Foundation of Light in Ithaca goes full circle with ‘land whisperer’ workshop

This month, Foundation of Light, a spiritual center for meditation, healing and study located in Ithaca, is coming full circle with a visit from an expert whose connection with the center stretches back five decades. Dr. Patrick MacManaway, a world-renowned practitioner of intuitive and healing arts from Scotland, will be leading both an evening presentation and a weekend workshop.

The weekend’s events have been 50 years in the making. In the 1970s, two of the founders of Foundation of Light, John and Kate Payne and Mabel Beggs, attended a conference of the British Society of Dowsers and subsequently visited the MacManaway family’s Healing and Teaching Centre in rural Scotland. The ideas they learned there planted the seed for starting Foundation of Light when they returned.

“They were just super intrigued and decided they needed to start the center in Ithaca,” Eva Hunter, Foundation of Light coordinator, said.

Foundation of Light just celebrated its 50^th anniversary last May, so the timing feels appropriate, she added.

On Nov. 10, MacManaway will lead an evening presentation called “Dragons, Elementals and Nature Spirits – the Sacred and Fertile Relationship,” introducing many of the fundamental principles that will be explored in more depth in the weekend workshop.

Drawing from 30 years of work in landscapes from the US and UK to Australia, MacManaway will show slides and tell stories to remind and inspire the participants to “connect deeply with the interactive and responsive consciousness of land, plant and animal life that we live within, and by whose grace and favor we can celebrate and thrive,” a press release from Foundation of Light states.

The full weekend workshop, “Land Whispering: Connecting and Communicating with the Natural Intelligences Surrounding Us,” starts with the presentation on Nov. 10 and ends on Nov. 12 at 4:30 p.m.

According to the press release, “the weekend will be a rich tapestry of slides and stories from homes, businesses, farm, forest and field, interspersed with practical exercises to develop multiple ways of engaging with the landscape and angelic intelligences surrounding us, including dragons, gnomes and devas.” Participants will develop concepts and practices of connection and communication “from telepathy to dowsing, allowing them to build a range of skills and awareness in communication with the natural intelligences of nature.”

After taking a break from much of its in-person programming during the pandemic, Foundation of Light is now reemerging with newfound energy, said Hunter, who likened the center’s phases to the seasons.

“I would say right now it feels like spring to us,” she said. “We have a lot of new activity—new classes and events going on—and we’re working harder to get the word out about what we do.”

And when people converge in one place to learn together, the experience is often all the more powerful, she said.

“One of the key elements of what Patrick is sharing is practicing communication in the spirit of love and connection, so when a group of people comes together with that intent, there is a certain magic that happens,” Hunter said. “In a bigger sense, it seems to me like in this time of so much strife and divisiveness and polarization in the world, to bring Patrick here to teach us to connect to the natural world is a beautiful antidote to heal some of those divisions we have in modern culture.”

“I talk to so many people who are pretty freaked out right now, to be honest,” she added. “Climate disasters, wars, famine, all of it…how do we hold all of that inside ourselves? I think we need nature to help us actually let go of that and fill ourselves with something more wholesome.”

Certainly, MacManaway’s teachings go hand in hand with the center’s mission as a destination for those seeking a “heart-based community, healing, compassion, love and more happiness.”

“We’ve got our list of things to do running through our heads, so many pressures on us, external and internal,” Hunter said. “To take a breath and actually slow down or sit and look into the beauty of a flower, it takes you to a different place.”

Hunter said that it is clear McManaway lives what he preaches. His teachings don’t just come from his intellect. He is a third-generation dowser who works with farmers around the world.

MacManaway is Past President of the British Society of Dowsers and he holds a degree in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in his native Scotland. He works in a variety of settings–with farmers to address geopathic stress and improve fertility and productivity, with businesses and projects to increase the vitality and wellness of the endeavor, and with individuals to balance the subtle body and its core energies.

He is the author of several books, including “The Practical Guide to Dowsing: How to Harness the Earth’s Energies for Health and Healing.”

“He works with these natural intelligences,” Hunter said. In this way, he helps put people back in touch with nature so they can rest and relax.

“Maybe some people look at this and say, ‘well that’s a little airy fairy,’ but through all of human history humans have had a very, very direct connection with nature,” Hunter said. “They could read the weather, know that when a certain bug is doing a certain thing it means something about the soil.”

“Everyone can attest to how calming it is to walk through a forest or stop by a stream and just stare at the water and watch how light plays on it…these are really healing activities for us.”

The cost for the Nov. 10 evening event is $20 in advance and $25 at the door. More details and registration information can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FOL-Dragons.

This 16-hour training costs $222 to $355 on a sliding scale, and includes the Friday night presentation. More details and registration information can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FOL-LandWhisper.

This program is funded in part by the John D. and Kate H. Payne Foundation.