Bioregional Animism

House people

2008-07-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Currently I am building straw bale low income housing for a community land trust on Lopez Island on the Salish sea of Cascadia. It has been a huge shift of gears for me to work in building and an important one... My work here was inspired by this story which I read on the plaquared within the long house education center at ever green state college while attending the practice of community coarse there my senior year.

The origin of the Guardian Spirits and the Smoke house.
a Skokomish story told By Uncle... whos true name cannot be said now that he has died.

Smoke House was a chief long long ago; but he was not called smoke house back then. He was just called chief. He Decided to create all the animals and all the birds. So he created them and named them all. Then he told each one, " In times to come, when people have been created, they will send their children out, during the night or during the day , and you will talk to them and tell them what they are able to do. You will tell the boys they will be able to get things easily, are to be good hunters, good fishermen and so on. You will tell the girls that they will be able to get things easily. At that time I will be smoke house myself."

Then he spoke again; " I'll have no body, no head, nor will I be able to see. Who ever desires to construct me will have the right to do so. The one that made me, I will take pity on him, and I'll give him what he requests. People may approach me thus; if anyone is injured, or if he is sick or if he is poisoned, he may come to me for help and I will give it to him. Also when any one is dying he may come to me and I'll help him also. I'll help him to the next world.
So in this world I am smoke house, for the help of human beings."

So in building these straw bale homes, I cant help but remember this story and think about all of the other than human persons that give their lives and bodies so we can fashion them into a home, I think of how the creator become these other than human persons so that they could take the form of these houses, I think of the tree people and the stone people, I think of the straw people, all the people, and I remember that its them and the creator that I am shaping into a home, I pray that others might be able to see this as they build these homes too.

some ones listening

2008-06-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hey LLB,
After reading your post I went out to the garden I have here at home with the intention of communing. It's a beauty garden, just to have beautiful plants growing here for myself, my wife and the other folks at this little apartment building overlooking the water in Queen Anne.
I've been moving some plants out of the way of oncoming construction and had more to move and save from losing them to a bull dozer, which is an uncaring and rude device. I asked the devas to please accept that I was moving the plants to a new home around the corner, and one with better soil and shade for them, ( azaleas ) because the full sun was keeping them to hot and dry. I got an immediate feeling in response and translated the feeling into words that seemed to fit it. It was very bouncy and talkative in a quick cadence and had a definite sense of how I should proceed. I went with the feeling and translation and did some things I've never done before. I let them pick what plant to transplant and found them very specific, like, "this one first, no no no not that one, this one"! OK I thought, that one, and then staying open to it asked about how to dig it up, not with words out loud, but in an inner voice, and got an immediate response, ........ "like this" and saw they wanted it done a certain way. So I did that and was carrying the plant in a container down to the new place, inviting them along when they said "hurry hurry hurry", and I thought what for, and they said, "no one likes their roots exposed for very long", and I thought about how I never even thought about that before or how it might feel to the plant.

Down at the new spot I was looking for where it should go and they said "no no no, over here", and were insistent that it go just where they wanted it. Ok......., I thought, you started this, so just keep honoring what your feeling, and I dug a hole where they wanted it and was adding some water to it, when the said, "that's enough, that's enough", and I asked why, and they said, 'look, you just get the roots covered and we'll find our way to water". While digging the hole for it I came across a worm because it's good rich soil, and they said, "no no no", as I went to move the worm, and said "put it on the side of the hole just there", which I did and started to cover with dirt, but they said "no just wait" and I thought to myself that this was getting out of hand. These chatty, insistent and highly specific instructions were not how I'm accustomed to gardening, and they said "you'll see why". So I continued with the hole and continued finding worms, which they insisted needed to be put all together in that one spot, and not just dumped there, and they had to be in contact with each other, touching each other. So here I am making a little pile of worms and then placing the azalea in the hole while being cajoled by voice/feelings to hurry up. When the azalea was in place they had me put the worms, who seemed to be waiting patiently, in a specific spot and cover them with a very light amount of soil, less than I would have thought good for the worms, but apparently exactly what was the right amount according to the chatter bug devas.

They were very clear that certain vines should be keep out, and vigorously removed, it's some kind of morning glory, (which is a monster to deal with) and that others should be left alone. As I went to remove a big dandelion they had a fit. "No no no"!
"Ok already", I thought, as I realized how many I'd pulled up this year and tried to hide the thought away.

I was gardening for hours and thought to myself that I can never go back to how I used t do it. I'm sure this sounds like a bit of a Disney cartoon, but that's also what it felt like to me at the time, like I'd unstopped my ears, and gardening was going to be good, but annoyingly noisy for awhile to come. I'm telling you this straight, not making it up, and it feels a bit heavy while it was certainly fun also. Geeze, it feels like everything is going to be different. I mean I'm happy about it, but feel kind of bad about all the years I've been doing it my way for my happiness, and not realizing it's not just about me alone, but the brothers and sisters in green and gold have feelings too.

I'm in relationship with several sacred plant medicines, and maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise, but it is. Not that it happened, but that it was so clear, and highly specific. Just like some people I know, who like there eggs just so, and placed just so, and only half a glass of orange juice please and not the blue tea cups with the green tea thank you very much.

I wouldn't kid about this, because my relationships are where I try to live out my spiritual ideals, and so this new one is going to need care and attention the way the others do.

All because some guy I've never met reminded me to open up to it. Yikes, and thanks LLB.

Green man

2008-06-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

I had a dream of the green man the other night... its a classic image the green man being driven out of a village out of fear of his wildness by the people... it was a sad scene...
it makes me wonder about deforestation, habitat loss, the destroying of large areas of land to create housing developments.
People do not build or create their communities with nature or with any mindfulness to the wild... natural communities, wild communities of other-than-human-persons are destroyed to make room for homo-domesticus. The green man is most definitely driven out of these areas.
I was also thinking of a faun that comes and enters into my body from time to time... it often feels that Cernunnos, the green man and the faun share a common ethereal body manifesting as either or depending on what is needed of them. The faun was of a large wild wooded area near my home I had given offerings to him and asked for him to share space with me so I could learn from him... and he did... it was an amazing process... at any rate his level of mischievousness was intense... bordering on a sick sense of humor, and a wrathful sense of justice. What made this faun sick? The forest was nothing compared to the size it used to be that he was one with. The level of respect payed there was higher then most however trash was to be found all over. The forest itself was chopped up into islands with pavement roads and developments tearing it apart.

The other night my grrrrl friend pointed out how dangerous and mischievous forest spirits can be, I know to well how much this is so... and she pointed out how much more mischievous and dangerous they are when threatened, we discussed how important it is to make them our allies if possible, to be wild and a part of the forest again in our communities and ways of life.
I look at the forests destroyed by housing developments and i see that none of it is necessary at all! That its all poor planning and life style decisions as well as ecological and social apathy brought about and perpetuated by those first colonized European Christan’s driving the green man from the village.

How can we invite the green man back into our communities again? What offering and ritual action is needed to invoke him into our communities? What will bring the faun back to health, to make him seem less of a demon to those who see him as such out of ignorance? How can we honor the horned god where we live?

We can start by looking at how we consume the bounty of nature, how we live our lives daily, where we get our food. We can invite the green man back into our village by including the wild into the village again. Creating bio-swales instead of draining street water into the sewer system, creating green roofs on our houses, building with natural materials like cob, straw bale, and renewable resources, getting rid of pavement and the need for mass transit by re-designing our communities around COMMUNITY, so we can walk to all the places we need to go. Or we can create our own villages as a permacultured part of the wild forest... human beings have the ability to actually aid ecosystems with their presence as well as bio-remediate the areas that have been damaged. What would the psyche of a people be like if they lived not in civilization but in and with the wild again, not beside it but a part of it?
The joy of the green man and the growth and balance of his dancing feet would be in our hearts, the masculine stereotypes and gender roles would change and no longer would men be seen as symbols of oppression. Art and beauty would be just another natural expression like a birds song, simple and humble and to be found in the artifacts we create for daily living.
To invoke these beings of nature, these spirits and powers the ritual is a change in the way we live our lives. The new magical training is skill building in eco-design, whole systems design, permaculture, renewable resources, sustainability, and alternative energy. The circle that is cast is the recognition of our interdependence, and the chants are the affirmations and oaths that we will change the way we live and no longer participate in this driving of the green man from our village. We invite him back and give offerings to him, by create the pace for him to exist in our village and in our actions.

The importance of communion

2008-06-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

Many years ago now, I moved my friend to New Mexico. He was a buddy, brother and a cohort, a teacher to me in many ways, and when he left it was a big transition for me to be with his friendship and guidance. I drove all his worldly possessions, his dog and his cat and his soon to be future wife and mother of his child from the PNW to New Mexico in a U-haul and before I left him there to start his new life in a new bioregion, I felt some what over whelmed, like a cloud was surrounding me and I couldn't see past it... I kept thinking, now what am I going to do with out my best friend? He called me up stairs and held out in front of him a hawk feather ( hawk being one of his personal medicines) and handed it to me say. " What your going to do now is go back to the PNW and teach people about the importance of communion."
So since that day this is what I have been doing via bioregional animism. If I could further simplify what bioregional animism is to some one I would perhaps say it is communion with nature, or perhaps it would be the art of conversation with nature, or communication with nature where you live for mutual benefit. WOW I could just keep going... but really its communing, its communion, or as Graham Harvey would say a relational ontology which is place based or locally-centric.

What is communion? What does it mean to commune?

- sharing thoughts and feelings
- a sharing of thoughts, emotions, or beliefs
- communion with strong feelings for: private communion with nature
- a religious group with shared beliefs and practices
- the act or an instance of sharing, as of thoughts or feelings.
- religious or spiritual fellowship.

as well as to commune... from Old French communer, to make common, share...
- to be in a state of intimate, heightened sensitivity and receptivity, as with one's surroundings
- to experience strong emotion for: communing with nature
- to talk intimately with
- communicate intimately with; be in a state of heightened, intimate receptivity; "He seemed to commune with nature"

and ironically...

Noun
1. a group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities
HAHA!

For me these words commune and communion are KEY to really being animist. Quite possibly the very foundation of cultivating animist relationship dynamics. They were certainly

Recently I posted a short piece on a ceremony I had with my partner and my friend and I spoke about the communing people experienced with other than human persons. This has felt like the real basis and focus of Bioregional animism. Having respectful relationships with the living world requires communication and not just communication but communing with each other... to talk intimately with another, with an open heart and an open mind so that we do not harm each other out of carelessness. It takes real communing to have that authentic respect for the living world we seek to manifest through our being animist.
To commune with other than human persons and many time each other it often requires an approach I have called transrational or an intuitive approach that may require some slight shift of awareness or a drastic shift in awareness via an altered state. Animist people traditional embrace some form of transrational practice. For me personally and the people I generally associate with this is done with the aid of visionary plants and substances, though not relied upon to do so. This communion with these visionary people aid in communion and communing with other than human persons, just as any altered state of awareness will do so, though in some times subtle and not so subtle ways.

So how are you communing, how is this communing shaping how you live your life? Who have you been communing with and what messages have been received and given?

Being a bioregional animist I have focused on communing with the land I live upon and those that live around me so that we might live well together. Currently my life ha been changing in very big ways because of this communion and I am in awe of it.
I would love to hear from others who have been changed by such communion.
blessings
LLB

Co-creating with the devas of findhorn garden

2008-06-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

Co-Creating
with the Devas
of Findhorn

by Celeste Adams

Today, the concept of communicating with the plant beings as a way of creating plentiful crops and beautiful gardens, if not exactly embraced by commercial growers, is well known and widely used in the new age and organic farming communities.

Forty years ago, this approach to agriculture was pretty much unheard-of in the Western world. But on a barren, sandy, windswept corner of a rundown trailer park in Findhorn, Scotland, Peter and Eileen Caddy were changing all that.

The Findhorn Foundation, located in northern Scotland, was founded 40 years ago by Peter and Eileen Caddy and their colleague, Dorothy Maclean. It is one of the largest intentional communities in the United Kingdom and is a model for holistic and sustainable living. Despite the fact that Findhorn was built on sand dunes, it is known for its beautiful gardens, which were co-created with the nature devas.In The Faces of Findhorn, David Spangler writes:

Many people see Findhorn as a place; but to understand truly what Findhorn is seeking to make manifest we must see it from the inside out, and that means from the center of our being outwards. This is true of any of the other centers of Light that are now beginning to emerge.

New age communities are springing up in many countries, and small groups of people are coming together to help educate each other into a new way of living. All of these people are agents of the divine plan, in order that at this time in human history there might be worldwide demonstrations for the birth of a new Earth and a new humanity. . . .

So the message of Findhorn, the message which is unfolding throughout the Earth, is for humanity to awake, to arise, and to be the creators, now, of the world you have envisioned, and through envisioning are bringing into being.

The Findhorn Foundation attracts four thousand visitors a year, from countries around the world. It is a member of IONESCO and is recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization, or NGO, by the United Nations.

In The Spirit of Findhorn, Roy McVicar describes how Eileen Caddy heard the voice of God in simple, day-to-day directions that inspired her, with Peter Caddy, to create Findhorn:

Little in Eileen Caddy's early life indicated that she would one day be the co-founder of a New Age spiritual community or that she would develop a unique power to hear and to share the voice of God within....

After five years there [at the Cluny Hill Hotel] and a year at another hotel in Scotland they [Peter and Eileen] found themselves out of work, with no place to stay, puzzled that divine guidance should work in such devious ways. They then made the move which is now widely known; they went back to their caravan [mobile home], which was sited at Findhorn, and brought it to the very last place they would ever have chosen, a dirty, windswept corner of Findhorn Bay Caravan Park, because that was where God said to go.

Despite the fact that the land was barren and dry, beautiful gardens began to grow. In Faces of Findhorn, Professor R. Lindsay Robb of the Soil Association speaks about the vitality and vibrance of the Findhorn garden:

The vigor, health and bloom of the plants in this garden at mid-winter on land which is almost barren, powdery sand cannot be explained by the moderate dressings of compost, nor indeed by the application of any known cultural methods of organic husbandry. There are other factors and they are vital ones.

The other factors that Robb is referring to were Findhorn's co-creation with the angelic and elemental realms. In her book To Hear the Angels Sing, Dorothy Maclean writes about communicating with angels:

I had never set out to learn to talk with angels, nor had I ever imagined that such contact could be possible or useful. Yet, when this communication began to occur, it did so in a way that I could not dispute. Concrete proof developed in the Findhorn garden, which became the basis for the development of the Findhorn Community. The garden was planted on sand in conditions that offered scant hospitality and encouragement for the growth of anything other than hardy Scottish bushes and grasses requiring little moisture or nourishment.

However, through my telepathic contact with the angelic Beings who overlight and direct plant growth, specific instructions and spiritual assistance were given. The resulting garden, which came to include even tropical varieties of plants, was so astonishing in its growth and vitality that visiting soil experts and horticulturists were unable to find any explanation for it, and eventually had to accept the unorthodox interpretation of angelic help.

In The Faces of Findhorn, devas and elementals are described as living forces of creative intelligence that work behind the scene. All life is considered an outpost or point of entry through which great intelligences externalize themselves. "The devic or angelic beings work at that level where the divine image or idea is sketched out into the archetypal patterns for all forms. The devas, whose name stems from a Sanskrit word meaning literally 'shining ones,' hold these archetypes in consciousness, wielding and patterning the forces which vivify the physical form and stepping these energies down to the elementals or nature spirits, the 'blue collar workers' who build the forms through which Spirit reveals itself."

One member of the community describes a kind of sensitization process that takes place in learning to communicate with the nature spirits:

When I came to Findhorn in 1971 I began to realize that I was experiencing a broadening of perception; it was as though my physical senses were being extended in a way that's very hard to describe. Walking through the central garden I experienced an extraordinary sense of being greeted and caressed by presences there which seemed to be connected with the flowers. Later that winter I came to follow up that contact with the nature kingdoms when Dorothy asked me to try illustrating her messages from the Devas.

For me that whole period was like a sensitization process leading me into a whole different area of communication, a way of perceiving too subtle to say it was through images or sound but rather a direct reception of the essence of another being inside my own essence.

Today, Findhorn has become an important part of the world group. As their website explains:

On December 8, 1997, the Findhorn Foundation was approved for formal association with the United Nations, through the Department of Public Information, as a recognized Non-Governmental Organization. This was the culmination of a series of official collaborations between the UN and the Findhorn Foundation.

The new status was also a sign of a great maturing of our community, which has been promoting principles of sustainable development as put forward by the major UN conferences of the last decade — including the environmental aspect of the Rio Earth Summit, the human settlements aspect of Istanbul, and the women's aspect of Beijing — in an attempt to provide a contemporary and evolving model of sustainable living.

To learn more, we spoke with Richard Coates, a public relations officer who has lived at Findhorn for 25 years, and with David Buswell, who operates the enquiry line there.

Celeste: Can you describe the relationship that people had with plant devas in the early years at Findhorn?

Richard Coates: In the early days, we were famous for our 42-pound cabbages, which we don't grow these days. Well, I haven't seen any lately. We're told that this was necessary as a demonstration of the power of the people and an example of what we could achieve by cooperating with the nature realms.

By working with those beings, we could produce amazing results. But having demonstrated that, we don't necessarily need to keep doing that. Our gardens are quite magnificent and are admired by many people who come and visit.

Celeste: Dorothy Maclean is known for communicating with the devas and elementals. Are the people who come to workshops at Findhorn learning to communicate with devas?

Richard Coates: Anyone who comes here does one of our "experience weeks," which we give all year long for various nationalities. People work together, live together, and explore together in the gardens. It's a personal experience of being here and how that relates to nature.

We allow people to explore on their own and to have the direct experience of working in the garden. It's a very healing thing to do.

Part of our experience is a nature sharing in the evening. One of the gardeners will come in and talk. We also have an evening on spiritual practice. Many people like myself will spend the evening, after work or on the weekends, in the garden, and that's part of our spiritual practice.

David Buswell: Dorothy Maclean wrote a great deal about devas and nature spirits. She comes back here several times a year and gives workshops. When people are sensitive to plants, a relationship begins. Communicating with devas is a matter of sensitivity. There's no methodology as such to learning how to do it. That kind of sensitivity is inborn in some people.

People who really want to develop that sensitivity go to our workshops, run by Dorothy or others who do these things.

The gardeners here all have a basic connection. It really is an individual thing. Some say the plants are "talking" to them. Whatever they mean by that, the essential truth we've found is that the spirit within a plant is capable of communication. And when the plant spirits find humans they can communicate with, it's a boon to them. When human beings can recognize the subtle levels, the plant beings are overjoyed.

In ages past, far more people had these gifts. In folk history, they had connections with what they called the fairy folk, or in Ireland, the "little people." So communication with nature devas is not something new. It's an ability that existed when people were closer to the land, one that atrophied with the development of the intellect and industrialization. But today, people are developing sensitivity, and these connections are once more being made.

Celeste: How is the Findhorn Foundation organized and how does it operate?

Richard Coates: The Findhorn Foundation was originally a charitable organization run by charitable laws, not corporate laws. Then it became too cumbersome to handle as a single entity, so it's been broken down into different organizations. Some are charities, some are volunteer organizations. There's also an organic farm, a café, and a shop. This has enabled a lot more people to become involved.

Not everybody who is involved here needs to become a member of the Findhorn Foundation to be associated with the work that we're doing here.

Celeste: Why is it important that a place like Findhorn exists?

Richard Coates: It is a place where people can experience different ways of relating to each other, to themselves, to the planet, to society. It is a place that twenty-five or thirty years ago was on the cutting-edge of changing aspects of society. Many places around the world that now exist are based on what the foundation has been doing and demonstrating.

The things we have been doing, like health care and organic farming, are now very much a part of mainstream society. Even thinking about the planet as a whole, instead of selfishly looking at the nuclear family, "my country" or "my town," is a change since Findhorn began. Findhorn has inspired people to look at the whole picture, not just part of it.

Celeste: How is Findhorn spreading its message to the world about honoring and preserving the environment?

Richard Coates: Six weeks ago, we had a Restore the Earth conference, all about trees — reforesting, and how we could influence politicians to take care of the environment.

This was a precursor to the United Nations conference coming up in South Africa. We are recognized by the UN as a Non-Government Organization, or NGO. We have people at the UN who meet regularly and represent us there.

We also have our Trees for Love project, which was started by Alan Watson Featherstone, who has lived here for as long as I have. The plan is to reforest the highlands of Scotland with native trees, going out with work parties and fencing off areas to protect them from deer and so on.

Projects like Trees for Love might be small in terms of their individual impact. But as a whole, energetically, these projects build up exponentially.

Thinking about the whole planet, and not just my little bit or my backyard — that's how we have to think.

References:

The following is a short selection from the many books about the Findhorn Community.

1. God Spoke To Me by Eileen Caddy (to be republished by Findhorn Press 2002 in a special edition), the first book of Eileen's Guidance — still in print after 35 years.
2. The Findhorn Garden by The Findhorn Community (Harper Collins), the story of the community's early days.
3. To Hear The Angels Sing by Dorothy Maclean (Lindisfarne Press), Dorothy's autobiography.
4. Opening Doors Within by Eileen Caddy, daily selections from Eileen's Guidance.
5. Flight Into Freedom by Eileen Caddy (to be republished by Findhorn Press 2002), Eileen's autobiography.
6. The Kingdom Within edited by Alex Walker (Findhorn Press), a selection of writings on the history and work of the Findhorn Foundation by David Spangler, Peter and Eileen Caddy, Myrtle Glines, William Bloom, Dorothy Maclean, and many others.
7. Simply Build Green by John Talbott (Findhorn Press), a guide to the principles and methods of Eco-building.
8. In Perfect Timing by Peter Caddy (Findhorn Press), Peter Caddy's autobiography.
9. Growing People, compiled and edited by Kay Kay (Pilgrim Guides 2001), a recent collection of people's personal experiences of the Findhorn Community.

You may write to the Findhorn Foundation at The Park, Findhorn Forres IV36 3TZ, Moray, Scotland. Phone: +44 (0)1309 690311, Fax: +44 (0)1309 691301. The Findhorn website is at Findhorn.org.

http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/aug3/findhorn.htm

Watching new animist tradition form

2008-05-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

During a ceremony a few weeks ago, I sat and watched new animist traditions form. I watched as the woman I'm to marry and a mutual friend interacted with other than human persons in spirit and discussed their relationships with these persons. I could see them as the matrons of a newly forming tradition within this region. As these two women established relationships with these other than human persons they would introduce these other than human persons to others
and work with them to find co-creative ways to solve problems and live harmoniously in this bioregion. I watched forces of nature people and animal people and tree people and insect people come through these women and move around the ceremonial space, I witness these women share wisdom from spirit and communion with these other than human persons. I saw other than human persons and human persons create new relationships and work together.

I saw raven come in and heal wounds caused by the selfishness of others and, ancestors come and heal wounds caused by generations of accumulated pain. I saw Spider woman come in as an old crone and speak through my friend, teaching us that the ego is not a thing but a process of relationships, I saw an old lizard woman come through the woman I love and teach her the wisdom of lizard. I saw my fiance speak with a father tree which gave her much wisdom to share with us. I saw my friend and my fiance talk about the female forest spirit they have come to know as Flora. I saw that their relationship with this other than human person was the beginning of many future womens relationship with the forest spirit of this region. I saw these things happening so that relationships can be formed for future generations, I saw a birth.

Ecotrust

2008-03-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

Become a citizen of your bioregion!

Ecotrust is a unique and amazing group working towards actualizing bioregional life way, it is my pleasure to introduce you to them if you have not allready met them...

LLB

The Ecotrust Mission: To Build Salmon Nation
Citizens of Salmon Nation want to live in a place where economic, ecological, and social conditions are improving, where a "conservation economy" is emerging.
Our bioregion: the Pacific salmon / coastal temperate rain forest region from California to Alaska
Ecotrust was created in 1991 by a small group of diverse people who sought to bring some of the good ideas emerging around sustainability back to the rain forests of home. We set out to characterize this region and articulate a more enduring strategy for its prosperity.
These efforts are predicated on the notion, gaining an ever wider currency, that economic and ecological systems are mutually interdependent. To this relationship Ecotrust and others have sought to add a third "e" — social equity — to ensure that economic development awards benefits to all the region's citizens. Economy, ecology, equity: the triple bottom line.
Five integrated program areas, supported by our sophisticated tools and services, define and guide our efforts to build Salmon Nation:
Native Programs
Continuously strengthening over a decade of close relationships, Ecotrust both draws guidance from and provides assistance to the Native American and First Nation communities of Salmon Nation. Our objective is to support a growing network of leaders, increase outdoor education opportunities for native youth, and broker resources for repatriation and improved management of traditional lands.
Fisheries
Ecotrust seeks full public disclosure of the status of Pacific salmon as well as fundamental institutional changes in the way fisheries, marine ecosystems and watersheds are managed. With our State of the Salmon project, our goal is to create the most credible single source of information about salmon and salmon dependent communities, produce new models for socio-economic and ecological analysis, and protect and restore critical salmon watersheds.
Forestry
Ecotrust is working to develop landscape-scale examples of ecological forest management that sustain biodiversity and provide more reliable opportunities for forest dependent communities. Our objective is to develop new socio-economic models of traditional versus ecological forestry, protect key remaining natural-forest watersheds, and capture market forces to encourage new salmon-friendly forest practices.
Food & Farms
By promoting the seasonal products of local farmers and striving to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture on healthy watersheds, Ecotrust is fostering a regional food system in the Pacific Northwest. Our objectives are to improve public understanding of local agriculture and increase the market share of locally grown food.
Citizenship
Ecotrust works to articulate the idea of Salmon Nation, to promote a sense of place and stewardship among the citizens of the region. We seek to reach a significant percentage of this region’s residents, inspiring them to tangibly change the way they think about their relationship to nature and to become more responsible citizens of Salmon Nation.

Salmon Nation

2008-03-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

Salmon Nation is a bioregional project established by the organization called ecotrust.

It is a way of looking at the bioregion based upon is primary relationship with its most important food source, the other-than-human-person we have come to know as Salmon people.

Salmon Nation reminds us of the primary importance of this other-than-human-person to the great bioregion of Cascadia and beyond, through this work being done by Salmon Nation we begin to understand that making the world safe and healthy for salmon makes the world safe and healthy for human-people.

Please take a look at their web page and become an ambassador of Salmon Nation.

Become an Ambassador of Salmon Nation
Through the Salmon Nation Ambassadors project, we seek to jumpstart and support the creativity of citizens throughout the region on behalf of a civic society. A Salmon Nation Ambassador is any individual who is inspired by Salmon Nation and acts as a spokesperson to reach citizens beyond the typical avenues of environmental or social activism.
What do Ambassadors do?
They use Salmon Nation to help connect people to place and foster a new type of economic relationship with the landscape and community.
They are involved in work that enhances the vitality of the bioregion.
They work to bridge urban-rural divides.
They act as a conduit for information from the citizenry that helps inform Ecotrust's Citizenship program.
They are financially independent from Ecotrust, although they occasionally engage in a fiscal sponsor relationship with Ecotrust if foundation grants are available.
Ambassadors often resell Salmon Nation merchandise or distribute other materials to their communities. Discounted pricing on merchandise is available, and most other content is available for free.
To learn more, please contact Howard Silverman, either by phone at 503.227.6225 or
hide_email('by email','howard','ecotrust.org')
by email.

Bioregional animist convergence

2008-03-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

new post

Bioregional Animist Convergence: Sharing Place

Today, 7:35 PM

Bioregional Animist Convergence: sharing place

This summer solstice we will be holding a Bioregional Animist Convergence- a meet and camp out- somewhere in Washington.
The location is still up in the air because we don't know how many people will be attending. So far, potential locations have been: near Spokane, Lummi Island, and the Skokomish forest near the Skokomish tribes reservation. Though the event will be hosted in Washington, the idea is for bioregional animists of all bioregions to converge and share their relationship with their place. If you have the relationship, the means, and the desire, we look forward to honoring the relations of diverse bioregions together.

Discussions on Bioregional Animism will be led by Little Lightening Bolt and specific events and groups will be organized by those attending, hopefully including such topics as interspecies communication, the importance of sacred states of consciousness to animist people, local foods and their importance to bioregionalism and animism, etc. As planning for the convergence progresses, so will the specifics of the break-out events. We will also hold a collective group ceremony on solstice, opening ourselves to the life place and its people, asking the life place and its people to guide us in establishing a sacred way of relating to the space on this important day.
It will be a camp out which will require people attending to provide for their own needs. Encouraging self sufficiency, the way of the heron- a bird person of the Cascadia life place- we will ask that you bring enough of whatever you need to sustain yourself for the days of the convergence and perhaps a little more to share. A space will be available for camping, but we are not sure if this space will require a base fee for the group... once we have a better idea of how many people would like to attend, we will be able to determine where to host it and if there will be any cost to camp. Do be prepared to provide your own food, shelter, water and toiletries.

I would like to inquire about who is interested in attending and what people would like to see happen at this convergence. It will be for you, and for us all, and for our collective spaces, so what each of us puts into it, all of us will get out of it.
please contact LLB and let him know your thoughts.
please see the invite on this tribes events list.

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Medicine of Place

2008-03-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

Bookmonger: Spring Thoughts Turn to Plants

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/mar/02/bookmonger-spring-thoughts-turn-to-plants/

Spring has sprung up in my soul, if not on the calendar quite yet, and it was helped along by the books I read this week.

"Medicine of Place" is a labor of love spearheaded by Julia Brayshaw, with collaboration from artist Karen Lohmann. Both women hail from Olympia.

Drawing from her two vocations as a psychotherapist and a flower essence practitioner, Brayshaw makes an argument for the healing qualities of Cascadia's wildflowers. She suggests that the patterns and ecology of the native plants of our bioregion can offer not just relief for physical maladies, but spiritual tonic as well.

Medicine of Place

By Julia M. Brayshaw

Alchemia. 214 pages. $34.99.

Brayshaw provides monograms of 33 wildflowers found in the Pacific Northwest, from grass widow, which begins blooming as early as January, to explorer's gentian, which blossoms at the end of the growing season.

For each flower, she gives the botanical description and geographical range. A section on habitat and ecology discusses the plant's web of relationships, and sometimes includes the effects humans have had. The camas, for example, was a sustainable staple in the diet of Native Americans. Later, the agricultural practices of settlers contributed to the severe decline of the flower.

Brayshaw also lyrically describes the "gesture" of each flower — its physical characteristics — before moving on to the chief focus: the flower's "medicine story." These portraits propose ways of considering the flower's message or inspiration.

And the deck of over-sized cards, with wildflower images painted by Karen Lohmann, invites the same kind of involvement, with suggestions about using the cards to develop a more intuitive connection with plants. It may sound a little "woo-woo" for the more hard-boiled among us, but I found it to be a fun, mind-expanding exercise, if not quite as transformational as the author might have hoped.

Another new book that covers much of the same literal territory is the "Encyclopedia of Northwest Native Plants," compiled by three more plant experts out of southwestern Washington.

This reference features over 500 species of native plants that can be incorporated into Northwest gardens, with the aim of restoring some of the biodiversity that has been ripped out by development over the last century and a half.

The entries include advice on propagation, siting and cultivation, and there are lists of plants to include in hedgerows, meadows, and more.

Armed with multiple degrees in botany, author Kathleen A. Robson has worked for the U.S. Forest Service and as an adjunct faculty member for Washington State University, and currently operates a native plant nursery in Woodland. Her affection for these plants shines through in her authoritative descriptions of even the humblest bulbs and grasses.

Gorgeous photographs by Master Gardener Alice Richter and pen and ink botanical drawings by Marianne Filbert enhance this inspiring resource from Portland's Timber Press.

bioregionalism takes on the global heroin trade

2008-03-21T00:53:00.000-07:00

place

back to desert »

"what could make a person strong is understanding completely where you come from," says former Rio Arriba county commision president Alfredo Montoya. "Understanding who you are. What your village has to offer. Your history. your traditions and customs. How spiritually there's places to go. And that is why the land and water issues, fighting for the acequias and the land grant movement, are so important for recovering from substance abuse."

--from the book 'chiva: a village takes on the global heroin trade' by chellis glendinning

Thu, March 20, 2008 - 10:00 PM - permalink - 1 Comment

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First peoples bioregional animism blog

2008-03-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hey.. I just want to let you all know on this tribe how awesome you all are! I have grown so much because of all the interesting things that i find here and the sharing that goes on between us all, as we dance with the land. I was always an animist by nature (no pun intended), but as I've delved into the biroregional concept more fully and continued to share with all of you, maintaining the First Peoples blog...I have expanded my understanding of animism so much more...it's incredible. Today I picked up the newspaper, as I often do to find current events for the drop in kids and the first thing that drew my attention was an article about the Tech school sponsoring a community meal with local game on the menu. I realized that because I belong to this tribe and share in the understanding with all of you, that more and more I am thinking from a biroregional perspective and by osmosis, perhaps...coming to understand my biroregion in a much deeper way. I find myself much more involved these days with what's going on on a DAILY basis within my bioregion, rather than just a passing glance or in general knowledge. It's quite a different perspective that reaches beyond animism for me. I have always danced with the land and lived in an animist way, honored the spirits of the land I was on, but now it has taken on a deeper meaning for me....guess it's "put me in my place" for sure ; ) Maintaining the First Peoples' blog has been a good exercise for me and I am grateful for having been offered the opportunity. It has deepened my commitment and I would love to expand that further, and hope to see some other First Peoples' from all over the world add their perspectives. I would not want that to be all one sided from only this bioregion. If there are other First Peoples here..please come on over to the blog and check it out. I would love to gain a deeper understanding of other First Peoples experience with biroreginal animism....it will serve to educate me further and broaden my perspective. i am honored by the wisdom along your path that has made its way into my everyday thought process...you ROCK! Guess I might to give in and read that book now, huh LLB? ~LOL~ With much respect
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from nanci at the first peoples bioregional animism blog come and join her!

We love our relations

2008-03-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

“The Parasites:
I believe Western European culture will never endure in the Americas. I believe it is only a passing phase like the hoola hoop or the skate board. I also believe that the peoples living in the Americas will become American; that they will have to in order to survive in America. That means that a truly American culture will evolve-is evolving-in the Americas, a culture which is not a European import, nor an adaptation of an European import. That means that the sons and daughters of immigrants who strove for over four hundred years to posses the Americas will be possessed by the Americas; the descendants of those who tried to conquer and subdue the Americas will be conquered and subdued by the Americas. It means that the stubborn land pioneers cleared and cursed will be loved, respected, and revered by the great grandchildren of pioneers. And the native creatures of that land will also be loved and fostered, including the original American Human: the Indian.”-Wilfred Pelletier and Ted Poole, from No Foreign Land: The Biography of a North American Indian.

Cosmic Rains of the black sky tribe tending to the needs of the earth mother and her children.

This is what I have been shown by spirit… at our lodge at the cedar house so many years ago, doing ceremony with my tribe, we black sky people… when bioregional animism was being born in my visions and in our relationships. I saw how the Earth this land gave form to the body, the mind the spirit and the cultures of the people… how new tribes were forming peoples spirits where waking up to the reality that they are the place they live, they are the people of the land and sky they live within…
I was shown this clear as day… I could feel the land reaching up through us giving us form and instruction on how to live, how to bee kin, how to be family and live in a good way. I still see this and feel this… and I am seeing it in the people I share this vision with.
I am going to going on a long walk in the not to distant futurethis fall… looking for my people and seeking new skills… and visiting the members of the black sky tribe where ever the four winds have taken you with the hope to bring you back to the Puget Sound eventually so we can co-create a village with the land.

This is happening...

You better learn...

2008-03-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

Posted in Excerpts by renee on March 13th, 2008
From an interview by Derrick Jensen with Thomas Berry:
“How does the wind speak to us? A biting wind on a winter’s day tells the person of harshness and the challenge of existence. It wants to make a person strong. And the softness of a summer breeze tells us of the compassionate dimension of the universe.
“People say,’Oh, that’s poetic. That’s romantic’. But that’s the most scientific thing there is. If someone says to me, ‘I don’t hear the voice of the wind,’ I say, ‘You better learn.’
The earths voices are heard...

Bioregional animism in print

2008-03-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

Hey community!

I am proud to announce that I will soon have a co-authored piece on bioregional animism and community based shamanry published in a book titled Feminine Mysticism in Art:Artists Envisioning the Divine: co-authored with Daniel Mirante publisher of Lila journal for Visionary Art, Shamanism and the Transpersonal Vision. Many thanks and blessings to Dan for helping spread the vision.

Deer medicine

2008-03-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

Many years ago I sat in my brothers living room in ceremony with the sacred medicine called San pedro cactus or Achuma as it was called in Bolivia where it originally comes from. This cactus has traveled its way from there and now is grown for healing, divination, and communion with other-than-human-persons, just to name a few…
During this ceremony i had been spending a great deal of time focusing on my fellow mans pain and sickness, the problems that face humanity, my own problems as a human-person as well. We sat quietly in contemplation as well allowed the medicine to bring us visions and insight. The consumption of Achuma is the ceremonial act of bringing another person into your body to guide, cleanse protect, and teach you. This is a practice that has been called plant teacher shamanry, where a visionary plant is considered a teacher, or tutelary spirit that can be consumed and thus embodied as the method of communion with the plants spirit or intelligence. A prime example of co-intelligence via resonant intelligence, when the plant is consumed the plant and the one that consumes the plant works as one functioning system of intelligence.
Evolutionarily speaking the plant kingdom is a much older and much more well adapted species then mammals and have often been considered the elders of human-people. Within animist communities elders are often considered wiser, (thought this is not often the case in non animist cultures) so there for the plant is sought out for its wisdom. When one consumes the plant and is in a humble way working with the plant as an other-than-human-person not a tool or a drug or just a plant, but a person, the plant lends its wisdom and power to the one that consumes it. The great mystery of life cannot help but be felt via these wise ones, one may embody these wise ones but never truly know all that they know, it is a great mystery that they reveal to us and give us hints as to how we must relate to life and the mystery in order to be well. They will never give us all the answers we seek because the mystery itself must be perpetuated at all costs according to these plant elders. It is the question no the answer that drives the teacher, and with plant teachers it is no different.
Sitting in my brother Spheres living room, focusing on human suffering and its alleviation… the room shifted, it changed before me. In front of me was not just his living room, but super imposed upon this living room was a prairie, and sitting where I sat was a deer. The deer and i shared the same space, its body and mine were one. I felt the deer within me, as me, and as it moved I moved, as it thought I thought and it said to me very directly… “Don’t forget us, the work your doing is also for us.”
The Deer had spoken and living room had shifted back from a prairie/living room and I was left with a life altering change in how I viewed my purpose, in the roles i was to play in life. I had all of a sudden developed the seed for an ecologically responsible ethic. How could one sit there open to the whole of life and feel a deer speak to you ,telling you not to forget her people and all other-than-human-persons when attempting to ease suffering. It became more and more apparent to me as I opened up to more guidance from spirit that night that the the fate of human people where interrelated to the fate of other-than-human-persons, deer had pointed the way.
Being shown that one could relate to an other-than-human-person in this way was a huge lesson for me, it was also a huge shock to have an other-than-human-person choose to appear to me to give me this lesson with out my seeking it. I felt honored yet rattled, i had to at this point now find ways to change the way I lived my life. Deer had spoken to me. It wanted something from me, we had begun a long relationship.
Yesterday in the psyche ward I work as a counselor in I watched through the windows as a herd of deer chased each others young in a game of tag. I was reminded of my experience with deer that night during ceremony at my friends house while working with the plant teacher called Achuma. I saw them play and chase each other, and I prayed for them. I saw the difficulty of their lives and I saw how we added upon their already large yet joyfully burden and I continued my vow to help them through the choices I make in how I live my life and how I relate to others, how I help others. I learned from deer that to help others human-persons one must help them in a way that helps nature, that helps the deer as well. I am happy I learned of my responsibilities in this way because these ecological and social ethics have been planted deep in my soul… not in the shallow levels in my intellect.

The Bioregional Animist Art Work of Martin Bridge

2008-02-13T13:42:00.001-08:00

Martin Bridge is a modern animist artist and teacher living in Massachusetts.
His work strives to celebrate the magic and spirit of the life place.
I am honored to show some of his art work here.
please see his full gallery as well as his web page and workshops.
father hood
ceremonial space
spider clan fetish

http://martin.ritualarts.org/

the guardian mask

adapting curanderismo to the bioregion

2008-02-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

Please check out bioregional animist Velvet sirens web page on adapting curanderismo to his bioregion. lots of amazing insights.

Obligation to all life

2008-01-26T18:26:00.000-08:00

As an animist I feel an overwhelming obligation to the practice of animism. The practice of animism is to me the maintenance, establishment and honoring of relationships with life, my fellow humans, and all of the other-than-human-persons that compose that which we come to know as the totality of existence. The practice of animism renews and deepens the sense of obligation to practice animism within the practice itself! The sense of obligation naturally emerges, we find through the practice the necessity of the practice for the over all sense of wellness for the entire ecology of existence. We find that we must relate with respect and honor to life in order for life to continue in a state of wellness, our wellness and our obligation to be well is then perceived through our practice to be interwoven with the wellness of those we have relationships with.

The more one practices as an animist the more one finds there is not one aspect of the totality we do not have an obligation to serve for the benefit of mutual wellness. Through the fulfillment of this obligation we find our selves blessed and blessing all that is around us.

bless and be blessed

LLB

Kincentric ecology and bioregional animism

2008-01-26T15:53:00.000-08:00

Iwigara

"Indigenous people view both themselves and nature as part of an extended ecological family that shares ancestry and origins. It is an awareness that life in any environment is viable only when humans view the life surrounding them as kin. The kin, or relatives, include all the natural elements of an ecosystem. Indigenous people are affected by and, in turn, affect the life around them. The interactions that result from this ‘‘kincentric ecology’’ enhance and preserve the ecosystem. Interactions are the commerce of ecosystem functioning. Without human recognition of their role in the complexities of life in a place, the life suffers and loses its sustainability. Indigenous cultural models of nature include humans as one aspect of the complexity of life. A Rarámuri example of iwıg will serve to enhance understanding of the human–nature relationship that is necessary in order to fully comprehend the distinct intricacies of kincentric ecology."

Kincentric ecology is a word coined by Dr. Enrique Salmo'n a member of the Rara'muri people of Northern Mexico. "Life in any environment is viable only when humans view their surroundings as kin; that their mutual roles are essential for survival." Salmo'n points out quoting Leslie Silko This perspective is a natural sense which emerges out of relating to the world from an animist perspective. The sense of oneness with family members, with kin expands not to just all of humanity but all other-than-human-persons the life-place itself. Whether this relationship is understood from a more metaphysical context or from a souly social context the feeling of kinship with the ecological world with the life-place one lives within is summed up quite nicely by chief Richard Atleo of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth people...

The Creator made all things one.

All things are related and interconnected.

All things are sacred.

All things are therefore to be respected

In this above statement we can see how the animist way of relating brings about a sense of kinship, that which we relate to is thus a relative... there is not one thing that we cannot relate to or have a relationship with, we are thus relatives, those who relate with one another, we are related, we exist because of relationship, we are one big family, made of the same stuff, the same blood, the same body, soul, spirit, we are made of star dust, we share the same breath will all that is, we are one family, we are one.

This sense of oneness is rare and often debated or sought after by mystics and philosophers in other non-animist traditions. Mystics spend life times dedicated to this "one taste" that transpersonal philosopher Ken Wilber speaks of. Within animist traditions this "one taste" quite often is a given, the foundation that all other experience is built upon, a humble awareness and a simple point of view not held on high as the ultimate transcendent experience but the basis of all experience. Stories, rituals and ceremonial practices maintain this experience in the daily lives of animists, initiatory, and polyphasic transrational methods maintain and develop differing levels and degrees of this awareness according the the individual needs of members of animist society's, to further, or deepen this awareness of kinship and oneness, for the benefit of the entire ecosystem. Examples being the Amazonian traditions of initiatory experiences and education with the entheogenic plant teacher ayahuasca or solitary fasting practices in many animist traditions world wide.

If animism is a kincentric practice then bioregional animism is a kincentric as well as region or place-centric relational ontology. Bioregional animists there for focus on immediate and local kinfolk. They interact with their relations daily and intimately, of coarse they are one with the larger whole, the totality of existence even, but choose to focus quite pragmatically with the ground under their feet and the sky above their heads, the other-than-human-persons that are their immediate relatives living just next door so to speak. Why? Why not focus on say the Amazon when your living in New Jersey your one with the Amazon you can work with the spirits of the amazon your distant kinfolk, why not? The simplest most heart felt answer I can come up with to that and the main motivation for being place centric in our kincentric world view and daily practice as an animist is that we are needed where we stand. Our family needs us where we are and by focusing our efforts and our putting attention into our local relationships with our relatives we establish the right conditions for life to be good where we ARE... "Life in any environment is viable only when humans view their surroundings as kin; that their mutual roles are essential for survival." by this she means our current surroundings, look around at what surrounds you. What are your relationships with the kin surrounding you? Who are they do you know their names... their individual names not species names... what they call themselves. Do you know how to speak their language? Do you treat them with respect and honor? Is there love in your relationship with your larger family? Do you communicate with them? As an animist or some one interested in or practicing shamanry what is your relationship to the land you live within, with the your kin next door? These are the questions bioregional animists ask themselves.

What nourishes you?

2008-01-25T22:29:00.000-08:00

I like to eat from my bioregion, as much as I can. I feel renewed when I can get fresh vegetables and things from the local merchants here. I like to eat baby spinach on sandwiches in place of lettuce. ham and swiss on whole wheat with sprouts apples I love wildflower honey from Uppingill farm and their wicked good strawberries when in season. the birds singing at the feeders in themorning being with the land, its sounds, its smells watching the eagles fly up over the ridge stone people walking in the forest and leaving prayer stones as I go lazing in the summer heat at Barton's Cove overlooking the river..watching the world go by fishin the quiet of a fresh fallen snow the beautiful birches and ironwood that hang over my back yard creating a calm shade to relax in red geraniums picking fiddleheads in the spring and making fiddlehead soup...YUM children laughing the sound of native drums Jim Boyd & Ulali The good people here in Bioregional animism ... lots more...but what nourishes YOU?

Nanc...

Nanci~Little Shield
Massachusetts

Currently living in Los Angeles, I am nourished by thoughts and memories of lush, gorgeous places I've traveled in the past -- waterfalls, mountaintops, pristine rivers, fertile valleys....

And I'm nourished by the vision of the future of urban living -- with rooftop gardens, water catchment, sustainable energy, bicycle culture, 95% reduction in cars/trucks, plenty of fast public transport, dancing and music in the streets! Etc!

I'm also nourished by oranges and lemons in season down here in So Cal right now.

I'm nourished by the color of sunsets.

flan...

Living in the city, I am nourished by the beautiful architecture and the way the light hits their facades at different times of day, and the design and craftsmanship that went into their making. I'm nourished by strolling along the boulevards and watching all the other people who share the street with me -- vendors, people walking their dogs, bicyclists, parents with children, crazy pigeons, performers who play beautiful music for pocket change. I'm nourished by the parks and greenways, and the people who work to keep them alive and keep them safe to be in. I'm nourished by the tiny sun porch in our apartment, and our houseplants, and by watching Anna, a resident in my building who cares for the landscaping outside as a labor of love. I'm nourished by the silence when my Quaker group meets for worship, and then by strolling to the farmer's market afterward to buy produce from farmers in the region.

Erin

What nourishes me:

the farmer's market
watching the veritable baby parade at the farmer's market
making tea
water
seeing the hills turn green
learning about the plants and herbs
hiking through the hills
checking in at the ancestors' altar
warm baths on cold nights
this tribe
labyrinths
stone people
bird calls
my fiance
my family
my dreams