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animist manifesto

little lightening bolt — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:59:03 GMT

An animist manifesto

By Graham Harvey

All that exists lives

All that lives is worthy of respect

You don’t have to like what you respect

Not liking someone is no reason for not respecting them

Respecting someone is no reason for not eating them

Reasons are best worked out in relationship – especially if you are looking for reasons to eat someone – or if you are looking for reasons not to be eaten

If you agree that all that exists is alive and worthy of respect, it is best to talk about ‘persons’ or ‘people’ rather than ‘beings’ or ‘spirits’, let alone ‘biomechanisms’, ‘resources’, ‘possessions’, and ‘things’

The world is full of persons (people if you prefer), but few of them are human

The world is full of other-than-human persons

The world is full of other-than-oak persons

The world is full of other-than-hedgehog persons

The world is full of other-than-salmon persons

The world is full of other-than-kingfisher persons

The world is full of other-than-rock persons…

‘Other-than’ has at least three references:

it reminds us that we are persons in relationship with others,

it reminds us that many of our closest kin are human, while the closest kin of oaks are oaks, so we talk most easily with humans while rocks talk most easily with other rocks…

it reminds us to speak first of what we know best (those closest to us)

Make that four references:

it reminds us to celebrate difference as an opportunity to expand our relationships rather than seeing it as a cause of conflict or conquest

All life is relational and we should not collapse our intimate alterities into identities

Others and otherness keep us open to change, open to becoming, never finally fixed in being

Alterities resist entropy and encourage creativity through rationality, sociality (or, as William Blake said, ‘enmity is true friendship’)

Animism is neither monist nor dualist, it is only just beginning when you get beyond counting one, two… At its best it is thoroughly, gloriously, unashamedly, rampantly pluralist

Respect means being cautious and constructive

It is cautiously approaching others — and our own wishes,

It is constructing relationships, constructing opportunities to talk, to relate, to listen, to spend time in the face-to-face presence and company of others

It is taking care of, caring for, caring about, being careful about…

It can be shown by leaving alone and by giving gifts

believers in ‘human rights’, for example, demonstrate their belief in rights not only by supporting legislation to protect individuals from states, companies and majorities, but by not insisting on hogging the whole road or pavement, not insisting on another human getting out of the way on a busy street…

You don’t have to hug every tree to show them respect but you might have to let trees grow where they will—you might have to move your telephone lines or greenhouse

You might have to build that road away from that rock or that tree

Hugging trees that you don’t know may be rude – try introducing yourself first

Just because the world and the cosmos is full of life does not make it a nice and easy place to live. Lots of persons are quite unfriendly to others. Many see us as a good dinner. They might respect us as they eat us. Or they may need education. Like us, they might learn best in relationship with others who show respect even to those they don’t like, and especially to those they like the taste of.

Although evolution has no aim, life is not pointless. The purpose of life is to be good people — and good humans or good rocks or good badgers. What we have to find out is what ‘good’ means where we are, when we are, with whom we are, and so on. It is certainly wrapped up with the word ‘respect’ and all the acts that implies.

Since all that exists lives—and since all that lives is, in some senses, to some degree, conscious, communicative and relational—and since many of the persons with whom we humans share this planet have a far better idea of what’s going on than we do—we can now stop all the silliness about being the pinnacle of creation, the highest achievement of evolution, the self-consciousness of the world or cosmos… We’re just part of the whole living community and we’ve got a lot to learn. Our job isn’t to save the planet, or speak for the animals, or evolve towards higher states. Many other-than-human people are already happily self-aware, thank you very much, and if we paid attention we might learn a few things ourselves. By the way, we’re probably not alone in mistaking ourselves for the most important people in the world: hedgehogs probably think they are (but they’re spiky flea-ridden beasts so why believe them?!).

Um, when I said that ‘all that exists lives’, I’m not sure about plastic bags.

But I am certain that we should not treat objects as mere resources, somehow available or even given to us, or humanity, to use as we will or wish.

The same goes for words like ‘substances’, especially those that exist within plant and fungal persons. There are substances, but theyaren’t ours until they are given, gifted to us. And then we’d better find out why we’ve been given whatever gifts we get. And we’d better ask how those gifts might be best used (whether its for pleasure, power, wisdom or whatever). This is especially true if the plant or mushroom person who offers us the gift substance has to lose their life in the process.

Maybe sometimes the mushrooms just want to help us join in the big conversation that’s going on all around us. But not all rocks, fish, plants, fungi, birds, animals or humans want to talk with us:

Sometimes they want to be quiet

Sometimes they want to be rude

Sometimes they have other concerns

Sometimes they don’t understand

Sometimes we don’t speak the language

Sometimes we don’t know the appropriate gift

The precise and proper way to show respect depends where you are, who you are, who you are respecting and what they expect. Gifts, like swords and words, have more than one side. Alcohol is a gift in one place, a poison somewhere else. Handshakes are friendly in one place, shows of strength elsewhere. Kissing is respectful to some people, an assault on others. Respectful etiquette is hard work but its reward is fuller participation in a large and exciting community of life.

Sometimes we need shamans to do the talking for us

Sometimes we need shamans to do the talking to us

Animism is just over the bridge that closes the Cartesian gap by knowing how to answer the question, What is your favourite colour? Perhaps it is the bridge. Perhaps there is no gap and animists are people who refuse to collude with the illusion

Animism is often discovered by sitting beneath trees, on hills, in rivers, with hedgehogs, beside fires… Animism is better communicated in trickster tales, soulful songs, powerful poems, rousing rituals, and/or elemental etiquette than in manifestos.

[Originally published By Strange Attractor Journal Journal number three . We would like to thank Graham for giving us the permission to publish this for the first time on line!]

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 18 replies

Wolves in Danger

WabanakiWmn — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:23:45 GMT

28,000 concerned signatures needed!!!!!

While most Americans have been celebrating the holidays, officials in the Bush/Cheney Administration have been working behind the scenes to pave the way for the killing of hundreds of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone area.

We can't let them get away with it!

Please go to Defenders of Wildlife's website to send a message to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and urge him to abandon efforts to let states start killing wolves and to delay de-listing of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies:

action.defenders.org/sneakattack

Over the last several weeks, officials within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been quietly moving forward with rule changes that would allow officials in Idaho and Wyoming to begin killing wolves -- even before gray wolves are removed from the list of federally protected threatened and endangered species.

This latest proposal would jump start plans to use fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and other means to kill hundreds of wolves, leaving few more than 200 of the wolves in Idaho. In fact, three-quarters of the wolves in the Lolo District of the Clearwater National Forest could be removed... even before they are de-listed.

And, unfortunately, it's not just Idaho's wolves that are threatened by the proposal. Hundreds of wolves in Wyoming could be shot and trapped under the new rules -- whether wolves are removed from the endangered and threatened species list or not.

A decision on the proposal is expected in the next few weeks. Please email Secretary Kempthorne right now and let him know that you oppose any proposal that would threaten the long-term future of wolves in the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone Region.

Take action online now at:

action.defenders.org/sneakattack

Thanks so much for helping me save wolves!
To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy
If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 1 reply

New Website!

fishbowl — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:26:49 GMT

We have our own domain at www.bioregionalanimism.org!

Thanks to everyone who chiped in with donations to make this happen. Over then next couple of months I will start to develop the community portal into something robust, that I hope will accist in further growing community both online and in your own bio-regions.

Right now the sight is not pretty - all I have is a dummy intro site that point to the main forum on tribe and the main blog. It is mostly a place holder untill I get something running that can be accessed by the public.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 22 replies

Change in direction

fishbowl — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:57:41 GMT

I am beginning to re-think the approach we've been taking. I like the drupalED approach to content management with an educational focus. I can see using it to power an educational community around the core people who want "more" sorta speak . . . but I think the content needs to be pushed out there, and I think Joomla will work better for that ends. It has the blog like functionality, but can be presented as an actual information site - the only users allowed on joomla as the info portal would be people we would invite as authors and editors and its user permisions has built in a process in which all content would pass through the "editors" befor being published. It categorization system is very effisiant and clean. So perhaps all that work on joomla was not for nothing, I learned what joomla's strengths where, and I think it is more suited for collecting and presenting information. Later, once we have something content driven we can move into the community building aspect that drupalED can provide us.

Besides tribes seems to be working for us right now and the new community, as travis has vosiced some concern, shouldn't be a replacement - as LLb pointed out, just more directed to those who want "more".

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 15 replies

Chat

fishbowl — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:30:37 GMT

Okay the development forum now has a link to a lice chat channel. If you look above the menu it says NEWS: Bio-Regional Animism Chat. login into the forum and click on it, and you are in a live chat room :)

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 5 replies

Temporary Re-Direct

fishbowl — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 18:08:45 GMT

I have temporary Redirected www.bioregionalanimism.org to the main Blog at blog spot. I figure this is as good, if not better, then any place holder page :) and then when the site is up I will remove the redirect. to access any thing on the hosted server direct links will be provided.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 1 reply

I kind of fucked up

fishbowl — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:24:21 GMT

so, I'm more tired then I had figured - wrong mouse click and I . . . deleted everything! its no wonder, I've been working on this all day long and have had no progress . . . . . . . . . square one I guess

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 39 replies

Development Forum

fishbowl — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 02:49:58 GMT

Okay so I have created a Development Forum at http://forum.bioregionalanimism.org/ it will remain separate from the main website project and will be the main form of communication for development of the website. We should have done this in the beginning, but you know how it is.....this way if any changes are needed to be made that will alter data, the dev forum will remain in tact and can provide for continuity of conversation. Again anyone who wants to help out is free to start posting on the dev forum. You don't have to be a computer wiz either. we are hoping to be entering the first Beta stage really soon, where we will actually have content and start using the website in an intended community application, and that is when we will need the most help.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 1 reply

New Look and Feel

fishbowl — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:02:28 GMT

We have scraped the old site and started with a new look and feel and what we hope is a more user friendly forum system. go see what you think. http://bioregionalanimism.org/alpha

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 51 replies

book

little lightening bolt — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:40:03 GMT

sooo... next quarter at my college they are goign to have a class where you make your own book... im excited about this. a freind of mine made a book for her class when she went to jordan, called the silk road... it was really nice. even if i dotn take the class the plan will be to work on the book and have it done by spring *knock on skull...* the book will hopefully be eitherr self published via lulu http://www.lulu.com/ or it will be sent off to be published some where with a publisher... i would lieke to just self publish but its going to be spendy to do it that way...
we shall see...
but i am excited about finnishing that. so that i can go out and start teaching.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 7 replies

wiki wiki baaaa ding... shaaanee neee neeeey....

little lightening bolt — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:22:47 GMT

so i forgot i started this along time ago...
never did any thing with it... and so it sits a wiki in space....
https://bioregionalanimism.pbwiki.com/bioregional%20animism?template=Classroom&edit=1&msg=Please%20enter%20the%20wiki%20password.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 6 replies

Beta Test is up.

fishbowl — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 01:31:45 GMT

Okay for those of you who want a taste of what is to come for the new site. I have a basic forum setup using SMF. You can go to bioregionalanimism.org/portal

login in there and start pocking around, I have a beta test forum and a community soup pot forum for us right now. There will be additional Bio-Regional Animist groups and topics once things build up and more features are added.

Please use the beta test topic to discuss you thoughts, ideas, impression, suggestions, and so forth within the new forum at bioregionalanimism.org/portal

For those of you who expressed interest in beta testing post your user name on the new system and i will give you different permitions, allowing you to experiment more fully with the system.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 64 replies

We need links!

fishbowl — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:10:08 GMT

I am working on the menues for the new site, and would like to provide links to related websites.

So if you have a blog or a web site that in some way deals with Bio-regionalism, Animism, Ecology, Native/Indigenous culture and people, natural science, or any of your favorite sites that you visit often that might deal with these topics, now is the time to share them so that I can add them to the websites links page!

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 3 replies

Community Portal Launch

fishbowl — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:50:10 GMT

We have a functional community portal now! you can go and register and start using the forums. More features will be added as time goes by. The next feature will be Private Messaging, and a live Chat. I am also working on having more customizable and informative user profiles. I need people to start using the site and report there thoughts in the website features forum at the community hub.

go to:

http://portal.bioreigonalanimism.org

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 6 replies

Bio-Regional Animims Needs a Voice

fishbowl — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:44:36 GMT

Rogerio is hard at work putting together an awesome video from the "Bio-Regional Animism in Less then Five Minutes" speach I gave at the Unitarian church a few weeks ago. We have been talking and we are thinking a clean clear feminen voice would fit perfect. So if anyone wan't to leand their voice to the project let me or Rogerio know - or if you know of someone who would have a great voice and wouldn't mind helping out that would be great too!

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 6 replies

Testbed down

fishbowl — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:06:39 GMT

The test bed is currently down. I am working on integrating the forum (smf) with the blog (word press). I will let you know when it will be available again. There might be the possibility that in order to get all registered users in both systems to start with clean install of the forum.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 1 reply

Beta Testers for new Website

fishbowl — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:45:52 GMT

there has been much discussion about developing a online community portal of our own for bioregional animism. We are currently accepting donation to go toward a year of hosting. However, I can acquire some free space that is enabled with the features I need and will be beginning on development as a test bed so that we will have something functional when the .org is finally launched. I am calling for people who would like to be beta testers to hammer out the bugs, make suggestions, and so forth. You do not have to be a computer person or web savvy, in fact I would like those of you who are not to participate in the beta tests to help make the site as user friendly as possible for the technologically impaired out there. So please post a reply here if you are interested in beta testing . . . I will contact you when the test bed is setup with a account you can use for the purpose of beta testing.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 23 replies

Tresuere needed and an ebay guru!

fishbowl — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:15:01 GMT

I would like to make a new account for the donations on paypal (or posibly some other service - I will look around) becouse I sometimes use my paypal account to separate my play money from my bill money. Secondly we are wanting to set up an ebay store to auction items donated by the community to go towards fund rasing - we still need money to pay a graphic designer - and some one who knows how to work ebay merchants accounts is desperately needed. The ebay guru and the teresure could be the same person, or two different people who work closely with each other....any takers?

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 21 replies

Domain name Sugestions

fishbowl — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:10:58 GMT

now that we have the funding for the host any ideas on the domain.

the obvias bioregionalanimism.org seems a bit long and unweeldy and leaves a lot of error for peoples spelling when trying to find us. unoftunantly animism.org is taken.

I have been mulling over a few:

greaterkinship.org
animists.org
animismlife.org
biospeak.org

the one I am leaning towards the most is bioanimism.org

it says what we are, but just shortens it down a bit making it really good for search engines like yahoo to catalog us towards the top.

anyother ideas or sugestions?

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 15 replies

Scenes from a postcard

WabanakiWmn — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:17:49 GMT

I sent this to a good brother this morning in relation to a tribe he asks me to be part of. I thought I would post it here because it lends it self to greater kinship and understanding of the greater good...at least in my mind~ I hope you don't mind. It's rather lenghty so be patient with it~

**
My dear Brother, I am honored that you have asked me to participate in this tribe. Knowing that you have struggled greatly with aspects of “western culture” and have a fervent wish to educate and mesh that with your native culture; I offer this post. I hope you will be patient with it, as it is rather long, but I do believe it will help you to understand how we must progress with this tribe. Peace.

******

Fresh from a fitful night’s sleep, I stepped out into the autumn morning in all my crab-ass, grouchy, irritable, only got two hours of sleep attitude! Breathing fire because I had to go do a “western civilization” thing like banking. One of those little necessities we’ve become so accustomed to, eh?
I stopped by the local coffee shop, picked up my cup o joe and was on my way…flying fast down the back roads with Alan Jackson in the cd player. About half way down the ridge I realized that this sappy, country sing song was only adding to my irritability; not that I don’t love it on any other day. I popped in “Carriers of the Word” by the Akwesasne Women’s Singers. Within seconds, the melodious voices and steady beat of the drum began to slow my pace down. Those Akwesasne Women’s Singers were not going to let me get away with being out of sync with the world today…they turned my heart right and began to wake me up in a positive light…you just can’t help singing along…they sound so beautiful!
As I went through the process of reawakening, I began to embrace the beauty of the season that was unfolding around me. The scenery was so beautiful you couldn’t help but notice the wide array of colorful bursts and intensely contrasting hues of autumn in New England. Picture perfect and magazine quality…just like you see in all the travel magazines. White clapboard churches with steeples set against the glorious crystal blue of the morning sky; the sun peeking through from the east, creating an intensely vivid canvas of the season’s best offerings. The thunderheads in the western sky coming up over Mt. Sugarloaf- waiting, as if in ambivalent standoff with the contrasting mood of the eastern sky to see who would win out. Pumpkin people, gathered here and there along the roadside, nestling in farm stands with Chrysanthemums of every conceivable color.
Further down the road a bit; the tobacco fields picked clean, their frames standing alone in solitude with netting wafting in the morning breeze like abandoned ghosts of another time. A glance to the right reveals farm hands, harvesting the last of the produce of summer and a tractor with a flat bed attached laden with fall flowers for sale. This was a glorious peek at the contrast of life and the balance of the natural world. These are the last vestiges of summer in tandem with the birth of the autumn foliage. I remembered that yesterday, even my roses were having their last hurrah before they have to put on their frosty blanket; their last solo dance of the season. I was blessed with a perfect balance in light and color and was incredibly aware of my own place within this postcard.
As I continued toward my destination, my mind wandered toward thoughts of this group and what you are endeavoring to do here. I began to understand what it is that we all must endeavor to do on this path. Looking at this panorama, I understand truly that it is not up to us to “teach” western civilization about our culture. Before we can endeavor to teach anyone about our culture, we must put away our ambivalence and our sense of “rightness” and superiority. We must be comfortable in our own skin and embrace a sense of oneness with our own world.
Native people are of an animist culture originally, before we were inundated with colonialist oppression and thinking. Animist cultures have a deep respect for all things, believing that all that nature gives has soul and spirit. They are people…whether they are two legged, standing tall people, stone people, sea people or sky beings, and should be treated and respected as such. It’s a give and take. I believe that has made a genetic imprint and we continue to embrace that culture from a cellular level, sometimes without realizing it.
Our teachings come from the medicine wheel…four directions-four colors. Based on that knowledge, we are asked to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Four colors, red, yellow, black, white, meeting in the center. Because our culture teaches inclusively, we must also consider the opposite. Four colors reaching out from the inner part in the four directions. We cannot endeavor to “teach” western culture about our culture until we are willing to know ourselves and be in balance within ourselves. It is at this point that the synergy goes out from us. If we cannot be at ease with whom we are and what our culture entails, how can we expect anyone else to be? We will never be understood as long as we continue resist understanding the inner workings of our own spirit.
As I finished my business and climbed in the car for the reverse view of the fall panorama, a butterfly flitted across my path, which reminded me to “enjoy the dance of life”; as a Cherokee elder once told me.
I drove home the same route and was immersed in my thoughts, but took special notice of the fact that despite modern conveniences and “western culture”, the natural world continued on it’s cycle. Glimpses of the struggle of traditional cultures vs. colonialist cultures…us versus them popped into my mind; but I noticed that the standing tall people didn’t care about the “western civilization” wires running through them…they just went around. The stone people did not care about the “western civilization” asphalt road put there to carry people back and forth … they rolled down anyway and the people had to go around. The tall wispy sumac did not care about the “western civilization” cell phone tower, placed in its way. It didn’t get up and move away, it merely continued to grow up around the tower; tall, strong, with a shocking crimson skin. The ivy didn’t retreat from the “western civilization” telephone wires. It embraced those wires; happy to have an opportunity to reach further and stretch itself out. Imagine how it feels to just stretch you out like that in the morning sun?
It has been a very enlightening morning, but that is usually the way I get it. I always think it is about me and the Creator shows me something different. I was treated to all the sights of a sleepy little New England town dressed in her splendid autumn finery.
As I go forward from here I realize that if we are to “teach” anyone, then we must be secure in who we are in this culture and find the balance within ourselves that will enable us to go forward in humility and gentility to share of ourselves in this group. With that in heart I ask:

Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind
Help me for I am young, small, and weak.
Help me Grandfathers
To rise with the morning sun to bless me in the east
with quiet resolve for new beginnings and greater knowledge
Help me Grandfathers of all directions
to fight my greatest enemy:
Myself
So that when I come to you in the red and purple sunset
I can walk to you pure of heart, humble in spirit
And rest in your heart forever
Understanding that I have done my very best
for who I am
in your image

Wuliwin~

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 2 replies

dance... we are the land danceing

little lightening bolt — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:31:52 GMT

beautifull painted arrows work was a great "inspiration" for bioregional animism. hsi dances and just his emphasis on being a visionary and going to the source of inspiration for your life and spiritual work was very cool to me... i learned so much over the years participateing in his long dance, up until the dance cheif of that ceremony started doing things unethicaly... and i had to distance mysefl from them permenantly...
but theres lots of other communities doing this work and many other dance cheifs... this group in Tn sounds really quite good... the dances and work they do are not for profit... its donations and asking peopel to pay for the cost of setting up the ceremonies... and none of its culturaly appropriated... its good work...
i was at one point hopeing to be a dance cheif for long dance becaue i really beleive its a wonderfull ceremony... but the dance cheif i worked with made that impossible so i would keep helping him... sad deal...

at any rate... what i learned from these ceremonies was that one can go to the source of inspiration and find ceremonial dances and ceremonies by working with ones bioregion... its a good way and a way of many animist people around the world... people come together through ceremonies most often then not... and community dances ceremonies...
ive been thinking of a dance for a long time that could help people open up to the land and sky and help people cultivate a relationship with other than human persons in thier bioregion and the other than human person who is the biregion itself...
the drum dance is kinda like this... though i have not danced that dance... the dance i allways did was the achuma long dance which used a mescaline contianing cactus and is the only dance that works with entheogens...
some times it takes being inspired by another and see how ways of realtieng can be accessed, and so seeing this work done by participateing in a dance might be a great way for people to find ways of organizing.
one good group thats doing these dances is here...
http://www.centerforpeace.us/index.htm
http://www.peacechamber.com/joseph.htm
here are groups around the world that do these ceremonies... i would avoid the one in boliva however... as hes the one who i worled with who is not living with respect to others right now...
http://www.peacechamber.com/PeaceChambersAroundTheWorld.html
now mind you these communities attract alot of differant types of people with all kinds of motivations and some are more right on then others IMHO... some people you mgiht feel to question wether they are trying to play indian... but some really do this work form a really awesome place and the ceremonies and dances are extremly effective and powerfull...
ive thought that if enough bioregional animists followed Beautifull painted arrows example as visionaries and attempted to seek visions for dances and ceremonies from the land and from the surce of inspiratin itself which the land is one with... people would begin to have new ways and ceremonies that would change our cultures... it takes really giving of your self to recieve a vision for a new ceremony or dance bt putting your self in the position to recieve one i think is the hardest part...

We are the land dancing.
We live a life of prayer, of reverance for the land,
a life of ceremony,
so that we may stay alive
and connected to god.
God is present in the land:
the soil, the sky, the clouds,
the seasons, the climate.
And we are part of that design.
-Joseph Rael

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 4 replies

Wikipedia Campaign

fishbowl — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:55:47 GMT

Okay - the entry for Wikipedia on Animism is really sad and deperatly needs cleaned up and cited. I thought this could be a good opportunity to go in and make a decent Wikipedia entry for Animism in general with proper citations and research and could touch upon the work of new animism and bio-regional animism. Any one interested in helping contribute to Wikipedia?

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 27 replies

Community Medicine

little lightening bolt — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:32:11 GMT

Years ago, right before my initiation as a healer, during a VERY dynamic time of change... I had a dream.
In this dream the home of my birth was an Animist village of people living close to the earth. On top of the well box in the middle of my back yard man appeared dressed in black buck skins and bone jewelry.
The man was holding a sack and every one in the village turned to see him speak.
"I have stolen the collective medicine of your tribe. If you do not all give me your own personal medicine I will destroy the collective medicine of your people, dooming you all. You have until sun down."
The people knew what to do they went and gathered up their personal medicine and dressed in their finest regalia and set out to give this man in black their medicine.
I was outraged that my people would just surrender to this mans demands! I went into the house painted my face and picked up my ceremonial knife, took it from its sheath and ritually stalked the man...
As I walked around the out side of my house I saw that every one was preparing to give their medicine or had already done so. this fueled my rage. Not only was i enraged at the man who saw it fit to threaten my people, but I was enraged that they had allowed him to do so.
I was met at the back side of the house by a member of my own people sitting at a small table covered in cards. He was busy cataloging peoples personal medicine. Behind him was a room with another man in it, and the room was filled with box's of peoples medicine.
" Come to drop off your medicine?" the man asked.
"Yes...." I said, lying to him.
"What is it?"
This stopped me dead in my tracks. "I... I don't know."
"Oh well life is run by chance, so just pick one of these cards and that's your medicine."
I gave him a skeptical look and picked up a random card turning it over. on the back side was a picture of a wild rose.
"OH wild rose! That's allot like hawk medicine, wild rose medicine is wild love, that's a good one! Go ahead and drop it off inside."
The rage drained out of me completely... If my personal medicine was wild love then how could I kill this man in black. I walked into the room full of medicine in a daze, I was confused. Before me stood the man in black but now he was in a tie-dye T-shirt arranging boxes. He said to me while piling them up happily, "Oh just set it any where I will get to it in a minute..."
"I can not harm this man," I thought, " my medicine is wild love..."
I walked out of the room, muttering my medicine is wild love over and over again to my self, and out of my dream into a half waking dream, where information about what medicine was and its relationship to man and nature filled my now lucid mind.
I was shown what medicine is, and how one finds it within themselves through ones relationship with nature. I was shown that we all have a medicine to help heal all of the sickness in the world.

I am currently in a college program about growing community. I took this coarse as a way to further my community development skills so that I could further assist in the development of bioregional animist communities. The night after my first class I could not sleep... the memory of the dream entered into my head and I could not stop thinking about it... I was exhausted but the memory would not leave me alone to sleep.
I had always felt the dream would make a wonderful community ritual there was so much meaning in it...
I saw that the dream could be made as a ceremony to teach about the collective medicine of a community. The man in black represented adversity and how adversity can threaten community. Every one had to give of their personal medicine to protect the community. Those that did not know what their medicine was would not understand this and would have to find out what their medicine was.
We all have medicine and our personal medicine is to be given away for the benefit of the community, not just the human community but the other-than-human community. Because all other-than-human-persons benefit from the authentic wellness on another, the other-than-human community gives its medicine to the larger community as well including human persons, it does so in such a way that shows us that our personal medicine also lays in nature that what is within us is also out side of us in the natural world and it show us this so that we can give of our medicine wisely to aid the whole of life.
As I lay awake trying to sleep fitfully I saw how small communities of human persons could enact this dream, and how it could teach them bioregional animism as well as about their responsibility to give back to life as life for the benefit of the community. I saw how it could teach about how communities can work WITH adversity, and the things that threaten community, and I saw how they could learn how ways of doing this could come from trans-rational ways of knowing, learning and problem solving, in ways that lead them to a deeper understanding of themselves through relationship with their larger community of human and other-than-human-persons.
As an example, if I was to do this with my class I would take a bag of stones for every member of the class and I would pass the stones out asking them to have an intention for the wellness of the community they are a part of in that class ( just as an example) and then blow their intention into the stone as a way of symbiotically putting their life force, their breath into the intention, animating it the intention, Giving it a life of its own...
Then I would ask the community leader to hold onto the pouch of stones and put it some where safe. At some point much latter down the line I would call the class together for a community "event" in which I or some one unknown to the class, to arrive dressed in black holding the pouch of stones. What would happen next would be an enactment of the dream. Many of the participants may not know their own personal medicine and the actual concept of "medicine" might be out side of their world view. So for ease, and to go along with the dream. Cards could be made covered with plants animals and forces of nature as well as types of places in ecological systems ( streams, lakes, ponds & mountains etc..) with their symbolic attributes added to them. Sources for making these symbolic cards could be taken from both Ted Andrews books as well as Jamie Sams. Though I don't fully approve of other-than-human-persons being viewed strictly as symbolic vehicles for human experience, other-than-human-persons can be related to symbolically, which does not make them symbols themselves. Something about this could be placed on the table with the cards. The participants could then give their cards the man in black who is now wearing colorful non-threatening colors and style.
After the last participant has given their personal medicine the community could gather and talk about their experience. After the discussion the dream as well as my interpretation of the dream and the foundation of the event could be shared to further show the importance of trans-rational cognition in the process of learning and growing and maintaining health in community as well as within ones sense of self.
This community ceremony empowers it members to find the medicine within themselves through the natural world, through trans-rational means. Showing them that they were all born with medicine to heal the sickness in the world, to mend that which is broken.
I participants were interested in pursuing this concept of personal medicine and community medicine deeper they could be encouraged to go out into nature and develop relationships with the other-than-human-persons in their larger bioregional community, and seek out their personal medicine or medicines through their relationships with
the ecological world. Through this relationship dynamic they could utilize various trans-rational methods comfortable to them to discover that the medicine is within as well as out side of themselves, seeing how trans-rational forms of cognition dissipate dualistic notions of inner and outer reality as well as self and other, cultivating altruistic action int he process as well as deeply grounded and centered personal growth based on place and the physical world.
I might add that the process of finding ones personal medicine as well as giving it to the community is an act of self healing as well as personal discovery, it can be painful as well as liberating and joyous, ultimately life changing
and requiring deep commitment and is not to be done with a half hearted attempt. This work I call a medicine quest, or medicine seeking. Often times one finds that the medicine they are seeking is in some way connected to the pain they hold within themselves and is one with adversity itself, that they might find it to be the poisonous parts of themselves or the world around them, and that they must actively transmute that poison into medicine before they can give it away... this can be a path of deep personal healing and growth. Thus requiring a deep commitment to wanting to help. Actively seeking this medicine themselves could be encouraged after the public event.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 3 replies

sidher fire community

little lightening bolt — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:56:23 GMT

great pagan communtiy near me...
http://www.sidhefire.com/files/webpages/intentionalfamiliy.html

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 2 replies

Summer Solstice 2008 Locations

fishbowl — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:45:43 GMT

Accidently delteted this - fortunetly I was able to back it up

Does any one have any suggestions for places to meet for Summer Solstice 2008? I am thinking Lake Wenatchee State Park. I haven’t been there yet, but it is a very central location for the Pacific North West.

Missoula Montana - 409 mi – about 6 hours 40 mins
Lewiston Idaho - 276 mi – about 5 hours 23 mins
Spokane Washington - 213 mi – about 3 hours 50 mins
Walla Walla Washington - 243 mi – about 4 hours 31 mins
Kelowna British Colombia - 409 km – about 5 hours 48 mins
Seattle Washington - 107 mi – about 2 hours 16 mins
Victoria British Colombia - 327 km – about 5 hours 47 mins
Olympia Washington - 161 mi – about 3 hours 9 mins
Portland Oregon - 275 mi – about 4 hours 54 mins
Eugene Oregon - 383 mi – about 6 hours 42 mins
Bend Oregon - 332 mi – about 6 hours 42 mins

With travel time of under 8 hours and less then 500 miles from all these location it looks rather central for people to travel to.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake...State_Park
www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp

any one been there - or is there any other locations you can think of that would serve our perpose?

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 6 replies

origens and organization

little lightening bolt — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:32:48 GMT

so i was reading this national geographic peice on swarm intelligence, and i found it very interesting... and i want to add some thought on it here...

bioregional animism was conceived between relationships with freinds bolth human and other then human... it was born out of freindships... the story is a long one and maybe best for a better time... but it came out of paying attention to the needs of those persons around me and from my own authentic needs... it came out of the streets and the forests, iva the act of being receptive and responsive to the needs we preceive around us... how we organize in the future need only go as far as that IMHO... thats what i would really liek to see happen... as ive said before, this is a relational, its a family way, its a way of freindship with human and other then human persons... ultimately bioregional animism was born out of humble servitude...

as we begin to organize for the future of this work... i would like it if we learned a bit of how to do this from nature as well...
"Whether your talking about ants, bees, pigeons, or caribou, the ingredients of smart group behaviour- decentralized control, response to local cues, simple rules of thumb- add up to a shrewd strategy to cope with complexity."
"Crowds tend to be wise only if individual members act responsibly and make thier own decisions. A group wont be smart if its members imitate each other, slavishly fallow fads, or wait for some one to tel them what to do. When a group is being intelligent, wether its made up of ants or attorneys, it relies on members to do thier own part."
"A honeybee never sees the big picture any more then you or i do, none of us knows what society as a whole needs, but we look around and say, oh, they need some one to volunteer at school, or mow the church lawn, or help in a political campaign."

bioregional animism is born out of the spirit... matter follows spirit, they are one...
for me personaly in my work with bioregional animism and in my work with community... its about going out and establishing deep and intimate relationships, freindships and a sense of family in my local community, allowing spirit to move this process quite litteraly at times... i think travis really knows what i mean by this... that feeling of being physicaly moved... as if possesed byt he land and sky we live within every day... recognizing we are that and going forth as that and helping in what ever way possible to awaken others to that way of relateing to self and place... but through simple humble loving freindships... if thought of as a level of organization is follows the organizational and emergant patterns of other than human persons all through out nature... one thing that i learned from my community as this work was born and they helped to shape it and form it through our relationships with each other... is that this work is slow and hard and takes time and patience, perseverance and persitance... it takes thinking small, seeing value in simplicity, doing things the hard way.. bioregional animism is the hard way... it has integrity and requires us to be impecable and humble in our efforts, to think with our chest and speak from that place as well... anything we do as bioregional animists, i feel that if we do it from this place we will see a level of authenticity in our work that those who follow new age or neo-shamanism movements or even global ecclectic weekend warrior movements, might never know...

a good freind of mine blue heron from spokane has been a great role model and supporter of this work since the beging, and he really helped me see my own strength and how to go about this work with integrity... he helped form a tribe, a real community based on chaos and love lol... and i saw what was possible through working with him even if he is in jail for fighting at the moment or not... i saw that we must do this work the hard way if its to have any integrity. that means going out on the street of your community with a prayer in your heart and just staying receptive and responsive like the bee or caribou... by doing this i helped form a small tribe for a long time, revoling around healing and learning how to be animists in this day and age... and people moved on and people became distant and some became family... and ways of realteing were born... traditions were born, a new culture was born... and this was born here eventualy...

this is what i would like to see continue... as at least the back drop for this work... our foundation... what ever individuals decide to do from that point is totaly up to them and their relations.

i hope this in some way inspires people to show thier love..

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 31 replies

Advocacy

fishbowl — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:39:08 GMT

One of the important tools I feel to baning to gather and creating bio-regional animist kinships is advocacy. This could be done by holding events - ceremonies, pot lucks, what have you - which can be done through fliers and such. But I think the most intemant and best way is through word of mouth and speaking with people who have similar interests about bio-regionalism and animism. I know some of you were talking about some ideas and things to bring people to gather . . . I wanted to check in and see what progress if any has been made.

I am in the middle of the first couple weeks back to school, but between classes I started talking to my professor for intro to native American studies (an anglo) and he seemed really inetrested in it. It will be interesting to gfind out if he googled it like he was talking about . . . . I also also bought a car that works and will be able to do some light travel around my bioregion which I hope to use in cultivating some interetst with others in a naighbering town I have talked to about it and maybe hold some kind of land dance experiment on a full or new moon . . . and use that as an opportunity to discuss and share animism and bio-regionalism with others....The minister at the Unitarian Universalism church was one interested person, which could work into having a meeting place ....

I think the most difficult part is going to be getting some steam going and some local interest. However, if it is only two or three people i would call that a succsess

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 5 replies

what do you want to see happen?

fishbowl — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 04:13:11 GMT

go a head . . . . lets here those ideas....

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 44 replies

Going Local

fishbowl — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 02:28:27 GMT

Let's talk about what we can do to organize local kinships in our immediate ecosystems.

What ground work have you laid in your region or do you plan on doing?

What ideas to you have for getting the word out?

Do you know people locally that are interested?

All those kinds of things.

what works - what doesnt

By sharing our experience and efforts I hope to provide inspiration and motivation for everyone.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 10 replies

diversification

little lightening bolt — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:46:02 GMT

sooo seeing how diversity is super duperr important for bioregional animists... ive been thinking about sustainable organization...
alotof animist cultures had societies some secret some public... i was thinking as well that starting bioregional animist tribes forming on tribes based around bioregions and specific topics of bioregional animism might be a good idea...
for example...
cascadian bioregional animists... or which ever bioregion your a part of... forming tribes on tribes on this focus would help with organization localy...
aboriginal bioregional animism, as well as native bioregional animism... the destinction being clear in my mind... there are first peoples and there are the new natives post colonist bioregional animist... and they have diffeant issues and differant needs and are a differrant group all together i think... but come together via bioregional animism... it seems that bioregionla animism applies to aboriginal and non aboriginal people alike, but in differant ways...
medicine societies, bioregiona animist shamanry, plant teacher shamanry ect... each region haveing differant topics of interest and focuses...
when we diversify it creates a more organic feel to things... it decentralizes things... and allows for more freedom i beleive as well as sustianable change.
bioregional animsit politics
bioregional animist life ways... ie sustainable living from the bioregional animist point of view
then there are the more ontological and cosmological/metaphysical aspects to be explored in bioregional animism and tribes could be created with that focus as well...
i started a new one when i created the bioregional paganism tribe... which i want to rename bioregional animist paganism... because i think its a more specific focus... same with the blog actualy... the specific thing about that tribe and blog is that it narrows in on how important it is for people who either are pagans or animists to relate to thier ancestoral ways of relateing to the land and spirit of the land and carry that on as a source of wisdom as wellas identity... partialy as a way to prevent cultural appropriation from continueing... but also as a way finding universality as well as a verry beuatifull thing that is cross cultural european pagan animism...
it also i think helps people with the difficulty of relateing to how one is to relate...lol
these are just some ideas... but if you have a specific interest that applies ot bioregional animism start a new tribe either a public or secret society here on tribes... get a blog going...tell people about it around tribes... get it going...
there have allready been a few that have started up that i feel are great renees tribe on the earths voices is awesome and shes a real work horse there... christians german and european bioregional animist tribes... and this tribe as well!
i think there are enough members and enough posts on the bioregional animist tribe right now that it couldnt hurt to diversify!

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 6 replies

Non-Profit status - thoughts and ideas - worries and concerns

fishbowl — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 06:07:47 GMT

I mentioned this in the other thread, but felt it needed a thread of its own. So once again I ask you what you ideas and concerns are about seeking non-profit status. Let us consider all the pros-and cons. Does anyone have any experience with non-profit organization? I have some experience with "not for profit" but we never had the govermant status to back us up.

"One thing i wanted to through out there (among many things I will talk about later) is becoming a non profit status that would l assist in donations which would could assist in things like teaching ceminars, and funding advicasy programs, and eco-camps, and so forth. It would give us some leverage and credibility. there will be some downsides to it, such as govermant bueocracy, but i think we can minimilize that through the right means of organization." - to quote myself.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 21 replies

Surviving through Compassion: A Bioregional Animist Skill for Kinship Development

ChangNoi — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:37:15 GMT

LLB thought it would help if I brought in some stuff about Victor Antonio Gruber since I mentioned it in the "what do you want to see happen" thread.

His website is http://www.havethisbook.com

I wrote this about him here: http://tribes.tribe.net/metaphaith/thread/a48a082b-f5af-4558-a9fd-caea4ed9b3e0

His mission:
"Well, here is my idea, with the Internet (and you're going to think I'm crazy . . . just like I want you to) I plan to eliminate money, make everything free, prove that it's human-nature to be generous and bring world peace."

He is probably the only person I know that has a neutral carbon footprint, and he lives entirely off the goodwill and compassion of others.

The Dalai Lama has taught me that I, too, only exist through the kindness of others. Why not take advantage of that for the betterment of all?

As I've babbled about in here before, part of the purpose of MetaPhaith is to create a tribe of Peaceful Warriors, Healing Monks, Wise Heyoka. In the utopia, where the forest supports all effortlessly, they are the guardians, communicators and cultivators. No more "join the army to build some character by killing other people." Instead, wouldn't it be great if you could just go to the Ranger Training Camp and learn to be a doctor, architect, forest garden engineer?

So here's where I came upon a stumbling block. How could such a meme like this spread? Memes do not spread unless they confer some advantage or benefit on their carriers. Of course, unless they do it through the fear of negative consequences. But we want to free people from those kinds of shackles, not set them up for new ones.

It does bring benefit on people to recieve good deeds. It also is valuable to them to commit good deeds. In fact, my heart feels that one of the nicest things anyone can do for me is give me the opportunity to do a good deed. We're hammered at all sides all day long by the media reporting the bad deeds of others. We start to think it's "human nature" to be a jerk!

Thank you Victor! Your tape recorder has solved the problem!

Or rather what you use it for and why: You use the tape recorder to document kindness. In front of the person who has done the kindness. For the purpose of writing a book about it. Instead of "begging" you explain your mission and GIVE SOMEONE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PERFORM A GOOD DEED. When they do, you document, log, and eventually write about it.

Now practicality speaking, this is fantastic from both sides! You are more successful with your panhandling; in return people get a more immediate, deeper feeling of having done good. I've talked briefly about inverting the power structure back to the have-nots, and this is exactly the way to accomplish that on an individual yet expandable scale.

And why not? I can think of so many reasons why this project benefits and few detrimental reasons. However, I recommend tape recorders and notepads only to develop memory skills. We need to bring back oral traditions, and this is a good way to start building memories!

So to recap since my brain is slow in the mornings: MetaPhaith Druids now have a method and technique to bring value to others (aside from their other barterable skills or Basic Needs provision). This technique is to give people the opportunity to be kind. They document this compassion, compile and publish it. What a positive way to give someone a feeling of being a part of something bigger too! Too see their acts of compassion documented in a book or website. The assembly to compile kindnesses provides a communication network for the Druids themselves. In this way they are building a mobile, multifaceted mob of monks. Neutral or Negative carbon footprints travelling wherever whenever, taking the pulse of compassion, providing knowledge and skills and fame for kindness.

I would like to submit some Precepts, and remind you all that it's your duty to help me trim these down, keep them simple and unrestrictive, but explanatory of the core of MetaPhaith. Think elevator speech, mission statement, Ten Commandments.

Support Life

Give more than Take

Repay with Kindness

Document, Compile, and Publish Compassion

Now remember I'm not trying to create some sort of caste or class. I'm trying to create a framework in which people who want to can lead compassionate lives, meet others who do the same and learn from them and teach them and reward those who give so that we can start thinking "elite" means "him who has given everything everything away so is free."

There are many people out there living lives of kindness and generosity. There are people like Victor Antonio out there not only surviving, but prospering and giving back out of the kindness of others. This is just a framework for us to draw the Leukocytes together into a Spleen, dig? To make the prospect of Differentiating oneself into Leukocyte more attractive than Cancer.

Please help me use the power of the internet for collaboration, brainstorming, consensus building, data compilation and publication.

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 8 replies

The Confluence of The Greater Kinship - 2008

fishbowl — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 00:38:06 GMT

What do we need to do to make this a reality?

1. Where should it be?

I am thinking there could be a few of them in different places (East USA & CANADA/West USA & CANADA/Australia/UK & Europe) whoever wants to get one going in their greater regions. I know many of us come from the Greater Pacific North West (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia) and I think for that somewhere in the Cascades would be ideal. . . I think finding the right physical location should take some deep consideration and thought. Making contact with the spirit of the land and apealling to the local other-then-humans.

2. When should it be?

originally LLB was thinking this September, but that is around the corner and may be too soon. then we were thinking spring equinox (but march could be quite muddy and still snowy in the mountains). I had the idea to day for summer solstice - i personally like the idea of it being associated with a solstice or equinox it just seems natural for a gathering of this nature.

3. What do we need to do?

what steps should we begin to take, how are we going to spread the word?

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 7 replies

Why Kinship?

fishbowl — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:00:21 GMT

Some of you might wonder why the name "the Greater Kinship". I have been wondering the same thing actually. Some of you may remember in the Bio-regional Animism tribe I mentioned a concept I called a Fellowship which is what I was going to use and call it "The Greater Fellowship" but it just didn't feel or sound right and I typed Kinship instead - a similar word but with a different connotation, that I was only vaguely familiar with. I almost used kindred, but the Asatru use that word for their organizations and I wanted to elevate some confusion it may cause.

So I looked up different definitions of the word Kinship this morning and was pleased with what I found. Kinship literally means to relate or to be in relationship with and that is what bio-regional animism is about - relating and relationships with the world around us, the place we live, and all the beings and spirits within it. Naturally we see community as including the other beings and spirits in nature, and not just the human ones. Kinship, Kin, and Kindred also is connotative is a strong sense of relationship like family, but not necessarily tied to shared heritages. We are kindred spirits not only with our selves as bio-regional animists but with our surroundings and the beings and spirits within in them, and the totality of nature.

In turn a Kinship in the sense I have used it for this tribe - is any community system used to relate and build relationship with ourselves,each other , our life place and those other then human being in it, and nature on the whole. Leaves the door wide open for the spirit of the land to talk through us, don't you think?

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 2 replies

Pardon the dust

fishbowl — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:17:17 GMT

this was an unexpected creation, a gift of inspiration and of spirit grown from the wonderful energies created at tribes.tribe.net/bioregionalanimism. It is about fostering bioregional spiritual communities. I don’t have much time right now for a proper interdiction (I’m at work, and about to leave for my second Job) but I will be back and to do a proper introduction). Feel free to post introductions and thoughts you have at will!

posted in Greater Kinship (of Bioregional Animism) - 13 replies