What does the New Year hold in store for us?
So we've reached that crystal-ball-gazing time of year again. What will this year bring for us all? At a personal level, will we be successful and abundant; will we get that new job, house or will we meet our soul mate? At a global level, what will be the increasing effects of the financial credit crunch, peak oil and the warming of our planet? Will our increasingly shakey society survive another year?...

Hi friends of Openhand,

Freak floods in the UK, fire storms across Europe and countless other seismic events occurring across the globe. It is indeed a highly energetic summer. So what exactly is going on? Can we just assign the occurrences to man’s ignorance or is there something else underneath it all catalysing the events? This Openhand Summer Newsletter seeks to shed some light on what’s going on under the surface.

In this newsletter....

• A message from mother earth
• Openhand courses and retreats
• Essential questions on Ascension
• “Gateways of Light” - our process of Ascension
• Openhandweb - popular postings

Have you noticed a new energetic shift in world events?
If like us you try to read between the lines of global events, you don’t have to dig too deep to find patterns of activity that suggest we are accelerating towards times of great turbulence and unrest. Take your pick from global warming to nuclear terrorism, our society is writing cheques it can no longer cash. We have passed far beyond the point of sustainability.

So what is the way forward for awakening people? This newsletter deals with the issue...

Ready to release the old and bring in the new?
The new year has only just begun and although we so frequently start with good intentions, why does it seem so hard to stay on the straight and narrow? This Openhand newsletter "Brand New Start" addresses the issue...

• Giving up addictions “Denial is not a river in Egypt!”
• ”Be a lamp unto yourself” last words of the Buddha
• Openhand key events 2007
• Unfolding into who we are

Has Christmas gone crackers?
Its that time of year again! Mile upon mile of fairy lights blazening the night sky, stuffed turkey dinners, expectant stockings at the end of the bed, the latest gucci-must-have-gadgets, Christmas cards to Mrs Wottsaname name next door. What’s the point of Christmas? Has the truth been lost somewhere along the way?...

What effects do the changing seasons have on us?
In our society, our usual working practices tend not to honour the change in seasons. We continue to work the same hours with the same objectives placing the same demands on us physically emotionally and mentally. If anything, those demands tend to increase at this time of year. However we are inextricably inter linked with the changing seasons of mother nature and right now, as Autumn draws to an end, there is a natural pull to slow down honouring the requirement for internal ‘hibernation’.
What effects do these contradictory influences have? How best can we manage the impact on our state of well being? This Openhand Autumn Newsletter raises some of the key issues...

• Honouring Autumn
• Inspirational Song Lyrics: "True Colours"
• Sunlight, darkness and internal biological mechanisms
• Seasonal quote: "We know not that we move"
• How can we unleash our true brilliance?
• Autumn poetry: "Autumn Evening in a Mountain Retreat"
• A taste of Autumn - "Autumn pumpkin soup"

To read newsletter...click here

Are you beginning to ascend?
Ascension is a very real possibility for many on our planet at this current time. This newsletter considers our ascension...read here

• Essential questions on Ascension
• Spiritual song lyrics ”Tonight tonight"
• The Spirit Light Body
• The path becomes the way becomes the path
• Celebrate my love in all you see
• The Way of the Heart
• The self is not to be shaped
• Disolving into ascension

Are you in a hurry today? This Openhand Newsletter "Touching the Void" challenges us to always come from the place of inner stillness - the place of the true self. So if you often feel in a hurry, perhaps it might be advisable to slow down a little and take the time to read it?

• Are you in a hurry today?
• Excerpt from the Tao te Ching
• Duality, oneness or both?
• Be in the flow and only the flow
• “The Way of the Heart”
• Kundalini - the true energy of creation
• The Magdalen Manuscript
• Creating in harmony with the universe

• Be a lamp unto yourself
• Give a donkey for Christmas
• Taking life to a whole new level
• Abundant Resourcefulness
• Spiritual song lyrics - Invisible Sun
• The Way of the Heart
• The eye of the I
• Be the light

Be a lamp unto yourself

'Be a lamp unto yourself.
Don't search for light anywhere else;
the light is already there, the fire is already there.
Just probe a little deeper into your being, enquire.
Maybe much ash has gathered around the fire...
Just probe deep inside, and you will find the spark again.
And once you have found a single spark inside you,
you will become a flame, soon you will be a fire...
a fire that purifies, a fire that transforms,
a fire that gives you a new birth and a new being.
Be a lamp unto yourself.'
Last words of Gautama, the Buddha

• Sweet surrender
• The self is not to be shaped
• Surrender all but innocence
• A tale of surrender
• Selfishness
• Unfolding the Guru within
• Change of details
• Song lyrics of surrender
• Being Open