Good Friends and Colleagues of the eternal and hopeful possibility of our human capacity to carry and keep alive the seed-heart of beauty, which is watered by the tears of grief before they turn to violence and cultivated in the ashes of that which has already done so, please let me reassure all of you that I, Martín Prechtel, have every intention of coming together with you to continue the Ghost Ranch Event of the Flowering Mountain and The Writer's Retreat in Ojo Caliente and Vermont. Not one person has actually called to cancel and numbers are very high. It seems to me that it is even more imperative that we should get together in these instances as well as a couple more times in the next six months, perhaps, in order to keep alive what really matters: to discuss and ceremonially metabolize this recent collision of several literalist forces who on every side have lost their indigenous souls and have become what we have been always addressing as the entranced carriers of ancient grief frozen into today's violence on every side. Please come, we'll talk, weep, write, sing and ceremonialize. All Blessings on all you do. Maybe we should all go weep with somebody invisible in our villages, to begin with, to get ready for the conferences. Long Life, Honey in the Heart, No Evil, Thirteen Thank Yous. Love to you all- Martín Prechtel
	Just like the hearts of nature and the Divine who speak in visions expressed in the chirps of foxes, howling wind, and the cactus flowering into red, if we lose our ability to hear metaphor, we cease to flower and chirp; our hearts wait for better days. In the past, in times like these, when literalist sarcasm and a bitter flatness threaten the heart, nature and the Spirit, then visionaries arise who listen and live their lives singing a great metaphorical language to feast the Divine. In a tiny and delicious attempt to keep that language flowering and not forgotten, in these times, I have invited poet Robert Bly to make a presentation on William Blake and storyteller Gioia Timpinelli to bring alive Saint Francis and his contemporaries. I, Martín Prechtel, will teach the Mayan feeding of the Divine with ritual language of metaphor. In the evenings several serious musicians have been invited to make their offerings of diverse cultural and traditional sound. Please stay with us, laugh and cry with us. Let’s ritualize, write and sing together, leaving our delicious sounds echoing in the banded rocks of Abiquiu.	“Northern New Mexico is one of the most spiritually alive, mysterious and spectacularly beautiful places on Earth. Native Peoples since forever have occupied the forested canyons, all red, yellow, pink, purple, blue, maroon, white, banded and stained, full of caves, and cliff dwelling ruins...." The Spanish people from Andalucia came here in the 1500's making little villages and farms between the desert, alpine forest, green grass, elk parks, and antelope plains and glass mountains.There is not an inch of Northern New Mexico that couldn't be kissed, blessed and therein found some strange wonder, like velvet covered ants, desert four o'clocks, sunsets beyond imagination, hot springs, etc. As my beloved wife Johanna said to me when we first met, ‘that land of Northern New Mexico is a great beautiful ocean crying tears of sunrises and sunsets for the water that left it behind.’ I want to show you the land I love, the land in which my wife, Johanna, and I live. I invite you to come and make a good happy ritual conference alongside my best friends.” – Martín Prechtel
	Conference Site For more information about the Ghost Ranch Conference Center, Georgia O’Keeffe, and the history and beauty of the land visit: http://www.ghostranch.org For more information about Hidden Wine events: Call or 860 -923-6987 E-mail: hiddenwine@earthlink.net On the Web: http://www.hiddenwine.com	Conference Cost: $ 495 includes meals and lodging ( double occupancy, shared bath, un-heated room on the mesa*) $ 150 deposit due with registration. Refundable until September 1st less $25 handling fee *We have a limited number of heated rooms for an additional cost on first come first serve basis. For costs and detail or see registration form below For registration form click here see below...
	Please bookmark this page and return for updated program materials and information!	Download a free poster or e-mail this link to a friend: Ghost Ranch Poster

	Martin Prechtel: For the last couple of years Martín Prechtel, author of “Secrets of the Talking Jaguar” and “Long Life, Honey in the Heart,” has been conducting very successful creative writing workshops where the prose writer, non-writer, poet, and lovers of spiritual literacy can all come together, learn from each other and Martín. To be released this fall, Martín Prechtel's eagerly awaited new book, "The Daughter You Get," a traditional Mayan story with revolutionary insights, is already receiving advance praise and critical acclaim. Martín Prechtel, an author, teacher, and shaman, was raised in New Mexico on a Pueblo Indian reservation. In 1971 Nicholas Chiviliu, an aging Mayan shaman from Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala called Martín to become his student. Martín lived with Chiviliu for years, was initiated as a shaman and after his teacher’s death, succeeded him, healing and shamanizing among 30,000 Tzutujil Mayans in his new found village. After 1978 Martín became chief initiator and a public leader, guiding the young men through long ceremonies. Robert Bly describes Martín as “A short kind of pony that gallops through the fields of human possibility with flowers dropping out of his mouth...”	Interview with Martin Prechtel: by Derrick Jensen in "The Sun" April 2001 The Sun Magazine on the web Martin Prechtel's Schedule

	Robert Bly has been writing poetry ever since he first fell in love. Instead of going on to teach in college, he decided to live on a farm in Minnesota. He has spent the last four decades writing poetry, translating poets from other cultures, making a living giving poetry readings, and teaching psychology and fairy tales to men and women. Eventually that lead to Iron John, one of his best selling books, now translated into more than 15 languages. Last year alone he published three books of poetry, the most recent being a translation of the poems of Ghalib from their original Urdu, in collaboration with his son-in-law Sunil Dutta. In May he will publish a new book of poems called The Night Abraham Called to the Stars Robert Bly and Martín Prechtel met over 16 years ago and for the past decade have happily joined in conferences for both men and women. Gioia Timpanelli and Robert Bly have told stories and poems together for more than 20 years. "Robert Bly sees the preciousness in what is unseen and forgotten in the world,digging poems and ideas out of the ground like a single minded snuffling badger who will not be deterred. Polishing what was shunned and discarded, he hangs them around our necks as poems, making the world noble with the shine of desire for the best part of men and women, that part of us that modern culture would have tossed away." – Martín Prechtel about Robert Bly	Robert Bly's Schedule

	Gioia Timpanelli is considered by many to be the master of America's professional storytellers. Frank McCourt, author of the bestseller Angela's Ashes, says of Gioia "No one in the world, yes, in the world, can tell a story better than Gioia Timpanelli." The great granddaughter of a traditional Sicilian storyteller, Gioia creates an extemporaneous performance with the aim of stirring something deep inside the listener's soul. Gioia was a founder of our current storytelling revival. Her PBS television series, "Stories From My House", won two Emmy awards; and she received the Women's Book Award her work with the oral tradition. Gioia won the prestigeous 1999 American Book Award for her first book of fiction, Sometimes the Soul, published by Norton. Gioia has told stories all over the country at conferences and workshops with Joseph Campbell, James Hillman, Robert Bly and Gary Snyder. “When Gioia goes to the storytelling place the whole world stops and listens. She goes where the gods go when they want to be heard and makes that dangerous step allowing them to jump into her body, while the rest of us watch mesmerized, wondering which is which.” – Martín Prechtel

Workshop Registration Please print and send in with your registration deposit I am registering for the “Letters to the Flowering Earth” conference with Robert Bly, Martín Prechtel, and Gioia Timpanelli; . Sept 28th- Oct 1st, 2001; Ghost Ranch, New Mexico Name:............................................................................................................... Street:............................................................................................................... City:................................................... State:................ Zip:............................... Phone:........................................................................ E-mail......................................................................... Conference Cost: includes meals and lodging Please check your room preference and you payment method ___$ 495 double occupancy, shared bath, un-heated room on the mesa a limited number of heated rooms for an additional cost- see below ___$ 525 double occupancy, shared bath, heated room ___$ 555 double occupancy, private bath, heated room ___$ 585 single occupancy, shared bath, heated room ___$ 615 single occupancy, private bath, heated room All rooms have linens, blankets, and pillows $150 deposit due with registration. Refundable until August 15th less $25 handling fee ___ Enclosed is a check for $________ Please make you check payable to Hidden Wine. If you are sending the $150 deposit the remaining balance of $_____is due by September 1st. ___ Charge my Visa or Mastercard Account # _____________ If you are charging the $150 deposit the remaining balance of $_____will be charged to your account on September 1st. Account#...................................................................Exp Date..................................... Signature:.......................................................................................................... Attendance will be limited to 120 people Mail this completed form to: Hidden Wine Inc. 406A Lowell Davis Road North Grosvenordale, CT 06255 A confirmation letter will be mailed or e-mailed on receipt of your registration deposit. For out-of town guests a conference van will be available for a fee to transport you to and from the Ghost Ranch Conference Center and the Albuquerque Airport. ( see Air Travel update below) For more Information call Craig Ungerman at Hidden Wine: Call or 860 -923-6987 E-mail: hiddenwine@earthlink.net http://www.hiddenwine.com

Air Travel If you are traveling by air, you will be arriving at the the Albuquerque airport. We have reserved a 15 passenger van to take you to and from Ghost Ranch. The cost for this is $63 round trip paid in advance. The Ghost Ranch Conference van will be at the airport by 2:15 on Friday, Sept 28th and will leave for Ghost Ranch by 2:30 pm. The van will return to the airport on Monday, October 1st no later than 3.00 pm. Please try to arrange your flights so that you arrive at least 1 hour before the van departs from the airport and 1 hour after the van arrives back to the airport. Getting There by Car Ghost Ranch is located northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, some forty miles beyond Espanola on U.S. 84. Watch for the Ghost Ranch sign on the entrance gate between mile posts 224 and 225. For more information about the Ghost Ranch Conference Center, visit: http://www.ghostranch.org