I attended an Alternative Giving Fair in Fayetteville, Arkansas last week. Table after table of gift alternatives focused, not upon individual ephemera (tinselly) needs, but upon humanity’s needs — their health, welfare, food, water, medicine, etc. all calling for a quality of life to be offered so that a thriving, a simple flourishing and a blossoming in the lives of those in need could come forth.
In a conversation with my daughter this week, responding to her saying she has not bought any holiday gifts (good choice in the Mercury retro) I suggested that she not buy any gifts this year (and next) of the regular kind. Instead that she gather her little (holy) family, inform them that Christmas (the holidays, including Hanukkah) would be different this year and every year hereafter. Instead of receiving they would be giving together as a family to another family in need.
I suggested she place on their table, next to the lit Advent wreath, brochure and pictures from Heifer International (nonprofit, humanitarian organization whose purpose is ending hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth), explaining that these were the gifts they would give to another family with children in need.
And to ask the children to choose what they would like to give (children love to give the gift of animals), then offer a large part of their allowance (tripled by their parents’ contribution), explaining that their intention and allowance to those in need is their gift.
The Heifer Project provides gifts of seeds, trees and farm animals — ducks, lambs, goats, llamas, flocks of chicks, a camel, water buffalo, heifer or an entire ark of animals, including bees along with environmental agricultural training. The gifts are for families and communities around the world (50 countries including the U.S.). Gifts from the Heifer project feed, clothe, house, educate, protect, train, empower and motivate resources-in-need families. When the recipient’s farm animal has offspring, the family “Passes the Gift” on to another family, creating a chain of ongoing self-reliance.
Families helped through the Heifer project are able to rise up from poverty, sustain their families, conquer hunger, create a sense of community and prosperity, and begin the process of being able to give to others.
When one gives (tithes, provides for others) a sense of joy, wild, unexpected and liberating settles in the heart. Children taught to give in this way and help others “inherit a lifetime sense of intelligent giving.” This is my daughter’s gift to her children this year. The Heifer International Project. www.heifer.org.
Another gift vital to humanity’s present quest and need for freedom and liberty is the film “Thrive: What on Earth Will it Take?” Every household in America needs this film for the truth, information and solutions it provides for humanity’s education and dedicated to humanity’s well-being. For film information, www.thrivemovement.com. Below is Giving with Purpose & Meaning for each sign (archetypes).
ARIES: The Warrior. Offer in Aries’ name a gift to the Wounded Warrior Project, providing programs and services to severely injured service members during the time between active duty and transition to civilian life. Often forgotten, this project honors and empowers those who protect our freedoms. www.woundedwarriorproject.org/.
TAURUS: Developing Prosperity & Well Being. Understanding the fact that the world situation is not about the economy but about politics. How to invest in times of Transition. Offer them the Solari Report; give them gold & silver. Introduce them to Catherine Austin Fitts. http://solari.com/store/the_solari_report/. http://silverandgoldaremoney.com/.
GEMINI: The Communicator. Education at this time, says the Tibetan, is the where all the money in the world must be focused. Cory Ybarra, Educating Special Needs Population worldwide is “Building for Generations” (Cory’s vision). www.buildingforgenerations.com.
CANCER: Nurturing the world, especially women with cancer. Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Dedicated to education and research and a cure for breast cancer. Providing cancer research, education, advocacy, health services and social support in the U.S. and 50 countries. www.komen.org/.
LEO: The heart of the matter, especially children — Gifting to the children we love – an article on passing on the wealth to our children — http://solari.com/articles/gifting_to_the_children_we_love/. Also, giving to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, pioneering research and cures. All children treated regardless of family finances. www.stjude.org.
VIRGO: The one who serves. Give them the book Serving Humanity, a compilation of writings from the Tibetan through Alice Bailey. Lucis Publishing Company, www.lucis.org. And help them serve the animal kingdom through the Humane Society. www.humanesociety.org/.
LIBRA: Relationships of Care. The subject of refugees. UNHCR. The UN Refugee Agency. Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie’s Charity. USA for UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees), humanitarian work of the UN Refugee Agency. There are 40 millions displaced people, or refugees, in the world. Last year, the theme of UNHCR was “home.” www.unhcr.org/v-4df235f46 & www.unhcr.org/.
SCORPIO: The Disciple. Doctors Without Borders /Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Doctors and nurses volunteer urgent medical care in more than 60 countries to victims of war and disaster, violence, neglect, epidemics, catastrophe, etc., regardless of race, religion, or politics. www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
- Nov. 22 to Dec. 21
SAGITTARIUS: The Journey. The Lawyer. Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, protecting rights of farmers and consumers to engage in “direct commerce” (consumers having access to foods of their choice – raw milk, non GMO, etc. – from the source of their choice), threatened by global control & corporate corruption of our food system. www.farmtoconsumer.org/.
CAPRICORN: Maintaining Tradition. Positioning assets for the family that are sustainable and fair, understanding investing in transitional times. Also, Environmental Defense Fund, environment protection and conservation. Solutions for environmental problems with Right Stewardship. www.edf.org.
AQUARIUS: The Futurist & Server of Humanity. Both books “Here Comes Trouble” by Michael Moore, and “Serving Humanity” (see Gemini & Virgo above). And the human service organization of the Red Cross, helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies, present and future. www.redcross.org/gift-donation.
PISCES: The visionary & Savior. World Vision International: Development and Relief Services. Building a better world for children. www.worldvision.org. And Unicef (UN Int. Children’s Emergency Fund) – protecting children’s rights, their survival, development and protection, guided by the Convention on the Rights of Children. www.unicef.org. And Catholic Charities – reducing poverty, supporting families, creating community. www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
