Raffi's letter on Os and the women of Ingushetia

[Birgitt Williams]

Dear Anne,
Thank you for alerting us all to your work with curanderismo including the
aspects of soul retrieval work based on the trauma of soul loss. I believe
that this is such important work that you do and Ihope that exactly the
right paths clear for you to do this with very traumatized people such as
the women that Raffi is working with.  I have some questions. With this type
of work, do the women need to give permission? And if so, how does Raffi
assist the women to understand what it is that is offered and to get this
permission? I wonder if it would be easier for him to do this once he has
had a number of OST meetings with them and established a more trusting
relationship. I also wonder if it is possible to have people from the
culture that Raffi is working in to learn how to do this healing and then
they will have the skill base there. Is this possible and what would be
required?

I too believe that the healing arts are a great compliment to working with
OST and your e-mail has caused me to stop and do some thinking. In the Altay
region of Siberia, Russia, there are shamans, and in Russia, there are
remote healers and healers of many types. I am thinking aloud on the list,
wondering what might be possible to facilitate healing beyond OST. My
knowledge of these healers and their work is that they must be invited AND
that the people to receive the healing must ask and must give permission.
And there lies a challenge. I am wondering if OST can assist in bringing
about a desire for such healing, including the one you are offering.

Thank you for raising your offer.

Blessings,
Birgitt
  -----Original Message-----
  From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Hamilton
Lock
  Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 6:43 PM
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
  Subject: Raffi's letter on Os and the women of Ingushetia


  My name is Anne.

  Last week I held my first open space gathering, but this is not why I
write.

  First I acknowledge a debt of deep gratitude to Harrison Owen - for giving
me the terminology and process of working in circle within the corporate
setting.  I thank you Harrison.

  The reason I had struggled previously, is that I was fixed on naming the
health system I am training in, each time I approached a corporation.

  The system I work with is curanderismo, a very beautiful, non-linear,
creative health system, handed down by a mixture of Spanish, African, North
and South American Indian cultures.  It is community medicine and this
includes corporate communities, but few in the UK are familiar with it.

  There are many aspects to curanderismo, but my interest is in releasing
old corporate cultures, in order to heal and to create the space for an
organisation to move on.  [Again, I have recently learned that I speak the
same language as you on this topic too, Harrison.  Yahoo!].

  Another aspect of curanderismo, is that it deals with susto - or soul
loss.

  When I read Raffi's letter about the women of Ingushetia, who have
suffered horrific trauma and are in so much pain that it is 'like they are
asleep' - this condition, in curanderismo terminology, is susto [soul loss].

  Curanderismo combines well with Open Space  - the preparation meetings you
have beforehand, I call platicas, or heart to heart talks.  These sessions,
which I had with the sponsor of my gathering, provided the clarification and
the deep personal preparation needed to trust that introducing OST to his
organisation would be ok.

  As an apprentice curandera, tools such as platicas and/or limpias
[spiritual cleansing] would help the women of Ingushetia to peel off the
layers of pain, and perhaps enable them to be PRESENT during their open
space gathering.  People with massive soul loss tend 'not to be in' most of
the time - which is how they 'survive' and why they seem to 'be asleep' .
Anyone engaged in an open circle has to be present, [in it] to benefit from
it's magic - so you can see how, given Raffi's observations, curanderismo
would support Raffi's OS.

  After platicas and limpias, it is often appropriate to do soul retrieval -
and in a group situation, this is a very powerful way to help people
re-claim that part of their spirit that they need to go on.  I believe these
women could use this kind of support.  If not the whole process at this
point, certainly the platica/limpias.

  So I'm wondering if any of you folk who convene Open Space in places like
the UN or various European Development platforms - or in any large
corporations, know of any who might donate funding to get some curanderas on
the ground to support Raffi during his 5 month stint in Chechnia?  If you
point me in the right direction, I'm happy to do the grunt work.

  There are 3 apprentice curanderas based in the UK that I know of - [all of
whom are apprenticed to Elena Avila, author of Woman Who Glows in the Dark
see www.Elena-curandera.com to get more of an idea of the scope of this
incredible medicine]  who would be honored to work with these women.

   There will also be 3 curanderas visiting London from Mexico, 5-8 June, en
route to Vienna, to do workshops there.  So although the timeslot is slim,
on the offchance I thought I'd put this note out to see how we can help.

  Finally Raffi, it may be that you can convene another OS meeting with
these women later in your stay - if that is the case, let me know and
perhaps I can come help.

  A hug and a big smile to all.  And thanks again Harrison.

  Anne




  * * ==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To subscribe,
unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit:
  http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.459 / Virus Database: 258 - Release Date: 2/25/2003

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20030513/60569835/attachment-0016.htm>