Bio-regional Animism's topics - tribe.net

Sweatlodge Deaths

2009-11-10T22:36:25Z

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/angel-valley-resort-sweat_n_316137.html

for those who may not have heard read the above link; others here I am sure you have heard about this tragedy. A self proclaimed spiritual guru lead a sweat lodge for profit at a New Age retreat and two people where needlessly killed. I am to lived to speak rationaly about this toppic, at the moment but wanted to bring it to this groups attention for discusion. WE have long spoken about the dangers and inappropriateness and disrespectiful practices of this kind of appropreation. BRA has been about fidning our own relationships with the land where we live without having to borrow from others (this does not mean we cant learn from them).

Lance, at The Sleeping Giant blog (and member of our tribe) posted a response (I hope you don't mind me plugging you Lance).

http://hengruh.livejournal.com/80998.html

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 55 replies

NOVEMBER WHOS AFOOT

2009-11-08T19:27:41Z

not only is the internet still out at the house, this rental computer has no punctuation, its not really november yet, and i am traveling tomorrow so i thought i would post this today.

happy halloween folks!

the rains have come here and everything is turning green once again!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 7 replies

Boys Will Be Boys ... Or Will They?

2009-11-08T08:47:33Z

We are conducting a vast toxicological experiment in which our children and our children's children are the experimental subjects. - - Dr. Herbert Needleman

Remember the movie The Graduate? Dustin Hoffmann plays Benjamin Braddock, a confused young man just out of college and uncertain about his future. In one scene a family friend, Mr. McGuire, pulls him aside and says, "I want to say one word to you. Are you listening to me? Plastics. There's a great future in plastics."

Well, as a predictor of the future, Mr. McGuire could not have been more wrong … at least about the "great future".

Our lives are immersed in plastics. Plastics are everywhere.

Everywhere.

Each day we are awash in an ocean of more than 1000 synthetic chemicals. They are in our clothing, our bedding, our food, our cosmetics … and they are in our bodies. And the truth is we know very little about how these chemicals impact life on earth. Of the more than 80,000 manmade chemicals that have been invented by chemical companies, fully 85% have never been tested on humans.

However, emerging scientific evidence is showing us that these chemicals may be much more dangerous than we could ever have imagined.

Industrial wastes like mercury, benzine, and dioxin are known to negatively impact human reproduction. And while some of these dangerous chemicals occur in nature, most of them are man-made from petroleum. These chemicals can be structurally similar to human and animal hormones, and they appear to be particularly damaging to young males. Because they are structurally similar to human hormones they have the capacity to block the testosterone receptors in the body, preventing the healthy development of the male sex organs. And this is not just happening to humans. The males of many other species, including reptiles, are showing alarming increases in malformed reproductive organs.

Of particular concern are petrochemicals called phthalates. Prevalent in women, phthalates have been linked to sexual aberrations in male fetuses. Ironically, many of the so-called "safe toys" that children put in their mouth contain phthalates. Phthalates are also common in cosmetics. 75% of shampoos, skin creams, lipsticks, deodorant, hair gel, and perfumes contain phthalates.

One phthalate, found in PVC vinyl is called DEHP. DEHP has been classified as a reproductive toxin and yet it and is found in hospital birthing wards around the country. PVC vinyl is used to make blood bags, intravenous tubing, and catheters. PVC vinyl is known to leech from medical equipment into children.

The average person takes in 30 micrograms/kg of phthalates per day. A patient in a hospital can absorb up to 200 times that amount, sometimes for days or weeks at a time. Male children are particularly vulnerable.

One infamous toxic petrochemical is called Bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is used in making polycarbonate, one of the most commonly used plastics. Used to make CDs and DVDs, it is also an ingredient in baby bottles. BPA functions in the body as a synthetic estrogen, sometimes called a "xenoestrogen". Through the use of BPA in baby bottles, we have essentially been feeding our infant children synthetic hormones. BPA has been linked to cryptorchidism (undescended testicles), a congenital condition in which boy's testicles do not drop down into the scrotum. Boys with undescended testicles are 7 times more likely to experience infertility and 8 times more likely to be victims of testicular cancer.

In the last 20 years the incidence of testicular cancer has doubled. In the last 50 years, sperm counts in men worldwide have been cut in half. Today, college age males produce only half the number of sperm that their fathers did. And of the sperm that they do produce, 80% of them are abnormal.

But rather than addressing the problem directly, our government and their corporate masters have seen fit to "lower the bar"; they have simply changed the definition of "infertility". The World Health Organization previously defined male infertility as sperm counts that fell below 60 million per milliliter. When sperm counts began to drop worldwide they changed the definition to 40 million per milliliter, then to 20 million per milliliter. They are now considering dropping it to 10 million per milliliter.

This is the moral and logical equivalent of a cardiologist treating heart disease by calling it "normal" and walking away.

The chemicals in our environment are particularly dangerous to a developing fetus. A child in the womb is much more sensitive to toxic chemicals than adults, and the negative effects, when they do occur, are permanent. Petrochemicals are transmitted to the child at first through the umbilical cord and later via the mother's breast milk. Once they enter the body of the fetus they can create irreversible damage to that child's reproductive system. Male genital birth defects have roughly doubled in recent years.

Male fetuses are being miscarried in ever increasing numbers. In more than 20 industrialized countries the birth of males has declined. In communities near petrochemical plants male fetuses are miscarried at twice the rate of females.

As if this were not enough, recent evidence shows that increased levels of stress may increase the reproductive impact of these petrochemicals on the human body. Stress hormones, glucocorticoids, when combined with the common petrochemicals found in our bodies strongly increase the likelihood of reproductive birth defects.

So becoming stressed about the negative impacts of petrochemicals may help to create those negative impacts.

That our male dominated planet has created an industry of pollution and a way of life that may eventually destroy the male gender is ironic in the extreme.

References:

University of Edinburgh (2009, October 22). Fetal Study Highlights Impact Of Stress On Male Fertility. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 27, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com- /releases/2009/10/091021101814.htm

The Disappearing Male video hosted by Anne-Marie MacDonald on DocZone http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7530701744597358451#

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/pdfs/migrated/MultimediaFiles/Live/FullReport/5988.pdf

http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/8479/8479.pdf

http://www.psr.org/site/PageServer?pagename=boston_ihw-report#ihwRptDwnld

http://www.protectingourhealth.org/newscience/birthdefects/2004-0501birthdefectspreview.htm

http://www.healthandenvironment.org/infertility/vallombrosa_documents

http://www.ehponline.org/members/2005/113-10/ehp0113-a00670.pdf

http://www.healthyenvironmentforkids.ca/english/father_s_day_report.pdf

http://www.nrdc.org/OnEarth/06win/chem1.asp

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCORPIOS!!!!

2009-11-06T21:02:54Z

Well, I don't normally start birthday threads, cause I don't really know anybody's birthday around here....But I know we have at least two Scorpios in here, so Flint, Wanderlust, and all you watery friends of mine, thanks for being! Thanks for choosing to incarnate this spin of the wheel, and thanks for being your bad-ass selves. I love Scorpios!

Happy Birthday Scorpios!

:)

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 10 replies

All Souls Day, Chinese Ghost Festival, Day of the Dead and all the varities of ancestor veneration.

2009-11-06T21:00:54Z

Any plans, rituals, ceremonies or authentic improvisational spiritual rodeo's planned for the beginning of November in your area?

I'll be leading an eclectic indigenous/urban old school new age Mass with medicine for souls making the crossing. :)

Pumpkin anyone?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 9 replies

October who's afoot

2009-10-25T01:57:47Z

I can say that the ants are really going underground . . . Raven is still out playing though!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 40 replies

Defining my bio-region

2009-10-21T18:51:56Z

I'm sure this must have come up again and again, but I just can't find it - and there's so many posts to look through. I also checked out the websites and blogs suggested on the main page, and no luck there either. I'm probably not looking properly.

I just wanted people's thoughts on how one should go about defining their bioregion? Is it the three mile circumference around my house where I regularly walk? Is it my town? county, or region, or country? How much area are we talking about?
If someone could point me in the direction of previous posts or webpages covering this topic then that'd be great. thanks

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

Teaching Personhood.

2009-10-17T02:47:36Z

Hi; I have been relatively quiet lately. I have been getting more involved with a local group of Unitarian Universalists who explore spirituality and the living world/nature. Lately, I have been holding circles to share stories of our interactions with the land, or stories we have heard that are emblematic of how we choose to relate to the land. I have slowly been introducing ideas of (BioRegional) Animism to the group, through ceremonies built around activities. The one concept that has proven a challenge to do this with is Personhood. I was wondering if anyone in this tribe had some ideas on things I could do with this group (during cold autumn and winter months) to make the concept of personhood tangible and applicable?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

Emotions as people

2009-10-15T23:03:39Z

Hi all,
I'm very new to this group, but absolutely fascinated. I've really enjoyed the posts I have read so far.

I wanted to ask about emotions as people.
I find myself spending more time trying to build relationships with the feelings that visit me on a regular basis (Fear, Failure, Grief, Wonder, etc). Classical mythology has personified many of these folk already (Aphrodite for example), but I'm more interested in moving away from personification in the anthropocentric sense, and building a more personal and immediate relationship.
Sometimes I write poems to them, trying to understand a bit more about who they are, and what their agenda is...
Sometimes it's nice to sit and say hello. It's interesting how they come and go. Maybe we can consider them as much a part of our bio-region as the hawthorn hedgerow and blackbird outside. We need to include our own bio/biology in the mix don't we?

Rumi's poem 'Guesthouse' reflects this idea well. http://www.gratefulness.org/poetry/guest_house.htm

Your thoughts and experiences please!

Julia xx

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

Books for bioregional animists

2009-10-15T22:28:45Z

Question: what are your favorite books; which ones have inspired you the most?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 53 replies

A day late and a dollar short......maybe......

2009-10-14T19:57:43Z

Friends - As some of you may or may not know, at this present moment LLB, the founder of this tribe and dear friend to many of us has been going through a really rough time. At a key moment when he needed love and support us, his close friends, myself included, failed to be present for him. At the time of the original posts I don't think it really clicked to me what was happening, but now the ramifications of the event and of our reaction is clear to me.

LLB, I hope you'll accept my apology for not being there for you at that crucial moment. Off in my own little bubble I guess. I'm sorry.

Please know that I love you and respect you greatly. I really, really hope you won't leave us, but understand if you do.

Either way, I wish only love and healing for you and all your friend's loved ones during this difficult time.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 13 replies

Coming up with my song

2009-10-14T01:14:46Z

A lot of "shamanic" practices call for the making of songs. I can see the value in this but I always ran into the problem of feeling cheesy when thinking about singing a song in English. I had come across the idea of how language is limited and can't fully express reality but that also what language is based on, what it comes from, perhaps a psychic type of communication, can come much closer. The idea is that is what talking in tongues is trying to access. This actually makes sense to me. When listening to pow wow tapes I feel emotions being stirred in me even though I don't know what they are saying. It could be that not everything they are singing are words anyhow. So, in trying to not culturally appropriate I feel that I need to make my song, or songs, based on sounds that stir emotion and not ones based on English. It will address the cheesiness factor and be more meaningful. At least that is my take on it at the moment.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 24 replies

NASA mission: Bomb the moon - Projected impact at the lunar South Pole is currently: Oct 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. PDT.

2009-10-13T21:23:25Z

LCROSS launched with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on June 18, 2009 at 2:32 p.m. PDT. The LCROSS shepherding spacecraft and the Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage rocket executed a fly-by of the moon on June 23, 2009 and entered into an elongated Earth orbit to position LCROSS for impact on a lunar pole. On final approach, the shepherding spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The Centaur will act as a heavy impactor to create a debris plume that will rise above the lunar surface. Projected impact at the lunar South Pole is currently: Oct 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. PDT. Following four minutes behind, the shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume.

The debris plumes are expected to be visible from Earth- and space-based telescopes 10-to-12 inches and larger.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/overview/index.html

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 5 replies

Joe Plum, bardic poet

2009-10-06T21:20:33Z

We have a poet who lives in the woods here in Iowa, off the grid. Reading "The Spell Of The Sensuous" immediately brought him to mind. I had gotten a card a while back that he was actually putting out a DVD and a book of poetry, so I hope that he isn't getting into the written word too much. I have his forst CD, and like it very much. I think he is worth checking out. There is a YouTube interview with him at his website too:
www.joeplum.com

The website works a little slow and jerky for me until it gets loaded. If you have a faster connection it may do better. His daughter maintains it for him, as he doesn't have a computer at his place.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 7 replies

Apologies...

2009-10-01T18:54:54Z

To anyone who emailed me in the past few months. My account has disappeared into the netherworld of the internet when my laptop was formatted. I was a member here who posted about tracking, bird language, and stuff like that. Don't even know what my old name was at the time, but it is not to be found in any of my files... so... starting over here.

Since formatting my machine, I have been swept up in... well...life! I am now teaching full time at Alderleaf, and with 25 students in our 10-month adult program and occasional weekend classes I am kept pretty darn busy. Though I feel the need to be in touch with this community, I have also focused the little free time I have on my everyday community of close friends, students, etc. near me in Monroe, and so have been pretty slow to find my way back here.

All that said, glad to be back!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 5 replies

September Who's Afoot in Your Bio-region?

2009-10-01T05:27:46Z

September has arrived.

Fire and wind are very actively afoot here and elsewhere in the country and the weather is uncharacteristically unpredictable.

What's happening where you are?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 79 replies

russian olive

2009-10-01T05:27:30Z

I have been looking into the medicinal qualities of the tree bark of russian olive... it grows invasivly just east of the cascades...
it maybe be a tree that speaks loudly... much like the ayahausca vine speaks loudly.... it has many of the same properties...
any one have this tree person growing in their bioregion?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 28 replies

mass heating rocket stoves

2009-09-30T04:07:52Z

spent the weekend building mass heating cob rocket stoves down in oregon... really a great expereince. the cob cottage company is a great place with great people teaching there. very cool ecovillage there as well. saw how to build a rocket stove mass heating cob hot water tank and just a lot of neat stuff...
rocket stoves are really interesting because they use so little wood to burn, mostly like kindling almost and there is no smoke just water vapor and carbon dioxide which would be there any way.
I saw some greatcob houses out there, new ones since the last time i was there. very inspired...
while i was there i could not help but feel ten times more grounded and one with the soil, much more guided buy the land... the land felt alive and joyful and happy to have humans living well within her...

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 2 replies

elders

2009-09-27T18:34:30Z

its interesting to listen to these guys back then... gary snyder one of the old school bioregionalists... i swear he would be here if he was younger....

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 3 replies

Growing your house

2009-09-26T15:13:44Z

Living Architecture: Growing your house, one chair at a time

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009/09/living-growing-architecture.html

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 5 replies

animist propaganda . . . ur um I mean childrens movies

2009-09-20T18:50:35Z

I may be a bit behind the times on this one, but I don't usually watch kid movies. Visiting family I found myself watching 'The Ant Bully' with my nephew. What a great piece of animist propaganda . . ur um education . . . um point of view.

I recommend it if you haven't already seen it . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrHD6OA68z0

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 13 replies

Autumn Equinox

2009-09-19T05:08:26Z

What happens during this time: The sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward in the northern hemisphere during the September equinox. The location on the earth where the sun is directly overhead at solar noon is known as the subsolar point. The subsolar point occurs on the equator during the September equinox and March equinox. At that time, the earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun. This is the time when many people believe that the earth experiences 12 hours of day and night.

What I've always wondered is, do you think other than human persons ALSO recognize this holiday and celebrate it, maybe, in their own way?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 1 reply

paul stamets

2009-09-18T01:18:35Z

this is my boss lol...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZGKfhPLts&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtKN_qR5pBg&feature=related

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 6 replies

The Wounded Healer

2009-09-17T19:40:39Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orxEawi9qro

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 2 replies

Awesome new blog

2009-09-17T01:54:24Z

Come check out this new blog, posts from women with all sorts of different herbal backgrounds from Western Washington.
http://medicinewomen.wordpress.com/

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 1 reply

Raven Tales: Bald Eagle

2009-09-15T22:34:47Z

Okay we heard from Coyote - now its Raven and Bald Eagles turn.

This is apparently an episode from a Canandian TV show which seems to have all but disappeared (save for this and one other episode on youtube) - which is really a shame.

Anyways enjoy!

Part I:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2IWV24CWHk

Part II:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlsIgFuRTes&feature=related

Part III:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WfuUzCrtTY&feature=related

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 32 replies

interesting essay... Alienation, Neo-shamanism and Recovered Animism

2009-09-10T21:30:31Z

http://www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/animism.html

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 13 replies

falling in love outward

2009-09-09T11:44:59Z

Through my continuous contemplation with nature, i find when i truly open my heart to the "wildness of the world", an energy flows back deep inside me, i feel it flow up into me and out back into the world as i breath, breathing it in, deeply cooling and reviving the parts of my lungs i keep held tight, and when i begin to read the sacred texts of life written on bark of trees and on the backs of stones. i feel this energy of the world and it shows me how to grow in harmony and to embrace the whole, to sit upright. this is a true way of casting a light, for i find nature does not lie....

.....this is soul revival...

whew just had to get that out, thanks all for letting me evoke....

" Once we have.... "fallen in love outwards " , once we have experienced the fierce joy of life that attends extending our identity into nature, once we realize that the nature within and the nature without are continuous, then we too may share and manifest the exquisite beauty and effortless grace associated with the natural world." ---- John Seed

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 49 replies

Drum Give-Away

2009-09-04T07:06:28Z

Hey folks,
I'm in a time of give-away and one object I would like to give is a nepalese shaman drum. You can see pictures and learn more about it at my blog: http://www.thenewanimist.blogspot.com

As I told fishbowl, it is a loner drum, not one that would want to be beat around a fire circle for "drumming and dancing" time, but one that prefers to be the lone voice calling to spirit. If you are interested, write to me through the blog, e-mail, or here and I will ship it to you.

I've been enjoying my give-away. I'm letting go of things I have held precious for 30 or more years. Each person who receives a gift has been delighted with it, and I believe the objects are happy to be moving to new homes and adventures. As I let go, I come to understand more deeply that my self is not invested in my possessions, but may stand utterly alone and still have meaning. Some things I am still holding on to, like my cookbooks and my kids' childhood creations, but I know that someday I will give it all away, even this body, back to the mother.

Have you also had give-away times? Did they feel en-lightening?
Love,
Puny

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 35 replies

Coyote Steals Fire

2009-09-01T06:27:46Z

Today, In my Native American Oral Literature class, I saw a performance of the one man play, According to Coyote by John Kauffman and I was hoping I could find parts of it on YouTube. However, I cannot. Anyways, if you ever have the chance to see it I highly recommend it. It goes through a narration of Coyote narratives from the Inland Northwest, and possibly some coastal . . and has beautiful renditions of two prominent Nez Perce narratives, Coyote and the Monster and Coyote and the Shadow People. There is a variation of Coyote Steals Fire in the Kauffman play, which appears to barrow from a few sources, this is not that version – but none the less this is good visual animation of one variation of the narrative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_CKP-82yb4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fanimystic.net%2F2009%2F08%2F31%2Fcoyote-steals-fire%2F&feature=player_embedded

A good example of what we were talking about today in class as the emergent culture of Oral Literature which continues to shift, change, and find relevance in changing times.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 0 replies

swan song...

2009-08-31T19:33:03Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJiiHqxtMQI&feature=related

wow... very lovely...

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

August- Whats Afoot?

2009-08-31T07:06:09Z

Hee hee, i finally got to do one of these.

As always, the crows are afoot, or aflight, as the case may be. My joker friend has found lots of amusing things to entertain him this summer.

The late tobacco is starting to catch up, so i will have a little anyway, this year. The surrounding hills are drying and browning, but there seems

to be adequate water storage this year in the lakes and rivers around here, and pretty clean water for a change too. Medical ganja plants are

already 15 feet tall or so. Nice harvest this fall. It seems like the summer is slipping away much too fast. Went swimming at a local lake the

other day, and it was glorious. San pedro cactus seem to be making so many pups this summer. Yay!

Happy August everyone~!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 87 replies

Making music with trees

2009-08-21T22:35:36Z

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/08/15/tree-music/

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 2 replies

Especially Other than human persons

2009-08-17T00:00:20Z

So i thought we could start a discussion on the subject of other than human persons that we have met that are not animal or plant...

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 38 replies

Lessons From The Colombia Plateau

2009-08-13T18:06:46Z

I took the liberty of posting this on BioRegionalAnimism.com - hope you don't mind LLB

http://www.bioregionalanimism.com/2009/08/lessons-from-colombia-plateau.html

(This is a sermon I gave for a local Unitarian Universalist congregation)

The most common definition of animism is the belief of spirits inhabiting animals, plants, and inanimate objects. However, this is an over simplification based upon western-colonial concepts. Animism, is being re-evaluated by many in the fields of comparative religion and anthropology. A new understanding is surfacing. In the writings of Graham Harvey, he explains that animism is not the projection of human qualities upon objects. He argues that these old ideas are outdated. On the contrary, animism is and absence of the idea that humans are superior and/or separate from the living world. Animism relates to the world as a community of people, only some of whom are human. By relinquishing our dominion over the rights, and consideration of person-hood, the world is no longer a collection of resources for consumption, but is seen as a delicate web of relationships.

The center of experience, sentience, conscience, awareness and life is the immediate surroundings we interact with on a daily basis; it is our life-place. It is logical that the center of our life traditions are likewise the life-place. This is one of the lessons of Bioregional Animism, and can be found within the foundations of people around the world, with Moses on Mt Sinai, Jesus in Gethsemane, the Greek gods on Mt Olympus, or the Ganges River flowing from the head of Shiva. These are all physical places with deep spiritual meaning embedded within the lives of the people. If one wishes they can visit these places today; however, one does not need to seek pilgrimage to distant lands but can find sacred places all around them. Even in the most populated and urban of cities we can look underneath the cement, asphalt, pavement, concrete, steel, and in between the cracks of modernization to find the most sacred of places.

The stories I am going to tell may seem fantastical to some, but to an animist the world is a fantastical place. We revel in it, and rejoice in it. Even though at times we may fear it's sheer size, power, and force, we respect it. Stories are a powerful communication device in animist traditions. It is my belief that new stories and new oral traditions need to emerge in order to teach how to relate to the other-then-human and human people, and rediscover the sacredness of our life-places. This is why many of us are compelled to share our stories. Because, in so doing the land is expressing itself.

This summer my grandfather passed away at the end of the semester. In a rush I drove down to Rupert Idaho near the banks of the Snake River, where I was born. On all sides of my family, several generations called that region home. My grandfather had spent almost all of his 90 plus years along the Snake River Plain. He diligently farmed the land, married, and raised four daughters. My family moved upriver a few years after my birth. Many times in my adulthood I have left the Snake River behind; however, my friend has drawn me back too many times too count. I could see how interconnected that river has become in my family's lives and history and in my own life. In that moment I felt my grandfather like I hadn't felt before. He was in the air, the river, songs of birds, the baking sun, the trees, and in the farmland. I realized with many of my immediate ancestors who spent most of their lives along the Snake River Plain, that it was an ancestral home to me -- Much closer in space, time, and heart then England, Scotland, Germany, or Russia. I found a new understanding for the power of life-place.

As i rediscovered the sacredness of the Snake River Plain, I thought about my new home where the Snake and Clearwater find union. I thought back upon the lessons it has shared with me and on the relationship I have developed over two years of being here. The Colombia Plateau has been known among the tribal people for its power of dreams and songs. I have discovered this power on a personal level. Since moving here, prayer and ceremony have come back into my life.

On the autumn equinox two years ago, I was driving randomly, as I often get the intuition to do so. I ended up driving through the town of Orofino, Idaho and I kept on going. After several miles I wondered if I should head back towards the Clearwater, or head north. I heard Raven caw. I looked in time to see him take flight north. I interpreted this to mean I was to follow. A few more miles, and had seen Raven again, perched on a sign for a sportsmen access. I took the dirt road to the small reservoir, and a fawn leaped along side me for several yards, letting me know I was going in the right direction.

I came to the reservoir where a few locals where fishing. I noticed a trail that followed along the rim of the reservoir and walked until I came to a clearing that had been partially clear-cut and burned. The trail took me away from the reservoir. The usual casual chatter of the forest was around me, cicadas, songbirds, the wind. I heard Raven caw again, I looked up to see him circling above me. I sat down on a fallen tree trunk and cawed back contentedly (caw ca-caw caw). Naturally he spoke back, and I spent an hour engaged in conversation with Raven. Often times, these kinds of conversation are not immediately understood. It takes me time to contemplate the experience and find the hidden nuances in the interaction.

Living in the Colombia Plateau, I have learned how friction can be deliberated to bring forth desired change. The forest fire, is an example. Many trees parish in the fire. By clearing the foliage and old growth new growth is allowed to breath. I have learned to listen to instinct, intuition, and inspiration, and that they are the same language in which the living world communicates and deliberates. we are a voice among many voices in a diverse community of life, but often our kind talk too load and can only hear our own voices.

Living in the LC valley I have found my self more rooted in this Unitarian Universalist community. When at all possible, I make a point to travel so I can participate and be a part of this community. These travels between here and there have given birth to other conversations and experiences. There is a definite shift between the valley and the Palouse. The warm weather of Lewiston often contrasts with Moscow, when it is lightly raining, you may be snowed in up here. I can feel the transition into two places as I drive up and down the Lewiston grade. It is not a sudden transition, but a gradual one.

All of this place was once a giant sea bed, with the formations of hills through the collection of blown dirt, and the shifting earth due to volcanic activity forming the basalt and hills that shapes this life-place. Mighty forces of the living world deliberated to give us fertile ground. However, 99% of the native vegetation of the Palouse have been destroyed by Agro-Industry. Lewiston was once known as Siminikum (the Nez Perce word meaning confluence), before the coming of the humans it was the place for deliberation between the animal people. Now Lewiston has a strange odor and feel to it, which I have never entirely become accustom to. However, both places have become valuable teachers to me and have shared with me their stories. They have shown me how their stories run through my story like a current.

The LC Valley has taught me, more then any other place, that regardless of man-made adaptations to the land, there is always a sacred place to be honored and respected. The Palouse has shown me how to heal within adversity and pain. The Wallowa region of Oregon has opened me up to my dreams. Through its great wine, The Colombia Valley of Washington has reminds me to be joyful.

Graham Harvey said, “Animists are more pragmatic than romantic and know that people of different kinds eat one another. [. . .] Rules about eating, or those concerned with the proper treatment of animal and plant bodies, are important ways in which animist respect is worked out, even in the case of killing or taking life.” In other words, We know that frightened and hurt people often lash out. We know that not all people mean well. We know that community requires great compromise. We are careful about our relationships and strive to be mindful of how fragile life is. We strive to respect our relationships. We also know that we are people too, and people falter, and forget things, and do not always act in each others best interest, and do not always understand the ramifications of our actions.

In my own life animism, brings the first principle of Unitarian Universalism, "To respect and affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person" full circle with the last, "To respect and affirm the interconnected web of all existence." As an animist and a UU these are but one principle, and expands the concept of a person to include all the connecting points on the web of existence. I will not go into the logistic differences between animist traditions and what is considered a person, this is beyond the scope of this speech. However, Bioregional Animism relates to the very ecology of where we live as being a person itself, seeing the web as a person, and that we are that person, and that person is the land. Think about this, when you step outside and breath the air and look upon the beautiful landscape that is your life-place.

Glen "Fishbowl"
August 9th, 2009

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 15 replies

Piers Vitebsky

2009-08-12T02:19:52Z

So... I was talking with a co-worker on shamans... and he was reading Piers Vitebskys work on the subject, and pointed out that he had said that shamans only existed in hunter gatherer cultures so its not acurate to describe nonhunter gather cultures as having shamans. this is inaccurate... many of the animist cultures who once where subsitence level agriculturalists and hunter gatheres but who are today no longer hunter gatherers... still have shamans. There are shamans living in cities in nepal... working with doctors in hospitals.
So though i like this mans work... im not sure that this is accurate at all.
I woudl say still that shamans belong to any animist community period.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 17 replies

Animystic Muse

2009-08-07T17:18:45Z

i'm probably going to regret saying this...
BUT!!

Fishbowl and I have started a website, that is seperate; yes, but is also linked to New Animism Info ( http://newanimism.info/ ).
it is a site/blog dedicated to the "media" of Animism as well as Bioregional Animism. it includes info on youtube vids, books, movies, plays, music, poetry, the "arts", etc
it's still fairly new and i'm still trying to get the hang of it and keep it consistent. however, i would LOVE to hear input from you guys on your favorite forms of Animistic media that could be reviewed and possibly included on it! thanx!!

http://animystic.net/

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 5 replies

Bat houses?

2009-07-28T03:53:56Z

I know there are plenty of other places I could ask this question but I wanted to ask the homies here first...

Does anyone have experience with bat houses and is it possible to lure bats into a bat house and out of their current home?

I really don't want to do this. the bats were here first, and they have shown me how intelligent, territorial, tenacious, and begrudging they can be. They sometimes come and go but always return here to breed. Now two bats have become several more and they are living between the ceiling and the roof. The time has come to seriously encourage them to move elsewhere. They are agitated by the sight of me. seriously--they dive bomb when I am on the balcony at night. They come right at me swoop around me several times as if to drive me off and then fly away. Nothing personal really--they are just doing what bats do and I suppose they have a right. I did chase them out of all their favorite haunts inside the house when i moved in here.

Now I would like to get them out of the eaves, if possible, before my bedroom ceiling caves in, before they knock any more roof tiles askew... and yes I also want the guano for my garden. did i mention that they keep waking me up several times a night with all their coming and going and dropping rose apple seeds all over the place?

Peaceful co-exisitence is possible but the bats aren't talking with me right now. Any suggestions?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 6 replies

July Who's Afoot in Your Bioregion?

2009-07-27T23:48:45Z

I'm back from 3 peaceful days at a friend's permaculture farm on the mountain. burrows, a horse, dog, cats, a mama goat and 2 one-week old kids, chickens, and an explosion of all kinds of vegetation, vegetables, fruit trees, nut trees. remnant cloud forest, birds, insects, waterfall, rainbows, spectacular sunsets, more stars than you can imagine, etc. etc. wonderful place. 2 eagles followed us for awhile as we hiked back down to the pueblo.

It's the dry season but it's starting off wetter than normal. the winds have stopped for a brief moment but will probably return any moment!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 26 replies

Extended Mind

2009-07-27T19:52:59Z

Rupert Sheldrake talk on the mind existing beyond the brain and interesting experiments in non-local (telepathic) mind abilities, including people's intentions being detected by animals from miles away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnA8GUtXpXY

We have been brought up to believe that the mind is located inside the head. But there are good reasons for thinking that this view is too limited. Recent experimental results show that people can influence others at a distance just by looking at them, even if they look from behind and if all sensory clues are eliminated. And people's intentions can be detected by animals from miles away. The commonest kind of non-local interaction mental influence occurs in connection with telephone calls, where most people have had the experience of thinking of someone shortly before they ring. Controlled, randomized tests on telephone telepathy have given highly significant positive results. Research techniques have now been automated and experiments on telepathy are now being conducted through the internet and cell phones, enabling widespread participation.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 1 reply

Wounded Healer

2009-07-26T07:59:13Z

Parts of this two part essay remind me of Bioregional Animism . . .

"To realize that each one of us is uncannily embodying and acting out in our personal process (with all of our problems, symptoms, relationship conflicts, traumas, etc) what is at the same time playing out in the outside world is to step out of identifying ourselves as isolated, discrete entities who are separate from the universe. Contrary to being "alien" to this universe, we find ourselves intimate expressions of it. It should be noted, however, that the way to this realization is not through by-passing the personal dimension of our experience and artificially identifying with the mythic/archetypal level in a contrived and fabricated way, but rather by entering the mythic/archetypal dimension by fully incarnating, in a full-bodied way, our personal process in our life. The deeper, mythic/archetypal dimension "clothes" itself in our personal process, which is to say that our personal process is the doorway which introduces us to the deeper archetypal dimension of our being. "

Maybe it is of interest to someone here . . .
http://awakeninthedream.com/artis/woundedhealer1.html
http://awakeninthedream.com/artis/woundedhealer2.html

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 3 replies

The First Hunting Technique

2009-07-19T02:36:14Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52k6FdApB94

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

Scarey Stuff

2009-07-19T02:26:03Z

Just when you thought it was safe to be green ...

http://www.ted.com/talks/stewart_brand_proclaims_4_environmental_heresies.html

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 3 replies

Intuitive Language

2009-07-14T17:40:54Z

In the early days of literature and poetry, the poem itself had its own life and as a result often times the original “author” was lost in history. Poetry kept alive the values and world view of a people, and as these changed the poetry changed with it. The poetry of ancient and Medieval Europe was primarily concerned with narratives, whether it was cataloging the journeys of a mythic hero, or singing the praise of a saint. A well known story was often embed into the subject of the poetry. What if these narrative poems which survived into modern times, where the expression of cross-species communication, being the result of humans learning an intuitive language to the living world, and being taught this narrative poetry through ecstatic trances of different forms?

Instinct and intuition and inspiration is this intuitive language. The living world is willing to communicate with us, but many of us have forgotten how to listen, because we are no longer taught this intuitive language. Humans have been trained to fight and ignore these instincts, and to think and speak in dualism. We have been forbidden to speak this language. We can reclaim intuitive language by trusting our intuition, acting on instinct, and allowing inspiration to move us.

(this is an expert from my new post at:
http://postpaganism.blogspot.com/2009/07/deism-poetic-reasoning-and-intuitive.html
I thought this bit would make for interesting discussion here)

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

Biorgional happenings?

2009-07-12T01:11:05Z

Anyone got any events going on in their bioregion worth posting?

Here's a couple from mine that are coming up, if anyone's interested in North East stuff, particularly Western Mass.

Foraging for Wild Edibles with expert forager and author Russ Cohen
Belchertown, Mass 2PM-5PM,
Join expert forager Russ Cohen as we discover more than 2 dozen of the 150 species of Massachusetts' edible wild plants. This workshop aims to teach you how to enjoy nature while nibbling on the trail and is not meant for unsustainable commercial harvesting.
NOFA Members: $14 Non-members: $17. For complete information and to register online visit www.nofamass.org or call Tom at 781-894-4358 or email seedpotato@yahoo.com.

EAT THE VIEW!
A celebration of the beauty and bounty of our local landscape

Friday, October 2, 2009 6-10pm

The Arena at the Tri-County Fairgrounds
Northampton, Massachusetts

http://www.buylocalfood.com/ETV2009.htm

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 15 replies

Building Your Body From the Ground Up

2009-07-08T09:39:31Z

I was reading the BRA blog on the article about Building Your Body From the Ground Up and found myself wondering if we regenerate every 7 years or so...do we retain anything of the different bio-regions that we inhabit? Wondering if at some point, scientifically speaking, does our DNA reflect the fact that we have inhabited different bio-regions?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 15 replies

Bio-regional Animist Economy

2009-07-06T23:52:53Z

I was reading an article on Buddhist economics and saw some things that stood out as being animist. This caused me to begin thinking about how Bio-regional Animism might lend a more complete model of economics to those who are following or who are bamboozled by our current system. It also made me wonder how it might direct us out into a more sane economy.

Below is a section of an article I was reading. This section sounded particularly animist to me. I wonder what ideas people have here on this topic.

"From the point of view of Buddhist economics, therefore, production from local resources for local needs is the most rational way of economic life, while dependence on imports from afar and the consequent need to produce for export to unknown and distant peoples is highly uneconomic and justifiable only in exceptional cases and on a small scale. Just as the modern economist would admit that a high rate of consumption of transport services between a man’s home and his place of work signifies a misfortune and not a high standard of life, so the Buddhist would hold that to satisfy human wants from faraway sources rather than from sources nearby signifies failure rather than success. The former tends to take statistics showing an increase in the number of ton/miles per head of the population carried by a country’s transport system as proof of economic progress, while to the latter—the Buddhist economist—the same statistics would indicate a highly undesirable deterioration in the pattern of consumption.

Another striking difference between modern economics and Buddhist economics arises over the use of natural resources. Bertrand de Jouvenel, the eminent French political philosopher, has characterised "Western man" in words which may be taken as a fair description of the modern economist:

'He tends to count nothing as an expenditure, other than human effort; he does not seem to mind how much mineral matter he wastes and, far worse, how much living matter he destroys. He does not seem to realize at all that human life is a dependent part of an ecosystem of many different forms of life. As the world is ruled from towns where men are cut off from any form of life other than human, the feeling of belonging to an ecosystem is not revived. This results in a harsh and improvident treatment of things upon which we ultimately depend, such as water and trees.'

The teaching of the Buddha, on the other hand, enjoins a reverent and non-violent attitude not only to all sentient beings but also, with great emphasis, to trees. Every follower of the Buddha ought to plant a tree every few years and look after it until it is safely established, and the Buddhist economist can demonstrate without difficulty that the universal observation of this rule would result in a high rate of genuine economic development independent of any foreign aid. Much of the economic decay of southeast Asia (as of many other parts of the world) is undoubtedly due to a heedless and shameful neglect of trees." http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/buddhist_economics/english.html

A longer version of the essay as a pdf
http://smallisbeautiful.org/pdf/buddhist_economics/english.pdf

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 6 replies

Energy-interaction with plants

2009-07-06T17:20:58Z

Maybe intuition. Maybe ritual or ceremony. Maybe by ‘chatting’… Deliberately and creatively interacting with growing plants. I want to converse here with people who may have been using telepathy or life-force (prana, qi) for the purpose.

Personally, I’m not that much of a hunter/gatherer – I do a bit of mushroom picking, fishing, etc. I’ve simply been an organic gardener for two-thirds of my life.

Ten years ago, I was in western Mexico and spent some time with the Huichol people. They are traditional grub-hoe farmers, and there are many shamans among them. They’re also artists, and I bought a fabric picture that shows one of their shamans out in a field giving energy to the growing rows of plants, with a ceremonial wand.

So this sort of thing interests me. Stuff like plant/human telepathy, or a person using his/her energy field for communication purposes. Something that is shared with the plants and/or soil.

Or maybe you have some acute sensitivity to the energy field of the plants themselves.

Stuff related to this is written about in books like Paramahansa Yogananda's classic, Autobiography of a Yogi. It’s been researched by scientists like Dr. Chandra Bose (of India) and Dr, Cleve Backster. A few decades ago, the psychic-energetic encouragement of plant growth was explored by Soviet scientists investigating the abilities of spiritual healers in Russia. In the pop novel The Celestine Prophecy, author James Redfield depicts a situation where some scientists in South America are exploring the effect of human energy transfer on the growth of plots of plants.

Two years ago I visited the Findhorn community, in Scotland… a pretty famous place where the community's founders in the early ‘60s produced cabbages weighing more than 40 pounds, on a basically sand soil. They regarded the interaction more in terms of an intelligence behind or with the plants, rather than in the plants themselves.

Explanations are not so much my interest. I'm maybe less interested in the theory of all this, and more concerned with the experience. Tell me about your experiences, method, whatever…

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 37 replies

sami

2009-07-03T16:43:23Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLq_3RecUjk&feature=related
interesting...

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 6 replies

meeting the spirit of strawberry

2009-07-01T18:18:55Z

Now this could probably go on a few tribes i started specifically the vegetalismo tribe and i might repost it there...
but on solstice there was something that i experienced that i felt was neat enough to share here...
i had not eaten nearly all day it was a bit of a fast so to speak, the day was spent in prayer and communion with friends and spirit, the forest deer, eagle, fir...
towards the end of the day i was invited to spend some time with my areas more famous musicians. he offered to cook me dinner and we would take medicine together and have a solstice ceremony.
I went to his home and we in his Pea gazabo he had made and talked then he went to start cooking while i was left to pick his strawberries...
and there where MANY... strawberries...

i could not help but really admire this plant and especially its fruit... I ate as I picked as many of us do... and put enough in the bowl to take inside. we talked and he cooked, and we ate strawberries while doing so... and then we sat and discussed the medicine we where about to ingest, i felt it would be better to eat a heavier meal after words and so we saved the food he had cooked until after words... still eating the strawberries... and talking and putting off the medicine until it felt like the time was right.
when it was we ingested our medicine and it came upon us quickly... i was fully immersed and before me was lushes sensuality, thin green vines with red brilliant energy at the ends... it was dripping with just the most sensual energy, it was nearly sexual, as a fruit is the sexual reproduction of the strawberry, i could see how it had co-evolved as a domestic fruit attracting humans with its sensuality. it was powerful its ability attract and reproduce in a nearly lusty way. it drew attention to my sacral chakra and saw work to be done there i saw that strawberry was having a definite effect on it and it showed me that i needed to release energy in my solar chakra to allow that energy to move... i thank strawberry for its assistance and for sharing itself with me. it is a most amazing plant.
It got me thinking today about the associations we have with strawberry its a very lusty and sensual fruit IMHO... lol especially dipped in chocolate... now thats a spirit i would like to meet some day lol
i also started thinking about how we bring a plant or animals spirit into us, it becomes us and we share our spirit with them when we eat them. it is good to honor your food.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 17 replies

exploring the bioregion via entrainment

2009-06-30T21:46:16Z

Exploring your bioregion while doing the bioregional animist entrainment practice is a great way to find power places, place of importance in your relationship with place and who you are.
Holding the intention to explore and to gain knowledge of yourself/lifeplace and then just allowing yourself to be moved i think replaces the bioregionalist mapping practices.
during your wandering of the land, your hike if you will, allow an inner dialogue to occur, entrain your inner dialogue with place, allow place to use your own inner dialogue to communicate through your individual mind telepathically.
one could say that this is a process of self introspection and exploration as well as the lands own self exploration and introspection, it is the lands self discovery as well as your own... for its own self discovery through the uniqueness of you is something it has never discovered before.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 1 reply

june whos afoot!?

2009-06-30T21:45:32Z

after my grandfathers funeral we went to the beach where all the sea lions hang out on an island. out near the island there was a pod of orcas with two babies. they where playing with the seals and gorging on them. ive waited a long time to see that...
made me recall the old PNW story of how wolf walked into the ocean one day and became orca...

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 122 replies

Lurkers De-Lurk and Introductions Thread....

2009-06-30T20:52:49Z

Heya folks....

Well, I just wanted to open up a potential space in which any lurkers who may be itching to de-lurk can come on out and show their faces. We would most certainly love to hear from any and all of you.

And also, if anyone new feels the urge to introduce themselves, tell us a little bit about themselves, their relationship with the land, the bioregion they are a part of, etc......this might be a good place to do it.

Me, I'm Javier. I'm Chilean but I grew up in the States. I live in a mediterranean climate at the base of the Andes mountains in a big ol' nasty polluted city. But I love it. A lot. And I love the Mountains, and Abuelo Condor, and Abuela Puma....

And I have a little piece of land not far from here, which I hope to turn into a self-sustainable permaculture settlement. So far it's going good: I've got Lemons, oranges, potatoes, onions, fava beans, peas, and chard, and within two years time things should be booming.

A big ol' Heron stopped by the farm the other day. What a beauty! Gracias Abuela!

:)

Oh, and I have a fairly decent sense of humor too. Nothing I enjoy more than people who are serious about their work and love, and yet are totally willing to laugh about themselves and each other. So I usually put smiley faces in my posts. Heeeheeehehhehhehe......

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 19 replies

oneness

2009-06-30T19:11:26Z

http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

I really like this video...
wave form particle form...

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 0 replies

animsim, bioregionalism, and bioregional animism

2009-06-27T18:19:09Z

Some times i get the feeling i need to make some clarifications about whats ive been trying to accomplish, what ive been trying to communicate.
theres animsim... which i go with the graham harvery new animsim approach on. animsim is some i talk alot about and in many ways is what much of this work here is about... many indigenous traditions are animist... but once again... I am still not trying to explain or define indigenous peoples traditions with bioregional animism...
then theres bioregionalism... bioregionalism is a social and ecological philosophy and practice. focusing on creating strategies for a sustainable future. I brought bioregionalism into my work because it made sense it already had a slight vernacular, much like harveys animism... but i think that when the term bioregional animism came to me i had never read any thing on either that really gave me too much knowlegde of them... once i did though this way of thinking and being and my experiences began to be more easily communicatable.

bioregional animism before i ever read any harvey or kirkpatrick sales work on bioregionalism, was what ive been trying to teacher and write about and share with others. in some ways the language of new animsm and bioregionalism has been really great in communicating ideas and inspire ways of relating to these ideas... but on the other hand i think that people see animism and they see bioregionalism and they think well, i know what both of those mean so yah i know what it is that i am talking about and the conversation stops there... or its compared to a traditional animists way of being and it stops there... but once again i am not describing any traditional animists... we talk about traditional animism a lot and we all learn from and are inspired by traditional animism here, but some times i think because animism is in bioregional animism it gets associated with traditional animism and the conversation stops again... so to speak...

what ive been really trying to communicate with bioregional animism is not really the sum of its parts inregards to just putting bioregionalism and animism together... but its been putting those two words to make something new that ive been focused on. and in this regard i think of bioregional animism as something completely new, and yet inspired by somthing very old... life, spirit...
from time to time ive tried to find as simple of metaphors to try to communicate what ive been writing about and trying to share with others... and i feel i need to again. because lately its come to my attention that bioregional and animism can be two very loaded words that can distract from what ive been trying to share... so... in honor of my freind bear... the great simplifier lol...
for me with bioregional animism, what ive been really trying to share with others isnt really accurately described by the term...
i think the autochthon word and autokhora topics lately have brought this up, for me...
my experience years ago has been that there is an energy to place a spirit it has a mind and we are that... we are the body of place, our mind is the of place our spirit is the spirit of the place... we can work in syngery with it, as it... or we can choose to think our self as separate and live with the outcome of that choice... i wrote about this here... http://people.tribe.net/16064b50-ddc2-4df3-b4ff-d98c847c7a7d/blog/2acefe78-7759-4efc-b56a-8b7d1f596d5b
my first time really feeling this strongly enough to put it into words...
does bioregionalism describe this, nah... does animism... not really... sorta lol, this was just my experience and i wanted to share it with other and I wanted to try to help other people feel the same thing in their own way.
this really hit me at last years convergence when talking to Clifford as we walked through krystalinas yard... i described it and then both cliff and i just tuned into that... and felt that oneness but from the point fo view of two being being in a particular space... and to me that is bioregional animism... thats what ive been trying to describe and cultivate in SOOO many convoluted ways and words lol...
this is why i am still really happy to have written the entraiment practice... i really just want to share this expereince with people... i think folks that have that expereince and then keep having and communicating the different wisdoms that come from that really start to articulate what ive come to call bioregional animism... but it really is just based in that one expereince... that feeling of autokhora being land.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 65 replies

love

2009-06-24T05:43:50Z

"the earth is our chance to create"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiInBOVHpO8

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 20 replies

convergences?

2009-06-24T03:10:55Z

any news from peoples convergences?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 17 replies

The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon: Animism and Artifact

2009-06-24T02:10:07Z

(This is from my blog over at http://hengruh.livejournal.com; I am posting it here at the suggestion of Little Lightning Bolt -thanks LLB!; images and clips can be seen at the original post in my blog)

A lot of attention in animist thought is given to the natural world. This has been taken up by the new animists, who not only develop relationships with birds, animals, etc., but also trees, hills, springs, winds, stones. If one looks at some of the traditional animist cultures in the anthropological literature, one will find there were also personifications of tools, weapons, and dwellings. Remember, the dish ran away with the spoon...

Just read a fascinating post by my friend Fishbowl, Local Deities and Bioregional Cosmology. He talks about the reconciliation of Catholicism and ancient traditional Italian beliefs in a couple of beautiful examples, one of a Catholic priest blessing an oven with a name in a restaurant here in the U.S., and another of a cathedral on an ancient site of Apollo in Italy...and in the cathedral on one side there are statues of the saints, and on the other are statues of the ancient Greek deities. How profound is that?? He also talks about the relationship of Thor and thunder, and how local spirits of place (genii loci, "spirits of place" - pl. of genius locus, "spirit of place" - note the connection to geni/djinn and to genius!) are adapted to local conditions.

But its not just "them dern furriners." I was thinking that we good ol' 'Mericans have always done this too, this personalization of place and place-spirit. Look at Mt. Rushmore. Look at Stone Mountain. Look at Holy Hill in Wisconsin. The White House. Look at the animism of a captain towards his boat or ship. Look at the names we give our hard drives and computers. Look at a good ol' boy's relationship to his car, and to his gun, Davy Crockett's "Betsy" for example. Often the car is given a sweetheart's name and is spoken to tenderly. If you name something, you give it an identity, and in some subtle way, it takes on individuality and often a personality.

People generally think of an artifact as something found at an archaeological site, such as an old arrowhead or bullet. But an artifact is more than that. An artifact is a made object, an object created/transformed by a human being through intention from what are always, ultimately, natural materials. A microchip and a stamp are artifacts; at a larger scale, so are a house and a ship. Animism is generally connected today with the natural world, but in traditional cultures, animism also applied to artifacts in many cases.

There was a comic book story from childhood I was reminded of by my brother the other day. In it, an American soldier in WWII from a rural area has named his M-1 Garand "Betsy" (a frontier traditional name for a rifle). The other soldiers (mostly from urban areas) poke fun at him, but he doesn't care. He sees the rifle as his sweetheart who never lets him down in bad situations. Well, long story short, he gets hit by a German bullet. As he lies there dying, talking to his rifle, a German soldier comes over, says "stupid American, talking to a gun" and takes the rifle...which goes off and kills the German. The last words of the American soldier: "Good girl, Betsy."

Think of the names people give their houses: Manderly, Monticello. The personal presence of certain houses and buildings is palpable, which gain personality...the Overlook Hotel of "The Shining" is such a part of our culture because it reveals something most of us feel...that old places develop personalities.
Hauntings aren't just places occupied by ghosts, hauntings can be places that ARE ghosts themselves. A haunting may be caused by a human spirit...or by the spirit of the house itself (or the land on which the house was built). It could even be a combination of human spirit, house spirit, and land spirit.

I found this outstanding post in my surfing while creating this post:

"February 8th is the day of the Broken Needle Festival in Japan. For more than 1500 years, people have come to temples, where in a combination of Shinto animism and Buddhist rituals for the dead, they say prayers to thank and propitiate the souls of needles used throughout the year that have broken. Why say these prayers? The Japanese believe that to simply discard a tool you have used; a tool that has given you good use; a tool that has put its soul to work for you, would be to invite the anger and rage of that soul.

Of course, this belief would mean that Japan is free of discarded consumerist trash. And nothing could be further from the truth. A writer over at 3yen.com noted last year that there should be a ceremony for the souls of discarded toner cartridges. This animist belief in the anger of discarded tools is at the center of one of my favorite Japanese films: "Yokai Dai Senso — The Great Yokai War." "

In Japanese thought, one group of Yokai are collectively known as Tsukumogami (transformed objects). These are not the same as enchanted items, items that are magical due to spells and such. These are actual spirit-beings: swords, sandals, umbrellas, clocks, clothing, prayer beads, lanterns. Generally they take on this transformation due to great age (typically in their 100th year of existence) or even very quickly, due to anger and bitterness at being ill-used or discarded. Some believe it is not possible for electronic devices such as televisions, i-Pods, or cell phones to become Tsukumogami, due to the electricity as a repeller. However, my own experiences indicate otherwise. You can read more about Tsukumogami here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukumogami
http://edb.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/exhibit-e/otogi/tsukumo/tsukumo.html

"...If as a people, we truly believed in such a soul, the sea would not be filled with plastic trash, choking marine life and soiling our beaches. If as a people, we acted on such a belief, recycling — a kind of reincarnation for our tools — would be commonplace.

Yes, in the U.S. we hold no such beliefs. And in Japan, where they supposedly do hold these beliefs, the problem is only marginally better. In fact, there is little market for anything previously owned in Japan because it is believed that something of the spirit of the previous owner adheres to the object. And the object's soul takes its anger at abandonment out on the new owner. Which is why it's a steal to buy anything second-hand in Japan.

So before you throw anything away today, stop for a moment, even if you are not animist in the least, and take a moment of thanks for what use this object has given you. And consider how to give its remains back to the earth in a way that is respectful of all life on the planet.
(http://www.anotherqueerjubu.com/another_queer_jewish_budd/2009/02/ecological-disaster-consumerism-animism-and-japans-ritual-for-the-souls-of-broken-needles.html)"

I don't know though. Throughout my life I see artifact animism embedded in our western culture as well. Not only the cars, rifles, and houses, but in cartoons and kids' books: The dish and the spoon, Thomas the Tank Engine, The Little Engine That Could, Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel, Scuffy the Tugboat...ad infinitum. And that dern little talking paperclip that keeps popping up on my computer screen. Is animism in contemporary rationalistic, materialist culture the elephant in the room?

Laugh if you want to. Talking to your tools, to your house, to your car, to your gun, to your cell phone, to your computer may make people give you funny looks, so don't let 'em hear you do it. But talking sweet and encouragingly to a tool or object, something you are working with, or working on, often seems to have good results. I'll try and remember to do this, next time my computer or television acts up! And think about the relationship, good, bad, indifferent, with all the artifacts in your life...and what you do with them when they are no longer wanted. "Christine," the 1958 Plymouth Fury from Stephen King's book, is an extreme form of what happens when we don't face the animism of the artifact.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 25 replies

tree ceremony

2009-06-21T18:25:41Z

every year for six years I went to a san-pedro long dance ceremony held by a bolivian ceremonialist, who i had studied with during that time. the ceremony was a eclectic combination of many traditions that the man had studied and combined rather beautifully. He could integrate nearly anything into a meaningful ceremony. over the years I had become a "dog soldier" in these ceremonies one who helped and protected and lent support to others. it was a big part of my life and every summer summer solstice i prepared and participated in these dances.

there are MANY reasons why i do not participate in these ceremonies any more and many of the reasons why are what has helped to form bioregional animism today, as well as many of the things i learned from these dances, as well as from this bolivian man.

the last ceremony i attended I attended with a very good brother who had never been to one before but had been with me through many of our own ceremonies and healing/growth over the years. this friend was and still is like a little brother to me and i was very grateful for him to be able to participate in something that had been one the one hand a great source of inspiration as well as on the other hand a great source of inner conflict.
during this ceremony, i had a very difficult time taking things seriously, from the get go my contrary medicine and that of my friends relaly stood out strongly to every one else there, we where dancing in an other bioregion as well, it had allways been in washington and now this was in oregon... with people of that place. It was not that it was different it was that it no longer held the same importance to me, it was not my way any more...
some men had created an alter at an old growth fir tree, it was a father alter and it was way off in the bushes out side of the ceremonial space, which had an alter to the earth mother at the entrance to the dance arbor. For years i had hoped to be gifted with a ceremony of my own for the people of my bioregion, or to be given the role of dance chief from this man and lead my own integrated bioregional long dances for my community, not asking for payment just bringing people together to make it happen. but i was not introduced as dance chief that year as i had been told i would, and instead of spending the night dancing my friend and i spent the majority of the night at the father alter, at the tree.
As i have mentioned before there is an old growth tree with an eagles nest on top of it that we allways go to that we have called the killing tree. it had not occurred to me at first that that was our way, our ceremony, our tradition... we stayed at that tree and we prayed, we gave offerings, we communed with the tree, with spirit with the land and sky, we prayed for our fathers and for all fathers, and we talked from the heart with each other between moments.
this praying at the tree had become our way and we had not even realized it. it had been something we had felt moved to do for a very long time so it had become something we all just did. and here we found our selves doing just that while others sought out a way taught by another, coming from other traditions from around the world... we had just felt moved... and so a way formed... we did not know that was what was happening or if there was something great or co-creative, or new or old occuring, we did not think that this was what our ancestors must have done, or what others have done in other traditions, or that it was what we had been taught to do, it was what we felt moved to do, deeply moved... and so we sat there on our knees and we prayed, we let our hearts feel the needs that surrounded us and came from deep within us and we gave them voice, and we wept and we found strength and we allowed our self to feel those parts of us that felt lost and we where given guidence, we allowed our selves to feel the parts of us that where wounded and we felt healing all at the base of the tree, surrounded by peoples pictures of animals, their candles their corn meal and tobacco and sage and palo santo, their votive's and horns and crystals.. all meaningful symbols of relationships that they honored... we sat with the tree... we sang the world tree song i had been given years ago for ceremonies we held with a visionary tree teacher in the past... and we gave the tree thanks and offerings, we gave the tree and all that live, because of and with the tree offerings with our prayers... we gave the tree gratitude. we felt the tree harbor us, lend us support, cradle our spirits, we felt its invitation to climb it and to fly from its branches to nestle deep in its roots beneath the soil... we felt the tree within us and we felt it growing...

this is the way we had been given by the land, by spirit, by the tree, by eagle, by our own hearts... and I am grateful for that.

So this solstice, i pray that for those of you on this path find that you have been moved to do what must be done for the well being of all...
and that new ways form so naturally and with such ease ...
blessings

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 15 replies

New Animism Info: A directory of animist thought

2009-06-21T00:56:54Z

I have been toiling in secret on a new project and I have decided it is time for the unavailing:

http://www.newanimism.info/

it is an animist digest which brings together syndicated experts of the online animism related blogs I am aware of in to one spot. If you have or know of any blogs or web lings which are animism related and would like to see featured just email webmaster(at)newanimism(dot)info

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 17 replies

forest breath

2009-06-21T00:16:30Z

Grey breath rising,
swirling in the tree tops.
Pneuma, vital breath, spirit.
You are silent, but you speak to my eyes and my heart
feels your edges dissipate to nothing.
You tell me of where we have been
and how the forest breaths new life.
I am forever drawn to you...
knowing that the disappearing parts of you are in the process
of becoming
that which i do not yet know,
of self,
and the delicate mystery that surrounds and composes me.
I breath you in...
and as I exhale
I lend you my voice.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 9 replies

touch earth touch spirit: Building Cob in the land of the Hopi

2009-06-18T17:30:01Z

Building Cob in the land of the Hopi
this workshop sounds really wonderful, it would give one a chance to explore traditional animist perspectives on building homes.
http://www.elkecole.com/touch_earth.html

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

never turn your back on mother earth by Neko Case

2009-06-17T15:11:36Z

I am seriously in love with this womens music - many of her songs have an animistic tinge to them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd5KaTS3H2Y

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 7 replies

I'm home!

2009-06-17T01:15:56Z

Ok ok...I'm home...after much whining and heckling from Jav over on Face Book ~ I missed this group too much to unsubscribe!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 17 replies

bioregional animism entrianment practice for the convergences

2009-06-15T01:33:25Z

I had posted here on the tribe and on the blog the BRA entrainment exercise...
last year during the last convergence i kept feeling there was something missing... i wanted to share what i knew share my vision that has formed into BRA and i started praying for a ceremony, and it struck me the other day that this could be a way for people to learn about and experience bra in a deeper way, collectively in a group... which has many benefits..

first off practicing the entrainment exercise i described on a solo personal level would be a great exercise to get accustomed to, then during the convergence, spending time doing it together on the land for a short then an extended period of time, and then together holding the intention to have a group ceremony... during this ceremony people would do the entrainment practice in a way that they have become accustomed too... forming a circle... people would volunteer to represent one of the four directions and elect or intuit which person will stand int he center. i feel this is important because the individual in the center should be chosen and not volunteer so no ego is involved... the individual in the center becomes the foci of the group holding the intention that the person in the center will be able to help bring the ceremony into being...
as the entrainment exercise continues each person acts as messenger and communicates in turn to the man in the center their synergy with the land how the land wishes to see the ceremony manifest with your aid... the elected one in the center then takes every ones communicated efforts and combines them into one conducive ceremony... also while practicing the entrainment practice as well...

each person will be in communion with the land and all of the other than human persons of that place all working together to bring about a ceremony that will help bring people closer to spirit and the land as well as each other, celebrating the solstice...

prayer is communion, praying with the land and asking before the practices are done, setting intention and humbling your self to the mystery and process will help bring things to be with less struggle. giving offerings is also a way of showing humility and participating the the symbiotic mutuality of life, finding ways to do this and holding the intention to do so during the entrainment practices will also be very helpful...

stay open, receptive and responsive and know that every one and every group will have their own way of doing things... this is all just a suggestion as well... and just a thought on how individuals and group of bioregional animists can dork with the land to form new ways of being in symbiotic, synergistic mutualism...
bless and be blessed!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 32 replies

Native versus Non-native species

2009-06-14T19:12:16Z

I felt inspired to write a bit about this topic on my blog, but did not consider at the time that it might be fun to get more feedback on it. So for those of you interested in join in and giving your input, please either post your comments here or on the blog.

http://people.tribe.net/60a29407-d6f4-4fd8-aa18-4e671f97e3ef/blog

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

Mid Summer's Night Dream?

2009-06-14T18:52:40Z

This Sunday June 21rst, Meet me in the Astral Plane..
I don't know what I will be wearing... But it will have an almost...
Mycological Lace glistening about it...

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 1 reply

Colombia Platue Convergance for Summer's End

2009-06-14T18:38:11Z

I know I am in the hinterlands of the Platue / Inland North West - but I have been planing on doing a second "summer's End" bioregional animism convergance for the Colombia Platue / Inland North West.

The Colombia Platue being the main river drainage of the Colombia River, and Overlaps northern Idaho, Eastern Washingtion (Spokane, Tri-Cities, Walla Walla, Pullman . . . etc . . ) and NorthEastern Oregon's Wallowa and Blue Mountains region).

Possible locations, are McCroskey state park, 90miles south of Spokane WA and Cor'DeAlene Idaho, or the Blue Montains / Hells Canion region of North Eastern Idaho. Depending on what may be convieniant for anyone who might considering visting the Platue.

I never get bites on local events on here, but on the off chance someone reads this from the general Inland Northwest region - the inventation is open.

Last years convergance, was helled at the End of August as a celebration of Summer's End, and this years Convergance will be around that same time, or possibly the middle of September for the Fall Equinox. (though weather could be an issue in that month).

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 6 replies

Cascadia convergence: Willamette Valley

2009-06-09T01:55:50Z

So I'm thinking we could do something the weekend of June 20-22 which corresponds to summer solstice and the new moon. Anyone down to participate, we'll just discuss it here. We have enough time to come up with a location I think ;-}

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 5 replies

Animism 101: Old Animism vs. New Animism

2009-06-07T22:09:55Z

Hey folks! Based on a different thread, I thought this might make a good new thread. The idea of distinguishing between what was academically considered as Animism from, ooooh, late 1800's up until recently, where Graham Harvey and a few others have academically reintegrated the word with a different meaning. So what are the primary differences between the two?

I'm going on the assumption that some lurkers may read this thread, so I was hoping that we could all contribute some key points, keeping answers brief for the sake of legibility, and start helping people from this tribe to gain a clearer understaning of animism as we see it and practice it here.

For the non-lurkers here it can serve as a good exercise to refresh our intellect's a bit about the academic understanding of animism, or description of animism from a semantic/intellect point of view.

Thanks y'all! I'll post later, but how's about someone else get the ball rolling?

:)

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 69 replies

Bioregional Animist Love and Affection

2009-06-07T14:09:02Z

Hey folks, I know, I know, I get corny some times....

But I just wanted to post a thread telling you all how much I honestly and sincerely love every single one of you. From Sophia who's been rocking the boat a bit and helping us clarify all of her and our notions about different things, to LLB the founder of the tribe. You are such wonderful and amazing gems of existence.

It is truly an honor and blessing to share with you all, such wonderful people. I don't wanna write the list of names 'cause I'm sure I'd forget many people, but it's really been a huge pleasure watching the tribe morph in the past few months, all the "new" faces that now post on here all the time.

Please - none of you ever stop posting here, know that this is your home, your safe ground. It may be a cyber-refuge, cyber-sangha, but here we all understand each other, even if sometimes we don't see eye to eye or don't necessarily agree with the other.

From the bottom of my heart, I love and cherish each and every one of you.

May each of you, and your familys, and friends, and all your loved ones be blessed with health, wealth, love, protection, food, joy, companionship and anything and everything that your hearts may desire, now and always.

Que Dios los bendiga siempres Amigas y Amigos!

AHO!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 3 replies

A Prayer

2009-06-07T07:12:48Z

I drink the waters of chaos, and I am given love
I slip under its current, and its thoughts are my own
the cycle of life it turned
I am chaos

I grew from the land, nourished by khthon
my bones are made from the ancestors,
the soil is rich with their wisdom and memories
I am khthon

I breath in the air and khora sees through my eyes,
moving my feet and moving my mind and moving my heart
the land is my skin and the air is my breath
I am khora

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 5 replies

A really cool lost word

2009-06-06T15:04:37Z

Autochthon

this word is so cool

it comes from the Greek auto for self, and Greek word chthon meaning earth (Earth-Self). it's meaning is essential the essense of indiginouse as in coming from a place / land / earth . . .

today the term has been replaced by indigenous

i have no clue how to pronounce it but I sure as hell like it . . .

harder to say the BioRegional Animism.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 14 replies

cascadia convergence... olympia

2009-06-04T21:31:14Z

for those in the seattle, portland, olympia and out laying areas who would like to participate in the olympia/cascadia camp please post here.
if your in another bioregion i suggest trying to find folks to converge with by posting your location if you are willing to host on your land or have a good location for the camp out.
Me I want to camp out either at spider lake or the skokomish river trail it has all weather facilities and is really nice... it will be the weekend of the solstice in june.
filip are you thinking you might want to do the tracking thing then too?
if any one has a private location available near or in oly please let me know...
im doing it here because im not going any where this year for it, just cant afford to.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 11 replies

Spiritual Emergency

2009-06-04T21:02:15Z

Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis - is the name of a book I'm reading, and recommend to anyone here, in order to prepare yourself to understand and assimilate what you might experience in your visionary pursuits.

Here's an excerpt:

"Feelings of oneness with the entire universe. Visions and images of distant times and places. Sensations of vibrant currents of energy coursing through the body, accompanied by spams and violent trembling. Visions of deities, demigods, and demonds. Vivid flashes of brilliant light and rainbow colors. Fears of impending insanity, even death.
Anyone experiencing such extreme mental and physical phenomena would instantly be labeled psychotic by most modern Westerners. Yet increasing numbers of people seem to be having unusual experiences similar to those described above, and instead of plunging irrevocably into insanity, they often emerge from these extraordinary states of mind with an increased sense of well-being, and a higher level of functioning in daily life. In many cases, long-standing emotional, mental, and physical problems are healed in the process.
We find many parallels for such incidences in the life stories of the saints, yogis, mystics, and shamans. In fact, spiritual literature and traditions the world over validate the healing and transformative power of such extraordinary states for those who undergo them. Why, then, are people who have such experiences in today's world almost invariably dismissed as mentally ill?
Although there are many individual exceptions, mainstream psychiatry and psychology in general make no distinction between mysticism and mental illness. These fields do not officially recognize that the great spiritual traditions that have been involved in the systematic study of human consciousness for millenia have anything to offer. Thus the concepts and practices found in the Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Sufi, and other mystical traditions are ignored and dismissed indiscriminately.
In this essay, we will explore the idea that many episodes of unusual states of mind, even those that are dramatic and reach psychotic proportions, are not necessarily symptoms of disease in the medical sense. We view them as crises of the evolution of consciousness, or 'spiritual emergencies,' comparable to the states described by the various mystical traditions of the world."

-- From the first essay, written by Dr. Stanislav Grof and his wife Christina. They were pioneers in the field of LSD psychotherapy, major figures in the field of transpersonal psychology, and developers of the "holotropic breathwork" technique of achieving therapeutic altere states of consciousness The book is a collection of essays by several respected authors, and divided into four parts -

Divine Madness: Psychology, Spirituality, and Psychosis
Varieties of Spiritual Emergency
The Stormy Search for the Self: Problems of the Spiritual Seeker
& Help for People in Spiritual Emergency

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 5 replies

transmigration of the soul from an animist point of view...

2009-06-04T16:10:13Z

transmigration of the soul, or reincarnation is a fascinating phenomena to me personally. many cultures animist and non-animist beelive in some version of transmigration. some tribes believe family members are born and reborn in the family. a father and grandfather becomes a son and so on... like wise even animals killed and eaten can become born as humans within the family...
other believe that they incarnate as any one and every one...
one woman i new i did a past life reading for once because she thought she was joan of arch... i highly doubted this seeing how so many women think this after seeing the movie that came out... my intuition told me to let her know to look into it deeper...
ends up one of her ancestors was a woman named joan who lived in arch and was burned at the stake but was not THE joan of arch... interesting enough... he father is a genealogy nut so he found out about it...
past life experiences, ancestral memory, the minds of passing spirits or spirits attached to one can all be confused with past life memory until one learns to discern... but still the phenomena is there...
people who can see energy bodies while under the influence of visionary plants and chemicals for instance can see ones ancestors in your face as well as past lives... a man recently was able to see past lives in my face as well as ancestors... all ones i had sensed at some point...

ive often thought of how if we begin focusing on a sense of self interwoven with people and place, we can begin focusing transmigration in specific places... an interesting notion...

so what are your thoughts on these subject, experiences ect...

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 33 replies

May Who's Afoot!

2009-06-02T21:18:02Z

Hey folks! How's everyone? Hope May is ushering in lots of blessings to everyone here, bringing in it's respective seasonal changes with lots of beauty and joy wherever you may be!

Went and watched the sunset yesterday from way up in the mountains, saw the Sun going slowly down over all the ridges of mountains and hills off towards the west, the earth breathing slowly as always.....felt appropriate, and together with the date yesterday was the first genuinely cold day we've had this year, definitely a nip to the air after the sun went down.

The flowers up there are so beautiful, just tiny hardy little things hanging on to the rocky mineral soil for dear life, and yet bees make it up there to enjoy the nectar anyways. There was these small clouds of tiny insects flying around right when the sun set, making these beautiful forms in the sky, dancing like an shapeless woman dancing to the beat of the last reminders of the summer gone, and winter to come.

The birds flew around and enjoyed the bounty of the insects hatching, singing and echoing their voices off of the mountain walls.

So who's afoot in your bioregion?

:)

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 52 replies

Conversations with the Wine/Vine

2009-06-02T20:02:54Z

I had the pleasure of a good conversation with a Wine Connosouri (haha) Somonei (spe?), and we were talking about of course... Wine.
and he said he can tell you many things about the wine, and usually get it correct: ie, the different wines, their regions, even which years..
It got me thinking, that in drinking and eating fruit, of any vine...
This is a conversation, of the deepest sorts!

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 5 replies

chile convergence...

2009-05-18T18:31:51Z

so whos going to the global bioregional animist convergence jav is hosting in chile?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 8 replies

2nd convergance

2009-05-12T02:28:02Z

I have been thinking about our convergence last year, and wonder if anyone would be interested in a second gathering of bioregional animists in the Pacific Northwest? I am thinking of middle of August somewhere within or around the Washington Cascades - if anyone knows of some nice isolated camping places. I know of a few with free primitive camping but their all around the Idaho/Washington border and a little out-of-the way for most people.

Anyways I thought I would just put the suggestion out there

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 43 replies

northern cali southern orygun BRAs convergance?

2009-05-07T06:37:56Z

well who all is in the area who wants to get together for a convergence?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 3 replies

these additional sentinel eyes on the landscape

2009-05-06T07:11:05Z

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/05/04/citizen.science.climate.change/

(CNN) -- As a hobby, Suzie Jirachareonkul, a teacher and mother of two, spends many of her nights searching for endangered toads on the country roads near her home outside Cape Town, South Africa.
Volunteers in South Africa are collecting data on the Western Leopard Toad, which is endangered.
She often finds them flattened on the street.

"They're so beautiful and it's just really hard to live with, especially when you're living on the road right here," the 33-year-old said of the toad deaths. "So we started doing something about it. We started saving them off the road in the middle of the rain."

When a scientist caught onto her efforts, Jirachareonkul and a friend assembled about 20 volunteers -- a group she calls the "Toad NUTS" -- to collect data on the endangered Western Leopard Toad.

The information they collect is being used in scientific research.

Each time Jirachareonkul comes upon one of the spotted, faintly iridescent creatures, she springs into action. She marks down GPS coordinates, measures the toad, makes notes on its behavior (Is a mate stuck to its back? Is it headed toward a pond?) and uploads the information so scientists can use it.

Oh, and she moves the toad out of traffic's way, too.

While her nighttime hobby may sound a bit strange, Jirachareonkul is far from alone in her efforts to collect amateur scientific data.

At a time when climate change and urbanization are poised to set off a new wave of extinction, some members of the scientific community are turning toward backyard biologists for the data they need to monitor ecosystems and protect struggling species.

This "citizen science" movement is not exactly new, but it has grown fresh legs as the Internet and social-networking sites help people with uber-specified and often bizarre interests gang up for a cause.

Amateur-produced Web sites now serve as data hubs for squirrel sightings, bird photos, ant anthologies, snapshots of leaves, flowers and trees, water quality info, beetle hunts and firefly tracking, among others. Find links at CNN's SciTech blog

"It's pretty random," said Cyndy Parr of the Encyclopedia of Life. "There's a lot of charismatic things that won't surprise you -- backyard birds, that sort of thing. But there are also thriving communities of people who like to take pictures of butterflies, centipedes, wildflowers, plants."

Some of the sites have sweeping goals. The Encyclopedia of Life, which seeks to gather online information on all known species, has started taking public submissions through a public Flickr group. Some individual users have uploaded more than 2,000 photos.

Project BudBurst, out of Boulder, Colorado, aims to collect so much amateur data about plant species that scientists will be able to tell how climate change is altering the seasons in North America.

The venture, managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, gathers "data that would not otherwise be collected," said Sandra Henderson, the project's director. "We have these additional sentinel eyes on the landscape, if you will. There aren't enough ecologists to be making all of these different plant observations."

National Science Foundation funding for citizen science dropped off significantly in 2002 but generally has been on the rise since, according to budget numbers compiled for CNN. Since that year, funding in the United States has increased more than 240 percent, to more than $3 million for 2008.

Several of the Web projects receive government funding, but others survive on their own merits.

In Spain, Josep del Hoyo founded the Internet Bird Collection, an international compilation of bird videos, sounds and photos that's funded solely by his company. He said the intense passion of birders around the world, plus some money from his publishing company, keep the site running.

Amateurs have posted video of never-before-seen birds on the site, he said, and some of the work has been the foundation for scientific articles.

Technology is amplifying this passion for citizen science, which has been around since scientists started cataloging species. Researchers at several universities are working on iPhone applications and computer programs that could analyze digital photos of plant leaves and automatically identify the plant's species.

When those photos -- from ordinary people all over the world -- are paired with the photographer's location and uploaded to a database, the information would be more valuable than anything scientists could come up with on their own, said John Kress, a botanist and research scientist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The information could help scientists know if a species is going extinct or dying off in certain regions as the climate warms.

Identifying a plant species can be tricky, Kress said, so these technologies also would ensure that nonprofessional data is good enough to use for scientific research.

"When people do these things as citizen scientists you're always a little suspect as to, 'Are you getting it right?' " he said. "There's some plants out there that are maples and look like oaks -- and only I would know they're really maples. But with this system we would have a standard way of identifying the accuracy of this information."

Some scientists said they're excited about the trend toward citizen-submitted data because it is impossible for scientists to document all of the changes going on around the world.

"At some point it will really lead to almost a democratization of science, where the amateurs and the volunteers are having just as much of an impact on science as the professionals are," said Rick Bonney, who started a citizen science project with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in 1987. "It's just going so fast I can't keep up with it anymore."

Others find the movement limited or controversial.

The relationship between formal science and citizen science is similar to that between professional news reporters and bloggers; some scientists worry that the information coming in from nonprofessionals will be inaccurate, said John Musinsky, a senior director at Conservation International.

The citizen efforts are also limited in the sense that, at least for now, they're largely concentrated in North America and Europe, where there aren't nearly as many plant and animal species as in Latin America and Africa.

That's beginning to change, though, said Conrad Savy, a conservation science adviser at Conservation International.

"It's gaining steam," he said of the global citizen-science movement. "It's working very well and it's a great way also to engage the community in conservation issues."

As photo-taking cell phones become more popular in developing countries, a more diverse group will join the efforts, said Kress, the Smithsonian botanist.

Jirachareonkul's group devoted to the Western Leopard Toad now works with the South African National Biodiversity Institute to promote understanding of the endangered species.

Dr. John Measey, a researcher with the institute, said by e-mail that some research on the toad would be possible without the volunteer efforts. But the "Toad NUTS" raise awareness and help scientists "obtain usable accurate data from a much wider area than we could possibly manage or fund," he wrote.

When Jirachareonkul started the project, she didn't know much about the toads -- they were just a creature she found squashed in front of her house.

Now she has a personal connection to them.

She said citizen science is a way for people to connect with their local environment -- and to make a difference.

"There are so many problems in the world, but I think the main problem is that everybody is worried about everybody else's problems that they don't focus in on their little areas," she said.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 1 reply

Eating Bioregionally

2009-05-06T00:13:36Z

In our local newspaper.....

How locally will we be eating in years ahead?
By RICHIE DAVIS Recorder Staff

Published: Saturday, April 18, 2009
GREENFIELD -- The breakfast of crab scallion pancakes and pork buns may have seemed exotic for the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, but no more so than talk of which species of violets are tastiest.

Turners Falls resident Dave Jacke -- who wrote two books on ''edible forest gardens'' and teaches nationwide about ''fostering a different kind of agriculture'' using perennials that have been long ignored as a food source -- was one of four speakers on just how locally we'll need to be eating in the years ahead.

Depending on how you define ''local,'' Whately organic farmer David Jackson's aptly named Enterprise Farm is already doing that, with year-round customers around the region for whom California produce is a thing of the past.

Ten calories of energy is required for each calorie of food we typically eat, said Jacke of Pleasant Street Community Garden. That's in addition to the cost of transporting it the average of 1,500 miles to our tables in an era when energy costs are expected to rise dramatically.

''We can't sustain that much longer,'' he told the roughly 100 business and community leaders gathered at the monthly chamber breakfast. ''We're all kind of in deep doo-doo here, even though most of us don't know that.''

As people will look to grow more of their own food, and to get more of their food locally, he hopes his work on edible perennial gardens will help us do that more easily.

''I'd like to have my landscape and eat it too,'' said Jacke, who is participating in a project to see how much of its own food supply Shelburne Falls can grow.

Jacke, who foresees nothing less than the ''wholesale restructuring of our economy and of our food system, contends that if Franklin County grew 20 percent more of its food, its economic activity would be increased by $20 million a year.

''There's a great opportunity for all of us to have a stronger community and stronger networks, to re-invigorate our local economies.''

While it might seem contradictory, Enterprise Farm's Jackson said his Whately business has grown dramatically by contracting with about 40 farms from Florida to Prince Edward Island to supply year-round produce to a dozen food co-ops, five food delivery systems and two subscription farms, as well as its own 450 ''farm-share'' members. That's 10 tractor-trailer loads of produce it sells off-season, where before it did none.

''Where I see the whole 'local' in what seems to be a strong marketing trend, is that a big part of the business is taking place in the winter time,'' said Jackson, who was approached in 2007 by Green Fields Market about helping to shift its winter organic produce supply away from California.

Pretty much every farmer along the East Coast is up against the 'evil empire,' which is California,'' said Jackson. But rising fuel prices and water shortages are challenging that state's ability to undercut farms in the East, and a head of lettuce can be delivered here from Florida in two days rather than 10 from twice the distance.

As wholesale prices for organic produce drops, Jackson said, providing wintertime customers with Florida avocados and pecans from the Carolinas provides an opportunity for Enterprise and begins to develop a market for farms to extend their seasons to develop a ''regional foodshed.''

''What I see is a growing effort on the part of customers to put a face to the farmer and buy their food more locally, which to me is pretty impressive,'' said Jackson.

Ed Maltby of Deerfield-based Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, and a developer of both the Our Family Farms dairy cooperative and the new Adams Family Slaughterhouse in Athol, advised consumers to be cautious, though, with labels -- especially ''organic'' and ''hormone-free.''

''The issue we keep coming back to is the integrity of labeling,'' said Maltby. ''Without that, you consumers are going to the store thinking you're buying something that comes straight from the farm, where in fact it comes from some large outfit out in Colorado (and) can never have the security of knowing where your food dollars are going.''

''The concept of marketing, where you see that happy cow on the front of your milk carton … in my opinion lacks reality,'' he said. ''As we hit the crossroads where 'buy local' programs are maturing, where organic is now a $20 million, $25 million industry, we need to be assured that what is being marketed to us is, in fact, what it is.''

Sorrel Hatch of Gill said that after earning a degree in entomology, she returned to her family's Upinngil Farm, which sells all the raw milk it can produce from its seven cows, as well as honey, seasonal berries, and even flour milled from its own wheat -- all from its own stand.

''I decided that local was the key to building a long-term future,'' Hatch said. ''The only thing that could really endure and safeguard the environment was direct contact between the consumer and the producer, and direct contact of the consumer with the land.

You can reach Richie Davis at rdavis@recorder.com or (413) 772-0261 Ext. 269

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 3 replies

Ecuador gives Nature constitutional right to exist as a living entity

2009-05-02T20:47:17Z

I thought this was cool... the Land is a person with rights!

September 28, 2008: By an overwhelming margin, the people of Ecuador today voted for a new constitution that is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.

Article 1 of the new “Rights for Nature” chapter of the Ecuador constitution reads: “Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution. Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”

Some communities in the U.S. – in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Virginia – are also drafting and adopting first-in-the-nation laws that change the status of ecosystems from being regarded as property under the law to being recognized as rights-bearing entities.

All of the major environmental laws in the U.S. – including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and similar state laws – treat nature as property under the law. These laws legalize environmental harms by regulating how much pollution or destruction of nature can occur. Rather than preventing pollution and environmental destruction, these laws instead codify it.

These local laws – and now Ecuador’s constitution – recognize that ecosystems possess the inalienable and fundamental right to exist and flourish, and that people possess the legal authority to enforce those rights on behalf of ecosystems. In addition, these laws require the governments to remedy violations of those ecosystem rights.

http://www.celdf.org/Default.aspx?tabid=548

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 10 replies

Tracking as a Path of Intimacy with the Animate World

2009-05-02T20:38:29Z

I know I have mentioned bird language as an practice that stemmed from the animist world view. But, I did not yet discuss in much detail using tracking as method to gain more intimacy with the animate land.

Tracking is in essence reading the stories of the land, as bird language is listening to the stories. The two are really inseparable and complimentary practices.

Tracking is the art and science of interpreting the evidence left behind by the movements of the other-than-human persons, including looking at footprints, scrapes, scratches, broken branches, bones, fur, feathers, scat and other such evidence. Then, using that evidence to gain insight into the world around you. Though, its origins coming from our hunter-gather ancestors, and can certainly be certainly be applied to hunting it should not be thought of as strictly as skill to be used for hunting animals.

Tracking might be summed up by the pursuit of the questions: who, what, where, when, why and how? I know often times that when people hear the word "tracking" they picture a hunter following footprints on the ground to the animal that made them. That is certainly part of tracking, but its really only a part of it (called "trailing" by many trackers).

To me, tracking is a great game to play all the time in which you are acting as a Sherlock Holmes - like character, who tries to understand the stories all around you by piecing together the evidence. The extent to which you are accurate and to which you understand what you see is based on practice, or as many trackers call it, DIRT TIME.

The intimacy you gain into the lives of animals through this practice encourages us to see and respect our other-than-human in a deeper, richer and more direct way. It becomes clearer to us just how the threads of our existence intertwine with the animate world through the process of tracking....

There is also a philosophical art of inner tracking, which to me is kind of a natural extension of the external art form. It is a method of bringing to bear in your life a silent witness and paying attention to your patterns, behaviors, habits and choices not unlike the way you would when studying an animal such a coyote. This is a practice of observation, not self-judgment. Although, when you see yourself doing or acting in ways you don't like it can be a useful source of information in helping you transform your life.

Since I do not know how familiar ya'll are with these ideas, I am starting really basic. I actually started this thread to get some feedback on how much people know about tracking out there so I can know how to shape some ideas for a tracking class.

Also, what is it about tracking that inspires you or fires your interest?

What questions do you have about tracking?

How might you use tracking in your own life?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 45 replies

April--Who's Afoot, Official Cancelation

2009-04-28T04:40:13Z

heh-heh...hope you all had a fun April Fool's Day!

Who's afoot, who's eating who, who's teaching you and how are you reciprocating and celebrating?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 36 replies

That's when they become the most dangerous...

2009-04-25T03:14:45Z

from http://www.gazette.com/articles/woman_52327___article.html/bear_department.html

<begin article>

Pregnant woman hit by car while running from bear
April 23, 2009 - 12:56 PM
BILL REED
THE GAZETTE

Ashley Swendsen had a really bad day. The pregnant woman, 26, was chased by a bear and then struck by a car as she fled across a road. The driver checked on Swendsen and then left the scene before Colorado Springs Police officers arrived.

Swendsen, who is five months pregnant, did not suffer serious injuries, but was taken to Memorial Hospital as a precaution, police said. She was treated and released.

The bear was not so lucky. Colorado Division of Wildlife officials tranquilized and captured a female, 230-pound black bear in the area.

After Swendsen identified her as the attacker - noting its cinnamon color - the bear was destroyed.

Swendsen was headed down a trail next to Cottonwood Creek - just east of I-25 and south of Woodmen Road - at about noon Thursday when she saw a bear in the creek, said Division of Wildlife spokesman Michael Seraphin. She walked away and the bear began to follow her; she began to run but the bear quickly gained on her, getting within 10 feet.

Swendsen scrambled up an embankment and onto Vincent Road, and that's where she was struck. An elderly woman in a black car hit her, stopped to talk with Swendsen to make sure she was OK, and then left, according to police and DOW.

Police and DOW officers then began to pursue the bear.

"We followed her through backyards, and she was in a backyard pond at one house," said Officer David Nelson, of the motorcycle unit.

They caught up to the bear about a mile from where it was first spotted, on the 1400 block of Rock Ridge Court. Nelson said DOW officers shot it in the hindquarters with a tranquilizer and the bear tried to rub out the dart on a tree. The second dart sent her sprawling.

Seraphin said the bear didn't seem frightened when officers came near, a sign of trouble.

"It didn't move at all. It didn't climb nearby trees," Seraphin said. "It was too familiar, not showing any fear of humans at all, and that's when they become the most dangerous."

Seraphin said bears have been emerging from hibernation for about three weeks now, and they frequent the creeks and drainages in this area, often following Cottonwood Creek and hanging out near Pulpit Rock Park.

As he stood in Cottonwood Creek examining bear tracks to make sure they didn't orphan any cubs, DOW area manager Shaun Deeney called the area "bear heaven." He said the creek acts as a funnel, drawing bears from a wide area that are looking to migrate from the mountains to the east, safely passing under I-25.

Police officers wondered what kind of lineup the DOW guys might use to make sure the captured bear wasn't a scapegoat. A photo lineup of different bears? Seraphin said they interviewed Swendsen and she described the bear's size and color very accurately; when they next showed her a picture, she said it was the same animal.

"It's hard to be a bear these days," lamented police Sgt. S.R. Ward. "They just want to act like a bear, and we keep getting in the way."

Bear smarts
The only bears in Colorado are black bears, even though they come in a variety of colors from blonde to black, said Division of Wildlife officials. Here's DOW spokesman Michael Seraphin's advice for a bear encounter:
· Be on the lookout for bears this time of year because they are emerging from hibernation and searching for food.

· If you see a bear, slowly back away, keeping an eye on it. You cannot outrun a bear that wants to catch you for very long.

· Although it is easier said than done, stand your ground if a black bear charges. This is typically a bluff charge so the bear can see what you'll do - if you stand your ground it often will stop, but if you run it will follow.

• If a bear attacks you, fight back with a rock or a stick or whatever is handy. The advice to play dead applies to grizzlies, which no longer live in Colorado.

Police want to talk to driver

Responding Officer Robert Dazey wants to speak to the driver who struck Ashley Swendsen. Police officials said it doesn't appear to be a hit-and-run, but they'd like more information. Dazey can be reached at the Falcon Division, 444-7240.
<end article>

I love the police sgt's comment about being a bear. I do not so much like the DOW spokesman's comment about the bear. But as an animist, reading this article really gives me some insight into the myriad of human perspectives towards other than human persons.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 7 replies

Invisible College 5th Edition

2009-04-24T22:01:28Z

Wow, what a busy, busy group! Nice to see people are thinking of the long term, and along the lines of inhabitation. I wll have to be more attentive, lots of good ideas!

I have been wrapped up in work, but hopefully can participate more.

This is some of the stuff I have been working with:

Just to let ya know, 5th edition of The Invisible College Magazine is now available in print and printable down load editions
Some of what is in this edition:

Photo Essay - "A Visit With Albert Hoffmann - Jon Hanna Photos from the last month of Albert's life
Featured Artist:
Leo Plaw..
Amanda Sage..
Gwyllm Llwydd..
Featured Poets:
Clark Heinrich..
Dr. Con/Juris Ahn..
Novalis..
Featured Writers:
Mike Crowley..
Padraic Colum ..
LyterPhotos..
Will Penna..
& An interview with Rak Razam Editor of "The Journeybook" and more..

You can look at the free on line PDF version here: http://www.earthrites.org/invisible-college.htm (not the full edition)
Or you can check out the printed or downloadable print versions here: http://stores.lulu.com/Gwyllm

Hope you enjoy!

We are always looking for art, poetry and articles. There is much fertile grounds being explored here at Bio Regional Animism. If you have any submissions, contact me please!

Blessings,
Gwyllm

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 4 replies

NorthEastern PermaCulture Gathering

2009-04-22T00:05:00Z

If anyone's interested.....

5th Annual Northeastern Permaculture Convergence"Permaculture in Practice"

Living Arts Center East Montpelier, VT
Friday July 3 - Sunday July 5
(With facilitated Farm Tours July 1-2)

Details to be announced.
To volunteer to help organize, please contact Janice Walrafen: jwalrafen(at)verizon.net.
To submit a workshop proposal please contact Nicko Rubin: narubin(at)gmail.com. For information about farm tours preceding the conference, contact Keith Morris: earthsurfing(at)gmail.com.
Stay tuned for more details and registration information.
For information, notes, and video from previous Summer Gatherings, visit : Summer Gathering wikipage

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 2 replies

The purpose/cause of disease

2009-04-19T17:19:04Z

I got laid out with the flu a few days ago, and I have been pondering why I got it in the first place. One of my takes on disease is that it allows us to take a brake from the 24-7 grind. Also, I think stress has almost everything to do with it. Interestingly enough, my wife got the flu before I did, but I think I brought it to her. It took me several days longer to actually get the symptoms. I think when the stress compounded on me, it opened me up to getting sick. My body-minds way of tell me I needed to chill out too... Very unusual for me, because I never get the flu anymore. This has been the first time in years...

Anyway, I wanted to hear from all of ya'll about how you see disease or dis-ease, including purpose, causes, etc.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 20 replies

THe Medicine Way

2009-04-16T19:02:25Z

I am just wanting to share some of our good news .... This is a link to a documentary clip about my Cousin's son Sebastien, who has decided to learn the medicine ways of his land and people. Seb's girlfriend Carolyn Monnet produced the film and it just won an award at the Aboriginal Film Festival for 2009. CArolyn now has offers for 3 more films! The Film features Seb with Cree Elder and Healer, Marc Thompson. Not alot of English, mostly French and Cree, but you'll get the gist of it. We are so proud of our young people...when they do good..they really do good! Tau Hau~

http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/c_est_ca_la_vie/2008-2009/Reportage.asp?idDoc=78108

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 1 reply

A SPIRITUAL C * NSP * R* CY

2009-04-16T18:27:51Z

A SPIRITUAL C * NSP * R* CY

We think this is so harmonically tuned to the spirit of Tribe and all of the mankind who are working towards a more peaceful, abundant, natural and consciously emerging planet. We trust you will feel the sentiment of it and pass it on...

with love and blessings

in the spirit of cooperation, family and global community

Sunny and Pierre Soleil

A SPIRITUAL C * NSP * R* CY

On the surface of the world right now there is
war and violence and things seem dark.
But calmly and quietly, at the same time,

something else is happening deep down.

An inner emergence is taking place

and certain individuals are being called to a higher light.
It is a silent awakening.
From the inside out. From the ground up.

This is a Global operation.
A Spiritual C * nsp * r * cy.
There are 'sleepers' awakening in every nation on the planet.

You won’t see us on the T.V .
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio

We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles

Some of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes

in every country and culture of the world;
in cities big and small, mountains and valleys;

in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands.

You could pass by one of us on the street
and not even notice

We go undercover
We insinuate into the system

from behind the scenes
It is of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done

During the day some of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront and at any hour
is where the real work takes a place

Some might call us the Conscious Warriors
Rainbow Warriors of Light, Spiritual Activists,
Lightworkers, Shamans, Helians [healing beings]

However we know ourselves as,
we are slowly creating a new world

with the power of our minds and hearts
We follow, with passion and joy

Our orders come from from the Central Spiritual Intelligence or The Celestial Concourse Administration...
Whether it's the CSI or the CSA or our own deepest access to global consciousness
We are all dropping soft, secret love b *m b s when no one is looking

Poems * Hugs * Music * Photography * Movies * Gifting * Kind words * Smiles * Inspiration * Meditation & prayer * Compassion * Workshops * Community Gatherings * Dance * Social alternatives * Websites * Blogs * Random acts of kindness and outgoing concern for the whole before self

We each express ourselves in our own unique ways
with our own unique gifts and talents

Be the change you want to see in the world
That is the motto that fills our hearts.

We know it is the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the
power of all the oceans combined.

Our work is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains
It is not even visible at first glance
And yet with it entire tectonic plates
shall be moved ....

Love is the new religion of the 21st century
You don’t have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it

It comes from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse of all human beings..

Be the change you want to see in the world
Nobody else can do it for you

We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have.

All are welcome
The door is open

author unknown

Welcome H.E.R.E. We love you

SunWaterClear & WindWaterClear

Harmonic Emergence - Return to Earth H.E.R.E.

http://harmonicemergence.org/ - our foundation site
http://www.panoramio.com/user/2861230 A photographic tribute to the hallowed forests we roam
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/justcamping/ Small informal forest gatherings. More than just camping
http://www.everytrail.com/
http://tribes.tribe.net/harmonicemergence Join us on Tribe.net

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 0 replies

We've got problems, white people problems

2009-04-14T03:05:09Z

Throwin' up a link to a silly video. Hope this makes you laugh, or at least smile...

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/white_problems/

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 2 replies

hummingbird people

2009-04-10T05:23:00Z

Can anybody share any info or mythology of Hummingbird. i would like to know a bit more about this interesting little bird, i have one that lives in my yard area, at first i assumed i was the protector of this area but i have come to learn that the true keeper of this area is a little hummingbird who puts up with me in his(?) domain. it has graciously allowed me to do my work here mostly because i havent and wont leave, so we grudgingly have a common ground, he'll come around. i noticed it last summer (definitely the same one), it had a mate, which now seems to be gone, but this little guy amazingly to me has stuck around and survived a very harsh winter, i always assumed they migrated some where warmer but this one stubbornly sticks it out, every morning when i sit out on the porch he is up at the top of a tree singing his little lungs out, even in the dead of winter with 2 ft of snow on the ground, and i mean every morning, i have learned its song and can now pick it out any time ( thanks filip for reminding me to listen!). i feel like i should get to know a little more about the medicine and myth of this amazing and resilient little creature. thoughts, stories, or experiences anyone?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 19 replies

Animism TV - Earth 2

2009-04-08T05:18:33Z

every once and a while I encounter something within mainstream media which hints about deeper animistic issues. Lately I have been watching the show Earth 2 which aired back in the mid 90's. I remember watching it when it was first on, but now I have been watching again on NetFlix and find some of the elements intriguing from an animist perspective. Wondering if anyone else has encountered this show and what they thought about it.

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 17 replies

Land Dreaming

2009-04-08T01:36:52Z

In another thread T asked me “what does land and dreaming feel like to you, Fishbowl? “

Dreaming is something which has been on my mind lately. Where not all of my dreams are what I would identify as “Land Dreams” there is a distinct visionary quality to the ones which are which I find hard to explain. The colors and sounds are generally vivid and my senses are heightened during the dream. The landscape takes a prominent presence, generally being places I know or recognize around me on a day to day basis. For instance I can recognize the valley where I live, however in the dreams the town is not there. Or it will be a place from my past; recently I have been dreaming about a meadow along the Fire Hole River in Yellowstone which was always a favorite picnicking spot for my family when I was young. In these dreams animals, and plants will speak to me, but not in an audible scene but through an intuitive way. In these dreams I will be shown things of impotents or be told a story, and often times the meaning of what I have seen, been told, and shown is rarely clear and I have to contemplate upon it for days, weeks, months, and some dreams have taken years. Sometimes I am asked to do things, like “clear the clutter”.

Yesterday, A animist friend of mine mentioned a dream he had which shared very similar aspects to a dream I had – featuring particular local deity I have encountered.

What is interesting is dreaming has become more pronounced since I moved to the Colombia Platue, and things in my waking life begin to reflect my dreaming. Or dreams will come up in conversation. Like today, in my language class the topic of dreams and what the word for different kind of dreaming came up with the elders. I learned that at one time, there was a name for people with special dreaming medicine; however, I got the impression there where either nor more of them, or very few. I have also learned that dreaming had a very prominent place with the indigenous people across the Colombia Platue and Colombia Basin. In my Native American Lit class we are reading modern literature written by indigenous writers from their cultural perspective, and dreaming has been a continues reaquring theme within the literature. The commonality is that dreams where taken seriously, and not just being reflections of the self though the subconscious, but have a collective meaning within the tribe and being linked with the land and local spirits and deities. Often the dreams are seen as a form of communication with other-then-human persons or the land itself. There are other indigenousness cultures in the world where dreaming takes on a living presence, Usually one will think of the Aborigine of Australia.

My intents where never to become a “dreamer” it just kind of happened. The more I ignored it the more out of balance my life has become. Now that I am returning to dreaming my life is finding a balance and equalizer again. I feel there is a reason I was brought here. This way of looking at dreaming contradicts some of the more modern assumptions about dreaming, that it is only our subconscious, or with some New-Age and New-Thought ideology it is a symbol of our inner self. But dreams are much more then that, I feel, and can be a link to the land and a method of communication to learn and bring manifestations of the dreams into our communities, in part through sharing the dreams and inpart on acting upon the wisdom of these dreams.

I would like to know if anyone here has had a similer experience of dreaming? Or just the general ideas about dreams and the connection to the land and our greater other-then-human ecological community?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 3 replies

How do you define community?

2009-03-27T06:38:56Z

The past month has been over-full with...stuff...work and travels, obligations and mysteries and efforts.

Two or three times, I tried to come onto the tribe site but had technical issues, like the site wouldn't load, or was down for maintenance.

I thought it was odd. I figured the gods had better things for me to be doing than spending more time in front of my PC.

Interestingly....I found myself missing you guys.

About a week ago, I spent a week in Joshua Tree. I was there with the Interspiritual Conference, a gathering that included elders and wisdom keepers from various traditions, like Dagara healer Malidoma Some, Huichol tsaurirrikame Eliot Cowan, Ute elder Grandma Bertha, Sufi dervish Tasnim Fernandez and South African Sangoma Colin Campbell,

Part of my work there was to interview the elders in two panel discussions. I found myself asking them about community. I wondered aloud: can internet connections create a real community? Do "virtual" communities keep us from doing the hard work of creating real community in the place where we live?

Personally, I find myself a bit bemused. On the one hand, my brief exposure to this board fills me with joy...it is so great to find an "easy fit" with like-hearted kindred spirits. On the other hand...gosh, what a time suck!

:-)

It's going to take me hours to catch up with the (great) reading on this board...meanwhile I could be outside, doing good work where I live!

So...my question...what is the relevance of a "global virtual community" to a movement that is hyper-local, and real?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 8 replies

what is your medicine?

2009-03-25T22:22:22Z

i had a dream along time ago that gave me some valuable insights into life...and gave me questions to ponder... so im going to ask these questions here in a way to share the insights...

what is your medicine?

in the dream i was shown that each one of us is born with a medicine to heal the sickness in the world, within us and out side of us...
i was shown that this medicine within us can sometimes be a poison and that finding out how to transmute this poison into a medicine can be key to healing our self and our world...
i was also shown that our medicine within us is also one with something within the natural world... anything...
i was also shown that we can have many medicines...
and i was shown that we mustgive this medicine away in a way that promotes wellness for us and the world around us or the medicine becomes toxic within us... and that which is one with the medicine out side of us will also be precieved as toxic...

i have pondered over the years ways of helping people to find these medicines inside and out side of themselves, ceremonies and practices... ect...
but right now im just curious what peoples responses here will be to the asked question... what is your medicine?
in my dream i was shown that my medicine was the wild rose... which represented wild love, and i was told was much like the medicine of the hawk... the medicine of the messenger.... i was shown that i had to give away this medicine inorder to save my community, to protect the collective medicine of the community... the more i give it away though the more i tend to find...
i later found that in my bioregion wild rose is worked with to remove and keep away unwated spirits of the dead... it is also traditional worked with to releive grief...
my relationship with this medicine has grown over the years... to wild love as well as the wild rose... i make a perfume annualy of it and give people a spary of it in ceremonies to remind people of the primal untamed love that this universe continuously provides to us via is thorns and sweet smells...

so whats your medicine?
how do you shair it with the world?

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 65 replies

HAPPY EQUINOX FOLKS!

2009-03-23T15:30:27Z

Heya Crazy Bioregional Animistas!

AHO!

What a day, a joyous high holiday. I feel the wind changing 'round these parts. A few leaves are starting to fall, the wind is blowing slightly cooler, people are looking in, kinda freakin' out with what feels like the first pangs of dying. Energies have been moving fast in the past week, things look up, things look down, things look all around.....and yes, sometimes things do the hokey-pokey.

But, to quote John Lennon: I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round, I really love to watch them roll......

Feels like a good day, a balanced day.

May all of you have a wonderful equinox, filled with joy, and love, and friendship, and health, and energía positiva. May you and all your loved ones always find what they need, and may blessings rain constantly on your homes.

Happy Equinox Folks!

:)

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 13 replies

Ashes and Snow

2009-03-21T03:36:05Z

Has anybody else seen this movie? Really, to call it a movie is a bit of an insult, lumping it in with National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Cat Woman and other such gems....it's really more of a visual, audio art project. Just absolutely beautiful. Many animist themes throughout it, very beautifully portrayed. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it:

http://www.ashesandsnow.org/

posted in Bio-regional Animism - 9 replies