each plant and ecosystem is unique in the amount and kind of harvesting it can handle. If you have to limit yourself to 1 in 10, then you are at the wrong stand. The best thing to do is locate a stand much larger than your needs, and then select some of the finest plants out of many. It is unusual for me to pick more than 1% of the stand, even when I collect a pickup truck full.

No matter what percentage of the stand you can pick, you should never harvest more than you can process and use. This seems obvious, but beginners often blindly pick as much as possible. Washing and cutting Oregon Grape Root, Berberis nervosa, can take as long or longer than the harvesting process. The root becomes very hard after a day or two, and a hacksaw may be required if you don't process it immediately. Plants will lose potency while waiting to be placed in the herb dryer. Large clumps of Valerian, Valeriana sitchensis, are quickly removed from a middle elevation meadow, but washing the roots may take five times longer (or more if its a grassy clump). Even dried herbs have a shelf life.

Every time my apprentices harvest anything, I ask them what "wildcrafting is stewardship" means to them. The answers become personalized for each individual. To me, it means if you take care of the earth, the earth will take care of you. I am a caretaker of these wild plants, returning year after year to many places to watch and protect the plants that support me. Perhaps this year you will find a personal meaning for this phrase also.

Wildcrafting Checklist

Do you have the permission or the permits for collecting at the site?

Do you have a positive identification?

Are there better stands nearby? Is the stand big enough?

Are you at the proper elevation?

Is the stand away from roads and trails?

Is the stand healthy?

Is there any chemical contamination?

Is there any natural contamination?

Are you in a fragile environment?

Are there rare, threatened, endangered, or sensitive plants growing

nearby at any time of the year?

Is wildlife foraging the stand?

Is the stand growing, shrinking, or staying the same size?

Is the plant an annual or a perennial?

Is tending necessary and what kind?

How much to pick?

Time of day? Time of year?

What effect will your harvest have on the stand?

Do you have the proper emotional state?

Move around during harvesting. Look around after harvesting. Any holes or cleanup needed?

Are you picking herbs in the proper order for a long trip?

Are you cleaning herbs in the field?

Do you have the proper equipment for in-field processing?

*Wildcrafting is stewardship*

Wild Rose Elixir

1 pint jar

enough fresh wild rose petals to fill the jar

everclear or vodka/brandy to fill the jar 3/4 (I prefer a lower proof alcohol for this preparation, I might make a 50% solution with water and everclear) glycerine or raw honey to fill the jar 1/4 (I generally prefer glycerine for first aid purposes since it is less sticky, which leads to higher compliance in patients, honey tastes better though).

Fill the jar with whole or roughly chopped Wild Rose petals. Add raw honey or glycerine, then fill with alcohol. Cover top with plastic or other non-reactive material before screwing on a regular canning lid. If you skip the plastic, your elixir will eventually start tasting strange and/or eat you metal lid, eating metal seems to be a special property of roses! Shake well. Let sit for three to six weeks, shaking regularly. You can strain at the end of that time or you can just pour off the amount you want to use a little at a time.

This is an incredibly useful preparation that I just love. Externally, it’s amazing on burns and wounds. It has the wonderful ability to eradicate the pain of burns very quickly, to coat the surface of the skin without holding in heat, to actually reduce a great deal of the heat radiating from the burn, and to dramatically speed healing. The glycerine or honey helps to hold the elixir in place on the skin and contributes to the soothing effect. The Rose is blood moving, which contributes to pain relief and quicker healing. It’s also very anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial as well as astringent, helping to reduce redness, swelling and any possible infection. It’s extremely gentle and non-irritating, safe enough to use on baby skin or as a sitz bath but effective enough for most any first aid need.

A drop or two will calm itchy or stinging insect bites, and combines well with a Yarrow or Plantain spit poultice. It’s also great on rashes from heat, contact dermatitis, blisters or poison ivy, especially when combined with Mugwort.

I use the elixir as a liniment, though the plain tincture will work well too, and is less sticky (but in a pinch, who can complain too much about sticky?). This liniment is effective for relaxing sore muscles, and has a special talent for sharp, shooting sensations related to nerve pain or slipped discs. For a badly pulled muscle or older injury, I will usually combine with Goldenrod oil if it is available.

Internally, I use small amounts of the elixir just as most would use Rescue Remedy, for any trauma, panic, fear or stressful situation for child, adult or animal. It’s calming, pleasant and blood moving, helping to move someone out of a paralyzing shock or stuck emotion. It acts as a mild nervine, calming without sedating. I have met people though, who find it quite perception altering. And of course Wild Rose excels at opening the heart and restoring emotional equilibrium. It’s also a well known aphrodisiac, but we’ll leave those properties for a future post. It’s also anti-spasmodic and can be used externally or internally for mild to moderate cramps.

For a more relaxing remedy with greater anti-infective properties, make with half Wild Rose petals and half Wild Rose hips (with seeds intact). This preparation is an especially good heart tonic (like its close relative, Hawthorn) and arthritis remedy when used in the long term. The hips are also effectively anti-viral (like their OTHER close relative Raspberry).

*Note: Yes, you can use domestic Roses instead, but depending on the variety you may not find it as strong as the wild ones.

Know Thyself. These simple words have haunted my mind since

I was a child and first learned of the Oracle at Delphi, in Greece.

After stumbling upon Eckart Tolle’s book, “A New Earth: Awakening

to Your Life’s Purpose”, they have renewed and profound meaning.

Have you ever read a book that so dramatically changed the way

you live your life that you cannot imagine ever being the person you

were before you read it? This is one such book.

Eckart Tolle’s book starts out likening our emerging awareness of who we “really are” to that of the first flowers… Slow to start, but when the critical mass was reached, the Earth had to be a place bountiful with color and smells – if there was a conscious entity here to perceive it. This is what is happening to the planet now, a critical mass of consciousness being brought to the world, he suggests, to create “A New Earth”.

So, why now? Some would say that it’s because of the impending 2012, others because of our dire need due to the past choices of insanity. Most blaringly obvious is due to the climate change crisis that we are facing now and in coming years. The reason, he states plainly on page 21, is this; “Humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die."

What is this new consciousness, then, that will save us from destruction? In a word, awareness. Awareness of the present moment – of what is, rather than what isn’t. He talks about how we are so caught up in thought, either reliving the past or projecting our mind into the future while using the present moment (which is all we ever have) as a means to an end. By doing so, we are missing the life we are because we are always in a daydream of thought; an illusion.

Many people do this as an escape from their life because their minds have turned the now into an enemy, when in actuality, it is the only true place of peace. In this moment, as you sit reading this, are you present? Are you enjoying reading for the sake of reading? Or are your thoughts running wild with all the possible reasons why this can’t be? Or why you will be happier some other time in the future, not now. This is the illusion the mind creates to keep you separate from life.

Tolle writes on page 41, “Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.” Look around, have you really experienced where you are? Or did getting here, where you sit and read these words, only serve as a means to an end? Did you hear the birds singing? Did you notice the way the sun filtered through your window? Did you experience the curve of the road or the beauty of the water on one of our lakes as you past it? In this moment, have you taken in the unfathomable depth of where you are? Our minds filter out so much of what is around us so we can get from point to point, but how often have you stopped to realize that you will never know a fraction of what is all around you.

On page 25, we read, “Words, no matter whether they are vocalized and made into sounds or remain unspoken as thoughts, can cast an almost hypnotic spell on you. You easily lose yourself in them, become hypnotized into believing that when you attach a word to something, you know what it is. The fact is: You don’t know what it is. You have only covered up a mystery with a label. Everything, a bird, a tree, even a simple stone, and certainly a human being, is ultimately unknowable.”

What, then, is our first step toward awareness in the present moment? Knowing this: We are not our thoughts. Crazy, I know, but look deep. It’s true. Tolle states on page 129, “The greater part of most people’s thinking is involuntary, automatic and repetitive. It is no more than a kind of mental static and fulfills no real purpose. Strictly speaking, you don’t think; Thinking happens to you. The statement ‘I think’ implies volition. It implies that you have a say in the matter, that there is a choice involved on your part. For most people, this is not the case. ‘I think’ is just as false a statement as ‘I digest’ or ‘I circulate my blood’. Digestion happens, circulation happens, thinking happens.” When we stop identifying with the ‘voice in the head’, as he calls it, we are suddenly aware of the stream of thoughts that continuously bombards and overtakes our attention. By default, this disidentification brings us to who we really are; the awareness behind the thoughts. The awareness that allows the thoughts to be.

After we become aware in the moment, we realize that much of our lives have been spent sleep walking. It seems someone else has been living our lives for us and herein lies realization of the ego. The ego, he says, is the illusory self, the voice in the head. On page 34, Tolle writes, “The egoic mind is completely conditioned by the past. Its conditioning is twofold: It consists of content and structure.” The content of the mind is your “life story”, all the events, people, things that make up who you think you are. The structure, is how the ego works in every person. “One of the most basic mind structures through which the ego comes into existence is identification. The word “identification” is derived from the Latin word idem, meaning “same” and facere, which means “to make”. So when I identify with something, I “make it the same”. The same as what? The same as I. I endow it with a sense of self, and so it becomes part of my “identity”. One of the most basic levels of identification is with things: My toy later becomes my car, my house, my clothes, and so on. I try to find myself in things but never quite make it and end up losing myself in them. That is the fate of the ego.” (page 35)

In addition to physical things, we become attached to ideas and roles in the same way – this relates, then back to the structure of the ego, how it operates. Our sense of self is then linked to who we think we are; mother, father, wife, husband, nurse, teacher, Republican, Democrat, Christian, Wiccan, etc. When we identify with a thought, we merge with it, making it I. So, when we have a strong ego that comes into contact with an opposing viewpoint, we lash out against it – as if we are physically under attack. I have heard some people call this “de-evolving to our monkey mind.” The ego’s main function is survival, so when it perceives an attack, it retaliates to repair it’s sense of self. Remember that the next time you are in a heated argument and ask yourself: “Am I identifying with a mental position? What am I really arguing against here?” Stop and be present.

A step further into ego is another structure of it that he calls the Pain-Body. Tolle explains on page 131, “In addition to the movement of thought, although not entirely separate from it, there is another dimension to the ego: emotion. This is not to say that all thinking and all emotion are of the ego. They turn into ego only when you identify with them and they take you over completely, that is to say, when they become “I”.” Your physical body has it’s own intelligence that runs the functions of the body. “And that intelligence reacts to what the mind is saying, reacts to your thoughts. So emotion is the body’s reaction to your mind.” (page 132) In this way, emotions are really nothing more than a physical manifestation in the body of what the mind perceives – good bad or indifferent.

“Because of the human tendency to perpetuate old emotion, almost everyone carries in his or her energy field an accumulation of old emotional pain, which I call “the Pain-Body”.” (page 140) This is when you react in old emotional behavior patterns that require no presence – typically with family members or people who are very close to you. For example, as a child your father was absent a lot. Now that you are married, your husband goes out and doesn’t return when you expected. Rather than being present in the moment, the Pain-Body emerges and turns it into a confrontation. “Why don’t you love me? Why don’t you respect me? Am I not important to you?” When in actuality, this has nothing to do with you. In fact, your reaction to him has nothing to do with him. It is the Pain-Body.

Realization that you have an ego, that this ego has an emotional field that we can call the Pain-Body is key. By just being aware of these influences over you, you can break free. He states on page 161, “The beginning of freedom from the pain-body lies first of all in the realization that you have a pain-body. Then, more important, in your ability to stay present enough, alert enough, to notice the pain-body in yourself as a heavy influx of negative emotion when it becomes active. When it is recognized, it can no longer pretend to be you and live and renew itself through you.” When you become aware of the ego and of your pain-body, a space arises between the thought and emotion. That space is the arising awareness of Presence in you.

So the next time you are beginning to argue, feel the urge to put someone down or ridicule them because of their actions, beliefs or appearance; stop, be present. Ask yourself, “Can I be the space around this situation?” Shine the light of Presence into the darkness of egoic insanity.