Spirit Fire - Canada

Learn To Meditate - 8 Monday evenings

2008-12-20T21:41:00.007-05:00

Meditation is a tremendous gift that only we can give ourselves. It is a gift of wholeness that dissolves stress; it provides rhythm and beauty in our lives. Meditation can change everything from the inside out. It can bring greater peace, love and harmony into our life. Discover the expansiveness and openness of meditation.

Meditate! Awaken to Life with new eyes!

When: Monday evenings starting February 16
Where: 147 Cameron Street, Thornbury
Time: 8 p.m.
Call or email to register: Sara - 519-599-5470
sara.traub1@gmail.com

Esoteric Psychology - Level 1 A one-year training

2008-11-17T09:47:00.014-05:00

NEW COURSE BEGINNING APRIL 2009

We will study:
The Soul-Personality
Relationship and techniques
for its development
Meditation & Embodiment
The Science of Vibration,
Energy, and the Subtle Bodies
Esoteric Astrology

We meet four long weekends over the course of the year.

(Fri. evening, Sat. Sun. Mon.)

The Dates Are:
April 24-27, 2009
July 10-13, 2009
October 2-5, 2009
January 8-11, 2010

Where: Thornbury, Ontario
Cost: $375 each session. This is specially priced to accommodate our "interesting" times. Monthly installments are an option.

Life Changing
“I cannot tell you how valuable I found this course. It puts Self discovery in a whole new light. The material was so mind-expanding. The facilitators were fantastic. I feel like this course put me on a faster track in my evolutionary process.” Stephanie Saganski

"On a personal level the Esoteric Psychology program gave an abundance of wisdom and richness to my understanding about who I am as the ‘Self.’ The tools and techniques given elped me to breathe and live as soul on a daily basis.” Angelina Petherbridge

“There is nothing that I have studied or been exposed to previously that helped me as much to know and accept myself. (This course) not only motivated me to want to be a more spiritual person, but also gave insight as to how to accomplish this.” Grace Cavanaugh

Contact Sara at 519-599-5470 or saratraub1@gmail.com for information or to register. $50 deposit is required with registration.

The facilitators
Sara Traub from Toronto, Ontario brings penetrating, joyful wisdom to her students. She has been teaching practical spirituality since 1991, and empowering people in the Thornbury area for the last seven years. Sara is an author of articles on spiritual living and is co-author of Astrology Illumined: Revealing Soul through Astrology which is available online and in stores. She is also a psycho-spiritual counselor.

Joy Om from Boulder, Colorado began teaching spiritual well-being 10 years ago, adding it to her healing practice of Rolﬁng, Cranio- Sacral Therapy, and Structural Energy Balancing. Her work is an integrative approach to applied energetics including alignment, embodiment, and creative self-expression. She has a B.A. in Psychology and has a graduate degree in Special Education. She has also been trained in Transpersonal & Esoteric Psychology, Reiki, Energetic Healing, & Regression Therapy.

Testimonials

2008-09-10T18:31:00.006-04:00

“Discover the Self – Science of Vibration”
I really enjoyed the seminar a lot! It was a very big fincancial investment for me because I had the added expense of a $700.00 plane ticket on top of the coarse fee... but I definitely am glad that I did it. Personally I feel that what i learned about my self is very important. It helped me to understand my self and as a result understand others and where they are coming from also. The way I look at everything....why I do things the way I do......How I interact with others....How other people interpret me...Why other people do what they do... I already have.....our friends in Vancouver want to know what the cost would be if you came out here to do the seminar!! I am not the best with words, but the best way I can put it is....This class helped me to understand myself! Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you!!! November 11 /08 Elizabeth, Vancouver B.C.

This entire process of eventual "Enlightenment" is beginning to change my approach to most of my life. I am more tolerant, patient, understanding, less stressed and healthier. I am more focussed on the task at hand instead of always thinking of the 3 next things that need to be accomplished. I am a better listener, I was not always good at listening before, I`d always be rushing off to complete some task instead of just being into that particular moment. I`m realizing that I have probably missed out on a lot of enjoyment over the years stressing about The "Stuff of daily life" August /08
Shirley, Meaford Ontario

To have access to enlightened discussion of esoteric ideas in a little community like Thornbury is a rare treat indeed and one to which anyone who seeks better awareness of themselves and the world around them should avail themselves. August /08
Lorrie, Thornbury Ontario

Beyond Theology

2008-08-12T21:30:00.008-04:00

Mondays at 7 p.m.
starting October 6th for 10 weeks.
Presenter: Sara Traub

This 10 session program explores the evolution of consciousness through the PBS series Beyond Theology and then group discussion. We will examine fundamental challenges of our time, addressing the roots of contemporary culture wars and global environmental crises. The series will focus on the emergence of a world view that integrates science and spirituality, while exploring the notion that the guiding myths of modern civilization are in transition. Each week we will watch approximately a 30 minute film about a particular topic and then we will as a group discuss what has been presented. Bill Moyers, an American journalist and public commentator said of the series that it "shows us a hopeful vision of faith based on the deepest longings of heart and mind."

Cost: $170
147 Cameron Street Thornbury Ontario Canada
Sara Traub 519-599-5470 or sara.traub1@gmail.com

The Science of Vibration - Discover the Self

2008-08-12T16:04:00.013-04:00

A two day seminar
Saturday – Sunday
October 25-26 2008

We all are seeking lives that bring us fulfillment and meaning.
This workshop offers a tremendous opportunity for understanding more about us: our traits, driving forces and behaviours. It will illumine why we respond the way that we do to events and people in our lives.

Through understanding our selves we can identify unhealthy patterns in our lives and transform them into constructive and more conscious ways of moving.
This dynamic, interactive, colourful workshop offers profound insights into one’s individuality on several levels: physical, emotional and mental.

This two-day seminar introduces and explores Alice Bailey’s Science of the Seven Rays, and how they imbue each of us with unique strengths, tendencies, and weaknesses. You will never see the world the same way again.

“Know thyself for in thyself is to be found all that there is.”

If you are a student of Life, whatever your profession;
If you are a teacher of others in whatever capacity;
If you have ever read Bailey, psychology, theosophy or never have – COME.
What you will learn is a language of the energies alive in the world,
Around you, and within you; truly you will discover the Self.

“Extremely valuable in understanding my own natural tendencies …and why and how I relate to others in my life.” Lisa, cross-cultural trainer.
"A deeper understanding of myself appeared. This is an opportunity of unlocking the mystery of how people tick.” Jason, computer analyst.
“I found this information to be very clear and sensible. Understanding the Rays helps me understand me!” Elaine, business consultant.

Location: 147 Cameron St. Thornbury
Call: 519-599-5470 to register or email sara.traub1@gmail.com
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Cost: $225 - $59 for those who have taken the weekend already.

Pre-registration is required.

My Trip to Thailand - Vanishing Giants

2008-06-10T16:00:00.005-04:00

Elephants - Vanishing Giants
Sara Traub

I have always enjoyed elephants.They are unusual animals, huge, yet graceful, intimidating yet shy. I had the good fortune to be with these gentle giants and learn much more about them on a trip to Thailand. These Asian elephants, sometimes called the Indian elephant, are found in the dense forests and grassy plains of most of southwest Asia.

Before our trip we did, initially what most tourists do, we used a travel agent. They gave us some options and we made our choices. We chose a two day jungle treck in northern Thailand and we had the unexpected pleasure of experiencing the elephants at an elephant camp as well as a one hour elephant ride. Since modern machinery has taken over the job that elephants did for hundreds of years, elephants found themselves out of a job. Tourists, unknowingly, keep the elephant employed.

There are probably less than 30,000 Asian elephants in the wild, plus approximately 15,000 in captivity. Because of their smaller tusk size than their African cousins, poaching of Asian elephants for ivory is not too much of an issue. The decline of the Asian elephant has been mainly due to habitat loss. Elephants need a large amount of habitat because they eat so much. Humans have become their direct competitors for living space. Human populations in Africa and Asia have quadrupled since the turn of the century, the fastest growth rate on the planet. This has led to a tragic conflict between humans and elephants over space and resources. Humans do not regard elephants as good neighbors. When humans and elephants live close together, elephants raid crops, and rogue elephants rampage through villages. Local people shoot elephants because they fear them and regard them as pests. Some countries have established culling programs: park officials or hunters kill a predetermined number of elephants to keep herds manageable and minimize human-elephant conflicts.

Asia, particularly Thailand, has always had a strong cultural connection to the elephant. In Chinese, the phrase "to ride an elephant" sounds the same as the word for happiness. When Thailand was called Siam, the sacred White Elephant dominated the flag and culture. The elephant is so much part of the Asian psyche, that it is seen in their art, their symbology as well as their religion.

Only the elephant that is in the wild is considered endangered but the 15,000 in captivity is not included in this assessment even though the cruelty and abuse that is inflicted on these gentle creatures is quite inhuman and many die as a result. This is the paradox that I witnessed as I considered their strong cultural and religious attachment to these animals.

Due to my ignorance and that of the majority of tourists this abuse is perpetuated. Tourists marvel at an elephant strolling down a busy Bangkok street with his Mahout (trainer) and they quickly rush over to feed the elephant, pay the mahout just so that they can stroke it or possibly get a quick ride. Imagine an elephant strolling down a major downtown street. A downtown street has the same hazards anywhere whether it is New York City or Bangkok. These elephants feel all the vibrations of the city through their feet and those that survive the car accidents that they cause, live very high and abnormally stressful lives. An elephant has no place in a crowded, urban environment.

We had a ride on an elephant - that was fun but little did we know the degree of exploitation. The huge and heavy seats that are chained onto the elephant’s back can and do eventually affect the elephant’s spine. A tourist doesn’t give this a thought. The elephant camp was really, an elephant show. The elephants did many tricks - pulling a flag up a flagpole, hauling logs both forward and backward, etc. all very cute but what price did the elephant pay in order to perform for us? The “piece de resistance” was the part where the elephant used a paintbrush wrapped around his trunk and systemically placed colours on the canvas - colors chosen by the mahout. It resembled a Jackson Pollock style and was sold to someone in the audience. At the time, I thought nothing of it except how intelligent these animals were and then carried on my way. This was all good and wonderful until we spent the next day at an elephant sanctuary one and a half hours outside a large urban centre in the north of Thailand where we got a truer education and perspective of the elephant situation in southeast Asia. One of the things that we learned there was that the elephant is continually poked with a metal hooked mallet on the head in order to get them to paint. There is u-tube film showing an elephant’s trunk painting his self portrait. The reason we can’t see the whole elephant because the rest of him, I was told, is behind a curtain where the mahout has the freedom to poke the elephant in the head as much as the situation requires.

At the elephant sanctuary we met thirty-one elephants, each with his own name and personality, roaming freely doing nothing but being who they are. All of these elephants shared something in common with each other except for one elephant and that was that they were all severely abused. There was only one young elephant that has no prior experience of man being his enemy because the infant being only a few days old was taken from a village a short time after its mother had been killed by a villager because she had ruined some crops. This place was a haven for these abused and mishandled giants. These beautiful animals could roam about freely without a care in the world.

On the way to the sanctuary there were a number of us in a van that met at a market where we literally bought about 2,000 pounds of fruit for them. We had the opportunity to feed them these treats, bathe them at a nearby river and walk with these gentle creatures. We heard stories of their rescues which brought tears to most of us. It is there that I learned of the pre-programmed philosophy of taming an elephant that has filtered down through generations, which is that its spirit must be broken. In a documentary that we were shown, this abusive process was very disturbing to watch. All mahouts, except at the sanctuary have these same mallets with the metal hooks on the end of them to train and keep the animals in line.

The elephants’ amazing trunks have 40,000 muscles and perform many functions. They are fingers, hands, antennae, noses, swatting brooms, and they act as pails to cool themselves off. At a show in Bangkok we witnessed people paying money to be lifted up by the elephant’s trunk so that a photographer could take a picture. Each time, the elephant was poked in the head with the mallet to get cooperation. When the elephant was not lifting a person, he was pacing - the stress was quite visible.

Through gaining a perspective that we received at the sanctuary, we began to understand that these Asians are not in right relations with these animals that are so much part of their culture, landscape and psyche. Our role, as tourists is not to exploit these animals further by participating in these gimmicks, because they are not part of our everyday life, but instead, to honour, observe them and marvel at their inherent divinity.

Once a month Astrology Talks

2008-06-10T07:46:00.000-04:00

With Sara Traub

For those that might be interested, I'm offering a once a month Esoteric Astrology evening. It is for those with minimal/beginner level traditional and/or esoteric astrology, for those who want to deepen their understandings of the inner dynamics that astrology can offer, and those who enjoy stretching their mind into this fantastic realm of inquiry.

We are moving into dynamic astrological times. Every class will offer an interesting point of discussion. We will discuss themes such as:
- where the transpersonal planets are in the heavens
- the effect that they are having in our lives both personally and globally
- the threee Mercury retrogrades through 2008
- astrological cycles

These are just a few examples. Come and join me!

It is by donation ($10 suggested).

Time: 6 p.m.

Thursday July 17th
Thursday August 14th

Only a change in consciousness can change the world.