May 16, 2008

Polar Bears: Threatened Spirits

Jane Kay, Environment Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, reported yesterday : U.S. to list polar bears as threatened species.

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We've all known for some time that each year increasing numbers of polar bears drown because there is not enough ice for them to travel from place to place as they used to. What is significant about this addition to the Endangered Species list is that it is the first time global warming has been the cause. Ironically, while environmental groups hoped that this would spur the U.S. government to pass restrictions on emissions that are having the harshest effects on climate change, the Bush administration is actually passing a special rule that allows petroleum exploration and extraction to continue - in some cases in prime polar bear habitat - and that the Interior Department has announced plans to limit protections against oil and gas activities.

While some applaud this long-awaited addition of the polar bear to the Endangered Species list, it seems that opposition makes it unlikely that any real relief will come.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, called the listing "long overdue" and said it "underscores how important it is for the Senate to pass national legislation to cut global warming pollution and avert the dangerous effects of climate change." Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, called the rule allowing oil development to continue as "a gift to Big Oil."

In Alaska, a state that had opposed the listing, Republican Rep. Don Young called the decision "an assault on sound science and common sense." He praised [Interior Secretary Dirk] Kempthorne for allowing exploration and drilling to continue but feared that the listing would open the door to "frivolous lawsuits" by environmental groups.

As someone who has been trained to view animals as spirit guides and sources of shamanic energy and medicine, I can't help but wonder what sort of magick animals that become extinct take with them when they vanish from our planet. In the case of the polar bear, we would lose a truly majestic and powerful helper whose wisdom, strength and fearlessness are particularly revered by the shaman.

Bears in general are believed to have strong medicine magick and, of all animals, are most often spirit guides and helpers to humans. They signify leadership, family values and lunar magick. Polar bears, because of their white fur, are said to represent purity of spirit. A creature of dreams, shamans, mystics and visionaries, the polar bear can help to communicate with the spirit realm and the transformative process of death and rebirth. The polar bear is an excellent guide, helping us swim through emotional waters and finding our way back from the brink. He gives us strength in adversity and the ability to find sustenance in barren landscapes. The polar bear can help in overcoming problems with flexibility, change and stubbornness. He knows when to use his energy and when to save it, and can teach this ability to us.

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All of this beautiful magick will be lost if we allow the polar bear to perish.

It is, of course, the way of nature for some animals to die out and others to take prominence in the web of life, but we humans - in our greed and carelessness - have caused the premature and unnatural extinction of so many species and irrevocable change to our environment, the effects of which we are only beginning to see. While we in the U.S. are not the only culprits, our government has been particularly pernicious in its denial of this truth and in its refusal to take any real steps to effect lasting change. What can we do to change this? Will it be in time to save the polar bear?

Some groups that are working to save the polar bear:

World Wildlife Federation

Greenpeace

Free The Bears

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:48 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2008

More Bee Buzz

A while ago, I wrote a post discussing scientists' claims that a world without bees is a world without chocolate. So I found it incredibly synchronistic when recently Luna introduced me to Help the Honey Bees within a couple of weeks of my most favorite chocolate company promoting special bee chocolates for Mother's Day. Mother Earth. Bees. Chocolate. It all connects.

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Available only for another few days, Burdick Chocolates is offering Chocolate Honey Bee Rounds:

These beautiful gold rounds are filled with our limited selection of chocolates celebrating the sweet themes of honey and roses. They feature our scrumptious Honey Bee, piped from a honey ganache and finished with dark chocolate, almond almond wings and white stripes. Our Bee Truffle is a rich honey, sauternes wine & dark chocolate truffle, hand-piped and finished with an edible gold bee. Scattered throughout are Rosehip Tea bonbons topped with candied rose petals.
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I can scarcely imagine anything that sounds more delicious! And the lucky person who finds one of two Prize White Honey Bees will win a monthly delivery of Burdick Chocolate for a full year.

Let's hope that the honey bees stay around longer than these chocolates.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)

May 9, 2008

Bee a Honey, Save the Bees

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Luna turned me on to this honey of a site: Help the Honey Bees.

Here you can learn all about the plight of our honey bees, how to save them, and even create a honey bee avatar for yourself. You can make bee portraits of your friends and send them via email, which in turn alerts them to the plight of the honey bees. See how nicely that works?

When your friends receive their Bee-mail, they will learn:

1. Honey bees are responsible for pollinating one-third of all the foods we eat, including many of our favorite fruits, nuts and vegetables.

2. Alarmingly, more than 25 percent of the Western honey bee population has disappeared over the last several winters, threatening our food supply and our way of life.



3. Many of the honey bee deaths are being attributed to a mysterious threat called Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes bees to suddenly leave their hive and die. Unfortunately, not much is known about this new threat.

4. Researchers are working to find a solution to Colony Collapse Disorder, but there are ways that we can all help the honey bees today. Learn more about bees and what you can do to help at helpthehoneybees.com.

I've seen lots of websites about bees and how we need to save them, but never before has one been so much fun. This site so appeals to my sense of aesthetics - I love everything about it - from the pretty graphics to the cheerful tune playing in the background (and I usually hate music on websites). And, of course, the adorable bees! You can download the homepage graphics as a screensaver and listen to the gently blowing breeze and the buzz of the bees right from your own computer. I'm such a geek for this kind of stuff.

So, have some fun. And help the honey bees!

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Posted by Angela-Eloise at 11:06 AM | Comments (1)

May 1, 2008

It's Not Easy Being Green

What would the world look like if everyone lived like me? Consumer Consequences is an interactive web game designed to answer that question precisely.

Part of American Public Media's special series, Consumed, which explores whether the modern American lifestyle is sustainable in the long run, Consumer Consequences asks as series of questions about your lifestyle. As you play, it shows you how many "Earths" of natural resources it would take to sustain the 6.6 billion people on this planet if they all lived like you. The graphics that appear onscreen as you play reflect the waste you produce, the infrastructure you require, the energy you consume, and how your lifestyle impinges on forests and other undeveloped land. The program calculates your ecological footprint based on the information your provide, lets you compare your lifestyle with other players, and gives you a chance to modify your choices and reduce your footprint.

How did I fare? Terribly!

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Look at that - it would take 4.2 Earths to sustain everyone if they lived my lifestyle. Yikes! For someone who lives in the city, doesn't own a car, walks everywhere for the most part and buys organic food, I certainly leave a big footprint. So what is this city witch to do?

Well, to start I found this article on How to green your life. I also searched for books on the subject and among the many available found these that appealed to me:

Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World

Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day

Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying

The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time

And coming this summer: Llewellyn's 2009 Green Living Guide

It looks like I have some reading to do and some changes to make in my lifestyle! Kermit was right - it's not easy being green!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)

April 23, 2008

Getting My Hands In The Earth

Yesterday was Earth Day. April 22nd each year marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement and, since its foundation in 1970, has become a veritable juggernaut of activism and celebration for this little blue and green planet we call home. The significance of this day I'm sure is not lost on any of us who worship Earth as mother and to whom we look for the foundation of our spirituality.

While I did not participate in any of yesterday's organized activities, today I had my own private Earth Day because I literally got my hands in the Earth and planted flowers. Planting flowers may not seem like a very big deal to most people, but I can't remember the last time I had anything to do with flowers that didn't come delivered with a bow and a sentimental card. And actually digging in the dirt? Grabbing fists full of loamy soil and pushing it around plants? I'm a city girl - I just never did those things. That is why my morning of planting flowers and getting my hands in the soil and not caring a whit about how dirty my nails and my clothes got was such a monumental thing for me. And damn it felt good!

Today I was planting pansies. I had a couple of varieties, but my favorites were the tiny ones with cute purple and orange faces. Tomorrow I have some heather to plant, as well as some herbs and some vegetables.

Truly!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 5:19 PM | Comments (1)

March 19, 2008

Global Warming Rushes Timing of Spring

As we Pagans are celebrating the Vernal Equinox and the promise of life renewed, scientists are reporting that some forms of life on this planet may soon cease to exist - due to the effects that global warming is having on nature's harbingers of Spring.

AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein writes:

The fingerprints of man-made climate change are evident in seasonal timing changes for thousands of species on Earth, according to dozens of studies and last year's authoritative report by the Nobel Prize-winning international climate scientists. More than 30 scientists told The Associated Press how global warming is affecting plants and animals at springtime across the country, in nearly every state.

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The changes could push some species to extinction. That's because certain plants and animals are dependent on each other for food and shelter. If the plants bloom or bear fruit before animals return or surface from hibernation, the critters could starve. Also, plants that bud too early can still be whacked by a late freeze.

According to Borenstein's article (which I found at SFGate.com.), tree swallows and robins, who are now laying eggs and appearing much earlier than in years past, may starve as Spring cold snaps kill the insects upon which they depend to survive. Shifts in rainfall patterns cause butterfly larvae to die when the plants upon which they develop dry up too soon. From a shamanic point of view, it saddens me to consider the spirits who may be leaving this Earth, taking their lessons and their medicine with them.

In addition to threatening certain plants and animals with extinction, the list of effects from the early onset of Spring goes on and on. Allergy season begins earlier and stretches on painfully longer because pollen-producing plants appear earlier every year. Honey changes taste because bees are producing their peak amount of honey weeks earlier and the plants available to them are different now.

For those of us who consider Nature to be the very essence of our spirituality, the effects of global warming may not be startling news. But I, for one, who spent my Ostara morning navel-gazing, took this news item as a big wake-up call. It's all well and good to think about burgeoning Spring as a metaphor for a soul fulfilled, but we should remember to include Mother Earth in our prayers for healing and renewal, as the threat to her health is all too real.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:01 PM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2007

Protect Your Access to Natural Healthcare

The FDA is using legal maneuvering to try to end your access to natural health products (like vitamins, minerals and herbs) and natural health therapies of all sorts.

Again.

This time, their ploy is to declare that therapies are "Medicine" so any non-physician who uses them will be practicing medicine without a license. Since these practices are "Medicine", any products used would be untested drugs and therefore forbidden.

Here's how it is designed to work:

1. By using the term "Medicine" rather than "Modality" for CAM (Complimentary and Alternative Medicine) practices, the FDA sets the stage so that anyone who is not a licensed physician is breaking the law by using these modalities since they are therefore 'practicing medicine without a license'.

2. By using the term "treatment" rather than "therapy", the FDA  limits those who can perform these practices to licensed physicians and, again, anyone who is not a licensed physician is breaking the law by using these modalities since only licensed practitioners can legally address and treat health concerns.   So people using these modalities are therefore 'practicing medicine without a license'.

3. By using the terms "Medicine" and "treatment" instead of  "Modalities" and "therapy", all substances, including vitamins, minerals, herbs, co-factors, etc., automatically become untested drugs since they are being used to prevent, treat, mitigate or cure disease states. Such use can only legally take place with FDA approved drugs.

Your Comments are Vitally Important

Public, professional and industry comments are being accepted on the FDA proposal to "capture" alternative procedures and products as "medicine" and then make them illegal. The history of these repressive attacks by the FDA makes it clear that public outcry, IN HUGE NUMBERS, is the only effective tool that natural health supporters have to change this disastrous outcome.

PROTECT YOUR ACCESS TO NATURAL HEALTH - ADD YOUR VOICE TO THIS CAMPAIGN

Comments will be accepted until April 30.

By contacting everyone you can and asking for their participation in this comment campaign, we can kill this assault on personal health freedom. Please send the link to the comment campaign to everyone you can reach with a brief explanation of the issues. Urge everyone in your personal and professional circles of influence to protect their health freedom -- their personal right to make their own health care choices.

In addition, it is important to take a moment to email the manufacturers of the health care products you take and ask them to alert their suppliers and customer base to protect their businesses. Your natural health care providers need to alert their patients and colleagues, too.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:12 AM | Comments (1)

March 3, 2007

A world without bees is a world without chocolate

A few days ago a coworker and I were discussing the recently reported, depressing news about the decimation of honeybees. Hecate brought our attention to it in this post highlighting reportage by The New York Times. Bad news indeed.

vineyardbee.png I snapped this bee, who was enjoying a zinnia at Martha's Vineyard Glassworks.

But the news isn't all as grim. An article in today's San Francisco Chronicle says that bees may have found their saviors in a somewhat less than obvious place: urban gardeners.

[Professor Gordon] Frankie, an entomologist at UC Berkeley and a specialist in the behavior of native bees, has been the leader of a decadelong urban bee research project. By documenting bee diversity and populations in urban gardens throughout California, he's discovering which flowering plants attract native bees and determining whether urban gardens can support bees.

According to Professor Frankie, as suburban developments replace wild habitats where native bees once thrived and agricultural practices, which often include widespread pesticide use and plowing under native plants, destroy numerous bee populations, urban environments have the potential to become safe havens for struggling bees.

The dire circumstances facing our native pollinators is the motivation behind Frankie's project. As native bees in the wild dwindled, Frankie began documenting bee diversity and frequencies in urban environments to determine whether urban gardens could support reasonable native bee populations.

As I have said before - joining many of my brothers and sisters in this belief - pagans should be on the forefront of environmental activism. What could be a more satisfying way to do your part than to grow a bee garden?

"Instead of planting a garden with only the flowers you enjoy, look around at the flowering plants that are native to your area. Those are the plants that will attract the bees. The bees know what they need, and they'll come. If you plant it, they will come," [Professor Frankie] said.

One of the challenges of being an urban pagan is that we often don't have the ability to experience nature the way we might like. Growing a bee garden, even if it's just a few potted plants on a fire escape, could provide the opportunity to grow your own herbs and to plant other things that are important to your magickal work, in addition to saving native bees. Having a few bees around could be a good thing. As animal spirits, bees' wisdom includes connection to the goddess Diana, understanding female warrior energy, reincarnation, communication with the dead, helping earth-bound spirits move on to their proper place, concentration, and prosperity.

UC Berkeley has a wonderful website that tells you all you need to know about planting urban bee gardens.

And what do bees have to do with chocolate? Frankie says:

In a world without bees, the only choice they'd have would be the dried-out tortillas or rice cakes, since wheat and rice are self-pollinated. Even chocolate, from the cacao plant, depends on the pollination of bees.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:09 PM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2007

Save Mother Earth: Support Al Gore

I hear so many pagans talking about how we, as followers of earth-based religions, should be at the forefront of the environmental movement. It should be a no-brainer, and I know there are many who already are doing what they can.

I'm promoting Isaac Bonewits' call to see how many thousands of Pagans we can get to support Al Gore and his work to stop global warming. Isaac passed along this message from Al Gore to the members of Spells for Democracy:

When the producers of An Inconvenient Truth first approached me with the concept for the film, I was skeptical. Could we really take a slideshow about the climate crisis and turn it into a compelling movie? Davis Guggenheim's Oscar win for best documentary and a second one for Melissa Etheridge's beautiful song "I Need to Wake Up" was a testament to their ability, but it was also a testament to you.

It was you who packed the theaters and got your friends to go see this film, greatly increasing the audience. And then this past December, it was you who connected through MoveOn.org and AlGore.com to attend An Inconvenient Truth viewing parties. At those parties and in the weeks that followed, nearly 200,000 of you wrote to Congress, demanding that they address the climate crisis like the planetary emergency that it is.

Even though I have been a life-long movie fan, I didn't really understand how big of an audience a movie could reach. And of course I never would have imagined in a million years that a movie that I was a part of would receive two Academy Awards—or one—or would have ever been made in the first place! As humbling as this moment is, An Inconvenient Truth will only succeed if it drives all of us to take action. That's why I'm asking you to join me in the next stage of our fight. On March 21st, I'm going to hand-deliver the messages you signed when I testify at Congressional hearings on the climate crisis.

This is an incredible opportunity to demonstrate to Congress that we demand immediate action. And I need your help to really make this moment count. Can you commit to getting 10 friends to send their message to Congress through AlGore.com before March 21st? The more voices I can bring to Washington, the more powerful our message will be.

To get your friends involved, just forward them this note or direct them HERE.

There is no longer a debate about the fact that global warming is real. We're causing it. The consequences are serious, and could be headed towards catastrophe if we don't fix it. And it's not too late. I don't want to imagine a future in which our children say, "What were our parents thinking?" "Why didn't they wake up when they had a chance?" And I know you don't either.

The hundreds of thousands of you who signed messages to Congress showed me what's possible. Working together we can unite millions of people and build support for real action on a scale that has never been seen before.

Help me take the first step and fill up that hearing room with your signatures. That picture alone will send a powerful message.

Can you commit to getting ten more people to send messages to Congress demanding action to stop global warming?

SEND YOUR MESSAGE TO CONGRESS

I'm looking forward to working with you on this monumental task.

Thank you,
Al Gore

In addition to answering the call to get ten friends to send messages to Congress, Spells for Democracy is planning a special Equinox spell for the day of the hearings to "make the Congresscritters pay attention." I'll pass along the spell once it's posted.

As you plan for your Ostara rituals and celebrations of the arrival of Spring, why not lend your energy to those who are trying to save Mother Earth?

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:17 AM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2006

Goddess of the Yangtze Extinct

AP released a story yesterday declaring that researchers have officially declared the baiji, a rare, white dolphin whose habitat was largely the Yangtze River in China, effectively extinct. An international expedition underwent a fruitless six week search for any sign of the fresh-water dolphins. (The Wall Street Journal also had been following the story. Much of their coverage was reprinted here)

"The baiji is functionally extinct. We might have missed one or two animals but it won't survive in the wild," said August Pfluger, a Swiss economist turned naturalist who helped put together the expedition. "We are all incredibly sad."

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A shy, nearly blind freshwater mammal known for centuries in Chinese legend as the Goddess of the Yangtze, the baiji were a beautiful, charismatic species that had survived for 20 million years. The first mention of the baiji dates back 2,000 years to Guo Po, a Jin dynasty scholar who described it in the Erya, China's oldest dictionary. Later, the strange creature found its way into a love story, where it turned into a beautiful woman like a mermaid. That's why fishermen called the baiji the Goddess of the Yangtze and said the animal could foretell bad weather.

The primary cause for the baiji's rapid decline was a degraded habitat - busy ship traffic, which confounds the sonar the dolphin uses to find food, and overfishing and pollution in the Yangtze waters of eastern China.

Randall Reeves, chairman of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union's Cetacean Specialist Group, who took part in the Yangtze mission, said expedition participants were surprised at how quickly the dolphins disappeared.

"Some of us didn't want to believe that this would really happen, especially so quickly," he said. "This particular species is the only living representative of a whole family of mammals. This is the end of a whole branch of evolution."

This is sad and disturbing news, particularly on the heels of a recent New York Times article that reports that the amount of money it would take to curb carbon dioxide emissions over the next 50 years (enough to have a meaningful effect on global warming and its consequences) is about equal to the Bush administration's tax cuts in 2001 and is also roughly equivalent the amount spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

It is more than a little disheartening that big business, energy companies and irresponsible governments have been allowed to run rampant through the resources and the wildlife on our Mother Earth. In the case of the Goddess of the Yangtze, it's too late to save her. Perhaps beginning at Yule, as we celebrate the return of the Sun to Earth, and in the following months as we celebrate his return to a robust vitality, we make an effort to direct some energy toward saving our planet and those for whom she is home, and also direct some powerful discouragement to those who would continue to destroy her.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:51 AM | Comments (1)

November 9, 2006

Observing Trees

In my neighborhood some of trees have lost their leaves, some are still lush and full, leaves as green as the summer time, and others have obligingly changed to a lovely array of autumnal color. What is it with the trees in the city?

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For a long time I have believed that it has something to do with pollution; that the exhaust from all of the cars somehow affects the process of photosynthesis, creating an unnatural preservative that keeps the leaves green until they just fall off one blustery day. I have no idea if there is any scientific truth behind this hypothesis of mine.

Has anyone else noticed how the trees in the city just don't behave like the trees in other places? A few weekends ago I went hiking in the Catskills. From one vantage point, looking out over the Hudson Valley, I saw a magnificent display of fall foliage. So many different brilliant hues. It was the quintessential leaf-peeping experience.

So, this is why we get in our cars to drive to the countryside. To see the leaves. That back home in the city are stubbornly refusing to change color. Because of the cars.

Is it that they are as reticent to accept the coming winter as we humans are? Do they fear the scrape of the plow, that will create mountainish landscapes from formerly civilized curbs and sidewalks? Do they dread the constant movement of snow from one place to the other and back again to accommodate our cars and our baby carriages and our bi-weekly offerings of rubbish and recycling?

What, do you think, that little tree in front of my apartment building is thinking right now? I worry a bit about it; it could be more robust. I've thought of sneaking out at some hour when someone is less likely to see what I'm doing and think I'm some crazy person or a drug dealer burying crack for the squirrels to find to bury a protection charm for it, to keep it safe and healthy during the winter. I like my little tree. At the moment it is stubbornly hanging on to every last green leaf it has.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2006

The Pagan/Wiccan View on Nature

Cross-posted at A Pagan Sojourn.

The practice of Pagan faith holds at its core a reverence for nature. The very word pagan means "of the earth" and generally referred to peoples who lived on, with and from the land and honored and celebrated the spirits they perceived as dwelling within. Pagans lived on every continent around the Earth and from them we draw on a rich multiplicity of myths and spiritual traditions to inform our more modern religious philosophies and practices.

For the most part, once nomadic tribes turned to a more agrarian way of life, early Pagan traditions centered around the peoples' dependence upon the seasonal cycles of the earth to provide sustenance. Many Pagan gods and goddesses had dominion over these cycles of nature and ancient peoples developed customs and rituals designed to appeal to and please these deities. In some traditions, there also was a certain belief that performing these rituals held a custodial purpose - that if the people did not perform the various rites associated with the growth and harvest seasons that the the wheel of the year would cease to turn and life on earth would cease to exist.

Here I must say that Neo-Pagan faiths include modern interpretations of many different ancient cultures and traditions. While they share a number of similarities, each has its own unique approach to ritual, deity and nature worship. Although I certainly have read about other pantheons and traditions, I can't presume to speak with any intelligence about any Pagan practices other than my own. As a Wiccan, most of what informs my practice is based on Western European traditions in general and many rituals are Celtic in particular.

The Earth's seasonal cycles are what the modern Wiccan Wheel of the Year is based on and they create the eight sacred holidays, Sabbats, that most witches observe: Yule (winter solstice), Imbolc, Ostara (vernal equinox), Beltane, Litha (summer solstice), Lughnasadh, Mabon (autumn equinox), and Samhain. Each one represents a different stage in the Sun's movement around the Earth and a different place in the agricultural cycle. Now that most of us are not personally farming the land to provide our food, the meanings behind creation of life, planting seeds, nurturing growth, harvest, and destruction so that the cycle can begin again take on a more symbolic tenor. We see these cycles in nature as metaphors for our own spiritual growth and for the journey of the soul.

Continue reading "The Pagan/Wiccan View on Nature"

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 2:14 PM | Comments (2)

August 1, 2006

Save the Harvest

That Anne Johnson at The Gods Are Bored is one smart cookie. Her Lughnasadh post today brought up a most excellent point:

So, if I may be so bold as to predict why Green Corn and Lughnasahd evolved into such revelry-filled events, it's because you can't always count on a harvest, and when you get a good one, you are as relieved as all bloody git-out.

I come from a long line of hillbilly farmers, and they were a fretful bunch indeed until they got the hay made and the apples picked.

The point of this rambling? We're a nation that takes harvests for granted in an era when we should be fretting. Those amber waves of grain may be baked before they leave the field. And the corn'll be as high as a jackrabbit's eye.

If we keep on hacking down forests and pumping CO2 into the air, a Lughnasahd may arrive with no barley.

Are we smart enough to keep that from happening?

Are we indeed. What do you think? Have you seen An Inconvenient Truth yet?

Today, in Lionette's Market, the neighborhood market where I spend way too much of my money, they were displaying a card from The Food Project encouraging people to EAT LOCAL. They host numerous Slow Food events throughout the year and do a lot to support local farmers and to promote sustainable and organic sources of produce and meat. This is one reason why I don't mind spending a little extra to support them - they share my beliefs about where food should come from and how it should be raised and grown.

Lionette's has some beautiful organic blueberries. I'm going to use them to try my hand at making blaeberrry jam for Lughnasadh.

Imagine no blueberries. Imagine no grain. Imagine no harvest. Tailtiu help us save our planet so we can save the harvest.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 4:04 PM | Comments (1)

June 24, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

Go see this movie. Just do it. And then TAKE ACTION.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 7:00 PM | Comments (0)