The methods of the Soul Circle bring this type of creative work to individuals who have had no similar prior experience. This is different from classical methods of goal setting. Goal setting has been used for years to develop successful careers and businesses. There are clear-cut highly effective methods for goal setting, and they are largely driven from past experience. One of the difficulties with goal setting is that it can become a personal ego-driven force which can trample other human beings. We believe that by using the nurturance of other human beings in a Soul Circle that is guided by someone that is trained in the HOPE process, the ego will be placed in the perspective of the powerful overview of the soul and that in this way a deeper value of human service will be found in the image of becoming. Soul Circles, in contrast to HOPE Groups, can come together for a specific number of weekly meetings and then disband. It would likely be twelve two-hour meetings. Meeting as HOPE Groups do keeps the flow of intellectual and emotional juices flowing. In this way, in three months, a person would have the Soul Map, the Soul Crystal, the image of becoming and even an action plan develop that she or he could focus on a daily basis to help direct and steer her or his life. It is also possible that a Soul Circle could become a circle of individuals who then choose to continue to meet and nurture themselves over a longer period of time. In this way we HOPE Groups could also spring from a Soul Circle. I have already done a Soul Mapping with a group of individuals in Wichita, Kansas, who had never worked together before and who decided to come together the next week as a HOPE Group.

It is also possible that a Soul Circle could become a ‘circle of individuals’ referred to in the Celtic Christian tradition as ‘soul friends:’ "The Celtic Christians believed in the great value of kinship relationships, especially the spiritual ties of soul friends… we find numerous stories of (people being guided) by a least one personal mentor; a wiser, more experienced, sometimes older teacher, confessor or spiritual guide. ...this soul friend was not necessarily male nor ordained, Some of the greatest and most well-known of the soul friends in the early Celtic church were women, such as abbesses Ita, Brigit, Samanthann and Hild." (From Wisdom of the Celtic Saints by Dr. Edward C. Sellner.)

This is an exciting new prospect as a part of HOPE’s service. As I have mentioned, we have already applied it, and it has value to those who have participated in the process. It will be an integral part of the introduction to the HOPE Group process because any aspect of the Soul Circle function can be used in any HOPE Group meeting to help empower the healing of the exceptional persons there.

Full Spectrum Lighting for Helping People With the Winter Blues and Blahs (S.A.D.          top
We have a place deep within our brains the nature of which puzzled medical scientists for decades. It is called the pineal gland. The famed neurosurgeon, Wilder Penfield, believed that the pineal gland was the seat of the soul. Penfield was on the faculty at McGill University where I got my medical degree, and we used to make fun of him and his fascination in the pineal gland by saying that Penfield had moved the soul from the pituitary gland to the pineal gland. We know now that the pineal gland regulates an extraordinarily important brain hormone, melatonin. We have discovered that melatonin is a sleep substance. Scientists also know that the melatonin regulating function of the pineal gland is what makes it possible for certain species of animals to hibernate. Human beings seem to be susceptible to hibernation too! The only thing is we don’t call it hibernation, but we call it Seasonal Affective Disorder; or SAD, for short. Isn’t it ironic that S-A-D spells sad… and it really means sad. People with this condition get very sad and very depressed and very non-productive during the short days and the long nights of the year. An artist friend of mine used to close up her paints in November and not open them until April. Now she paints year round!

Science has found that exposure to high intensity light, especially if it is what is known as "full spectrum" light (or having the full range of sunlight) at the beginning and the end of the day is extremely beneficial in controlling SAD. I have known many people who have benefited by being exposed to these lights. When one person in a HOPE group complained of this disorder and had little in the way of financial reserves, I explored the possibilities of being able to make these lights. With what we were able to find out, a friend of hers made a fixture for her, and now we don’t see her much at HOPE group meetings any more. She is over a lifetime of depression.

The first thing we did for her was to find out how to produce this light without buying expensive, "full spectrum" fluorescent lamps. Early on in the development of this form of therapy, some clever souls figured out how to do it with readily available lamps and fixtures because the special bulbs and appliances were (and still are) very expensive. They found that four Residential (cool white) 40-watt fluorescent lamps with two Plant Aquarium 40-watt fluorescent lamps provides essentially the spectrum that one is looking for, and they produce approximately 20,000 lumens, which is the most effective intensity for treating SAD! We saw that these six bulbs could be easily placed in three double fluorescent light fixtures called Shop Lights. We mounted the shop lights side by side, and set the lamps in the fixtures in the following order: R-PA-R-R-PA-R. The whole set could easily be mounted on a frame that would take up two feet by four and one half feet with room to spare. An inexpensive switched outlet strip could be attached to the frame or nearby wall, and the shop lights could be plugged into three of its outlets. The single switch kept things simple by making it possible to control the whole fixture with one switch. The whole set takes only 240 watts; and, because of its large size, it stays cool and safe. It produces negligible ultraviolet (UV) light; so it is safe from that standpoint as well.

A fellow who was reasonably handy with tools saw how these three fixtures could be mounted vertically in a frame about two feet wide and five feet tall. He set them on a three foot by three foot rolling base that proved to be quite stable. Another person found an easy way to mount these three fixtures on a simple bracket screwed into the studs behind the plasterboard of her bathroom wall. Others have been able to arrange them in a bracket on a kitchen wall. Others who feared that the bulbs were at risk of being hit and broken, paid a bit more for fixtures with a plastic cover over the bulbs. In any case, put them wherever they make it possible to expose yourself to their light for ten to fifteen minutes the very first thing in the morning; the best time of day for it. Then try to do it for ten minutes after sundown. And what kind of cost are we looking at? I went down to a local discount supermarket and priced the fixtures and bulbs, and here is what I found: Three 48 inch shop lights at $9.68 each equals $29.58; two packs of Residential 40 watt fluorescent bulbs of two bulbs each cost $9.94; two Plant-Aquarium 40 watt fluorescent bulbs at $5.96 each cost $11.94; and one power strip into which one plugs the three shop lights costs $2.97. The total is $42.49, and tax makes a grand total of $45.04.

One by three inch pine or spruce strapping is inexpensive, as are screws and glue and a little bit of paint or varnish. The entire frame could be put together for less than $15, making the total cost of a working set of full spectrum lights approximately $60.00. Making a stable rolling frame for it might cost an additional $10.00. All of the appliance materials are readily available at your local discount store; or, for a few more bucks, at your local hardware store. Wood, screws, glue and wheels are to be found at any lumber yard. If you put this together or have a willing person put this together for you, and expose yourself to it by being in the same room with it for ten to fifteen minutes before dawn and at dusk, the probability is that if you have the seasonal affective disorder, you will feel noticeably more alert and comfortable within a week.

Chrysalis: One Man's Journey          top
John Patrick Davis, Reiki Master, HOPE Guide, HOPE Group member, has written a beautiful account of his healing process. This poetic prose has been published by Audenreed Press and is now available through HOPE at a cost of $18.95 plus tax and shipping ($23.09). The book is an account of one person’s journey from crippling, incurable dystrophy to healing and wholeness through reassessing and integrating the various aspects of his life: mind, body, emotions, and spirit. It is the holistic movement and attitudinal healing personified in the author’s struggles and triumph.

Royalties from the sale of CHRYSALIS are being donated to HOPE

Excerpt from CHRYSALIS:
For we have touched, and in that touch
I see you new again
and reach to ease the hurt
and catch the tear
and cherish the you
I see so fleetingly
looking out through pain

I am caught up in this Song
that fills my soul
- with life - with love that
echoes and reverberates
the pulse that is within -

that tells me I’m alive
and I shall see tomorrow
He breaks through the...
isolation of survival,

He is
Thompson’s Hound of Heaven
and he has chased me
down the labyrinthine ways
of my own mind
to tell me that
He
loves
me

What others are saying about CHRYSALIS:          top

"You are a very special and precious human being and so is your ‘poem’. We all need to write poetry - the whole world - so we can feel and heal..."
Bernie S. Siegel, M.D.
Love, Medicine & Miracles

"John Patrick Davis comes from the very center of his soul. He shares his innermost feelings in the form of the music of poetry that will help every reader who is struggling to transform sickness into health."
Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D.
Love is Letting Go of Fear

HOPE Ripples: and Membership in the Circle of Friends of HOPE
Edited by Ken Hamilton, MD, the founder; © 1998. Ripples is distributed quarterly without cost to members of The Circle of Friends of HOPE and to HOPE group participants. To all others, the cost of an annual subscription is $5.00.

HOPE members and group participants are invited to submit personal stories and information about individual or group activities and experiences. HOPE is a human interest organization that believes in the value of the anecdote. We’d like you to consider submitting yours!

Memberships in the Circle of Friends of HOPE come with your voluntary, tax-deductible contributions, less the cost of Ripples, are used to support HOPE’s development and implementation of outreach programs such as the highly successful Hope for Schools. Membership in the Circle of Friends of HOPE gives access to the tapes, books and T-shirts that we sell bringing our simple yet challenging message. Please make out your check to HOPE Your support makes our mission a success. Thank you.

HOPE’s annual fund drive is under way. Through a direct mail appeal and now this request in Ripples, we are asking our supporters to consider a donation to help with the operating costs of HOPE Your generosity makes it possible for us to continue providing services. Please consider one of the the following levels of giving:

Friend: $50-$99
Donor $100-$499
Patron $500-$999
Benefactor: $1000 and above

Please send your tax-deductible donation to: HOPE. PO Box 276, South Paris, ME 04281

Thank you to everyone who gave to HOPE in 1997—you are our angels.

We would love to have your HOPE story for Ripples! Please send it to the HOPE office, PO Box 276, South Paris, ME 04281 or email it to hope-at-hopehealing.org. If you don't think you are a writer, record it onto a tape and send that to the office. The editor will transcribe and edit it for you!