“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” -Charles Darwin

Walton Ford Sanctuary 1998 watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper 153.7 x 304.2 cm Chief Editors Alex Grey, Allyson Grey Creative Director, Graphic Design Marisa Scirocco A message from Alex and Allyson Managing Editor Christopher Alexander, author of The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Delvin Solkinson Building and the Nature of the Universe, showed people of many backgrounds Press Manager two pictures, one of a parking lot and the other a pond in the woods. Eli Morgan Then he asked, “Which image reminds you more of your Eternal Self?” Media Assistant People invariably chose the pond in the woods. We were carefully Syd Gnosis considering whether to continue a Chapel in an urban setting or to build a new Chapel in a rural setting, and asked ourselves this Contributing Designers question. Because we felt that a Chapel in nature reminded us Sijay Macdonald Syd Gnosis more of our Eternal Self, we chose a peaceful patch of beauty in the woods to call holy ground. Feature Photographer Josef Schmidt Extracting poison from the nature field must become Translation Team an alchemical experimental process that humanity Gayle Highpine is learning in the twenty-first century. The artists, Satoshi Sakamoto activists and philosophers in this issue of CoSM Front Cover Journal, have each examined this challenge from Alex Grey ‘Ocean of Love Bliss’ its deepest source and appear to be expressions of 2009, oil on canvas a world-centric or planet-centric self. These leaders Back Cover represent important new archetypes, heroes and Mitsuru Nagashima models for us to embody. ‘Myth and Legend No. 20 - A Tree of Life’, 2008, wood cut on Japanese handmade paper Thomas Berry referred to himself as a geologian. Published by CoSM Press He was a Catholic priest who saw the beauty of God’s Website : www.cosmpress.com Phone : 843-632-3880 world being desecrated and believed that evolution was a demonstration of the cosmos as creative and Purchase Journals inclined toward self-reflection. www.cosm.org Advertising and Distribution inquiries Pablo Amaringo was a Peruvian healer who [email protected] became an artist after shamanic journeying and an All content copyright 2010 by the artists and contributors. Contact them directly for licensing inquiries. encounter with a magician. He produced an outstanding CoSM Journal has been created with sincere dedication to the community and the environment. body of work that gives a first hand account of visionary It is produced on 80% recycled, 60% post consumer waste paper that is green E certified. celestial worlds of heavenly crystals and exotic alien architecture. The production facility at Green Solutions Printing is Certified Ancient Forest Friendly, carbon neutral, powered by wind energy and is a certified triple bottom line company by B Lab. These two giants, both featured in this sixth issue of CoSM Journal, Deep thanks to Daniel Swantek for his generous help with this production. passed to the spirit world during the making of this special edition, theme: Human/Nature. This issue is dedicated to them.

CoSM Journal, published by CoSM Press, provides a forum for the emergence of Visionary Culture. In the woods we return to reason and faith… all mean egotism vanishes. I become a CoSM Journal shares with its readers the work and stories of artists, thinkers, and community builders who are dedicated to transformative living and a commitment to the integration of wisdom and the arts. transparent eye-ball; I see all; the currents of the Universal being circulate through me. CoSM Journal is offered to inform, connect, and inspire this evolving global awareness. The Chapel of I am part or particle of God...I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. Sacred Mirrors, CoSM, is located at 46 Deer Hill Rd, Wappingers Falls, New York 12590. CoSM is a sanctuary for contemplation and a center for events encouraging the creative spirit. The Sacred Mirrors –Ralph Waldo Emerson are a series of paintings that allow us to see ourselves and each other as reflections of the divine. CoSM provides a public exhibition of the Sacred Mirrors and the most outstanding works of mystical art by Alex Grey. The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors is a 501(c)(3) organization, supported solely by charitable donations from the community. If you would like to make a contribution to the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors please send checks to CoSM or make donations on-line at cosm.org. fe a t u re d a r t featured articles Symbiosis and the Gall Wasp Eco-Machine Alex Grey...8 Skip Backus...16 H u m a n / N a t u re Ecovention History and Mystery of the CoSM Land Amy Lipton...10 Alex and Allyson Grey...20 Revival Field Creating the New CoSM on the Hudson Mel Chin...14 Alex Stark...22 art feature Walton Ford...26 Mycelial Consciousness Mark Ryden...28 Paul Stamets...34 Alexis Rockman...30 Being With Flowers World Culture Anthony Ward...38 Visionary Mapwork...42 Remembrance North America Thomas Berry...40 Madeline von Foerster...44 Art from Luna, The Butterfly Chronicles Steven Kenny...46 Julia Butterfly Hill...48 South America Humans and Earth Maria Isabela Hartz...58 Pablo Amaringo...60 Ralph Metzner...54 Europe 13 Indigenous Grandmothers Brigid Marlin...76 Carole Hart...62 Daniel Mirante...78 Spirit Dance and Plant Wisdom Asia Kathi von Koerber...66 Akiko Endo...88 Visionary Permaculture Mitsuru Nagashima...90 Delvin Solkinson...70 Oceania Damanhur Music of the Plants Andy Thomas...98 Esperide Ananas...80 Africa fashion Anne Mwiti...108 Dancing Shiva...84 Soul Furnace Building Bridges with Bees Alex and Allyson Grey...110 Interview with David Wolfe...92 Nature of an Artist’s Soul Deep Ecology Alex Grey...114 John Seed...100 Altered States Peace with the Earthly Mother Kate Raudenbush...116 Gabriel Cousens...104 Vicarious World Culture Tool and Alex Grey...120 Visionary Network...112 The Process Bioneers Conference Allyson Grey...128 J.P. Harpignies...122 gallery Places of Power CoSM Family...132 Econoshamanic...126

CoSM Journal volume 6 www.cosm.org Alex Grey Symbiosis and the Gall Wasp

“The artist blooms cultural flowers for the world, so bee-ings can gather the pollen of beauty into their hives and lives.”

Preparing for the Symbiosis festival that was held in Yosemite, we were considering the concept of symbiosis and learned about the gall wasp. This cousin to a bee lays its eggs on a naked leaf, prey to wind, rain and insect predators. The tree graciously protects the wasp egg by growing a womb to surround each individual ova. The bulging ball or wart on the tree’s leaf signals the presence of a developing gall wasp. When the egg is fully grown, the hatchling eats its way out of the protective shell provided by the tree. What could motivate a tree to host a gall wasp? According to Rudolf Steiner’s amazing book “Bees,” European farmers have always known that trees hosting gall wasps bear fruit that is qualitatively sweeter than those trees that have not been gall wasp hosts. Symbiosis : Gall Wasp and Oak Tree, 2010, oil on wood, 12 x 12 in. Farmers bring wasps to their fruit bearing trees in order to have the sweetest fruit. The wasp, the tree and the farmer are all in a symbiotic relationship.

Symbiosis is an opportunity to see the compassionate oneness manifesting through the nature field. Symbiosis is an everyday miracle proving that interdependence is a strategy for evolution. Evolution flourishes both through competition – survival of the fittest, and symbiosis – a close and often long- term relationship between species. Each species, from single celled organisms to primates, strive to be the best they can be, while at the same time existing in direct interdependence with many other life forms and truly in relationship to all.

The diminishment of certain species, like bees and frogs, indicates a frightening imbalance in our natural world. Awareness of this breakdown has led to an upsurge in bee keeping worldwide. As our species consciously evolves, the study of symbiosis as a fundamental law of nature provides a key to a sustainable future.

Alex Grey www.alexgrey.com www.cosm.org 8 above, Gall Wasp study, 2009, pencil, 8 x 10 in. 9 clean water, air and soil continue to diminish at an alarming rate. I wondered Ecovention why this larger global picture was being overlooked in the art world internation- A my L i p to n ally. Every other pertinent socio-political issue has been addressed within the framework of post-modernist critique. Through the nineties exhibitions focused At this turning point in humanities on AIDS, gender, feminism, identity politics, ethnicity, multi-culturalism, con- relationship with the natural world sumerism, the body - these issues were being scrutinized thoroughly. I questioned comes a need for immediate environmen- if our planet’s environmental problems were too big for artists to tackle, and tal action. Philosophers, politicians, and poets, why many were still more concerned with an aesthetic of critique or an insular architects, arborists and artists alike are being called to dialogue about art itself. I wanted to see works that were focusing on have a more direct relationship with nature. The ecological crisis is bring- our relationship with the larger, living eco-system, recogniz- ing together all peoples and professions, governments and corporations in a collective ing that our very existence depends upon its survival. quest to curb the current environmental devastation. Out of this time of transition After some years of research I began to find comes the spirit of creativity expressed eloquently through innovations in the Arts. One that an alternative vision existed. There is a such new movement of artists is creating functional installations that help heal and restore small yet growing, world-wide movement of natural spaces while educating and inspiring others to do so as well. Here Amy Lipton talks about her artists who are actively at work finding ways to work with Sue Spaid sharing art that creates real positive change in the world while presenting sustainable creatively solve ecological problems. They are options to a global society in need of direction. breaking out of the traditional confines of what In the overlapping realms of Earthworks, Land Art, Earth Art, Environmental is considered art by engaging in real world issues Art, and Ecological Art, we looked for artists whose works literally had a particu- and daring for their art to have a function - thereby lar transformative effect as an end result. Since all great artworks calling into question the very framework within which achieve transformation on some level, we chose to limit we define art. For years now, writers such as Suzi Gablik and Lucy our search to art that fell into the following category: Lippard have been championing a social role and function for art, rejecting the an ‘ecovention’ is defined as an artist’s aesthetic notion that aesthetics can not serve anything but itself and its own ends. invention and/or intervention within the con- The purpose of the Ecovention exhibition was to create public awareness of these text of an ecosystem. Its aesthetic components innovative and inventive artist solutions taking place all over the world. Some may be both visible and invisible, with a primary of these artists have entered into the new scientific field of restoration ecology. emphasis on regional site-specific projects that They are reaching out across disciplines and helping to bridge the gap between art concern restoration, reclamation, renewal and and life by raising awareness and appreciation of our natural resources. By giving rejuvenation of polluted and damaged waste- aesthetic form to restored natural areas and urban sites, these artists are engaging lands. Our next big concern was to demonstrate in a collaborative process with nature, practicing a socially relevant art. They are how and why this work is defined as art and not science, helping to create a new paradigm by proving that art can contribute to society engineering, landscape design, architecture or eco-activism while as a whole, not merely in the politically correct sense or as a at the same time not trivializing those important disciplines whose components social critique, but rather by participating directly in might at any stage become part of the work. The key to this change in the viewer’s the world. By focusing on the interrelationships perception is in challenging the predominant value system that determines what between the biological, cultural, political, or his- an artwork can be. torical aspects of ecosystems, these artists are In this respect, the exhibition reflected my own exploration over the last decade to working to extend environmental principles find artworks that cross the line from traditional art production and institution- and practices directly into the community. alization, into the larger context of human and non-human natural communities. By asking fearless questions that no one In the late 1990’s, after more than a decade of working within the contempo- else thought to ask, the artists in Ecovention rary art world as gallery director and curator, I began to have questions regarding are taking on the role of visionaries, working my sphere of work. I wondered about the relevance of the art I was seeing, and collaboratively with architects, planners, social was faced with a serious dilemma: the planet was deteriorating scientists, biologists, botanists, and communities. The goal for rapidly, while the prevailing art in galleries and museums Ecovention was to present these projects as case studies. In this manner we hope was mostly autobiographical and self-referential. that their experiences can provide access and information to those that might be For decades environmentalists have foreseen inspired towards making works of their own, paving the way for a whole new kind an impending disaster of immense propor- of art that can help realize needed change in the world. tions when the planet becomes truly unable to Essay from the Ecovention exhibition catalogue, published jointly by the Contemporary Art Center, 10 sustain life. Our basic life support systems of Cincinnati, OH, Greenmuseum.org and ecoartspace. 11 Mierle Laderman Ukeles Jackie Brookner Turnaround/Surround Laughing Brook 1989-present 2009 Cambridge, Massachusetts Salway Park, Cincinnati, Ohio

For this project, 22 tons of recycled Jackie Brookner created a series crushed glass and mirror were of biosculptures and wetland mixed into asphalt to create a habitats that filter stormwater half-mile-long glassphalt path that runoff from parking lots, traverses this 55-acre former refuse sidewalks and 3 acres of ball dump turned recreational park. Pine fields before the water enters and cedar trees have been planted, the severely endangered Mill along with four types of native tall Creek. As water flows over the grasses. Perennials, such as roses and biosculptures, the plants and herbs, emphasize the park’s prior associated bacteria transform role as a smelly dump. There is also toxins into food by using an image of a galaxy grafted onto a pollutants as resources for 20 foot-diameter disc made from their own metabolism. colored, pre-consumer rubber waste. Laughing Brook creates a Representatives of Cambridge’s 56 community gathering area different cultures will provide the and focal point for park users artist memorable objects for inser- while demonstrating sustainable tion into the hilltop, thus converting urban stormwater practices. the site into a public monument. It includes wetland and prairie landscapes, butterfly gardens, native plant nurseries, and Betsy Damon walkways. Living Water Garden artists the of courtesy photos all 1998 Aviva Rahmani Chengdu, Sichaun Province, China Ghost Nets This 6 acre park on 1990-2000 the Fu River in the middle of Gulf of Maine Chengdu was finished in 1998. Ghost Nets appropriated the term for lost Dirty water from the river is monofilament fishing drift nets: ghost nets. cleaned in a seven-stage natural That metaphor expressed how some process that is designed to be an human habits are invisible, indestructible interactive recreational park. and can destroy all life. The fact that ghost Damon conceived of the park and nets continue to fish destructively many directed a design team consisting of years after disengaging from fishing boats Margie Ruddick, Landscape design- was an analogy to how difficult it is to er, Huang Shida, Bio engineer and change destructive human behavior. The numerous Chinese professionals. Ghost Nets Experiment took place on the 2.5 The park has been awarded many acre site of a former coastal town dump on prizes and initiated a national an island fishing village in the Gulf of Maine. dialogue in Chinese about bio It was restored to flourishing wetlands. remediations. Flowforms are used for aeration by moving water in a Amy Lipton is the co-director of ecoartspace, a bi-coastal non-profit series of vortices. Children play organization that creates opportunities for addressing environmen- for many hours in these multi tal issues through the arts. Lipton has curated numerous exhibitions, Amy Lipton functional forms. written for books and publications. She organizes and participates on panel discussions, and frequently lectures on art and the environment. www.ecoartspace.org 12 13 14 of a hazardous, contaminated siteintoaliving, productiveenvironment. contaminated of ahazardous, the transformation goal: committedtoitsstated and remains process scientific REVIVAL artwork. a catalyzed larger inprogress,that the FIELDisawork of aspart “Green Thehistoric fieldshouldbeconsidered Remediation”. of the potential field established fromthis ofbiomasssamples analysis soil.Scientific fromcontaminated metals heavy toextract plants using specialhyperaccumulator fieldtest ofareplicated form in 1993,tookthe technology. concluded Theinitialexperiment, ascientific by forwarding ecology an activeprocessoftransforming into an formalism beyond art ofland idea the sculpture, whichextended conceptual soil. Theprojectisabreakthrough contaminated tools incleaning useas their toconsider enough inconcentrations metals heavy absorb can specificplants that confirmed that artwork an Paul, Minnesota. It is Pig’s Eye Landfill, St. originated in1991 FieldRevival photo :David Schneider Mel Chin Mel Revival Field Revival cultural aesthetics with complex ideas. His ideas. complex aconceptual with with cultural aesthetics isconsistent work philosophy, toincludesculpting and practiceofart the whichemphasizes multi-disciplinary, conjoincross- that works and collaborative teamwork range of approaches in his art, including works that require that includingworks ofapproachesinhisart, range art at an early age.He early atan art broad isknownfor the www.stationmuseum.com/mel/chin.htm bridging the natural and socialecology. naturaland bridging the

photo: Walker Art Center Houston, Texas making began and Mel in Chinwasborn www.fundred.org Mel Chin Mel 15

The Eco-Machine Skip Backus

The Omega Center for Sustainable Living started about five years ago as we were approaching a critical infrastructure issue. The campus was developed in the 1950’s when the septic system for our wastewater disposal was installed. Omega is a not-for-profit educa- tional organization, so we wanted to take the opportunity to convert wastewater naturally and educate people, closing the gap between how we live and the decisions we make that effect the environment.

John Todd, the father of natural wastewater reclamation, suggested that we create an Eco-Machine that mimics natural processes. Cat- tails on the side of the road in water is nature’s Eco-Machine using micro-organisms, plant roots and aeration to reclaim water naturally.

Demonstrating a deep green approach to architecture, Omega agreed to utilize a program put out by the United States Green Building Council called L.E.E.D. platinum which rates buildings according to their efficiency and overall design. We also decided on a Cascadia program with a series of difficult pre-requisites called ‘The Living Building Challenge.’ Omega would have to generate 100% of the energy quotient for the building itself. All energy in- cluding heat, lights, and pumps has to be generated onsite through a green method. The Omega Living Machine building has a solar array that generates 100% of it’s energy needs. All the water used in the building must be recovered, so all Omega roofs had to be connected to a rainwater harvesting system. You can’t have red list chemicals like polyvinyl chlorides, formaldehyde, and cadmium which are in nearly everything we touch. A lot of salvaged, reclaimed and high recycled materials have to be used. Everyone who comes on site during the construction process needs to be educated and maintain a zero waste cycle. All contractors have to compost and recycle what they don’t eat, and their trucks get inspected. From day one, it’s an education process for everyone .

16 17 We actually start this digestion process when we eat. The enzymes in our mouth and the organisms in our digestive tract are all part of our own personal Eco-Machine. When we are disconnected from natural processes we create a problem. Knowing that we are a part of a cycle makes a difference in how we live and the decisions we make. Omega is building an integrated way The Eco-Machine pipes from the entire campus, 100% of the of understanding sustainability water into two huge anaerobic tanks buried in the parking lot. These and modelling it. tanks are filled with microorganisms that start working on the digestion process. From there, the wastewater goes to the splitter Skip Backus is the Executive tank which divides the waste stream in half. The wastewater travels Director of Omega. For more along the length of the building and into the first two constructed than 20 years, he managed wetlands. A constructed wetland is like a four foot deep swimming his own contracting business, pool with a rubber liner, filled with gravel and plants like bull rush and including residential and light cattail. Billions of micro-organisms start digesting and living off the commercial projects, and materials that make up the waste stream. Roots are also pulling up Omega’s operations includ- nutrients and using them for their own growth. Next, the waste- ing all of Omega’s buildings. water goes by gravity to the lower two wetlands. All along the way Backus has provided visionary you can see the dramatic change occurring in the water quality. At leadership for the Omega the bottom of the first two wetlands water no longer looks brown, Center for Sustainable Living has almost no odor to it and is starting to clarify. The lower two which is expected to be the wetlands duplicate that process. Then the water gets pumped into first “Living Building” in the two eight-foot deep aerated lagoons located inside the building. Its United States. all hydroponic. The plants are on metal racks and there is no soil. The roots go down three feet into the water, creating a habitat for micro-organisms. Fish, fungi, and snails do all the work for us. We add air to help the digestion process and keep the environment fresh. From the aerated lagoons, the water goes down to a sand filter for a final polishing. The water comes out of there as if you just took a glass of water out of your faucet at home – from brown and nasty to totally clear. This water is used to flush the toilets, irrigate gardens or it goes back into the aquifer where it is treated as if it were rainwater. Photos Courtesy of Omega Institute for Holistic Studies and Marisa Scirocco and Marisa Studies for Holistic CourtesyInstitute of Omega Photos Omega Center for Sustainable Living www.eomega.org/omega/about/ocsl 18 19 History and Mystery of CoSM Land The United Church of Christ used the property as a summer bible camp for families. They held services outdoors under the trees on a stone pulpit that still Alex and Allyson Grey remains. Their church bell also still rings excellently. It turns out that the United Church of Christ actually always wanted to build a chapel here. A map of the On Allyson’s birthday March 3, 2007, Alex had a new vision of the Chapel of property from 1960 shows the spot where they were considering building. It is Sacred Mirrors. A voice in his head said, “But where are you going to build this exactly the place we intend to build the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. Surely, the Chapel, Mr. Grey?” So Alex logged onto findthedivine.com. There he discov- land was calling us as chapel builders, to come and fulfill its destiny. ered a forty acres site with six buildings, a barn, a pool and a basketball court only What is our destiny? We are here to create sacred space. Dedicating our work to 65 miles up the Hudson River from CoSM in Manhattan. In fact, both locations a higher power, we honor the legacy of the spirit of this land. As we transform a were 1,500 yards from the east bank of the Hudson River. carriage house into a magnificent art sanctuary, as we weave a wisdom trail with a mythic narrative at each inspiration station encountered along the path, we On Earth Day in April 2007, we visited the future CoSM site for the first time. dream of infinite creative possibilities. Altars will be woven into the landscape as As we passed through the gates there were a pair of turkeys doing a mating dance we listen to hear what the land is inviting us to carry out. in the driveway. We fell in love with the site, whose primordial beauty came from leaving nature to itself. Alex heard voices telling us over and over again that this was the place and that we should do whatever it would take to make this CoSM’s next home. It felt like holy ground and a place where we could imagine the next phase of our journey. On Earth Day 2009 as we walked to the top of the land with our staff, we spoke of building a sun altar to Horus and noticed a rainbow with its ends turned upward in the sky like a smile.

It is especially restorative to walk in the woods and experience the trees com- municating with us. Every tree has a special character. There is a Grandmother Tree, a Heart Vagina Tree, trees in sexual intercourse. One tree that we call The Sentinal, is at the heart of the land and after being struck by lightening, appears to be pointing to the spot where the Chapel will be built. This was the spot where the divine feminine, seven women from Allyson’s family, came together to bury a rose quartz crystal on New Year’s day 2010.

We became fascinated with the history of the area and learned that the Wappani were the native Americans that lived in this beautiful land and probably on this forty acres. Likely, Dutch settlers coined the name of their town Wappingers. The big Victorian house at CoSM was built in the 1860’s and the carriage house in 1882. The Sherwin family lived in this house until they gave it to their church, the United Church of Christ, in 1959. A brochure from that time shows a pic- ture of the house with a quote, “Where God first spoke to us on the land.” It was then called Deer Hill. What we do know about the United Church of Christ is that it was a very forward thinking, activist church. They left us black and white pictures of their black and white ministers on the pulpit together, and black and white teenagers in robes engaged in ritual together.

Crystal Burial: On New Year's Day, 1/1/10 at 11:11 am, seven women from Allyson's family joined together to bury a rose quartz crystal in the heart of the land, planting a seed for manifestation of the Chapel 20 21 When the Land Speaks to the Heart Creating the New CoSM on the Hudson Alex Stark

The road winds uphill from the river. Through the gathering mist, we glimpse the fact that nutrients move along the river in two directions: the Native patches of forest on both sides of the road. Behind us is the Hudson, the mighty Lenepes called the Hudson Muhheakantuck, “the river that flows two ways” river that, further downstream, will embrace the greatest city in the world. But in reference to the tidal swings that can reverse the river’s flow as far back up here, miles from the din of civilization, the quietness of the woods surrounds as Croton, only miles from Wappingers Falls and the compound we are now us as we climb further into the land which once sheltered the Wappani, one approaching. Occasionally, when the wind blows from the river, we can catch a of the many Native tribes that populated the Hudson Valley before they were whiff of the salty mustiness that incongruously characterizes this estuary river. exiled by the arrival of white settlers. Their presence is memorialized in the name of this town; their legacy, although dimmed by time and the encroach- But now the only wind that moves in this forest is our breath as the gates ment of history, is part of this region and lives on in the stories of Washington appear through the lifting fog to greet us in this cold winter morning. We are Irving and, much later, in the poetry of Walt Whitman. about to enter into Deer Hill, the compound that is to become the new home of CoSM. Nestled in a patch of forest only a mile or so from the Hudson, But we are far from these concerns, as our hearts pump ever faster to get us up the property is surrounded by cleared farmland on one side and scattered the hill. As we approach the gates of the compound, a blast from a train whistle residential development on another. Within the compound, however, the startles us into awareness of where we are: somewhere between a native forest feeling is one of surrender to the landscape, as the path meanders sinuously and the commuter corridor that feeds the ever-hungry canyons of Wall Street. through acres of wooded slopes. At sudden turns, we catch glimpses of a clear- This contrast highlights a seldom-discussed fact of topographical history: the ing, as feeding deer scatter at the sound of our footsteps. influence of the upland Hudson Valley on the history and destiny of Manhattan. Once part of a now-scattered spiritual community, this land had been From the perspective of geology, the Hudson is a remarkable formation, winding preserved for its ultimate purpose: to serve as the heart and center of the its way across three hundred miles from its origins in Tear of the Clouds Lake CoSM community. We are witnessing the transformation of CoSM from an in the Adirondacks. This mystical name belies its own magic: when Hudson and urban-based institution to one that is more deeply rooted in the land. The his sailors first arrived in New York Bay they reported seeing clouds of migrato- purchase of this property has been the result of many small miracles, both in ry birds that obscured the sun as if in an eclipse, lobsters a full five feet long, and the human and financial sense. The purchase is a momentous event, as it will enough shell fish to create mounds of shell-waste ten feet deep. The wetlands allow the congregation to transform itself physically as well as spiritually. Part of what is now the Meadowlands was a teeming cauldron of biological diversity, of this growth is the property itself, as its development and enrichment are now sadly impoverished. This natural wealth has always been the result of a certain to become a central part of the ritual and spiritual life of the commu- great river’s encounter with the sea. We need only name a few such estuaries: nity. In this context, the layout of the compound will necessarily have to reflect the Nile and Mekong Deltas, New Orleans, Buenos Aires. This abundance is the the principles and wisdom that guide the community: the integration of wis- product of rich silt, marshy spawning grounds, and waves and waves of dom traditions in the unfolding of our own personal path of enlightenment. biological migration that have criss-crossed these areas for millennia. In part this wealth is also derived from

22 Alex Grey, Hudson River View Towards Marlboro, 2009 23 To this purpose, the new CoSM has been conceived as a three-dimensional Alex Stark is an internation- mandala, deeply rooted in the land and reflective of its power. The topography of ally recognize consultant, ad- this site and its particular form and footprint are to be transformed into a reflec- visor, and teacher on issues of tion of the anthropocosmos, the concept that relates humanity to the land and to creativity, efficiency, and design. architecture. In this concept, the land itself will become a sephirot, the kabbalistic A graduate of the Yale Univer- tree of life upon which the entire life of the community will be based. sity School of Architecture, he is a practitioner of Feng Shui As the diagram illustrates, embedded in the land will be a sacred geometric crystal and European Geomancy. He gridework tying together Grey’s vision of humanity and nature. This property relates advises on issues of design this location to our own body, mind and spirit. At key locations within this figure, and placement for residential, shrines will anchor the particular energy associated with each node or point: at the commercial, institutional, and center and heart of the compound, for example, a monumental rose quartz crystal will industrial facilities, urban set- anchor the loving commitment of the congregation. The creation of this template on tlements, health care facilities, the landscape will also allow for the construction of a pilgrimage path that will serve and on issues of institutional as a meditation tool in real time and space to guide aspirants into an understanding and personal transformation. of these principles. By walking the land, the seeker will also be re-enacting the mil- lennial search for spiritual liberation. In a curious twist of irony, the anthropocosmos Alex is a recipient of a Ford that will come alive on this landscape parallel the cycle of the Sacred Mirrors, which Foundation scholarship for were themselves a reflection of ourselves as seen through the lens of art. In this case, cross-cultural studies and was the land, its form, and vegetation will serve a similar purpose. named Scholar of the House by Unfortunately, years of neglect have traumatized part of the property, creating Yale University. He has been a stresses in the land that, like clogged acupuncture meridians, are in great need of consultant to the United Na- healing. These will have to be corrected in order to bring balance and harmony back tions Development Program into the landscape. Using techniques known as earth healing, crystals and other in public health and regional talismans will be buried at key locations in this traumatized pattern in order to planning. restore its original vitality. In this process, ritual and human participation will be critical, as it is only when humans and the landscape come together that sustain- Crystal Burials on the land at CoSM by Shaman’s Imani White and Alex Stark able healing can occur. The CoSM community will have an opportunity here to participate in the healing of a remarkably beautiful piece of earth. However, because all landscapes are holographically connected to each other, CoSM–and the community that it rep- resents–will also be participating in the healing of the entire planet. In this sense, the concept of the anthropocosmos, which began simply as a way to anchor spirit on this one piece of earth, will also expand to connect the congregation to its role as steward and caregiver to all of nature. What began in Alex and Allyson’s studio years ago as a vision of wholeness and healing, is now about to go global.

Aerial view of CoSM Alex Stark 24 land with Grey’s vision 25 of the anthropocosm www.alexstark.com Walton Ford Ricordazione Ricordazione - Vinci 1452, Ford recalls a book by Leonardo Divinci: “Leonardo’s writing about studying bird flight, referring to a bird called a kite. It’s almost like an eagle, frightening, with a three-foot wingspan. He writes that when he was an infant in his cradle, a kite came down and put its tail in his mouth and beat it against his gums and then flew off. He acknowledges that it might have been a dream, then he just drops the subject. But it’s as if he’s saying it was an augury, that God touched him as a genius. I’ve painted the infant really pulling the tail into his mouth, like taking the genius in.” Expert from “America the Beautifully Absurd” By Annette Grant Walton Ford meditates on the often violent and bizarre moments occurring at the intersection of human culture and the natural world. Although human figures rarely appear in his paintings, their presence is always implied. Ford’s concerns do not center on animals in the wilderness–as he told Calvin Tomkins in a January 2009 New Yorker profile, “Before Fay Wray comes to Skull Island, King Kong isn’t doing anything. There’s no story until she shows up…. What I’m doing, I think, is a sort of cultural history of the way animals live in the human imagination.”

Walton Ford, Ricordazione, 2005, watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink on paper, 108.9 x 158.8 cm

Walton Ford was born in Larchmont, New York in 1960 and lives and works in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. A recent survey of his work was organized by the Brook- lyn Museum in New York in 2006 and traveled to the San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas and the Norton Museum of Art in Florida in 2007. Over the last year, TASCHEN Books has issued three editions of his large-format monograph, Pancha Tantra. Ford’s first major European exhibition will open at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin on January 23rd, 2010 and will run through May 24th, before traveling to the Albertina in Vienna from June 8th to October 3rd, 2010.

Walton Ford www.paulkasmingallery.com 26 27 Mark Ryden

Ancient peoples felt an intimate connection to trees. They saw how their lives were interwoven with the natural world around them and so they instinctively respected and cared for nature. When they cut down a tree they would say a prayer to the indwell- ing spirit. One of the very first deities humans ever depicted was a forest spirit. There are cave paintings of a figure with the shape of a man and the horns of a stag believed to represent this The Apology, 2006, oil on canvas, 32 x 24 in. divinity. In the ancient Celtic Mark Ryden came to preeminence in world, this forest spirit was the 1990’s during a time when many named Cernunnos. He was artists, critics and collectors were a very important god to his quietly championing a return to the art people and his representations of painting. With his masterful tech- were widespread. Cernunnos nique and disquieting content, Ryden was a guardian of the forest, quickly became one of the leaders of this and the trees were guardians movement on the West Coast. of both life and death. Trees Over the past decade, a marriage of were so significant in ancient accessibility, craftsmanship and tech- people’s lives that the be- nique with social relevance, emotional ginnings of all religious and resonance and cultural reference has social life took place under trees catapulted Ryden beyond his roots and in sacred groves. When the to the attention of museums, critics and Christians began systematical- serious collectors. Ryden’s work has ly destroying the sacred groves, been exhibited in museums and galleries a monumental shift in our worldwide. thinking began. We went from believing we are a part of Mark Ryden was born in Medford, nature to seeing nature as Oregon. He received a BFA in 1987 something to conquer and from Art Center College of Design in control, something we are Pasadena. He currently lives and above. The mysterious spirits works in Los Angeles where he paints and essence of trees, plants and slowly and happily amidst his countless animals have become more and collections of trinkets, statues, skeletons, more obscure to us. books, paintings and antique toys. Four Elements, 2006, oil on canvas, 32 x 24 in. Mark Ryden www.markryden.com 28 29 Alexis Rockman H o t H o u s e

Hot House showcases a sprawling glass and iron Victorian green- house that looks suspiciously like the Palm House in Kew Gardens. Here Rockman has conjured a steamy vision of the most erotic botanical specimens imaginable, with the only caveat being that all of the species depicted are real. Most of them are jungle exotics of one type or another, and each is rendered to make as explicit as possible their resemblance to human genitalia. Although the images are clearly as evocative and even disturbing as their more science-fiction companions, it does come as a surprise to reflect on the fact that the Royal Botanical Gardens might well possess examples of these same species, in this very spot. With this gentle reminder that the roots of today’s genetic engineering craze can be found in yesterday’s struggle to define heredity through the cross- fertilization of plants, Rockman Hot House, 2003, oil on board, 96 x 120 in. cunningly provides a historical context for the current, extremely heated debate on the subject. Excerpt from Life and its Double by Dan Cameron in Wonderful World published by Camden Arts Center

30 31 But the modern mallard flies off to the left, the extinct pterodactyl Alexis Rockman E v o l u t i o n to the right. The central space in Rockman’s Evolution features a titanothere (large extinct mammal) and pterodactyl moving right, a Boundaries and Categories by Stephen Jay Gould turtle and duck going left. Rockman takes a standard icon of evolutionary biology (second only to the tree of I don’t accept the hierarchy of art as the improver of a coarser nature, but I do life)--the large rectangular mural, depicting progress in life’s history, left to right- applaud the partnership that allows art, for all its celebrated ambiguity and stress upon -and inverts its meaning while retaining its conventional artistic form. Evolution the arcane, to bring nature out of her hiding places, down from her mountaintops (for presents a zoo with movement in all directions, not a sequence toward progress. The surrounding pervasiveness can be visible as careful sequestering) and into our scrutiny– left side contains more lumbering and slithering reptiles, the right some pretty birds. by asking more varied questions, rather than supplying fewer integrated answers.

Evolution, 1992, oil on wood, 96 x 288 in.

Alexis Rockman is a painter living and working in New York City. Over his twenty-year career he has collaborated with people from a variety of disciplines, such as science and architecture, and has exhibited in solo and group shows around the world. These include the Carnegie Museum, Pitsburgh, Serpentine, London and the Brooklyn Museum. A mid career survey is scheduled at The Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2010.

Alexis Rockman www.alexisrockman.net

32 33 Mycelial Consciousness: As we are in the midst of 6x, I think the evolutionary lesson we should pay The Emergence of Mycorestoration attention to is that, by pairing with fungi, organisms – like us – have a better Paul Stamets chance of survival. My book, Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, lists specific ways we can ally with fungi to have practical, immediate and long term benefits. From CoSM : Your work with mushrooms is about both the health of destroying toxic wastes, filtering water, building soils, growing fungal foods, to people and the planet. At this time of great transition on our planet, creating biological guilds with fungi as a foundation for healthy ecosystems, what do mushrooms have to offer our quest to address pressing eco- fungi, especially mushrooms forming fungi, offer us a menu of solutions that logical concerns? can be implemented now. Paul Stamets : We are fully engaged in 6x, the sixth greatest extinction Plus they taste good. event of life known on this planet. Two other extinction events, one 250 million CoSM : So much of your work is helping mushrooms to have a relationship to years ago, known geologically as the PT (Permian-Triassic) Boundary, killed people. If there was a message the mushrooms were able to communicate what more than 90% of life on this planet. Whether an asteroid impact, volcanic might that message be? eruptions from what now is known as Siberia, or methane hydrate bursts from the oceans – or all three simultaneously – is a matter of academic debate. Paul Stamets : Mushrooms are bridges to the underworld, a hidden landscape What is not debatable are the deep levels of extinction, and the surge of beneath our feet. Mushrooms are the fruit of the mycelium, a vast net- fungal dominance. Prior to the PT Boundary, the ratio of plant pol- work of fine threadlike cells that can literally extend to thousands of len to fungal spore was 10:1. Directly after, fungal spores dominated acres in size, erupting here and there, like tips of icebergs, into without pollen spores for hundreds of years. The fungus Reduvi- something we see and recognize as a ‘mushroom’. Fungi are asporonites gobbled up the destroyed forests, and in the after- primary residents, co-existing beneficially within all plants, math soils were renewed. Those organisms that paired with in soils, from deserts to forests to arctic tundra. I often im- fungi were rewarded. age “alexgrayian” works as a reflections of what strike me deeply. If we could see only mycelium, in its luminosity, We fast forward to 65 million years ago, and an asteroid all around us, we would see the exact same outlines impact caused another massive extinction, jettisoning of plants now. Fungal networks make up the infra- enormous debris into the atmosphere, choking off structure of the ecosystem, the foundational food sunlight. Since fungi do not require light, another web, the cellular fabric of being upon which, and fungal explosion occurred. Again those organ- in which all land based organisms and we are isms that paired with fungi survived, and gained a embedded. competitive advantage. Ants discovered the value of fungus farming Mushrooms call us to us as allies to help re- nearly 50 million years ago. By growing fungal pair the catastrophes we are inflicting upon mycelium in their nests, they could prevent the Earth. Unless we heed their call, we will other diseases from destroying their homes. slip into extinction – an extinction of our Specifically, Atta ants found that by grow- own making. If we call out to our mycologi- ing Lepiota mushrooms, the nests would cal ancestors for help they will respond. become honeycombed with luxuriant my- Few people know – even scientists – that celium. The mycelium produced antibiot- we are more closely related to fungi than ics that pre-selected a bacterium (actually any other kingdom. A new super-king- an actinomyces) that, in turn, prevented dom, Opisthokonta has been erected to an ant-colony fungal parasite called Es- join Animalia and Fungi together, reflect- covopsis from invading the nest. Ants ing our close ancestry. Ironically that we discovered long ago, what we need to are now discovering – at this late stage re-discover now. By pairing with mush- in the game – how important and closely rooms, we can enhance our ‘host de- related to fungi we are. Proto-fungi gave fense’ of resistance against parasitizing rise to animals. And we are animals, albeit diseases, and strengthen sustainability. debatably uncivilized in our view towards nature. 34 35 CoSM : What are some of the goals and intentions of your work, and the work of Fungi Perfecti at this time? Paul Stamets : Our goal is to spread the mycelial message far and wide, to instill children with an awareness of the fungal networks upon which we walk, to let all know that these networks are everywhere, they are alive, they are sensitive, and they have a form of intelligence deeply meaningful, that resonate in both the ma- terial and spiritual realms. As a company, we have contributed more than 700 mycobags—burlaps sacks stuffed with woodchips and mycelium – to our community in Mason County (Washington State) for cleaning up water streaming into ditches and out-fall- ing onto beaches, threatening the ecosystem with the pollutants that are carried. We have approximately 10 sites currently, and third party testing by the Mason County Health Department has shown a dramatic (10 fold) reduction of coli- form bacteria, allowing in one case for a beach, previously closed for more than five years, to be be re-opened for recreational shellfish harvesting. Not only do these ‘mycofilters’ reduce coliform bacteria, but they also capture and degrade oil residues, and reduce Phosphorus and Nitrogen impacts. Since parking lots, farms, housing developments and industries emit pollutants, and since they are carried ‘downstream’ when it rains, water run-off is a huge vector of pollut- ants. The architecture of mycelium is a network of cells that filters and gobbles has written six mushroom- up many of the toxins we create. By networking the Mason County Health Paul Stamets related books. His latest book: Mycelium Department with the Public Works Department and the local Soil Conservation Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World District, the storm debris generated from falling and trimming trees provides a has been heralded as a milestone for healing ready source of woodchips that can be used as a no-cost base for these mycofilters. the planet. He started a mushroom wholesale This is but one example of many where the use of mycelium has an immediate, and retail sales business, Fungi Perfecti, LLC, low cost, highly beneficial impact on downstream environments. in 1980. He is an advisor to the Program of The Life Box ™ is my re-invention of the cardboard box. Within its corrugations Integrative Medicine at the University of are communities of seeds and fungal spores that lie dormant until the box is torn Arizona Medical School, Tucson. His strain up, soaked and planted. We envisage Garden Life Boxes with drought tolerant collection is extensive and unique, with many of seeds to ship food aid, or the strains coming from old growth forests. In to help ship books (Korans 2008, Paul received the National Geographic or Bibles), Meadow Flower Adventure’s Magazine’s Green-O-Vator and Life Boxes customized to the Argosy Foundation’s E-chievement Awards. help bees, Prairie Life Box- In November of 2008, Utne Reader recognized es to re-establish vanishing Paul as one of the fifty Visionaries of the Year. grasslands, and many other Married to C. Dusty Yao, a plant fanatic, who variations. Each Tree Life shares a passion for fungi and their love of the Box™ will sprout a mini- Old Growth forests, both believe that people forest—essentially a tree properly enriched with fungal wisdom can help nursery. This is my idea for save the planet. re-foresting the planet. above Ann Gunter Mycelium Forest Scene, 2004 water color Paul Stamets Mycobag Filtration www.lifeboxcompany.com photo : David Sumerlin www. fungi.com 37 CoSM: Your work reflects the wonder of nature with such grace. Sometimes it feels like you are helping Being With Flowers Anthony Ward nature to communicate to humans. If this was the case, what do you think that message would be?

Anthony Ward: The message is simple, its beauty. “Behold me, I am you”. It’s just a reflection of us. Nature in all its glory and simplicity, that’s what I am hoping to bring. “In the work I do with Nature, I am not trying to say anything namely Flowers, the deep because I don’t have to, connection with water is the Just look what’s happening, root of my art form. Without These leaves are telling you to wake up. water, my floral sculptures would “Remember you are alive”. not last an hour. This work is my calling and is my main spiritual One of the things Thich Nhat Hanh kept talking practice. Through my work I have about was the Miracle of Life. created for, and with, some of The fact that we are all just sitting here. the most important teachers of We can sit up. Spirituality on this beautiful We’re breathing also in the present moment. Blue Planet we call Home. My Nature is an amazing and often beautiful way to Dancing with flowers is an art bring yourself to the present. form most have yet to see. From Something as simple as holding a flower in your hand Spring until Autumn for the last in silence. 11 years I have been in residence at Omega Institute in upstate Georgia O’Keeffe had this saying New York. I share a workshop “If you take a flower and hold it in your hand, called ‘Being With Flowers: that becomes your world” Floral Art As Spiritual Practice,’ So this very simple meditation is and create for weddings.” holding a flower in your hand, and looking at it, and being with it, and letting it reflect you. Something like the Sacred Mirrors seeing the flower and seeing yourself

“There are certain things in nature that remind me of Alex’s work. Often times its grasses, they have that iridescent sparkle thing that he can do with paint.” Anthony Ward www.beingwithflowers.com photos : LeAnna Rowe www.placidstar.com

38 39 The more a person thinks of the infinite number of interrelated activities taking Remembrance: place here the more mysterious it all becomes, the more meaning a person finds in Thomas Berry 1914-2009 the Maytime blooming of the lilies, the more awestruck a person might be in sim- ply looking out over this little patch of meadowland. It had none of the majesty “The Universe is a communion of subjects of the Appalachian or the Western mountains, none of the immensity or the rather than a collection of objects” power of oceans, nor even the harsh magnificence of desert country; yet in this little meadow the magnificence of life as celebration is manifested in a As humans we have come into being just when the planet Earth has reached its most manner as profound and as impressive as any other place that I have known splendid moment, when the seas and continents have attained their full expression, in these past many years. It seems to me we all had such experiences before when the mountains soar into the sky, the rivers are flowing through the valleys, the we entered into an industrial way of life. The universe as manifestation of flowers blossoming in the meadows, the wolf and the deer roam the forest, the birds some primordial grandeur was recognized as the ultimate referent in any fill the air with song. human understanding of the wonderful yet fearsome world about us. Every being achieved its full identity by its alignment with the universe itself. With It is a precious moment for us as we come onto the scene. Our minds are filled indigenous peoples of the North American continent every formal activity with the wonders of it all, our imagination responds to the beauty revealed in the was first situated in relation to the six directions of the universe: the four color and sound and shape of things wherever we turn. Our emotions respond with cardinal directions combined with the heavens above and Earth below. Only delight to have such a world to live in. thus could any human activity be fully validated. The universe was the world Our need just now is to keep this world in its full wonder and beauty and delight. of meaning in these earlier times, the basic referent in social order, in econom- We are all aware of the severe challenges that have arisen in recent times. Our ic survival, in the healing of illness. In that wide ambiance the muses dwelled modern technologies have left us with a world imperiled in its every aspect. whence came the inspiration of poetry and art and music. The drum, heartbeat We know, too, that the extinction of any species in the natural world is forever. of the universe itself, established the rhythm of dance whereby humans entered into the very movement of the natural world. The numinous dimension of the In this final reflection we look forward to a deepened understanding of the gifts universe impressed itself upon the mind through the vastness of the heavens and that are given us here on the planet Earth and beyond the Earth - the stars in the the power revealed in thunder and lightning, as well as through springtime renew- heavens, the winds and the rains, the dawn and the sunset. We need to take care lest al of life after the desolation of winter. Then, too, the general helplessness of the we upset this most delicate design. Nature always enfolds us. We need only respond human before all the threats to survival revealed the intimate dependence of the to this all-embracing presence with care and gratitude, with wonder and praise human on the integral functioning of things. That the human had such intimate and resonance with that Universe wherein all things come together in intimate rapport with the surrounding universe was possible only because the universe celebration that is the Universe itself” itself had a prior intimate rapport with the human. Written for ‘The Universe Story Journey’ Excerpt from ‘The Great Work’

Beginning as a cultural historian, Berry has become a historian of Earth. The Meadow Across the Creek Berry sees himself, then, not as a theologian but as a geologian. The It was an early afternoon in May when I first looked down over the scene and saw movement from human history to cosmological history has been a necessary progression for Berry. He has witnessed in his own the meadow. The field was covered with lilies rising above the thick grass. A magic lifetime the emergence of a planetary civilization as cultures have moment, this experience gave to my life something, I know not what, that seems come in contact around the globe, often for the first time. It to explain my life at a more profound level than almost any other experience I can is out of concerns for the future direction of human-Earth remember. history that Berry has developed the New Story. It is a story of personal evolution against the background It was not only the lilies. It was the singing of the crickets and the woodlands in the of cosmic evolution. It is the story of one person’s distance and the clouds in an otherwise clear sky. It was not something conscious intellectual history in relation to Earth history. It that happened just then. I went on about my life as any young person might do. is the story of all of our histories in conjunction Perhaps it was not simply this moment that made such a deep impression upon me. with planetary history. It is a story awaiting Perhaps it was a sensitivity that was developed throughout my childhood. Yet, as new tellings, new chapters, and ever deep- the years pass, this moment returns to me, and whenever I think about my basic life er confidence in the beauty and mystery attitude and the whole trend of my mind and the causes that I have given my efforts of its unfolding. to, I seem to come back to this moment and the impact it has had on my feeling for Biography by Mary Evelyn Tucker Thomas Berry what is real and worthwhile in life. www.thomasberry.org 40 41 Madeline Von Foerster

W o r l d C u l t u r e Visionary Mapwork

Steven Kenney Maria Isabela Hartz The planet wide art culture reflects a web of rich diversity, a thousand facet world map charting unique geographies, traditions and lineages. Each facet has its own art community, technique and style, and yet all are Pablo Amaringo facets from the same world crystal Bridgit Marlin celebrating the spirit of the visionary in art.

Here we take a global journey of art through five continents of the world. From concrete Daniel Mirante jungles of the new urban Akiko Endo America to tiny villages in the rainforests of Peru and Brazil. From the pastoral countryside of England to the wide open lands of Australia. From the garden cities of Japan to the ageless grass- lands of Africa. Everywhere we Mitsuru Nagashima journey we see new approaches Andy Thomas to art growing out of natures and cultures inextricably interwoven with the art they inspire. These are the many faceted reflections of a planetary culture, living in harmony inspiring and inspired by each other. Anne Mwiti

background art by Akiko Endo “Sound of Silence”

42 43 North America Madeline von Foerster

These paintings invite the viewer into the bewitching, claustrophobic realm of the Cabinets of Curiosities, or Wunderkam- mern. These wooden cabinets intention- ally allude to the once-living trees that were their source. Some are carved into the shape of women, personifying trees, whose bodies have become cabinets. Meanwhile, the “curiosities” displayed are actual species, dependant on the trees for survival.

Tsariwa Mama (The Mother of the Tree), 2009, oil and egg tempera on panel, 30 x 40 in.

“In my paintings, I attempt to unveil images of the subconscious underworld – my own and that of oil and, egg tempera,, 2008, on panel, 30 x 60 in. my culture. I utilize the methods and the styles of the past, in order to reinterpret current topics using the iconography of history.” Madeline von Foerster received her art education at California College of Art. She also traveled to Austria to study the Old Masters’ mixed technique of oil and egg tempera with Philip Rubinov Jacobson. Born in San Francisco, she now resides in New York City. Cabinet Amazon Madeline von Foerster www.madelinevonfoerster.com 44 45 North America Steven Kenny

“Our global society is ever more reliant on superficial psychological, physical, spiritual, social, and cultural environments. In doing so we seek a sense of stability, inner balance and peace while attempting to drown out the anxiety of our increasingly technological existence. My work is an exploration of the multi-faceted relationship we have with our collective and individual souls. For subject matter I focus almost exclusively on humans and natural elements in varying combinations. The manner with which my figures interact with their Earthly environments is a direct reflection of the successes and failures modern man experi- ences on a daily basis.”

The Rain Gown The Release 2008 2009 oil on linen oil on linen 32 x 24 in. 38 x 26 in. Steven Kenny www.stevenkenny.com 46 47 Julia Butterfly Hill Art from Luna

Harvest Moon, 1999 (art), 1998 (poem), ink pen Growing Into One, 1998, ink pen

Julia Butterfly Hill, was born on February 18, 1974 in Missouri. She studied business in college, before leaving to open her own restaurant at age 18. A trip to visit the California Redwoods caused Julia to drop to her knees, astounded by the silent holiness exuded by the ancient beauty. A short time later, she learned that 97% of the ancient redwoods have been destroyed, and destructive logging practices were continuing. She heard of people working to prevent this destruction. One 200 ft. Studies for Holistic photo courtesyInstitute of Omega tall Redwood, named, “Luna” by Earth First! activists, claimed her heart. Julia broke the 42-day American record and then the world’s 90-day record for tree-sitting. After 738 days without touching the ground, she was able to return to ground after she and her team successfully negotiated permanent protection for Luna and the surrounding grove. Julia Butterfly Hill’s work continues as an author, activist, and speaker and her work with the Engage Network. Palestine, 1999, ink pen Divine Interconnection, 1999 ,colored pencil 48 49 CoSM : What is next for Julia Butterfly Hill Julia: I get bored if I am stuck in one thing, I’m a butterfly. Put me in a desk job and there is no thrivability for me. I am committed to diversity, many flowers, not just one. I am an original founder and donor for ‘The Women’s Earth Alliance’, an organization bridging women, activism and the environment. This organization focuses on the three issues which most impact woman globally; water, fuel, and food. Women come together to share their stories and help solve problems in their communities. Four years ago, I started working with the farmers of South Central Los Angeles. They had a fourteen acre urban farm for fourteen years, feeding over 350 families, the largest urban farm in the country. It was extraordinary and the government sold the land out from under them. I tried to help them hold off the eviction and buy the land. That didn’t happen, but we are working to buy the land back, and to create other farming opportunities that will provide food for their community. Another project I helped launch is called ‘Engage Network’ which asks the question: ‘With all of the activism and all of the actions, why isn’t there The Butterfly Chronicles Julia Butterfly Hill more change?’ Taking ac- tion one issue at a time, we create a sustained move- ment. A creative art space CoSM : Can you talk about the relationship between humans and nature that you would like to inspire in other people? like CoSM is a movement Julia: Any problem we are facing, from the destruction of the natural world in of sustained action. Engage which we live, to war, to overcrowded jails, these are all symptoms of the disease of Network supports teach- disconnect. Disconnected from a forest, we could clearcut it and not realize the impact. ers who bring creativity Disconnected from people, we could drop a bomb and call it a statistic instead of experi- and the spirit of service and encing the very real human beings who are being obliterated. The largest crises facing the care into their classroom. human species is: ‘Are we going to be able to continue living on this planet or not?.’ ‘Engage Network’ promotes We face this question because we have become disconnected from the Earth and from inspiration in place of fear, one another. We separate this thing called ‘The Planet’ from this other thing called overwhelm, and anger, ‘Us’. Years ago I started a tour called ‘We the Planet.’ You always hear the expression, which gets us nowhere. The ‘We the people.’ If we could think, ‘We the Planet’ we would see the mess we’ve created. ‘Engage Network’ builds To clean up this mess we have to answer the question ‘How long can we survive in this a movement of people ongoing mess?’, and not just ‘Can we survive but can we thrive?’. I am not interested in uncovering or clarifying their mere survival. I am committed to thrivability. I want our human species to be nature purpose, passion and power at its most lush. To get there we must reconnect with the Earth and the nature of our in order to take inspired human nature. It goes against our true human nature to rip out the roots that connect long term action. us to our world. CoSM : If you were to communicate on behalf of nature, is there a message that you feel nature is wanting to communicate to humans? Julia: Nature has always been communicating and we have forgotten how to listen. Global warming, massive climate change, and wild fluctuations in the natural world is Mother Nature screaming, amping it up, because we haven’t been listening. photos provided by 50 Shaun Walker: Otter Media 51 Butterfly Poetics

“Offerings To Luna” In Honor of Unexpected Friends and Unexpected Surprises A tree A life so many years gone by A thousand butterflies History bound kiss the sky with their wings in each new ring as an offering and every scar to the magic you are in this moment i lay nestled in Her arms

Hope & Heroes photo: Barry Shainbaum, from Hope i listen to all She has to say

She speaks to me “You Reflecting Me, through my bare feet Reflecting You” my hands You are a part of me, She speaks to me and i am a part of you. on the wind and in the rain When one reaches out to another, then one transforms to two. Telling me stories born long before my time But two is never separate Wisdom from the one it was before. Julia in the redwood tree which she named Luna as only Ancient Elders know If anything, Truths passed to me two is the possibility Pages from the Butterfly Journals through Nature’s perfect lips of one becoming more. “When I first entered the forest, I became conscious of an essential piece of my being that had been hidden underneath religion, society, even my concepts of who I am. She cries And if there were no counting, These blockages began to dissolve as my tears fell to the forest floor. I sobbed because her grief no numbers to create a wall, the beauty around me reminded me of the forgotten beauty within.” sap that clings to me when we looked in the face of one, to my soul we would see the face of all. “I changed while in Luna, but it was through understanding myself. The experience gave me an unshakable belief in the interconnection of life, because the only way I i wrap my arms around Her could survive was to become one with the tree, to merge with it, to absorb it and have offering the only solace To me this poem includes all life, not just the it absorb me.” that i know humans. If we could look into a tree, flower, “I could not have stayed in the tree for 738 days if my focus had been on destroying dog, cow, pig, chicken, mountain, the loggers– which it was in the beginning because I was so hurt by what was hap- A pitiful offering river, stream, ocean, anything, and see no pening. When an animal is hurt or afraid its instinctual response is to strike out or to it seems separation, our actions would radically begin run. I went through both of these reactions. Later, I woke up and asked, “How can I to a Goddess such as this to shift towards choices of harmony, peace, offer my life today?”….The number-one factor is taking the time to be still. That was but of myself love, care, and responsibility. a crucial part of what I did. I sat in one place for two years.” it is all that i have “We are like the caterpillar when it goes into the cocoon and becomes liquefied; it’s a to give total acceptance of death of the self we were attached to and a willingness to become something we never believed we could be.” “My prayer is that I may have an open heart… The root word for courage is the Latin word “cor,” which means heart. That’s where the courage comes from. It is the heart Julia Butterfly Hill that motivates our greatest acts of courage and kindness. Courage is not an act of juliabutterflyhill.wordpress.com bravado. It has nothing to do with ego or adrenaline. It has to do with falling in love, www.engagenet.org and having the courage to give over fully to it.” 52 53 Humans and Earth But in a second set of instructions, Adam was instructed to name the animals Are Humans the Nervous System and plants, that is to identify and communicate his perceptions. “Naming” here of the Gaian Biosphere? encompasses all the functions of the human brain and mind (interpreting, Ralph Metzner categorizing, etc) that also follow from the analogy of humans as the nerves and brain of the biosphere. The domination and exploitation that have characterized illustrated with art by Alex Grey so much of human behavior toward the biosphere could not be sanctioned within the framework of this metaphor. It seems to me that the human role of interpreter, In the Gaia theory first articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis we categorizer and communicator of nature is much more compatible with an egali- consider the Earth a unitary system integrating the structures and functions of tarian and respectful attitude toward the natural world. It leads to an ecological litho-, hydro-, bio- and atmosphere in complex, interdependent webs of relationships. worldview and culture that is non-invasive, naturalistic and supportive of all life. According to this metaphoric image, Earth is an organism, and individual organisms The unprecedented industrial-technological assault on the biosphere we are (human, plant or animal) are cells in the vast planetary organism. witnessing in our time is rooted in the mechanistic science of the modern world, Following the implications of this metaphoric image, if Earth as a whole is an which deliberately divorced itself from spirituality, values and consciousness. There organism, and individual organisms are cells, then the ecosystems of the planet exists a vast gulf in common understanding between what we regard as sacred and correspond to the organ systems of the body, and species correspond to the what we regard as natural. Yet out of the direct experience of millions of individuals specialized tissues that constitute these organ systems. The organ systems of the in the Western world with ancient Earth-honoring practices, such as shamanism, human (or other animal or plant) body function as energy-transforming, metabolic and the formulations of visionary scientists, we are seeing the emergence of an systems, much like the great ecosystems of Earth – rain forests, oceans, prairies, integrative worldview that views all of life as an interdependent web of relationships tundras and so forth. Lovelock develops this analogy between ecosystems and organ that needs to be carefully protected and preserved. systems in his book Healing Gaia, and introduces the term geophysiology for the science of self-regulating planetary energy systems and their structures and functions. Such Excerpt from Green Psychology analogies are not mere fanciful metaphors but encapsulate important insights that can lead to a deeper understanding of the human-to-Earth relationship and a better environmental ethic based on such understanding. The following question then arises from consideration of these analogies: If different species correspond to the specialized tissues of the planetary body, then what are human beings? Are we the heart, the brain, the genitals of Earth? If we ascertain the answer correctly or appropriately, we might have the means to understand the nature of humanity’s natural role or organic function within the greater whole that is Gaia. Lovelock himself, in his first book on the Gaia theory, raised the question whether “we as a species constitute a Gaian nervous system and a brain which can consciously anticipate environmental changes and challenges?” It should be noted that this analogy does not support a superior role of the human in relation to the rest of biosphere. In physiology, there is no assumption that the brain is somehow superior to, or more advanced than other parts of the organism. We could say that the brain generates and communicates interpretations of reality just as the lungs breathe air, the heart circulates blood, and muscles provide for locomotion. Each organ has a specialized role (like species in ecosystems), but none has a privileged or controlling function. Using the analogy that we are Earth’s nervous system and brain, one could develop a more balanced and integrative understanding of the human being’s role or organic function. Is it not true that we function on Earth somewhat like a nervous system and brain? In the Book of Genesis there are two sets of instructions from God to Adam and Eve. In one, they are told to “subdue the earth and have dominion over the animals.” In the history of Western civilization this text has been cited as the scriptural justification for the human domination and exploitation of nature.

54 55 Invocations

We call upon the Spirits of this Place The guardian spirits of this particular place, This house and this region, Its landforms and waterways, Its elemental forces and energies, Its fields and forests, plants and animals, Two-legged humans of past times and present, The natives and the dwellers - We approach them with respect and appreciation, Mindful of our interdependence, The continued balance of giving and receiving. We call upon the Spirits of the Plants and the Fungi as well as the molecular substances extracted or derived from them Remembering our biospheric symbiosis, Cellular webs of mycelial networks of independence, With roots and bark, seeds and spores, flowers and fungi. Those providing substance and sustenance of food; Those healing sickness and relieving pain; Those delighting our senses and souls With beauty and color and flowering fragrance; And the plant teachers, vines of visions, herbs of healing, Mushrooms of magic, ergot of mother grains - Gate-keepers and door openers to the spirit world Helping us to cleanse the lenses of perception, Helping us to know our place in the great Web of Life. We call upon them with respect and appreciation, always mindful of our mutuality, the flowing balance of receiving and giving, giving and receiving. We thank you, Grandfather Fire, who gives us warmth We thank you, Grandmother Sea, who brings us peace We thank you, Grandfather Air, who brings us change We thank you, Grandmother Earth, who gives us life

Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and professor emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies. His books include Maps of Consciousness, The Well of Remembrance, The Unfolding Self and Green Psychology. He is founder and president of the Green Earth Foundation, dedicated to the integration of human consciousness and culture with spirituality and ecology. Green Earth Foudation is publishing a new series of seven books by Ralph on The Ecology of Consciousness, of which the first four have appeared.

Ralph Metzner Alex Grey, Holy Fire, detail www.greenearthfound.org previous page, Alex Grey, Theologue, detail www. metzneralchemicaldivination.org

56 57 South America Maria Isabela Hartz The “Ave Maria” idea came from a vision, from my first trip to the Amazon in 1985 to meet Padrinho Sebastião (the one on left with a white beard), an incarnation of Saint John the Baptist, my spiritual master. I say spiritual master, because through him, I met my divine self. I started drawing it in 1996 and took about two years to get the whole conception finalized. To the right of Padrinho Sebastião is Padrinho Corrente, a fellow captain. On the far right side we have Bob Marley, Yogananda, Gandhi and an Indian called “Sete Flexas”, which were all martyrs of peace and freedom. The angels with their back to us are Gabriel and Michael. Santa Maria is holding the earth. Above her fly two angels who are carrying her crown on a blue cushion. It’s an angelic coronation of Santa Maria. It’s about a vision. Padrinho Sebastião met the Santo Daime through his master Irineu, the black tall men on left, who showed him his divine self. In those times they just used the Daime. But when master Irineu passed away, Padrinho Sebastião left his community to create his own spiritual center which opened the doors for people from all the world and which introduced him to the marijuana plant. He liked this, and one day he had a vision with Saint Gabriel who took him on a walk in the jungle until they got to a place where there was a lot of marijuana plants. Saint Gabriel asked him “What is this?” and Padrinho responded “This is marijuana.” So Saint Gabriel said “This is the Santa Maria, She is the Divine Mother, you will plant it and use it as a sacrament with the Santo Daime in your spiritual work.” So happened the most astonishing, ecstatic, incredible marriage: Santo Daime & Santa Maria. Maria Isabela Hartz has lived a spirited life illuminated with inspiration, learning, teaching and healing. Her life, like her artwork, is devotional, a living prayer dedicated to sharing a divine vision of love with the world. Besides Brazil, she has lived in the USA exhibiting her work and teaching with Alex Grey and Pablo Amaringo. Her holy mission is to create a foundation with an in- stitute, gallery and museum of art, science and religion. This sacred site can be an inter- national pilgrimage point Maria Isabela Hartz and place where struggling Ave Maria http://isabela-hartz.lightscience.ca/ artists, particularly those 1999 from the third world, can watercolor on paper background image detail: Area de Trabalho : Angels Orchestra 16 x 24 in. 2005, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 48 in. 58 engage in their artwork. 59 South America Pablo Amaringo

The Fairy of Peronuga is a goddess who presented herself to me in one of my many Ayahuasca concentrations. There, she declared to me that she is one of the goddesses of Persia and her work is to bring together many spirits to help humanity in their healings with the wild and domestic animals and plants. For this, she unites the avatars, chimeras, cimerios, dryads, sylphs, fata-morganas, hamadryads, incubi, succubi, kelpies, numen, peris, sybils, duendes, ghosts, nymphs, and other spirit beings. All these beings play a role in the function of the terrestrial globe. This fairy and all the beings who come together with her teach us the spirituaity that animates us, directs our path, orients us, helps us to have success, to be ordered, to educate ourselves, to have good purpose and to develop virtues. The influence of these spirits helps us to organize ourselves, it equips us towork together in accordance with our trustworthy responsibilities, full of respect, love, and altruism. The spirits who keep themselves within the Light want us to be excellent and efficient people. Their orientation is to be loyal, precise, ordered, disciplined, and expelling hatred, antipathy, distrust, rejection and fear. For understanding, they inform us what has happened, what is happening and what is going to happen. They equip us with the energy of love and make us optimistic. They teach us that one must not lose a good sense of humor in any work. They tell us not to be egocentric and not to hate anyone. They teach us to help and cooperate with our fellows in this life. They teach us that the virtues that we have in our hearts are like the energies that the plants have in their hearts, the energy a tree has in its center. In the human, the heart is the center of feelings and motives; in the trees and plants, the energy that motivates the effect of health and the construction of active force to cure kinds of illness is the function of the Fairy of Peronuga.

Pablo Amaringo lived from 1943 to 2009. He was born in 1943 in Puerto Libertad, in the Peruvian Amazon region. A severe heart illness, and the magical treatment of this via ayahuasca, led Pablo toward the life of a shaman. He eventually became a powerful curandero, learning the icaros, or healing songs, that the ayahuasca brew taught him. In 1977 Pablo abandoned his vocation as a shaman and became a painter and art instructor at his Usko-Ayar school where there was no charge for the students to learn painting from him. The school is dependant on donations. Many of his final paintings feature angels as well as the flora and fauna of Peru. above: background: Pablo Amaringo Ada de Peronuga Sacha-Uya 1943-2009 2008 2004 Translation : Gayle Highpine acrylic on canvas Gouache on paper www.pabloamaringo.com 44 x 64 cm 18 x 24 in. www.sensorium.com/usko 60 61 13 Indigenous Grandmothers For The Next 7 Generations Carole Hart

In October of 2004, thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers from around the world – the Amazon, Asia, Africa, Mexico, the Arctic Circle, and the Northwest, Southwest and Midwest of the U. S. – gathered in Phoenicia, New York, ancestral home of the Iroquois Nation. They came in response to a common vision and prophecy. The prophecy they shared foresaw this tumultuous time we live in and told them that they must speak to the world in one united voice – a voice that would carry their sacred and age-old wisdom forward at this critical moment. They created a formal alliance, The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, to carry out their mission. Since then they have been traveling the world as a prayer in motion, to speak on behalf of the sacred web of life and our common future.

Their feature film is titled “For the Next 7 Generations”, It comes from the Great Law of the Iroquois Nation which states that “in all deliberations, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next 7 generations.”

Carol Hart www.forthenext7generations.com www.youtube.com/carolehart

62 63 The Grandmothers see an urgent need for change, but their message is one of hope for the future. All the Grandmothers agree that they can help people experience a shift in consciousness that will lead them to an awareness of the sacredness and inter- dependence of all life, to a mutual respect for one another, and to an abiding love for our Mother Earth. Through their prayers, their ceremonies, and their active collaborations with like-minded coalitions, they are working to preserve the environment and create peace For the past 4 years, producer/director Carole Hart and her crew have among peoples. The movie, accompanied the Council as they traveled around the world sharing their like their message, hopes to prayers, their ceremonies and their message of peace, hope and unity. This bring widespread attention to journey has taken them from the forested mountains of New York to the spiritual solutions for healing our deserts of New Mexico, where Nicaraguan Maya Grandmother Flordemayo planet and ourselves. is currently making her home; to the heart of the Amazon Jungle, where Grandmothers Maria Alice and Clara Shinobu Iura live in their Santo Daime community; to the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, home of Grandmother Julieta Casimiro and the Ninos Santos; to Dharmasala, India, second home of Tibetan Grandmother Tsering Dolma Gyalthong, where the Grandmothers met with the Dalai Lama; to the Vatican, home of the Pope, and more. Emmy and Peabody-Award winning Filmmaker Carole Hart was introduced to indigenous communities and their healing way in a dramatic way. In 1994 she received a miraculous cure from a terminal cancer through a Native American Church ceremony. It was during this time that she befriended Jyoti, a spiritual teacher and founder of the Center for Sacred Studies (CSS), an organization whose mission is to sustain indigenous ways of life through cross-cultural spiritual practices. When CSS began to organize the first Grandmother’s gathering in 2004, Carole knew that this historic moment needed to be documented. At the time of the first gathering, she never envisioned that she would be spending the next four years following this circle of woman around the world and telling their story. Since the Grandmothers were meeting each other for the first time in Upstate New York, no one knew that they would decide to formalize an alliance. But after three days of sharing their stories and visions, it became clear that this was what they had to do; there was no turning back.

photography provided by Marisol Villanueva 64 65 Kiah Keya : Encounters in Brazil Spirit Dance and Plant Wisdom

It’s the first night of the week long retreat at Lua, a rustic eco-lodge Mother Nature. “The dancer nestled in a river valley high in the Chapada da Veadeiros near does not move the universe, Alto Paraiso, Brazil. As dusk settles into the valley with a whisper, but rather it is the universe the cicadas drone and the fireflies glow green. Thirty people sit that moves the dancer,” Kathi silently around a fire on the riverbank. The flames and shadows von Koerber explains. Her dance across the ceremonial totem: a tree that has been master, Atsushi Takenouchi, painted black across its trunk and adorned with talks about this mystery as a feather headdress. Standing in front of the “Jinen”, translated loosely as “all totem, Keklêeni-sô, a leader of the Funio that is larger even than Nature.” Indian Tribe of northeastern Brazil, be- Jinen is the flow that dances gins to chant. through all living beings, whether we are aware of it or not. Butoh “We are here to discover our spirit dance challenges us to open to dance,” Kathi von Keorber, the re- the unknown. treat’s organizer, explains during the opening ceremony. “Rituals bring us The group dances under into communication with ourselves, waterfalls, on river banks, this river valley, and each other.” After and among bamboo patch- the initiation ritual, the group gathers es. In this way the dance to participate in the first of three tra- becomes a prayer. “The truth ditional plant healing ceremonies that of performance stimulates are led by a Colombian healer. It isn’t the will to Live,” Kathi von until the pink sun emerges from behind Koerber says. “It is the innate the hills that everyone rests, exhausted longing that a Butoh dancer from the medicine’s journey. “Welcome shares with a tribal dancer: to home,” Mother Earth coos. allow the true rumbling of the universe to enter and unite The retreat is structured around Butoh with one’s body.” dance workshops, nature excursions, and plant healing ceremonies. Using organic Selected from Discovering Your Dance movement and guided imagery inspired by by Katie Clancy Butoh dance and improvisation, the group reconnects to themselves, each other, and

Kiah Keya photos on this page: www.kiahkeya.com 66 Hernando Villa, Kathi von Koerber, Robert Johnson photos on this page: Benno Klandt 67 Improvisational Spirit Dance Kathi von Koerber Dancing with the source is a way of life. As the Dine (Navajo) say, To Walk in Beauty.

“My workshop invites the one who wants to dance, to be danced by the universe. In affect to teach each his The dance has a own dance. I am a facilitator to help create the link between cellular consciousness/universal consciousness purpose and offering, and the letting go of the mind. I draw parallels to ancient rites and rituals that involve going into trance, a healing, a teaching, through breath, dance, spirit and music, initializing the profound nature of the human body to express, its a celebration, a sacrifice, spirit and its capabilities. Improvisation is the only rule, allowing the flow of universe to enter. We are a a giving thanks, blank canvas, vibrant in colors, changing all time.” – Kathi von Koerber a requiem, a ritual. To walk in beauty is to embrace all life, the darker and the harder it gets, The more simple people live, the brighter the light of life will shine. Spirit moves us, but we have the the more purposeful their life childish urge to interfere with the natural flow of life and existence. might seem. Butoh draws upon the Spirit is the will to live, like the seed of a flower that has the image of a peasant, those who work natural urge to meet the sun. It grows towards the heavens, with the land, whose hands are in touch and once it opens its petals, it brings a human to smile, with the primordial. Finding ones centre, reflecting its beauty. Spirit emanates energy. Without done in China with the Dan Tien, and photos by Robert Johnson Spirit, we would be like a stem with no water, we in the native American Tradition with the would shrivel. When we dance, we use our body and Medicine Wheel, distinctly embodies the being to communicate with Qi, energy as it is called source of life. In all ancient traditions, dance, in the Eastern philosophy. Qi moves in circles, in music and a wealth of plant knowledge have continuity with the cycles of life. We need water, been a communicative way of maintaining and water is life. We move our waters when we connection to nature. dance. Water carries all memory on earth, it is the Tribal traditions believe that nature is our ancient reservoir of life from long before humans teacher and our guide, and our nature is to evolved. As babies we swim in the amniotic water. respond to her needs. In the traditions of Moving our waters is a mystical right, every move- ancient plant knowledge, the wisdom keepers ment has resonance, just like every word we utter on our planet, it is a form of spirit that heals has an intention behind it that resonates. To move photo by Hernando Villa and teaches. our waters essentially means to take responsibility for the greater existence of each individual. The earth has provided us with all the information we could ever need. In the depths When we move our waters, we are offering our of jungles, first animals and then humans came being as a tool to communicate with that which we upon the healing and profound sacred plants cannot see or control. As we see in tribal dance, that enable us to harmonize, balance, and an initiate is moved by Spirit. come to understand that life is a connected, everflowing event of purpose and intention. photo by Hiroko Komiya

68 photo by Hiroko Komiya 69 Visionary Permaculture World People Attunement

The relationship between humans and Permaculture came out of the optimism the natural world can be traced through and utopianism of the 1960’s and 70’s. our collective consciousness to the very Reflecting the Back to the Land move- origins of cognition. This root relationship ment it expressed a renewed interest defines the human condition and reflects in natural living, focussing on organic much about the state of our civilization. sustainable agriculture, minimizing At this turning point in history when a energy use, and softening our ecologi- vast divide between culture and nature cal footprints. Interested in creating and As we enter the final stretch towards has created an ecological crisis like the maintaining harmonic systems, produc- 2012, a visionary model of perma- world has never known, it is becoming ing an abundance of food, medicine, culture is emerging. In a world of increasingly important for us as individu- energy and resources, the early perma- hunger and inequality, Food Security als, and as a World People, to return to culture communities experimented in is fast becoming a catch phrase for the a more harmonic relationship with the living off the grid in a healthy way. new agriculture. Growing our own planet. At the very brink of a organic food locally and welcoming collapse in the inextricably The three jewels of permaculture: native plants into our seasonal menu interwoven Gaian ecol- observe, integrate, apply, reflect a helps to support a bioregional diet with Working together, an emerging World ogy and human society simple approach to conscious decision a lower impact on the environment. emerges a plant path making and design. Starting at the begin- Culture seeks to create an integral, Sustainable agriculture based on forest intentional and consciously charged paradigm with the ning, permaculture prescribes a map of gardening in the style of the First knowledge for cre- the home land which shows borders and design for the future of human Peoples can bring balance to our relationships with the natural ating a sustainable boundaries, patterns of seasonal sun and destabilizing ecology. Seed banks, and permanent shade, identifying structures, elements, world. Together our fate is nurseries and community gardens help intertwined with the fate of culture of nature: plants and animals, testing water and soil, to preserve guilds of sacred plants that a permaculture. and describing the history of the land. the Earth and all who dwell reflect the traditional practices, food here. Permaculture points Inspired by a planetary ethos of Earth and medicine of the First Peoples. Care, People Care and Fair Share, perma- a way towards the devel- Where the old model promoted alter- opment of a healthy and culture understands that in these times native systems of holistic living away of transition for people and the planet, harmonic World People from civilization, the new model seeks living in the permanent its ok to use unsustainable means when to integrate into a society in need of building a more permanent and sustain- culture of a many splen- healing. Community education sites, dored visionary future. able system. Permaculture promotes a farmers markets and conscious restau- slow but steady return to earth friendly rants are popping up everywhere from practices, lifestyles and industries by the rural clearcuts to crowded urban centers. World Peoples. Delvin Solkinson www.gaiacraft.com www.elvism.net art by Pablo Amaringo www.pabloamaringo.com www.sensorium.com/usko

70 71 2.0 Vermiculture Gaiacraft Composting A vermiculture worm bin can be located in the compost area as well. These can be made inexpensively when using an old sink or tub. A key principle of permaculture involves cycling energy. Nature 1. 6. does this, recycling all its elements and thus creating no waste. 1.  Build a box that can fit a sink and drill Modelled on nature, permaculture composting helps support small holes in the lid to let the rain in. the healthy breakdown and reuse of all organic elements. 2. Put a bucket beneath the sink 3. Gather some newspaper, sticks, leaves or compost, a bit of dirt and some worms. 2. 7. 4. Start with an empty sink. 1.0 Composting 5. Add sticks for drainage. Composting is the science of renewable systems 1. 6. Add torn newspaper to regulate showing how to effectively break organic materials moisture and for worm food. Dampen. 7. Add some leaves, dirt and worms to down into rich, healthy soil, mulch and fertilizer. 3. 8. Composting works well in a shady space that is activate the decomposition. covered to limit evaporation. If you can have two 8. Feed worms with tender greens and other nutrient rich plants. Worms often tend containers for compost, fill one then fill the other 2. while the first one sits. A third container is helpful towards mild flavours but will eat most things. for storing autumn leaves and dry grass. 9. Put a bucket under the sink or tub to collect the drips of infused water. Mix the resulting 4. 9. 1. Untreated wood can be used to make a box nutrient rich liquid fertilizer with an or bin with a lid. equivalent amount of water and use 3. directly on the gardens. 2. Line the bin with chicken wire if pests are a 10. Collect worms and rich soil to add directly problem. Leaving small spaces open will to the gardens. The whole system should be allow the compost to breath. 5. 10. changed every couple of months. 3. Put cardboard at the bottom of the compost to draw up worms and kill any weeds or plants 4. 3.0 Hugelkultur beneath it. Tougher materials like wood, blackberries, 4. A layer of sticks will help with drainage egg shells or fruit pits that do not break down at the same rate as the other composting 1. 6. 5. The compost is made with layers of green materials can be stored in the compost area. material (nitrogen rich organic waste like grass 5. This can be used to make productive living clippings, kitchen waste, coffee grounds, tea bags, manure, garden weeds and other fresh vegetable compost ‘mound’ beds. matter). 1. Choose an area to build this bed. Cut plant 2. 7. 6. Alternating with layers of brown material (car growth down to just above the ground. bon rich organic waste like leaves, dried grasses, 6. 2. Lay down newspaper. Wet this well to begin or hay). Every 4-6 inches of green material we decomposition and attract worms. add up to 12 inches of brown material. 3. You can put down a layer of cardboard here too if available. This will ensure the plants 3. 8. 7. Add some soil every few layers to infuse the beneath don’t grow back. compost with micro-organisms 7. 4. Lay down heavy pieces of wood. Stirring the compost will speed up the decomposi- 5. Then a layer of lighter wood. tion process but also result in a less potent finished 6.  Any brambles or vines can go now. product. You may wish to avoid composting meat 7. Add some soil to this to seed it with 4. 9. scraps, bones or any food (cooked or uncooked) micro-organisms. that contains dairy, wheat, oil or fats as these 8. Cover the pile with a layer of compost. materials rot, creating odors and attracting rodents, Biodynamic plants work especially well here. flies and other pests. With extra attention to layer- 9. A layer of soil can go on top. 5. 10. ing and stirring as well as inputs of manure and wood 10. Put in spike root plants like comfrey and ash, you can help to process materials tending to rot. potatoes along with biodynamic plants. After three to six months of sitting, sift the compost through mesh wire to create high nutrient fertilizer. 72 73 Practical Biodynamics Here we review each of the elements needed for the healthy development of plants and examples of dynamic accumulator sources of these elements which you can add to your compost, mound bed or worm farm. If you have room, these plants be grown in the area around your compost. Using crystal dust, biodynamic plants, kelp and cardboard in your compost one can create fertilizer charged with the nutrients that plants eat. Here we review elements used for the healthy development of plants.

PRIMARY ELEMENTS MINOR ELEMENTS N - NITROGEN FE - IRON plant growth and feeding microorganisms chlorophyll production found in : comfrey, stinging nettle, kelp, found in : comfrey, dandelion, dandelion, yarrow, clover, lupine, chickweed horsetail, kelp, yarrow, stinging nettles K - POTASSIUM B - BORON plant digestion, resistance to overall plant health, formation of disease, cold, pests, develops buds fruit and seeds, absorption of water found in : chamomile, chickweed, clover, found in : cardboard, kelp, euphorbia Rebalancing stinging nettle, oak bark, yarrow, comfrey, MN - MANGANESE Remember dandelion, crabgrass, morning glory and kelp our ecology is in crisis and can be helped by, seed germination, nitrogen assimilation Reducing P - PHOSPHORUS found in : chickweed, kelp, bracken fern, the amount of waste we produce by, root growth, establishing young plants, burdock, garlic, plantain Refusing to buy toxically overpackaged items, photosynthesis, respiration, plant growth found in : chamomile, chickweed, dandelion, MO - MOLYBDENUM Reusing containers and items as much as possible, yarrow, lamb’s quarters, morning glory nitrogen assimilation and fixation, Repairing building amino acids broken things, found in : clover, legumes Recycling paper, plastic, glass and metal and SECONDARY ELEMENTS CL - CHLORINE Rethinking our relationship to consumption, stimulates photosynthesis, plant metabolism MG - MAGNESIUM Redesigning ripen and germinate seeds, absorption of p, n and s found in : kelp our lifestyles in alignment with the planet, found in : comfrey, dandelion, horsetails, kelp, CU - COPPER Restoring biodiversity and ecological balance, yarrow, stinging nettles activates enzymes, chlorophyll production Renewing our dedication to earth stewardship, CA - CALCIUM found in : dandelion, stinging nettle, valerian, Respecting root system, cell walls, ripening of fruits and seeds yarrow, kelp, bracken fern, legumes the web of life found in : chamomile, comfrey, kelp, horsetail, sting- ZN - ZINC ing nettles, yarrow, morning glory, lamb’s quarters protein synthesis, enzymes and S - SULPHUR regulation of growth chlorophyll production, helps plants found in : kelp, legumes, hay, kentucky bluegrass absorb k, ca and mg SI - SILICON Consulting on Plant listing: found in : stinging nettle, kelp, garlic, utilizing nitrogen, enzyme activation mullein, plantain, alfalfa found in : legumes Robin Wheeler : www.ediblelandscapes.ca NI - NICKEL Dave Ryan : www.permacultureguild.net protection from disease and stress found in : horsetail, borage, valerian, plantain CO - COBALT nitrogen fixing Photos : found in : bracken fern, horsetail, vetches Josef Schmidt www.poxin.org Design : Sijay : www.onbeyondmetamedia.com Curricula : Delvin Solkinson : www.gaiacraft.com

74 75 Europe Brigid Marlin

The Nativity of Christ, is an oil and egg tempera painting, done in the Mische Technique - a technique of painting redis- covered by Professor Ernst Fuchs, who taught it to Brigid Marlin in Vienna. In the painting, the tree, placed as it is between heaven and earth, is used as a symbol of mediation between the two. The tree is formed from transparent crytals, and shines with a mysterious inner light to signify its spiritual origin. The glowing flowers and leaves form a circle to honour to a God made man. Spreading outward, this circle widens to portray the Universe, with the Christ child at the center. All the elements, all the animals, birds and fish bow before him, and Mary and Joseph kneel in awe. Brigid Marlin was born in Washington D.C. She studied art at the National College of Art in Dublin, Ireland, Le Centre d’Art Sacre, Paris, L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal and The Art Students League of New York. She studied in Vienna with Ernst Fuchs and learned the Mische Technique, the painting secrets of the Italian Renaissance Masters. She has taught the technique at Weat Herts College in England, the Museum for Modern Art, Nairobi, at the Triangle Art Centre, Chicago, and at the Bezalel Institute of Art, Jerusalem. Her work has been exhibited in Museums and Art Galleries all over the world. Among the portraits she has painted are the Dalai Lama and the Queen Mother. In 1998 she founded the Society for Art of Imagination to promote Visionary and Fantastic art worldwide and is Director of the USA and UK branches. The Nativity of Christ 2005 mische technique Brigid Marlin background, The Sun, 1992, mische technique, 30 x 42 in. 30 x 38 in. www.brigidmarlin.com 76 77 E u ro p e Daniel Mirante

Sol rises and Gaian Sophianic life stirs. Dew fills the air. The flowers grows. The birds fly from one tree to another like thoughts in a big leafy mind. Have you ever tried to catch what the birds are singing of? They sing of nested existence, deep in nature, singing the song of bird life, simple and mysterious, ethereal and shattering, the sound of the radiant void. The painting ‘Deep Ecology’ is about biological symbiosis, and about how everything seemingly ‘ex- ternal’ in nature is an aspect of a Great Mind, a spiritual realm which everything physical is extruded from.

Daniel Mirante is actively involved in the revival and exposition of Sacred Art through his art, collaborative studio practice, and curatorship. A self-taught oil painter, Daniel finds his inspirations within ‘ecology, spiritual warrior- ship, the sacred feminine, and perennial philosophy’. His art has appeared globally in exhibitions, books and calendars. Daniel Mirante is also the creator and director of www.lila.info, a website project who’s stated goal is ‘to explore, archive and present the emergence of a contemporary sacred and visionary art within the context of global culture’.

Deep Ecology 11 2009 oil on canvas Daniel Mirante 120 x 90 cm www.danielmirante.com 78 79 Federation of Damanhur

Music of the Plants Damanhur’s extensive research demonstrates Esperide Ananas how living organisms respond intelligently to their environment, and is confirmed by an earlier U.S. based study by scientists whose findings are detailed in a book entitled Imagine a concert where musicians can The Secret Life of Plants. Plants respond interact with trees, improvising with in very sophisticated ways to both them through a special electronic physical and intellectual stimuli. device that allows them to play music. The data derived from these Imagine millions of people all studies demonstrates that over the world having this plants communicate with experience. Imagine all each other through shifts in of them realizing that their conductivity – shifts that, plants are alive and until now, humans were not able to sentient beings. detect or understand. Imagine the change Damanhurians discovered that the electrical in ecological and behavior of plants could be captured using a spiritual awareness this probe, electrodes, and a device. This combination of will create on our planet. electronic components “translates” the signals being conducted by living plants into musical Imagine a world in which humans have learned that sound. The pulse streams of each organism are everything that lives, humans, animals and plants, has unique, with each Plant manifesting its own emotions and feelings and participates in life fully as we individual biological “signature sound.” do. Imagine gardens and forests in which trees and flowers interact with human beings by means of sounds and music. Moreover, plants demonstrate that they can All this may soon not sound like sci-fi anymore, but become learn to interact with humans. At first, the part of the normal experience of every child of planet Earth. plants “simply” realize that the sounds emitted by the device are a consequence Many years ago, in Italy, in the world-renowned Italian cultural of their electric activity, then they learn to community known as Damanhur, a device was developed that can modulate it to change the sounds. More translate electric conductivity of the plants into music and melodies. expert plants, eventually, use the sounds Damanhur was established in Valchiusella Valley, in the Alpine they modulate to interact with humans foothills of northern Italy (90 miles north of Milan) in 1978 and is and create a real form of communication. populated in part by scientists, doctors, researchers and artists who When they interact with musicians for example, dedicate their lives to understanding the workings of Nature as a living, they sometimes even repeat the same scales, the same intelligent force. For many years, Oberto Airaudi, founder of Damanhur, tunes and the same notes! and his fellow researchers, researched bioelectric processes that are con- It has also been demonstrated that trees and plants that ducted by plants, trees and flowers. They discovered that the conductivity is a have become experts in interacting with humans and core indicator of the life force of plants generating key pathways for water, in controlling the music device can ‘train’ other trees, minerals, and other nutrients within trees and flowers. It is this electronic helping them to learn quickly. process that is sensed by the unique, innovative device that Damanhurians use in their experiments on the consciousness of the plant world.

80 81 The Music of the Plant Technology The device that utilizes the revolutionary technology invented at Damanhur to convert the energy of Plants and translate it into music contains a unique software program, microcontroller as well as other electronic hardware. It attaches to the plant via two probes, one of which attaches to a leaf (or the leaf’s stem) and the other is attached to another leaf (or the leaf’s stem) or by the probe grasping a small metal rod inserted into the soil close to the root of the plant. The electrical behavior of the Plant is sensed through the probes and translated into music. The device allows a plant to play music based upon its health, environment and general demeanor. This is achieved by monitoring the Plants instantaneous resistance. Dependant upon the level of resistance, different notes and cadenc- es are played, from the selected music type, allowing the plant to actually play the music. On certain occasions, the Plant’s resistance creates a spike, indi- cating an excited state. This can occur due to external influences such as touch, watering, moving, etc. Sometimes the plant can spike its resistance Experiments with the Music of the Plants create awareness of how independently. Whenever a spike occurs, it causes a change in notes, plants and humankind co-exist in nature. A small, portable device in which may be more to the plants liking. the shape of a green leaf called “Plantunes” has now been developed by Because Plants themselves are complex entities, their internal Damanhur in collaboration with US based researchers, so that it can electrical pulsations are at the same time strong and subtle. The be sold at a very reasonable price, making this experience available to Damanhurian technology is capable of responding to both everybody. Plantunes will create a connection for millions of people large and small electrical changes, and translating them into who desire to interact at a deeper level with nature. This product will musical sound. Thus, the device essentially becomes a serve as a catalyst to bring forth ecological awareness, and, for those musical instrument, which is played by the plant, through the Plant’s in the holistic field, the device will serve as a facilitator to help reach electrical variations. The natural shifts in the plant’s energy impact the a meditative state of consciousness. It is a tool that offers a soothing, quality and timbre of the music played by the Plants. The relaxing and pleasant environment. Device used in translating the Plant’s electrical variations into Esperide Ananas is a full time citizen of the Federation of Damanhur music captures and expands these complex variations and since 1993. In the same year, she graduated from the Damanhur School for translates them into different musical sounds. For example, the Spiritual Healers. She is part of the Way of the Oracle of Damanhur, same electrical variation stream can be made to sound like string and of a specialized group of researchers in “Selfica”. Selfica is an ancient instruments, an organ, a brass ensemble, or the elements of a rainforest. discipline aimed at directing intelligent and subtle energies, capable of Regardless of the channel selected, the underlying musical progression is interacting with human beings and the environment. In Damanhur, Selfica is used extensively to explore different planes of consciousness and for healing. unique to the Plant, and helps create a feeling of well-being. Fluent in five languages for over 10 years Esperide has been an International Ambassador for the Federation of Damanhur, leading seminars on the development of consciousness and human potential, and sharing Damanhur’s vision for new social, spiritual and economic models for sustainability.

Damanhurian researchers are looking for partners interested in co-financing, manufacturing and distributing the Music of the Plant device, so that it can become an educational tool available to children and adults all over the world. Please contact [email protected]

Federation of Damanhur www.damanhur.org 82 83 Dancing Shiva Colorful fashion from handmade Khadi-Cotton photography provided by Dancing Shiva

Khadi is untreated, hand-picked, spun and woven cotton from the so-called “Village Industries”, India´s biggest social project. Founded by Mahatma Gandhi in the 1920`s. Its purpose was and still is to strengthen the autonomy and independence of India´s rural population from major corporations and to prevent the emigration of desperate work-seekers to big cities and inevitably horrible labor conditions and low pay. Until today, hundreds of thou- sands of people find work in the “Village Industries”, fairly paid, under humane conditions and at home in their villages.

What fascinates us about Khadi beside it´s beautiful and earthly structure, is it´s subtle elegance, it´s unbeaten wear comfort and the sheer luxury of wearing a fully handmade fabric in times of mechanization and fall of value is: the fact that in it´s traditional process of manufacture neither electric nor fossil energy is used. Starting from the cultivation of mostly heirloom cotton plants to handpicking, spinning, weav- ing and –folding of the fabrics, the production of Khadi goes without the use of power-driven machines of any kind.

84 85 The project ideology initiated by Mahatma Gandhi: Keeping and respectively encouraging rural people´s autonomy and independence by creating employ- ment among Indian villagers (who make up 80% of India´s population) prevents the so-called “rural exodus” –the emigration to large cities in search of work. the controlled and fair marketing through the KVIC (Khadi Village Industries Comission): After Gandhiji´s death, the idea of “Village Industries” was taken over by the Indian government. The KVIC controls impor- tant factors such as fair payment, strict obedience of legal working hours, creation of infrastructure in the villages, building hospitals and schools. We think that design, sustainablility and social responsibility don´t have to exclude each other….…..that being lovely, happy and colorful is much more fun than cool understatement ….

….that behind unique fashion and distinctive style there can also stand fair thoughts and big ideas.

Dancing Shiva www.dancingshiva.at 86 87 Endo’s importance cannot simply be relegated to her position as a female artist. She resides in the space of a total individual, a painter’s painter with a determined A s i a separateness in which realizing her vision occupies her every artistic movement. Indeed, at a show’s opening, she is quoted as saying, ‘’To live is to paint. To remain alive A k i ko E n d o is to remain painting.’’

Excerpt from Endo Akiki: Poetry of an everlasting life by Andrew Conti Published by Metropolis metropolis.co.jp 2008, oil on canvas, 333.3 x 498 cm oil on canvas, 333.3 2008, Bell, The

Since ancient times, Japanese people have believed that Kami (Spirits) are embodied in all but to have a world where humans and nature live things in the universe, that they are everywhere including the mountains, the ocean, the rivers, together in harmony. Just as the seasons change, animals, plants as well as houses and all things. They give blessings of protection to all people. people are living and dying, continuing in the cycle of transmigration. In such a world, tossed about by However, in the late 60’s, modernization rapidly destroyed a lot of nature and nature, humans seem fated to be fragile beings. However distracted people from their sense of spiritual value in the natural world. In present day everything is filled with vital energy. Japan, materialism prevails over the spiritual basement of Buddhism and ancient animism-like thoughts. We can’t separate them in order to find a way of living in the While we lost something, we gained another. We have contradiction and uneasiness. My works have been changing along with the times and a past that we can not return to. On the other hand inspired by the chaos of modern values. The recent series of my works represent magnificent we have a future to which we must go. I would like to Akiko Endo stories filled with reverence for nature. The message is not to aggressively overcome nature, express all those things fully in my pictures. www.akikoendo.com 88 Translation : Satoshi Sakamoto 89 A s i a Mitsuru Nagashima

I have continued to make works by my imagination, with- out seeing an actual object. For the last several years, I have continued to peruse the meaning of the fantasy for humans, in order to return to my starting point. In the diary of Paul Clay, there is a phrase that “The fantastic arts are to make what is invisible visible”. Fantasia Space is also an expression of awe or yearning about what is invisible such as nature and universe, and how to form it on a plane.

With a dedication to detail, Mitsuru Nagashima is a fine craftsman of art using etching, wood engraving and drawing to express his artful fantasia. Since studying Print at the Sokei Academy of Fine Arts, he is an active member of The Japan Print Association. After many Metamorphosis No.8, International exhibitions in Europe and Asia, Miss Peafowl and Mr Eagle his art is finding international renown. You can 1992 see his works in numerous permanent museum Etching on German etching paper collections in Japan, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, 70 x 100 cm and Spain.

Myth and Legend No.6-, The Giant 2005 Wood cut on Japanese handmade paper Mitsuru Nagashima 106 x 76.5 cm www1.ocn.ne.jp/~fantasia 90 91 In the heart of autumn Alex Grey caught up with David Wolfe to discuss bees and bee keeping. Building Bridges with Bees Alex Grey talks with David Wolfe David: Bee products are the original idea of a superfood. Bee keeping allows us to procure essence and manna from any ecosystem. What’s in these products is a summary photographs provided for by Eric Tourneret of the minerals and plant life available in the ecosystem. Honey and bee products inoculate us to the flower pollens that are in our area, they are a homeopathic medicine for our allergies to the environment. We get a summary inside of our own consciousness about what’s happening around our ecosystem and how healthy it is.

I think the primary cause of the die off in the conventional bee industry is tobacco and nicotine based pesticides. These are very toxic to insects, particularly in the larval and egg stages of growth. Tobacco is an insect eating plant like the Venus Flytrap, it’s part of how this plant procures its minerals and nutrients from the environment. Each tobacco leaf can consume dozens of insects a day. Concentrated spraying of this toxic juice on fields contributes to the colony collapse disorder. There are other factors too, like the way bees are treated. Conventional Bee Keepers throw bees on trucks and drive them to dif- ferent farms outside of their original habitat. Square shaped hives have also been implicated in causing confusion amongst bees. We can learn from the Egyptians who used circular based hives. Electromagnetic waves from cell phones and EMF pollution could be confusing the bees as well. Industrial bee keepers use sugar to feed the bees and rob them of all of their honey. Out of the 100% of the honey produced by a good colony, only 40% of that honey is needed to survive. What’s happening is that humans have gotten greedy and are taking 80%. The remaining 20% is being replaced with high fructose corn syrup. This is collapsing the bees immune system. Bees have become susceptible to the Varroa Mite and other viral diseases going around these colonies. Over 50% of hives spontaneously died in the conven- tional industry last year!

92 93 Alex: In your own philosophical and reflective depths, do you see that the bees not Alex: Can you tell us a little bit about Ormus? only provide this kind of healing sweetness and nutrition to the human life stream, but also that there’s something of the architect and something of the communal liv- David: If you look at the chemical analysis of bee pollen and royal jelly, ing situation? there’s always between three and nine percent of substances that are completely unidentifiable by modern scientific methods. Those are pieces David: I love beekeeping because it brings us into two aspects of the of the puzzle that we call ‘Ormus elements’, or levitational matter. human based spiritual journey. One is the light side; the fun, the joy, the excitement, the giving birth, all those things that make life beautiful Alex: In what kind of things do you find Ormus? and great. Then there is the other side, the shadow side; if you keep bees you David: Just like some foods have more calcium or zinc than others, some are going to get stung. This is a metaphor for how we get stung in life. As foods have more of these Ormus elements. Bee products are the top of the a result of being stung by bees and the medicine of their venom, we are list. Ormus elements have very peculiar properties that aid the immune system taught that we better be careful. If we do get stung, even though we will and are good for your joints. Every living thing contains Ormus elements. Its been go through the pain, it’s actually good for us. The longest lived people, estimated that we have ten times more Ormus elements in our who suffer from the least amount of arthritis, and who generally have bodies than we do all trace minerals combined. the best health, are always bee keepers. The Russians did 150 years of research on longevity and found out the longest lived people in Alex: Since the human their country were bee keepers and honey eaters. Rudolph Steiner, relationship with a prophet of our time, saw beekeeping as an example of “right rela- bees is so long-standing, tionship” with the insect kingdom, which teaches us to see a whole and because of what other grouping of intelligence and come into communion with it. the bees are offering, it sounds like there is Bees interact with each other inside the hive completely in the a sacred dimension or dark, entirely through feeling. They feel each other, they touch celestial hierarchy each other, and they work with a heart centered female energy. that the bees are The bee hive is run by a queen, so it’s a female oriented, matriarchal channeling. Have you system of governance. Each bee is working for the betterment of the had some encounters whole, and they produce more food than they can ever eat. We can glean with those subtle a little bit of their food off without hurting the overall vitality of the hive. visionary dimensions of the bee populations Alex: I have a friend who’s father was recently stung by a wasp that was hiding in and group soul of their can of beer. The wasp stung them many times as it went down their throat and the bees? they died. Insects can be powerful creatures. David: Bees are David: Bee venom and insect venom brings to light channeling energies Paracelsus’ famous phrase: that the differ- out of higher ence between a medicine and a poison dimensional is dosage. We all have to be careful geometrical forms because some people are very sensi- with an insect tive to formic acid, bites and the consciousness venom of bees. The best thing to do that we don’t if you get stung and go into shock, really understand. is to use your urine, both internally When you approach a hive under your tongue as a homeopathic that is well developed, agent, and also directly on the sting. you observe hierarchies of roles. Your urine contains the antibodies to There are watchwomen bees guarding the hive, counteract the venom. You can drink your urine and as soon as you get close they will come too. It’s very important information because it can save buzz in front of your third eye and hang out there. your life if that happens to you. If you make a wrong move they dive at the crown of your head.

94 95 Alex: This connection with a higher dimension certainly seems related to the With a masters degree in nutrition, David Wolfe sacred geometric, hexagonal, close packed lattice that is the same strategy God uses is considered one of the world’s top authorities in through the crystal matrixes. health, nutrition, herbalism, chocolate, and organic superfoods. He has hosted nearly 120 cleansing and We are beginning to realize the complexity and infinite levels of intelligence David: rejuvenation retreats over the past fifteen years and that exist in the natural world. Life forms are channeling expressions of the higher is the author of Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the intelligence group soul of their species. Bees are one of the best examples of that. Future (2009, North Atlantic/Random House, ) Eating for Beauty It’s their sacred geometry. It’s their magic of forming each cell for their (4th Edition), The Sunfood Diet Success System (7th Edition), larvae and how they place their larvae inside. Each one of Naked Chocolate, Amazing Grace (2nd Edition), and The Longevity those bees is in a little hexagonal sarcophagi channeling NOW Program. in hexagonal energies to produce themselves. Alex: This is really crucial information for David is also the lead content creator for us, just starting to live in nature. Friends www.TheBestDayEver.com, an extra-ordinary have offered to help us get started with online member site resource for peak-performance our first hives. It’s inspiring to hear nutrition and health information. He is the your evolutionary perspective on co-founder of Sacred Chocolate, an all-green and the nature of beekeeping and your eco-friendly organic cold-pressed chocolate producer higher vision of offering quality and education source. David is also the President and nutrition through reverence for Founder of The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation. the natural world.

Eric Tourneret David Wolfe Bee Photography www.davidwolfe.com www.thehoneygatherers.com www.ftpf.org 96 97 Oceania Andy Thomas

I am obsessed with the idea of Self Similarity – the fractal algorithm that flows through all of nature, patterns within patterns, from the biggest Galaxies to the smallest atoms. I like to emulate this with the work that I create and the process in which I create them, starting big then working in smaller and smaller detail. I always have a basic idea of what I want to create. As I go along, the form begins to grow effortlessly and new sections inspire ideas for other sections. I try to guide the chaos as I work. Most of my inspiration comes from nature. I am constantly amazed at how vast and complex the ecosystem is. The work of the 19th century scientist and artist Ernst Haeckel is also an inspiration. His studies of natural forms are truly remarkable. I am also inspired by technology and the uneasy union we as humans have with the natural world. Most of my work at the moment is focused on the idea of technology corrupting nature, mutating it into new and bizarre forms. A parasite is an example of nature twisted and deformed by artificial chemicals and man made bi-products. I am excited by the process of using a computer to distort nature into hybrid freakish forms. Always interested in painting and drawing from a young age, Andy began his career with his involvement in Melbourne’s early rave scene back in 1993 creating UV murals for parties. His love of electronic music and all things digital lead him into the realm of computers in 1997 after finish- ing a graphic design course at Monash University Melbourne. In recent years he has begun to experiment with creating a visual fusion between Nature and Technology, by taking photos of plants, insects and machines and compositing them with artificially created forms in various 3D programs. The very process of the art he creates is symbolic of mankind’s continuing corruption of the natural world. His photographic endeavours have led him to such exotic locations as Borneo, Laos and the rainforests of Tasmania and the Daintree River.

Parasite completed in 2009 Andy Thomas digital 170 x 130 cm 300 dpi www.android.net.au 98 99 Deep Ecology John Seed Now, although it is true that not many people nowadays believe that the Earth was illustrated with art by Mark Henson created a few thousand years ago by an old man with a white beard as a stage for the human drama to unfold, nonetheless, this attitude permeates all aspects of our The Council of All Beings is a series of re-Earthing rituals society, our language, our very psyche. Growing up in a culture permeated with this created by myself and Joanna Macy to help end the sense of alienation arrogant view of ourselves, we are isolated, separated from nature. from the living Earth that most of us feel, and to connect us with new sources of joy, As long as we maintain a self-image created in the matrix of such views, a shrunken commitment and inspiration that follow from union with Gaia. and illusory sense of self that doesn’t include the air and water and soil, we experience I had been working for the rainforests since 1979 first in Australia and then elsewhere nature as “outside” ourself and fail to recognize that the nature “out there” and the around the world. Although many of our early efforts were crowned with success, nature “in here” are one and the same. Moreover, we can’t think our way out of this I couldn’t help but notice that for every forest we were able to save, worldwide 100 mess - the attitudes and habits are far too deep-rooted. disappeared. Clearly we weren’t going to be able to save the planet one forest at a time. So, what to do? It is all very well to have this understanding but, as Arne Ness One green Earth or a bowl of dust, unless somehow a profound change of conscious- (the Emeritus Professor of Philosophy from Oslo University who had coined the ness was to sweep the globe we could kiss the forests goodbye, the ones we had “saved” term deep ecology) pointed out, ‘ecological ideas are not enough, we need ecologi- alongside the rest. cal identity, ecological self.’ Wrestling with these issues, in 1986 I saw that Joan- In 1982 I first heard the term “deep ecology” and immediately realized that this was na Macy was in Australia and I attended one of her “Despair and Empowerment” a key to the change that was needed. After thousands of years of conditioning, the workshops. Here I came to understand that it was the denial of feelings that held the modern psyche is radically alienated from the air, water and soil which underpin all status quo in place and in the days following the workshop Joanna and I developed of life and this is reflected in the rapid shredding of all natural systems in the name of The Council of All Beings, a series of processes or rituals which synthesized the economic development. The world is not as a pyramid with humans on top but a web. ideas of deep ecology and the powerful engine of personal transformation that was We humans are but one strand in that web and as we pull the web to pieces, we destroy despair and empowerment work. the foundations for all complex life including our own. Many people INTELLECTUALLY realize that we are inseparable from Nature To deep ecology, our relationship to the Earth is that of a leaf to a tree. We have no and that the sense of separation that we feel is socially conditioned and illusory. independent existence - the pain of the Earth is our own pain and the fate of the Earth These rituals enable us to deeply EXPERIENCE our connection with Nature, in is our fate also. No tree - no leaf. our hearts and our bodies. The sap in the leaf comes from the tree and returns to the tree. Our much-vaunted human intelligence is but a tiny fragment Mark Henson, New Pioneers. 2009, oil on canvas, 130 x 185 cm of the intelligence of the Earth and there is a constant exchange of water, soil and breath between the Earth and ourselves. Our psyche too is Earth-made and we may therefore be guided and informed by Earth wisdom if we but ask. Indeed we MUST be so guided if our deeply embedded ‘unconscious’ concepts of separation, isolation and arrogant superiority are to be healed. We then, are like a leaf believing itself to be separate from the tree on which it grows. This MUST be an illusion of course or we would wither and die (try holding your breath for a few minutes if in doubt of this). However, the power of this illusion backed up by thousands of years of tradition is such that we destroy the Earth and we cut ourselves off from Her wisdom and nourishment. Healing this mistake is vital for the sake of both person and planet.

100 101 If we look at indigenous cultures, we may notice that without exception, rituals affirming and nurturing the sense of interconnectedness between people and nature play a central role in the lives of these societies. This suggests that the tendency for a split to develop between humans and the rest of nature must be very strong. Why else would the need for such rituals be so universally perceived? It also suggests the direction we must search for the healing of the split: we need to reclaim the ritual and ceremony which were lost from our culture a long time ago, and to our amazement we find that this is incredibly easy to do. In the Council of All Beings we weave together three important themes: After preliminaries to introduce ourselves to each other and build up trust, we begin with a MOURNING ritual. It is only to the extent that we will allow ourselves to feel the pain of the Earth, that we can be effective in Her healing. As Joanna Macy points out “Deep ecology remains a concept without the power to transform our aware- ness, unless we allow ourselves to feel - which means feeling the pain within us over what is happening to our world. The workshop serves as a safe place where this pain can be acknowledged, plumbed, released. Often it arises as a deep sense of loss over what is slipping away - ancient forests and clean rivers, bird songs and breathable air. It is appropriate then to mourn - for once at least, to speak our sorrow and, when appropriate, to say goodbye to what is disappearing from our lives. As participants let this happen, in the whole group or in small clusters, there is hopelessness expressed. There is also something more: a rage welling up and a passionate caring. ‘Only if one loves this earth with unbending passion can one release one’s sadness’ (Don Juan in Carlos Castaneda’s “Tales of Power”). The energy previously locked up in the denial of these feelings is released and becomes available to us. The sense of numbness and paralysis evaporates and we prepare for action. Then we move on to exercises which assist the REMEMBERING of our rootedness in nature. For instance in the evolutionary remembering, we use guided visualization John Seed and movement/dance to recapitulate our entire evolutionary journey and release the John Seed is founder memories locked in our DNA. We invite the experience that every cell in our body and director of the is descended in an unbroken chain from the first cell that appeared on the Earth 4 Rainforest Information Centre billion years ago, through fish that learned to walk the land, reptiles who’s scales in Australia. He has created turned to fur and became mammals, evolving through to the present. numerous projects protect- ing rainforests in South Ameri- We further extend our sense of identity in the Council of All Beings itself where, ca, Asia and the Pacific through after finding an ally in the natural world and making a mask to represent that ally, providing benign and sustainable we discover that we can indeed give voice to the voiceless ones. In Council, we lend development projects for their our voices to the animals and plants and features of the landscape and are shocked indigenous inhabitants tied to the at the very different view of the world that emerges from their dialogue. Creative protection of their forests. suggestions for human actions emerge and we invoke the powers and knowledge of He has written and lectured extensively these other life-forms to empower us in our lives. on deep ecology and has been conducting Councils of All Beings The Council also provides tools for practicing our deep ecology in our daily lives. As and other re-Earthing workshops many participants in this work have discovered, alignment with our larger identity around the world for 25 years. clarifies, dignifies and heals our personal conflicts. We see that the pain of the Earth is our own pain and the fate of the Earth is our own fate. The Council of All Beings Mark Henson: Born and raised in California, empowers us to act on behalf of the Earth and gives us clarity and direction for this spends part of his time living an traveling in the work. In the same fashion it clarifies and orders our patterns of consumption, our jungles of Costa Rica where he is needs for intimacy and supports our priorities for action. creating a retreat for artists, and Upper Lake California where he paints daily in his Mark Henson studio with his sweetheart Ms. Monti. John Seed Sylvan Serenity, 2001 www.sacredlight.to www.rainforestinfo.org.au 102 oil on canvas, 30 x 185 cm 103 Peace With the Earthly Mother Doctor Sir Gabriel Cousens, M.D., M.D.(H), D.D. illustrated with artwork by Alex and Allyson Grey

Peace with the Earthly Mother is the foundation of our physical and spiritual Unfortunately, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, we seem to have existence on this planet. Peace with nature requires us to attune ourselves and forgotten this law of unity with nature. In the last thirty years be sensitive to our inner nature so that we are able to know nature as an exten- alone, we have destroyed more of our environment sion of our Self. One aspect of this peace is the ability to resensitize ourselves to than all of the previous cataclysmic events of nature, to feel her energies, to know and cooperate with her laws, and to become previous civilizations on this planet. We have one with them as a natural expression of who we are. Peace with nature entails completely broken this law of unity. We understanding that we are but one strand in the web of life of Mother Nature. act as if we were separate from nature. Nature is a reflection and a reminder of our Creator. Our love of nature enhances our communion with the Divine. We exploit nature rather than act as co-creators with nature. We treat To be at peace with nature is to accept that, on the physical plane, nature as an alien force to be we are governed by the forces of nature. In understanding this, we fought and conquered. Driven discover that our health depends on sunlight, clean air, pure water, by greed and the search for healthy food, rest in accordance with the cycles of the day and night, profit, we can’t seem to exercise of our physical bodies, and harmony of our mind with our inner and outer nature. comprehend the meaning of the unity between humanity Conserving Topsoil and the rest of this planet. In 1854, Chief Seattle, in Every nation of this world is subject to the laws of nature. For example, his famous address to the in the book Topsoil and Civilization by Vernon Carter and Tom Dale, president of the United a clear link is established between the decline of a civilization and soil States, forewarned us erosion destroying its fertility base. Topsoil is defined as nutrient- concerning the result of not rich soil that holds moisture and in which our crops grow. It is the respecting the earth as our basic foundation of our sustenance on this earth. The United States mother: “His appetite will Department of Agriculture has acknowledged a drop of seventy percent devour the earth and leave in the United States cropland productivity as an unparalleled disaster. behind only a desert. Whatever Two hundred years ago, the U.S. had twenty-one inches of topsoil. Now befalls the earth befalls the sons there are only six inches of topsoil left. According to Dr. Szekely, “Universal of the earth. If men spit upon the history shows that every nation reached its greatest splendor by following the ground, they spit upon themselves. great law of unity between man and nature.” Dr. Szekely points out that history Contaminate your bed, and you will one shows that when a nation led a simple life of cooperation with nature, that nation night suffocate in your own waste.” flourished, but when the nation deviated from this unity, it inevitably disintegrated Because of our ignorance, greed, and alienation, or disappeared. We are but human organisms living in the topsoil, along with all the other organisms. When the topsoil is destroyed, so are we. we are actively disrupting the ecology of this planet. According to statistics compiled from official sources by Friends This law of unity between humanity and nature was held by the Essenes to be the guide of the Earth in the United Kingdom, each minute fifty-one acres of tropical forests are to how we should live in the material world. In the Zend Avesta, an ancient synthesis destroyed, and fifty tons of fertile topsoil are washed or blown off cropland. Every hour and expansion of early Sumerian wisdom written by Zarathustra, it was taught that the 1,613 acres of productive dryland become desert. Each day 25,000 people die because of ideal existence entails always keeping in contact with the forces of nature. This law of water shortage and water contamination, and sixty tons of plastic packaging and 372 tons unity is the foundation for how we may best organize our life on the planet if we are of fishing nets are dumped into the sea by commercial fishermen. One species becomes to have a healthy humanity. At this point in our planetary history, if we are simply to extinct every five hours. The greenhouse effect is changing our weather. People have survive, we need to begin to follow the law of unity between humanity and nature. If we become afraid of our friend the sun because the ozone layer has become thinner. Famine keep trying to break the laws of nature, they will eventually break us. has become a regular phenomenon as desert land grows. 104 105 The Gaia Hypothesis

Interestingly enough, our own The Gaia hypothesis—that planet Earth is a single living organism with intelligence technology has provided us and purpose—is both new and quite ancient. Ancient cultures often regarded the with a new understanding that energies of the earth, all life, all minds, and the cosmos as one, and yet, at the may inspire us to re- establish same time multiple manifestations of universal energy. This “new discovery” of our unity with nature. This the Gaia hypothesis supports our small but growing rediscovery of the unity of new insight is called the Gaia humanity and nature. hypothesis. NASA has developed an instrument called the telebioscope, One of the most exciting movements today is the tremendous ground swell of which, when placed upon the various interest in national and international ecological concerns. The more we get spacecrafts, can determine if life exists on various in touch with the law of unity, the more we will be able to realize that the planets. One experiment was to point this telebioscope at basic foundation for a healthy humanity is peace with nature. our own planet Earth. The data collected showed that the To preserve the planet is to affirm our own divine spirit. It is the whole planet is not only alive, but that it possesses all affirmation of life—our very own life and meaning. the essential characteristics of a single living organism. From these findings, one of the NASA scientists, Excerpt from Sevenfold Peace: World Peace Through Body Mind Family Community Culture Ecology God James Lovelock, developed what he called the Gaia hypothesis, which proposes that our planet Dr. Gabriel Cousens is one of the world’s foremost authorities is a single living organism that maintains its on living food nutrition, holistic lifestyle and complementary own homeostasis. Lovelock noted that a slim medicine. He is Founder/ director of the Tree of Life margin of biophysical conditions on this Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, Arizona. He received planet allow life, as we know it, to exist. his M.D. degree from Columbia Medical School in These biophysical conditions include 1969 and completed his psychiatry residency in 1973. a delicate stabilization of the chemical He was the Chief Mental Health Consultant for composition of the atmosphere, a ratio of the Sonoma County Operation Head Start and mixtures of barometric pressures, heat from a consultant for the California State Department the sun, the axis spin rate, and the mineral of Mental Health. composition of the ocean. If these or many other variables that maintain life on this planet Dr. Cousens is a holistic medical doctor, a psychiatrist are shifted more than a slight degree, it would and family therapist, and a licensed homeopathic end life on this planet as we know it. Lovelock physician in the state of Arizona. He uses the determined that these conditions necessary to modalities of live-food nutrition, naturopathy, Ayurveda, maintain life on the planet are not inherently homeopathy and acupuncture, blended with spiritual stable and that under the normal laws of physics awareness, in the healing of body, mind and spirit. and chemistry these conditions should have only A best-selling author of Conscious Eating, lasted a short time. Somehow, something on this Depression-Free for Life, Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet planet has been self-regulating and maintaining the as well as several other books. equilibrium of these life-giving conditions for the last four billion years. We see this sort of homeostatic equilibrium in the human body. Perhaps the earth is alive! Perhaps we are each equivalent to one cell in this living organism! Gabriel Cousens www.gabrielcousens.com 106 107 Anne Ntinyari Mwiti is a college trained artist and art teacher. Her first encounter A f r i c a with art runs back to a small village in the heart of Meru of A n n e M w i t i Eastern Kenya, Africa, where she scribbled her first notable drawing of a girl, at the age of five years. After going through the usual high school years, she studied art at Kenyatta Univer- sity where she completed her undergraduate degree of Art, and a Masters of Fine Art at the School of Visual and Perform- ing Arts, where she is currently teaching art and design and pursuing her doctorate in art.

Anne’s main passion is in drawing and painting anything visionary; and works along with her undergraduate students to- wards developing their deeper talents and art vision.

Rafiki Bioanuai, 2009, fibre glass and acrylic paints, 130 x 185 cm

Rafiki Bioanuai, which means “Friend of Biodiversity” is a Kenya Wildlife Service sponsored lion. The Kenya Wildlife Service has made a lot of effort towards conserving the ever diminishing lion of Kenya due to the human-wild- life conflict. Currently, a mere 2,100 cats remain and are greatly endangered and under threat of extinction. As the name of the lion suggests, Rafiki Bioanuai, so is the body artworks that adorn this lion, which are the various ecosystems of National reserves or parks. These range from the Marine ecosystems at the feet of the lion, to the Savannas on its belly, up to the forests and rivers on the back of the lion (the Tana River), to the rocky snowy mountains. Various animals are painted on the body of the life-size fibre glass male lion, where they dwell within the landscapes. A n n e M w i t i

108 www.artofimagination.org/Pages/Mwiti.html 109 Soul Furnace and Stone Giant In October 1988, while preparing for Zena’s immanent birth, we were invited Alex and Allyson Grey to create a permanent installation on the grounds of the Islip Art Museum in Long Island, New York. Using cobblestones, we created the simple outline of a human figure. Inside this low, stone wall, we placed discarded wood from the renovation of Zena’s new bedroom. It was a time of harvest and a time to burn off the past. Maize and pumpkins decorated the setting. At the appointed time, accompanied by drumming, friends were led in a ritual procession, down a path illuminated by many tikki torches, through a wooded area and into the clearing of the Soul Furnace. The burn took place in solemn silence. After the ceremony, stones were mortared into the ground permanently and a tree was planted in the open heart-center of the Stone Giant. In November of 1989, when Zena was one year old, we all revisited the site, and young Zena met the young tree. Subsequently, the tree died and the heart-center has become a fire pit for night and off-hour visitors and ritualists.

110 111 World Culture : Visionary Network ASIA International Fantastic Art Association NORTH AMERICA www.ifaa.cc Pod Collective www.podcollective.com Illusions and dreams are constantly with us all, and it is as if we are completely The Pod Collective is a collection of North American visionary immersed in nature. We use our imaginations to deal with the infinite diver- artists and an online community forum for exploring aspects of the sity of nature, and to add the desirable aspects of our fantasies to the world. art in culture. It is as interested in artists and their relationships As for persistent or insatiable illusions, they are a positive affirmation of the to each other and their work as it is in the art itself. The visionary notion of taking part in a world which is becoming brilliant. Rather than perceiving community, with its intent and collective power of manifesta- artistic illusions and fantasies as a particular genre, one can view works of art such tion, is the single greatest community yet created. It is an ongoing as sculptures, photography, painters and so on as a much more comprehensive collaboration between many people with powerful properties of spirited work, which we can use to associate and create relationships between the emergence and healing. It is this facet of the art gem that is at the various genres. heart of the Pod Collective. OCEANIA SOUTH AMERICA Beinart International Surreal Art Collective Usko Ayar Amazonian School www.beinart.org www.sensorium.com/usko BeinArt is a virtual haven of bizarre and mind-blowing artwork, where one can discover hundreds of new artists We want to contribute to the conservation of the rainforest. who are pushing boundaries within the Surreal and Vision- The silent, beautiful factories, producers of oxygen, food, ary art movement. The collective was formed to increase medicine, living things beyond numbers. We, the jungle public awareness and appreciation of contemporary Surreal, people, see well and understand the bounty. Art is like Fantastic and Visionary Art. Each individual artist’s contribu- recreating the world, every sheet of paper has tremen- tion increases the movements credibility in the contemporary dous possibility. Our paintings are shown publicly around art world. The central aim of beinArt.org is to show the work the world in museums, galleries and with conservation of internationally renowned artists with the work of lesser programs. The images are reproduced in art, medicine, known, though extraordinary artists. These emerging artists environmental and news media enlightening and engaging make up the majority of the collective, which represents over minds, many of which are children’s, to learn more about 500 artists and growing. the relationships of humans, plants and their environments. AFRICA EUROPE African Visionary Art Society www.africanvisionaryartsociety.com Society for the Art of Imagination The African Visionary Art Society aims to bring together like www.artofimagination.org minded artists and create a platform of group art exhibitions and art Our Society for Art of Imagination was formed to promote media, to foster the study, practice and appreciation of visionary art in Art of Vision, which combines imagination with craftsman- all media, to encourage exchange of ideas and experiences in this field, ship, and to provide a forum for Artists working in this field. We and to promote these artists internationally. The purpose of the Society encourage fine technique coupled with imagination to create fine is to foster development of visionary art in Africa, which crosses over times works of art that transcend the ordinary. We intend to assist the and places as a thread that weaves through the collective history of all human resurgence of interest in fantastic and visionary art by creating a cultures. This will serve to help unify and network the visionary art community community of support for other artists working in this spirit. The members in Africa and bridge with the visionary art movement all over the world. of the Society work independently of one another in various countries yet their work shows a consistent ethos and, whether the work is a painting, sculpture, computer-originated art or 3D object, it speaks a universal language. background art by Daniel Mirante, ‘Pangaian Wilds “ 112 113 Nature of an Artist’s Soul Alex Grey excerpt from “Art Psalms”

The artist’s soul is like wildflowers growing in a ditch. The artist’s soul is like the bee, busily gathering sustenance from God’s beauty, returning to the nest of the studio and transforming the pollen of inspiration into the honey of art, a sweetness for all. The artist’s soul is like a mountain, indistinct and mist-covered. It sometimes fades from view, as if not there at all. The artist’s soul is like a tree with roots in the Heavens and limbs branching to earth, explosively blooming creation. The artist’s soul is like a toxic waste dump, feeding the culture back its own carelessly cast-off poisons. The artist’s soul is like the outrageous colors of fall, the dying plunge of beauty, bleeding over everything. The artist’s soul is like a deer darting out in front of our philosophical car. In a moment of shock we swerve, wreck our car, the deer escapes unharmed, and we need a new philosophy. The artist’s soul is like a hidden spring leaking up through the ground, making pools in the forest - both mosquitos and tadpoles thrive in it. The artist’s soul is like a rocky field: plow it and you’ll bust your plow. The artist’s soul is like a wasp which builds its nest on your house - it’s beautiful but scary. The artist’s soul is like a bear - big and dumb. Get out of its way. It does what it pleases. The artist’s soul is like the birds which herald a new dawn, up before everyone - Their song is rarely heard breaking the still silence of night. As the sun emerges from the horizon, inflaming the world with living color, sharp orange and pink on the cloud - the artist’s soul is like that. The artist’s soul is like the sky and clouds, constantly building amazing shapes, now wispy, now tempestuous, completely blocking the source of light, then dissolving into brilliant clarity.

top: Alex Grey, Green Buddha, 2002, pencil on paper, 9 x 12 in. 114 right: Alex Grey, Tree and Person, 2002, oil, 9 x 12 in. 115 A Visionary Installation at CoSM Kate Raudenbush Altered State

photo by Robert Griffitts

Altered State is a 27-foot tall birdcage echoing the white silhouette of the US Capitol dome, yet symbolically covered in a mirage of mythical crea- tures fabricated of elaborately carved white steel and rendered in the archetypal style of the Pa- cific Northwest Coast Native tribes. A ladder of white swings descends three stories from above, and eagle and feather imagery cover the walls, illus- trating the birds connection to the spirit world and the ascent to the higher self. The shared cultural symbolism of the eagle is explored symbolically within this framework of a colonialist political power symbol, and, as one ascends the swings, every platform reveals the wisdom of a different Native tribe carved into the seat. This tangible union of opposites offers itself as a gathering space to rumi- nate on the origin of American “civilization” amidst the en- during dignity and vision of its Native Peoples. A government

photo by Kate Raudenbush building is transformed into an 116 Altered State. photo by Hanah Thiem 117 photo by Robert Griffitts photo by Kate Raudenbush

Kate Raudenbush is a sculptor and photographer who explores humanity with themes of social dichotomy, history, mythology and sacred space. Using laser-cut metal, acrylic, wood, fabric, mirror, glass, sound and light, her designs become interactive, climbable, enveloping environments that are given more meaning with each visitor’s participation, creating work that is not just an object to behold, but an experience to be lived. Her sculpture work has been included in the permanent collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, as well as publicly and privately commissioned works for festivals and performances, with clients such as The Black Rock Arts Foundation, The All Points West Music Festival, and five consecutive commissions for large-scale public sculpture for Burning Man. Kate’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Current TV, the LA Times, CNN.com, Time Out New York, Time Maga- zine, the Village Voice and the award-winning Burning Man documentary publication ”The Kate Raudenbush Burning Book.” www.kateraudenbush.com 118 photo by Kate Raudenbush photo by Robert Griffitts 119 Tool & Alex Grey V i c a r i o u s

The Vicarious video is a meditation on the nature of the Self. The story line begins “10,000 Days.” Having previously used stop-motion animation in their videos, with a constricted vision of the central character as he experiences a self that can this work was entirely created in computer graphic animation, making it Tool’s first only consciously see a myopic perspective of violent/negative stimulation. A violent full CGI video. The work was co-directed by Tool’s lead guitar, Adam Jones and encounter knocks the Self unconscious. Upon awakening, he enters into a bright artist Alex Grey. Also included on the DVD is a documentary on the making of the world of infinite interconnectedness in the “Net of Being.” There he recognizes his video reviewing the history of Jones’ previous brilliant animation and special effects fate, waking up to his Oneness and integration with the planet. work, a presentation of Jones’ and Grey’s animation storyboards, and a feature on the extraordinary CoSM Gallery in Manhattan. The Vicarious DVD, released on December 18, 2007, contains an extended version of the video counterpart for the song, “Vicarious” from the Tool album Tool www.toolband.com www.adamjonesfmx.com 120 121 Creativity, Diversity & Cross-Pollination at The BIONEERS Conference Some of Bioneers’ core elements distinguish it J.P. Harpignies from nearly all other roughly comparable “green” “Green is the new black” one frequently hears these days. initiatives. Founded in New Mexico by film- Environmental consciousness has finally become hip. Talk of maker/writer Kenny Ausubel, it has always sought climate change, clean energy, carbon footprints, green buildings, to highlight strong Native American voices, eco-fashions, local foods, and so on, seems ubiquitous and incessant. But despite featuring over the years such leading lights as John this undeniable (and positive) explosion of environmental awareness, the painful Mohawk, Oren Lyons, Winona LaDuke, and truth is that our species is still very, very far from genuinely facing the magnitude Tom Goldtooth, to name only a few. Kenny of the ecological predicament we face, let alone actually addressing it. realized that our modern Western societ- The profound changes we would need to make to our lifestyles, technologies, ies have gotten ourselves in the mess we are in social relationships and guiding paradigms in order to birth an authentically to a large extent because we failed to integrate sustainable civilization are almost never honestly confronted in mainstream the deep ecological teachings of first peoples, who had learned “the original instructions” that discourse. Not only are we not deploying the necessary solutions on a sufficient photo by Chuck Casteberry scale, we are for the most part not yet even asking the right questions. And the came with the land over millennia. We moderns problem is that we are devastating most of Earth’s ecosystems so rapidly that, didn’t even understand that concept and are now despite the heartening increase in eco awareness, the pace of the destruction is paying the price. still far outstripping the emergence of new attitudes and cleaner technologies. One of Bioneers’ key missions is to highlight This doesn’t mean we humans will disappear anytime soon. We are a very hardy, the work of those who in very different ways “weedy” species that consistently finds ways to live in even very harsh environ- draw from a deep, reverent study of “Nature’s ments. The issue is how radically impoverished and toxic a biosphere we will Operating Instructions” to fashion imaginative, leave our descendants, how much suffering the poorest billions among us will efficient but benign ways of meeting human have to endure, and how much of the ark of life we will condemn to extinction. needs without destroying ecosystems, people such as Bioneers stalwart John Todd who has All that said, though, there is no question that we have seen a remarkable eco for decades designed “living machines” that use awakening in the last few years, and that countless groups and individuals from bacteria, plants and animals to purify water, or all walks of life working in a wide range of contexts have been making inspir- mycologist Paul Stamets, who has discovered ing contributions to the greening of our energy, agricultural and industrial new strains of powerful medicinal mushrooms systems; our building and transportation, our land and water management; and our and developed revolutionary uses of fungi to photo by Tim Porter socio-political, cultural and spiritual attitudes, at least laying a foundation, clean toxic wastes and deter insect pests. planting the seeds for the future emergence of a genuinely Earth-honoring civilization. It may not yet be enough, but it is a dynamic beginning. And there Another longtime core Bioneer value is that may be no place to get as good a sense of the extraordinary variety, creativity and social and environmental justice is central to depth and breadth of this movement than at the annual Bioneers Conference. sustainability. The rights and health of the poorest among us and the vitality of the natural This uniquely diverse gathering, held in San Rafael, California (a bit north world are inseparably linked. From its inception it of San Francisco) the third weekend of every October, now in its 20th year, has been grounded in a profound awareness that brings together cutting edge thinkers, indigenous leaders, scientists, inventors, human health is intimately connected to how we designers, civil and human rights advocates, public servants, organic farmers, treat each other, the land and water and other educators, grassroots activists, artists, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, independent species, and how we grow and distribute our food, media pioneers, philanthropists, and others whose work is so cross-disciplinary so all the leading schools of organic farming and and inventive they are impossible to categorize. It exposes these very different gardening from Permaculture to Biodynamic people working in seemingly unrelated fields to each other’s work so that they to French and Bio-intensive have long been all begin to realize they are part of a much larger movement to pull our society represented at Bioneers, as have leading out of its ecocidal trajectory and nudge it toward sanity. Like rich “edge” ecosys- herbalists, ethnobotanists and alternative/ tems, such as estuaries, coral reefs or coastal mangrove forests, in which many complementary healers from Andrew Weil different species thrive, Bioneers has spawned countless fruitful cross to Wade Davis to Terence McKenna to the 13 pollinations and partnerships across disciplines and social and ethnic divides. indigenous grandmothers. 122 photo by Jennifer Esperanza 123 A very dynamic youth activism of the exciting emerging field of “biomimicry”-the development of program has also become a cru- non-toxic, highly efficient technologies from the deep study of “how cial element in the mix, and the nature does it” (water repellent paints that mimic the surface of lotus nurturing of women’s leadership leaves, wind turbines shaped like whale fins, underwater adhesives based has always been a cornerstone of on mollusks’ secretions, boat hulls shaped like dolphins, super strong the event. resilient fibers based on spider silk, etc., etc.). Of course, with such a diversity of The organization that puts on the Bioneers conference does much else views and people, creative disagree- besides. It has published a line of books (five so far), has a radio series ments abound under Bioneers’ “big syndicated on several hundred radio stations, develops specialized materials tent” as organic ranchers and vegan for educators at all levels, has in the past run special training programs for animal rights folks, anti-corpo- Native American and African American farmers on growing organic and photo by Chi Fang rate/anti-globalization and green heirloom food crops and finding markets, and is currently working on business leaders, dreadlocked young an experimental visionary strategic plan (Dreaming New Mexico) to activists and European government rigorously map New Mexico’s and then the Mountain West’s potential to officials in suits, neo-pagans and green its economy over the coming decades by switching to clean, renew- Catholic nuns, hard core secular able energy, restructuring its electric grid, shifting its building and trans- rationalists and mystics all bump portation infrastructure and localizing its food production. These regional up against each other. Bioneers is templates, should they gain traction, could then be adapted as models that there to highlight what it views as could be adapted to other regions nationally and internationally. promising initiatives and projects and ideas. It has a broad philo- Bioneers is only one of countless worthy organizations and events dealing sophical direction, but it accepts with sustainability issues around the planet, but it offers a particularly contradictions, paradox and uncer- inspiring and hopeful model because, while far from perfect or free of tainty, and has no party line. flaws (what is?), it highlights a remarkable abundance of wildly varied, brilliantly creative projects, inventions, ideas, campaigns and individuals photo by Chi Fang The three-day weekend includes working in so many different fields at all scales, from the intimate to the featured plenary talks (beamed international, some well established, others nascent. Experts in to many other sites across North various fields will of course learn more about their own discipline America holding simultaneous at their specialized professional conferences, but no other event gatherings, so that up to 13,000 combines quite the cross-section of highly accomplished innovators people see them in real time), from so many realms as Bioneers. And, even for a temperamental panels, hands-on workshops, dis- pessimist like me, it’s usually a lot of fun. cussions, social networking, art in- stallations, music, movement and J. P. Harpignies, a writer/editor and environmental activist, is dance, rituals, celebrations, perfor- an associate producer of the annual Bioneers conference. A mances, and a film festival. It also former program director at the New York Open Center, he includes highly specialized one-day is the author of three books, Political Ecosystems, Double Helix events on the Thursday and Monday Hubris, and most recently, Delusions of Normality. He also preceding and following the main edited the collection on shamanic plant use, Vision- photo by Chi Fang body of the conference. These ary Plant Consciousness, and was associate editor of the have ranged from programs Bioneers books Ecological Medicine and Nature’s Operating on the greening of schools and Instructions. J.P. also taught taijiquan in Brooklyn, NY, curricula targeted to educators, to for 24 years. creative fundraising for activists, to a gathering of international experts in national “green plans” from around the world, to hands-on seminars J.P. Harpignies by Rebecca Moore and her team www.bioneers.org from Google on using Google Earth technology for community activism, to a conference on the leading edges 124 photo by Tim Porter 125 Places of Power: Portals to the Numinous Econoshamanic A place of power is a location in the physical world that It turned out that whenever I passed this place, my state of consciousness somehow, mysteriously links an individual or a collective to shifted. Sometimes I would be drawn into my body with a strong here and now something that is beyond the physical, to another reality, to a place presence. Sometimes, insights about my life would flood into my awareness. which is ultimately healing, renewing, whole and individuating. A Sometimes, I’d just experience great gratitude. particular place can be a power spot to an individual, a particular group or all of humanity. It can be a place in nature, something human made or a human creation One time, as I passed this place, I was sure the old tree in this yard was standing on a natural spot. talking to me! Not in words, but talking nonetheless. It told me one of its heaviest branches was in danger of falling off and that I should tell the The idea of the place of power was popularized in the writings of Carlos owners of the house to trim it back. I debated for weeks whether to follow this Castaneda in his book, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge instruction, and ultimately decided against doing this. I was afraid of being thought (University of California Press, 1968). Carlos was sitting on Don Juan’s crazy by the residents of the house. A few weeks later, the old tree was cut down. porch when Don Juan suggested he find his place of power, or “spot” on the When I asked the workers who were removing it, they told me it was because of the porch. Don Juan explained that a spot is “a place where a [person] could feel heavy branch. I was heartbroken and learned (I hope) never to ignore the calling of spirits. naturally happy and strong.” He went on to say that, in a person’s spot, nothing Who knows why places of power become places of power? Sometimes these can hurt them, because in that spot, the person is at their very best. The spot is a places stay powerful for a long while; some remain powerful for only a short type of ally. An ally, according to Don Juan, is “a power capable of carrying a man time. Some are powerful because of natural forces, for example the Grand beyond the boundaries of himself.” Canyon or Niagara Falls. Some are powerful due to the actions of beings. Carlos spent hours trying to find his spot on Don Juan’s porch. Finally, he fell asleep in The powerful yard I just mentioned has a nature spirit that dwells there. frustration, only to awaken later and be told by Don Juan that he had found his spot. Sometimes places become powerful by virtue of intense psycho-spiritual practices This is an example of a place of power unique to an individual. performed thereon. In India, it is widely believed that when powerful sadhus do spiritual practices in a place, the place becomes holy. This subject fascinates me because in my own shamanic path, individual places of power have been allies of mine. Several years ago, I lived in a house on a hilltop. While In their book, The Magician Within: Accessing the Shaman in the Male Psyche (Avon, walking in my back yard one day, I started to descend the stone steps to a lower level 1993), authors Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette talk of power spots as of the hill that bordered my basement walk out. As I descended, a voice from the openings between our ordinary world and “extraordinary space.” These center of my being said, quite loudly, “Pay attention. You are entering a place of power.” openings are discovered by shamans and mystics who go on to build altars, temples and shrines on these power spots. According to Moore and Gillette, the Suddenly, I was totally present, attentive, in my body, here and now. The world around purpose of these structures is to keep the two worlds – ordinary and extraordinary – me was shimmering with newness as if I’d never truly looked at anything before in my separate. Without these boundaries between worlds, the energies of both worlds life. I could see patterns of energy radiating everywhere – coming from the trees and would flood into one another. This is undesirable because, among other reasons, bushes and from the structure I called my home, and these patterns were filled with we can’t handle the intensity of the energies of extraordinary space. They take us meaning. It was magnificent! Yet far more magnificent and meaningful than what deep within ourselves and reveal deep and often dark (or unbearably light) aspects I was sensing, was the flood of insights about my life that came into my conscious- of our psyches. Extraordinary space is crazy space. Altars act as filters so just the right ness over the next hour or so. I had to run to find a paper and pen to write what amount of sacred energy comes through. was coming through. I ended up with several pages of text that served as a source of profound teaching over the next several years. After this experience, I moved my In truth, power spots are everywhere. If we are perceptive, we can notice them and shamanic practice into the basement and right up against the walk out adjacent to the the opportunities they present for our growth. Perhaps one is here, right now. Enjoy power spot. the moment. Then build your temple! Places of power have continued to play an important role in my path. In my quiet Econoshamanic (Kevin D. Sachs, Ph.D.) facilitates transformational processes, neighborhood, there is a large house with an incredible and wild hedge and landscape events and crises for healing self, society and planet. An advanced student in in its front yard that I frequently pass. One day, as I walked by, I was drawn to the Grof Transpersonal Training, he offers Holotropic Breathwork with certified hedge. It seemed fluid, moving. It’s hard to describe, but it seemed to be opening like facilitators. He also offers support during psychospiritual crises (spiritual a lotus and telling a story as it did. Although I couldn’t quite decipher the story, this emergencies), integration of nonordinary experiences, design and facilitation of rites flowing hedge fascinated me. I started to pay attention whenever I walked by. The of passage and shamanic healing. ©2009, Kevin D. Sachs, Ph.D. All rights reserved. dance of the hedge continued – it wasn’t just a one-time affair. I resolved to keep paying attention. Kevin D. Sachs, PhD. [email protected] 126 127 Allyson Grey The Process Each piece is hand drawn in pencil using rulers and a square template. Each piece is painted one color at a time. This series, a Allyson’s phenomenal painting series entitled, “The Process” was two years two year project, shows the progress in the making. It started with an inspired idea to deconstruct and reveal the of a painting from finished drawing, method she uses to paint all of her work. When the painting series was the addition of each color, to the conceived, its completion seemed impossibly daunting. Nearly every eve- finished painting when all squares ning after a day of working at CoSM, and at every Entheocentric Salon are filled. live-painting event at CoSM for two years, she sat at her table and worked The concepts chaos, order and on this epic project. The goal: to complete this extensive project and secret writing symbolically expressed exhibit the entire twenty labor intensive works, at MicroCoSM Gallery in in the compositions, colors and Manhattan before our move at the end of 2008, a goal that was fulfilled in October systems of my art, represent of that year. This kind of planning and follow through is a metaphor for all great an essentialized world view that has endeavors that may seem out of reach. long been the content of my oeuvre. Any creative manifestation begins with an intention, the carrying Chaos in these paintings sym- out of which involves a process. The cleansing and purification of the bolizes the material world where ecosystem requires the united will of humanity with a focused and distinctions and judgments are indomitable plan. Healing our planet will be a long journey that must be made. Explosions and drifts of taken one step at a time, an essential process for fulfilling the most beautiful thousands of spectrally arranged and crucial dream of our species. - Alex Grey squares in the artwork represent the presence of entropy, disorder and unpredictability that exist in every system in the physical world. Order in the work, the intercon- nected harmonious patterns, suggest bliss realms one might experience in transcendental states of mystic unity sometimes called Nirvana, heaven or the infinite Divine. The Secret Writing in this series is comprised of twenty unpronounceable letters, corre- sponding to the nameless presence existent in all sacred writing, the spirit imbedded in communication that cannot be reduced to concepts. Secret writing in every culture is like a window revealing inner concepts that are manifested in the material world. The Process is a completed work of art revealing twenty steps of its own creation. Each panel bears one of the twenty letters of Secret Writing centered and bridging a field of order and a field of chaos, opening a visual dialogue between the two realms.

128 129 “Intending to create spiritual art, I feel naturally attracted to abstraction and to a written had one person shows at Stux Gallery and O.K. Harris The Process, 2008, sacred language. Every known religion reveres its holy writing. Sacred writing of all faiths, Gallery in NYC, among others. Commissions of permanent graphite pencil, colored however, come into conflict through human interpretation as the written word defines the public works include a 24 foot mural at the First Bank of pencil, oil on wood differences of philosophy and traditions, when truly the basis of all religion is unity and Lowell, Massachusetts and my paintings have been 20 pieces, each 10 x 20 in. infinite love. collected by many corporations and individuals. I paint and collaborate with Alex in Brooklyn, New York, and at CoSM Allyson Grey Born in 1952, I have been Alex Grey’s partner and wife for 35 years. We met at the Boston in the Hudson Valley.” www.allysongrey.com Museum School where I received a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in Fine Arts. I’ve 130 131 CoSM Family Gallery designed by Syd Gnosis photo’s provided by Susan Buck, Syd Gnosis, 132 Eli Morgan, Brian James, Kevin Hedley 133

Earthghost

Inspired journeying through Laos, Burning Man and New York during the last five years has brought about Earthghost from the land of ideas into reality. please contact us at Earthghost is 165 acres of native bushland/forest www.earthghost.org.au that lies in the beautiful Yarra Valley, one hour East of Melbourne in South Eastern Australia. An Antipodean sister for CoSM. We feel fortunate to be given this opportunity to open up this property to those who wish to be interactive and effective in creating a site where the consciousness exploring community can meet and express. We will be hosting a variety of art workshops, ceremonies and small events over the coming year. If you are in or traveling to South Eastern Australia and wish to visit or be involved please contact us through the web site. All love, Thy and

AD Sponsor space in the next Issue

contact [email protected]

Celebrating our nature in a time of transition, this magazine brings together visionary artists and activists who illuminate and evolve our relationships with the world. Each contributor included in this issue uniquely expresses the important message of living in harmony with Mother Earth. Their chosen life path and visionary art channels a deep love for the natural world and the interconnectivity of humans and nature. As a conscious part of the living ecology of Earth, we are inspired by people whose sense of stewardship is reflected in their work, innovators who bring a renewed sense of hopefulness to the problems of the present. With contributors from all six continents, this global arts journal illustrates diversity and similitude, reflecting these qualities in the emerging planetary culture. Thanks to all those who participated in “Human / Nature”, especially those who sponsored spaces to make the printing possible. It was a pleasure working with all of you, we honour the gifts you bring to the world and feel fortunate to have a forum in which we can share the spirit of this endeavour. Deepest of gratitude to Alex and Allyson Grey for the vastness of their vision and all the joyful wonder they bring into being. We are so grateful to have Delvin Solkinson joining our CoSM team. His dedication, creativity, and seamless organization has synthesized this monumental issue. This magazine would not have been possible without the magic of Marisa Scirocco whose endless work and inspiring designs rendered this sixth volume of CoSM Journal from imagination into manifestation. Shouts to Syd Gnosis who anchored our presence and helped in so many unseen ways. Glowing appreciation goes to our treasured guide Eli Morgan, who joined with Alex, Allyson and Marisa to initiate the CoSM Journal in 2002, and whose innumerable influences can be seen in every aspect of this light filled lineage. We are excited to follow this flow into the future and have already begun work on our next issue. Ten thousand blessings to Gaia and all her sentient beings. May the collective power of our love help heal our world.

Marisa Scirocco Two of Crystals, 2006, digital Eli Morgan, Marisa Scirocco,Human Allyson Grey, / AlexNature Grey, Delvin Solkinson, Syd Gnosis www.alienambassador.net