Here Sahaja is powdering roses and nettles we had gathered and dried in previous classes...

Then we mixed the nettles, roses, dried calendula petals (also collected and dried previously) with local almonds and rolled oats that we ground, as well as powdered clay...to make beautiful facial scrubs.

Using driftwood collected from Sonoma coast, beads, jewels, paint, colored wire, and feathers, we created magic wands...while talking about the nature and purpose of a wand: for concentrating our intentions, and internal/external energies to manifest those intentions.  Each WE Girl infused her wand with an intention of her own, and it was very moving to hear them speak of all beings being kind to one another, carrying peace forward in the world, and caring with love for humans and the earth.

and at last: a jump in the pond! 

okay, wild element girls fully took the flowers by storm, filling jars with calendula (that they had harvested and dried at our previous gathering), st. john's wort (growing about 40 feet from our worktable), and olive oil to start solar infusions (in photo above) that will be transformed into skin salve at our next class.  we also made fresh face spritzers with essential oils - all oils from plants that we could touch and smell right here around the front door:  lavender, clary sage (photo below), chamomile, and rosemary.  & to top it off, we ground flax and sesame seeds with cinnamon, cardamom, and coconut blossom sugar (a low glycemic sugar that is dehydrated coconut nectar) as a topping for oats, yoghurt, smoothies (or, as reiko demonstrated, to just eat by the spoonful straight out of the jar).  , jumping in the pond with great delight...

GO Wild Element Girls!  Welcomed by the she-fox, and the elemental directions (air's inspiration, fire's passion, water's flow, and earth's wisdom) we romped around between downpours, harvesting shining calendula and lemon balm to make fresh herb tea...pounded nails and tested every kind of bean and rice we could find in the cabinets to make rainsticks that bloomed with color and collage...smelled and tasted and mixed dried herbs to make tea blends...you all inspire me, and remind me of the power and joy of connecting directly with each of the elements simply and daily. 

Wow! I am so vitalized by the process of gestating GaiaWise into being.
As we have witnessed the earthquake/tsunami in Japan (and ripples globally...amazing opportunity for conversation with a group of 7-to-9 year old girls about an event on the other side of the world causing evacuations on along our California coast), the economic and political tsunamis in Egypt and Wisconsin and elsewhere, we all wonder what the meaning and impact of these are on our daily lives. 
We can also wonder, and wander, vice versa:  how do our daily actions reverberate, visibly and invisibly, into our global village?  For this is our foundation for true response-ability and deep empowerment:  the choices we make, and the intentions we hold, DO have a profound effect everywhere.  What an opportunity! 
"Becoming aware is about being responsible for your own life." (Don Miguel Ruiz)