Dinner & A Dead Guy Lives! (Rose Potluck Dinners)
Some of you will remember that Joanne and I kicked off our Dinner and A Dead Guy series in July, 2004 to help Serge, Mark, and Kris develop The Kris Chronicles website and what would turn into The International Sessions a year or so later. When I look back over the last four years, I can only think, “My we’ve all come a long way, baby!”
I really enjoyed that period of helping The Kris Chronicles to test its wings and begin to soar. We learned about the nine sisters, clans and clusters of consciousness, quadrants of consciousness, idea atmospheres, idea threads, soundlets, nodi, and much more. During this time, I began to write up a summary of the core concepts Kris introduced, while also providing some links to Seth, Elias, and Wilber’s integral ideas to show the connections between them all.
I managed to publish 47 reviews during a period that ended in January, 2007.[1] However, I was knee deep in my Integral Certificate program, so I wasn’t able to keep up on that front. Thankfully, John “Your Faithful Reporter” Hawkins took over and has done a wonderful job continuing to provide written summaries that we all find helpful!
In April, 2007 Rose introduced herself to Joanne on our Ouija Board, and changed our lives dramatically. We began to concentrate on what we now call The Teachings of Rose, and strapped ourselves in for yet another roller coaster ride.
In November, 2007 after Joanne’s Crone Ceremony we held our first official Rose group session in Chatsworth, California. Joanne enjoyed it so much that we decided to hold group sessions as soon as we could, but realized that we first had to organize the growing body of written, audio, and video material from our regular Rose sessions.
By February, 2008 we were able to hold our first Rose Potluck Dinner. We thought about calling it Dinner & A Dead Gal, but it didn’t feel right, and we wanted to honor our time spent with Serge, Mark, Kris, Ellen, and the many others who attended The International Kris Sessions.
So we left that title alone.
The Potluck Dinners were born out of the core elements of D&DG, namely sharing our home and hearth with our friends. The D&DG logo Joanne created said, “Eat, Drink, Think.” That kind of sums it all up, don’t you think? Sharing food and drink along with exploring conscious creation ideas is as good as it gets!
Joanne had explored her Seasons of the Soul book (still unpublished) during this period, so she always cooked up a feast. However, channeling Rose didn’t allow for her provide all the food, so the potluck idea seemed like a natural fit. Joanne and Gail Becker, two “Borledim queens,” always contribute a tasty dish, and folks magically bring an array of complementary dishes, deserts, and drinks to satisfy all. Now that the Rose website is up and running, I can continue to report on our sessions.
We’ve held seven Potluck Dinners to date, and Rose has talked between 1:15 and 2:30! So we’ve had several marathon sessions, but they all contribute to the growing conceptual foundation available on the website. The first two (Feb. and Mar.) have already been transcribed and published. We also publish a pithy Podcast excerpt the following Monday, so you can stay up to date. Eventually, all these group sessions will be made freely available on the website.
Session 260, June 21, 2008
Saturday was hot, hot, hot – the fifth day of 110+ degree heat, and our central air-conditioning unit began to give up its ghost! We thought briefly about canceling the session, but decided that it was just barely cool enough to proceed. Our neighbor, Gordon, brought over a fan, so we had three fans going in the living room when the session began around 4:45 PM. Ten folks and Rumi the Cat attended: Jo, Paul, Gail, Drew, Gordon, Caryn, George, Sarah, Shireen, and Boris.
Rose began with a riff on “the way of spirit” which is one of her central emerging themes. Essentially, when we are truly in tune with our intent and purpose in life, we find our way of spirit, which includes the very best expressions of our potentials, happiness, and fulfillment. The specifics don’t matter as they will be tailored to each of us, and we will each be different. But once we truly find our personal way of spirit, our lives blossom accordingly.
Next, Rose opened the floor to questions, and I asked a question about Rob Butts who had passed away on Memorial Day. I had wanted to ask it at the end of our last session, but since folks were really engaged on other topics I decided to wait. I’m glad I did, as Rose spoke for a half an hour about Rob, and as you’ll see, we had a couple guest appearances. (You can listen to the entire segment on the Podcasts page.)
There were five main things that stood out for me. First, Rob was instrumental in so many ways in getting the Seth books out that he could be considered a co-author (that’s my take, Rose didn’t say that literally). Also, Rob and Jane were pioneers, paving the way for the work many of us are involved in today with Elias, Kris, Rose, and many others.
Second, Rose allowed both Joseph (Rob’s entity) and Rob speak through Joanne. Now, we had previously witnessed evidence of mediumship with the Rose phenomenon in private sessions, so I mention this to new folks in the group, because we never know what Rose will say during a session. But this was the first time that JoRose allowed another essence tone through in a group setting.
I asked Rose about how this works, and she said that she serves as a kind of “traffic cop” or meditating force so that Joanne doesn’t get overwhelmed with various energies that seek to speak through her. And Joanne is happy to do so, as long as it is in helpfulness to others.
So Rose let the Joseph Aspect came through first, and he spoke from a much wider perspective about Rob, his life, and impact on the rest of us. For example, he mentioned that Rob was an excellent dreamer, and had used those skills to develop his painting abilities. It was very beautiful and moving.
Then Rob came through briefly and spoke about his feelings about the Seth phenomenon. I had a strong sense of the energetic shift from Rose to Joseph, and the shift to Rob was more subtle. But I kept visualizing him sitting right there on the couch between Joanne and Gail, in terms of his self-portrait that kept popping into my mind’s eye.
Keep in mind that Joanne doesn’t perform a Kevin Ryerson-type action, where she engages different voices and personalities. Her voice remains mostly the same, and Joanne is present to some degree, but there is a discernable change in fealing tone, and perspective shifts from we/us to I.
Third, during the previous delivery, I noticed a single tear fall from Jo’s left eye, and I wanted to know if that was Joanne, Rose, Joseph, or Rob’s tear? I suspected that it was Jo’s, and Rose confirmed it. She said that since they share Ilda intent (according to Elias, Joanne “belongs to” Ilda, and Rob aligned with Ilda), Jo had a great affinity for “Robert” as a friend and role model.
Fourth, I asked Rose about Rob’s entity name of Joseph and Serge Grandbois’, who channels Kris, essence name of Joseph. Were they the same essence tone? Rose confirmed that they were indeed two “very different” groups of essence tone (Kris is on the record saying the same thing).
Finally, I asked about the concept of “lineage mind” from the work of Ken Wilber in relation to Seth, Elias, Kris, Rose, and others who channel similar information, and Rose said that there is indeed a strong connection between them all, but that when translated into human form the politics of lineages may serve to lessen their effectiveness. I acknowledged that the notion of “lineage mind” in not anchored in Framework 1 terms, and Rose pointed out that it is nonlinear in that sense. So when we linearize “lineage mind” in physical terms, again, we may be lessening its potency due to human politics (i.e., selfishness, greed, power drives, etc.). But this is not a hard and fast rule, just something to be aware of as we go forward.
Since it was so hot, we broke early and had dinner around 5:20 PM. It consisted of fresh Polish sausage and smoked salmon with Russian dark rye bread, Gandolfo deli sandwiches, a homemade turkey meatloaf, apple salad, and potato chips. For desert we had chocolate éclairs and lemon meringue pie. We washed it all down with white wine and homemade red iced tea. It was too hot for coffee or tea.
During the break we watched The Seth Phenomena by Bob Terrio, who had just sent me a DVD version. It was great to see Rob talking about Jane and Seth, showing us pictures of the two of them that had never been published, and talking about some of his dreams and paintings. He also talked about Jane’s paintings, something many people don’t know about.
We reconvened around 6:30 PM. and Rose spoke for another 35 minutes, but it was hard to concentrate with the heat, whirring fans, and full bellies! Still, Rose talked about intent again, and asked those present to report back on the intent name exercise she had suggested several sessions earlier. Dead silence… Rose suggested that those interested check out the exercise, and report back later.
Rose moved onto other questions, and George asked about his friend’s essence families intents, orientation, and essence name. Rose responded with Sumari/Sumafi, soft, and “Scruffy McGee.” I put that in quotes because Rose had given that name to George after our last session as a response to a past life that he and daughter Sarah shared. Rose called his focus “Scruffy McGee” and hers “Tahiti Rose.” Clearly, these are not focus names, but one of Rose’s tests (that we are slowly getting used to!).
From what we can discern, Rose is pushing away, to some extent, from naming too many focuses (and famous focuses) to get us to concentrate on this lifetime, as it is easy to get caught up in “other focus” information to the point of neglecting our present situation. In other words, when we use it as an escape or distraction from dealing with problems in the now, even if other lives seems more enticing or exotic, we are abusing the purpose of the information. So this is Rose’s not so gentle way, in my opinion, of beginning to guide us beyond the “sage on the stage’s” pronouncement of too much other focus information.
As I said to George after the session, “When Elias, Rose, or anyone tells you that you have 411 focuses, how can you actually prove that it’s empirically true?” We can’t! So until we widen awareness enough to be able to verify or falsify these claims through our own direct experience, we need to take them with a healthy grain of salt, engage our inner skeptic and understand why this information is being given, presumably in helpfulness, at this time.
I come back to the fact that it’s meant to enhance our “way of spirit” in this lifetime, and help us develop our fullest potentials in the here and now. All the rest may be sexy and engaging, but it’s only metaphysical speculation until we can directly know it. So it seems that some of Rose’s tests are designed to make us discern beyond taking her pronouncements as literal fact, which they may well be! But, it’s important to fall back on our own experience and knowing to determine what is and isn’t useful.
Next, Rose asked us what impressions we had about a lifetime that all present shared. I humorously imagined that we were the “Scruffy McGee” Raiders of Ireland who farmed animals and vegetables together. Rose said this was good answer, as it was an honest impression on my part. J Rose then went into exploring how this other lifetime fealt, in other words, what kind of impressions did we get from imagining our selves during this time?
She pushed again, and pointed out that our lives on the “ragged shores of twelfth century Ireland” were as valuable as those in which we were kings or queens. But what did we feal when we got into trouble or did something that violated another? That is, what was our degree of empathy or identification with others? Since “they are all us” in larger terms, the extent that we can walk a mile in another’s shoes will determine our ability to empathically connect with them-as-us.
Rose was prodding us to begin to “see” and feal others as Aspects of Self to whatever degree we can. This ultimately leads to compassion for self and others as well, which in the long run reduces our suffering as well as that of others. Just trying makes a difference! We need to reach out in our own ways to relieve all suffering. So the focus information is an exercise to help us relate to others, whether they’re a Scruffy McGee, Tahiti Rose, King, or Queen of all kinds. “And when you realize this, that’s when you really learn the way of spirit. That’s when you really know how to be in your own skin, by reaching out to others, too.”
It’s a challenging topic for sure, and will develop further. Rose continued on related ideas, and the session ended somewhat abruptly around 7 PM. as the room temperature had risen to around 95 degrees! However, we broke into small groups and continued to snack and chat. The last folks left by 10:30 PM. A good time was had by all.
Here's a link to this week's free MP3 Podcast: Talking About Rob Butts.
P.S. We had a technician out to test our air-conditioning unit on Monday, and we determined that it was better to replace the entire HVAC unit, which is 27 years old and failing, than just upgrade an expensive compressor. While that’s going to cost some serious coin, the good news is that when we meet again on July 5th, even if it’s 113 outside again, it will be nice and cool inside!
Endnotes
[1] Reviews 1-41 can be found in the NewWorldView Library as Dinner and a Dead Guy Reprise/Aspect Psychology. Reviews 42-47 can be found in this blog.