Category Archives: Update

Gerise Pappas – “A Pathway to Wholeness Using the Enneagram” – Sunday, March 10, 2024

We had a fascinating afternoon learning about the Enneagram, also known as the Enneagram of Personality, which is a model of the human psyche principally understood and taught as nine interconnected personality types.  Gerise Pappas (www.gerisepappas.com) walked us through the different Enneagram components and shared how we can learn, heal, and return to wholeness using the Enneagram model as a tool to better understand ourselves. 

We especially learned about how each of the nine different points on the Enneagram has a growth path that, when applied, can enable us to notice where we are and what we are experiencing in order to become more present, in balance, and connected to self. 

 

 

We also thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful guitar music of Richard Rausch, who has toured with Carl Anderson (of Jesus Christ Superstar fame). Richard also led and played with several opening act bands for renowned artists such as Paco De Lucia, Al Green, and Spirit. 

If you are an ACT member, consider listening to the Zoom replay. The Enneagram material is fascinating! You can really feel Gerise’s passion for the Enneagram and how the study of the Enneagram can support a return to wholeness especially during and after experiencing challenges in our lives. 

Join us for another exciting connection with Spiritual understanding, become an ACT member today! Join here

Elohi Magdalena Rosa – “Entering the Throne Room of Your Sacred Heart”

Sunday, February 11, 2024

What a profound and special program! Elohi Magdelena Rosa led us in a deep meditation into the most private and sacred throne room of our hearts. If you have ever had a moment when you felt the Divine, when you felt completely loved, completely known for the beautiful person that you are, that would be a taste of what we experienced.

The meditation helped us remember the part of us that is Source. That we are an aspect of the great I AM. Elohi also guided us to the possibility of connecting to higher dimensions and higher realms for messages and gifts that were specific to each of us individually. It was an emotional day for many of us!

Laura Kucine and Hardnett7 led the music and lifted the vibrational energy with a collection of love songs. Below is a brief video clip where you can see how our hearts opened with the closing song, “What a Wonderful World.”

If you are an ACT member and were unable to attend, I encourage you to watch or listen to the recording. Indeed, you will be blessed.

Click on this video image to enjoy a clip of our closing song!

And if you are not a member you can join or renew at this LINK

Sahffi Lynne – “Climb the Vocal Ladder to Vocalize Your Soul”

Sunday, January 14, 2024

What a fun experience sitting with fellow men and women of the Light and learning how we can enhance our voice and song to express more of our authentic self.

Sahffi Lynne, an intuitive and spiritual voice coach, explained how our voice is an instrument and just like any instrument, there are steps we can take to learn how to play the instrument with ease, beauty, and a connection to our soul. Each step of this vocal ladder that she introduced, is connected to one of the seven chakras.

Sahffi guided us with simple “exercises” that we can do for each rung of the vocal ladder to connect our voice, our chakras, and our soul. A fun example is, as a group we sang “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” before the vocal ladder exercises. We sounded okay.

After learning and practicing all the different exercises, we sang “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” again and we sounded FABULOUS! The change was dramatic and remarkable. You could hear the different harmonies coming through and the total sound had a richness and fullness to it. Amazing!

We wrapped up the day singing “Angels of Healing” by Lisa Thiel and “Imagine” by John Lennon. It was lovingly magical.

If you are a member and were not able to attend, please consider listening to the replay and, for sure, doing the exercises as Sahffi presents them. It’s well worth your time. You will be awed at the experience!!

If you are not a member and want to receive the video recording of this awesome event you can still join by clicking HERE

The ACT Holiday Party was a delightful success!

What an amazing holiday party! As Lilia says, “ACT people know how to celebrate, connect, and commune.” So true! Food was abundant and delicious. So wonderful to meet new people and catch-up with old friends.

We had great conversations at the dinner and dessert tables.  A selection of questions were provided for inspiration of something you might want to share about yourself with your tablemates. We learned interesting things about each other and deepened friendships.

A special highlight of the evening was the voice of Amy Frondoso, beckoning us to the dance floor. As we get up to dance to the song, “We are Family”, Amy made a dramatic entrance inspiring us even more to join the dancing. Amy kept the dance party going with a great mix of dance favorites and great tunes. It was a lot of fun.

What a great way to celebrate the holiday season with other spiritually, like-minded folks. What a blessing and a joy.

Click on the video image to enjoy the fun!

Neale Donald Walsch Event

Saturday, Nov 4, 2023

What a special evening we shared listening to the wisdom of Neale Donald Walsch, author of “Conversations with God”.  Even though he broadcast from his Oregon studio, it felt like he was in the room with us.

He shared his belief that humanity is one decision away from peace. That decision happens when we answer the question, “Who am I?” and the answer is not what you would expect.

For the quick answer, to “Who am I?” Neale put forth the response: “I am an individuation of God” (or Pure Love). When we understand that we are spiritual beings manifesting as Pure Love, it changes how we live.

During the talk, Neale introduced the concept of people being “idea heroes” and he answered the question that his talk was titled, “What is causing the greatest problem in the world?” Then, he proceeded to answer that question.  (Again, the answer is not what you would expect.)

Our special evening included music offered by The One Love Band. The band brought together musicians from six different musical acts into a unified expression of love through their music. Members playing that evening were: Hardnett7 on vocals and 7 string guitar, Chad Holmes on djembe and drum, Dennis Kolb on bass and harmonies, Laura Kucine on vocals and percussion, and Gary Hardnett on vocals, wind instruments, bowls, and gong.

 

Our October 2023 Gathering with Kathleen Hanagan was deeply tranformative!

We had a wonderful time, Sunday, October 15, 2023, listening to Kathleen Hanagan share how we can connect to our sovereignty and manifest boldly with the creation energy.

She led us through an activity where we each picked either a scarf or an object that represented an important dream that each of us held in our heart. With the item, she led us in a meditation giving life to our dream and seeing it come to fruition. The work felt both powerful and encouraging.

The photo shows many of the attendees, post-meeting, with the scarf or item that represented their dream.

Summer Celebration: a great time was had by all!

We closed our program year with a celebration! On Saturday, June 17 we feasted our program year around a bonfire for the solstice and then danced to the magic of drumming, rattling, song and joy!

And we had a professional Drum Circle leader for the event!

Knowledge Shabazz who prefers to go by Lil Bird (his given Native American name), has been playing “hand drums” for most of his life. His love affair with the drum started as a child in the 1970’s, while being exposed to bands like Earth Wind & fire, War and Mandrill. These bands were introduced to him by his mother and his aunts /uncles. A few of his aunts were traveling through Africa and the Caribbean during this time so he would receive instruments and music from these far-off places.

During all this exposure to these different instruments and musical voicings there was a sound being molded, shaped and configured in the Washington DC area. This new sound and feel came to be known as the music of the Nation’s capital Gogo music.

Lil Bird is currently promoting his latest musical project the DC Hunters and their new album Norfeast to Nawlins. This album according to Big chief Brian Harrison-Nelson (Guardians of the Flame Maroon Society) …my brotha Lil Bird from the Mardi Gras Indian Nation has an important body of music that fuses Traditional Black Masking Indian music with Gogo percussions and rhythms from DC. He further states It’s a really special groundbreaking project that every lover of Gogo and New Orleans should support.

Our May 2023 Gathering featured Scott Lepthien as our speaker and Laura Kucine as our musician

Our May speaker was Scott Lepthien, our CCC member and treasurer! His talk: “A Perspective on the Art and Science behind Transformation,” highlighted:

  • How science supports and brings new possibilities to transformation
  • How different ideas support and maybe change the path to transformation.

We gained:

  • Understanding how science supports our transformation
  • Knowing the elements for transformation and how to use them
  • Identifying missing pieces from the transformation process
  • Realizing there is no one path to transformation and in fact it requires many paths to transform.

Scott’s BIO in his words:

As a “normal” human I was asleep for many years. I had told myself as a teenager I would not let this happen.  But with family, work and marriage and all my societal programming,  that is where I ended up.  Numbing myself with whatever was available.  It took a painful personal life event to wake me up. This is often what wakes a lot of people up.

This is where I started my work over 13 years ago.  Finding ways that make sense to me to be able to transform my thinking and how I show up in this world.  I continue to explore this process with vigor.

I have struggled with faith that did not have substance behind it. I needed to understand both the spiritual side of change and the science that supported it.  This has brought me to a path of continual learning.

I have trained under one of the three original Certified teachers of the Four Agreements, Gary Van Warmerdam. I am a certified Personal Mastery Coach trained by Jeromy Bellotti and Krystal Romero. I have done extensive reading and study of subjects pertaining to transformation and continue to do so.

A local Annapolis musician, Laura Kucine, added her beautiful voice and Spanish songs to our transporting and transforming experience.

Born and raised in Chile Laura learned to sing and play guitar by ear by listening to Chilean and American folk music on the radio or tapes. She grew up singing harmonies in church and developed a love affair with any kind of melody that involve group harmonies. She considers herself a folk / ballad interpreter and thrives on music and lyrics that have an historical meaning and touch your heart and soul. Lately she has been digging into Brazilian /bossa nova style…stay tuned!!

 

Laura was accompanied on 7-string guitar by our own Hardnett 7!

Our first Gathering for 2023 with Andrea Neville

Happy New Year, 2023!
Our program year continued January 8, with our theme:
Love Builds Bridges: Finding, Knowing, Being Your Deepest Self

NOTE: Members can review Andrea’s talk here on the website in at member’s only link. If you need to join or renew your membership GO HERE

Andrea’s talk was: Spiritual Evolution: Expand Your Understanding of Self by Bringing More Spirit Consciousness into Your Life

With Andrea’s guidance we explored how to:

  • Remember there is no one way to Spirit. There is no right or wrong. There is the way that works for each of us, and it evolves throughout our lives.
  • Learn to trust ourselves and our relationship to self and Spirit in evolution; it is never stagnant and never to be judged.
  • Create space for each person to connect with our inner voice, our Higher Self, identifying next steps in our relationship to Spirit Consciousness.

Andrea led us to:

  • Understand the importance of individual choice within a collective consciousness.
  • Create a variety of skills to use in connecting to inner voice.
  • Identify a variety of tools to use in connecting to Spirit.
  • Analyze the sacred space within and determine how it expands in universal alignment.

Andrea’s BIO:

Andrea Neville is a psychic medium, channel, healer, and podcast host, specializing in spiritual evolution and intuitive development. She is passionate about helping others connect to their inner voice and understand their own personal connection to the Spirit World.

My historical relationship with ACT as a member and board member is my inspiration for presenting. In addition, it is important to me that people have multiple paths to evolution. I feel strongly that living a spiritual life is not a one-way street. I am here to provide information, inspiration, and tools.

I walk my talk. Teaching concepts I’ve learned through direct client interaction, a highly rated podcast, and a spiritual membership community that I host.

I work with mediums from around the world and lead spiritual development opportunities.

Visit Andrea’s website for more information: https://www.andreaneville.vision/