From Vivienne Cato, vivienne@speaktoearth.free-online.co.uk 9/8/2001

Dear John,

I wanted to let you know that ten days ago, enthused by your and Chris's w/s
in Highgate, Ruth Roth and I ran an afternoon for a dozen or so friends on
'Tisha B'Av and Gaia'. To explain: Tisha B'Av is the Jewish festival (not
quite the right word here) which commemorates the destruction of both
temples in Jerusalem and subsequent disasters in Jewish history. These
calamities being rather remote, the crisis having becoming more pressing and
our consciousness more universalistic, we extended the concept to embrace
the larger Temple - of the Earth - which we are on the brink of destroying.
Using several 'structures' from your weekend eg. the Truth Mandala and
'preparing for action' we took the participants through the 'down and then
up' structure that is v. authentic for this festival, since as the day moves
to its close the mood changes to optimism with the anticipation of the
future birth on this day of the Messiah. We linked the structures throughout
with Jewish concepts, and it was a perfect fit. Very affirming for me to be
able to bring these two together in what felt like a completely authentic
way. And the feedback was very positive: people found it unexpectedly
strong, moving and real. The plan now is to build on this for next year and
offer it to the wider Jewish community - maybe make it into an annual
fixture. All this would probably not have happened if you had not triggered
it off by saying, 'Nothing's stopping you from leading such a  w/s now'. So,
thank you for the inspiration and empowerment!

Also: Following our conversation about environmentalism in the Australian
Jewish community I emailed my (friend's) contact in the Jewish community in
Sydney explaining the scene and asking whether they'd want to be in touch
with you, as you offered, and/or with The Noah Project in the UK. They are
keen but busy, and looking for another contact person. Will let you know as
soon as I hear anything.

Warm wishes,
Vivienne Cato