Is the Rise of Wicca in Response to Environmental Pollution

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Is the Rise of Wicca in response to environmental pollution?

Introduction and Thesis

We live in a world marked by social and financial inequality. Furthermore, we live in a time rife with environmental degradation and pollution. The roots of the exploitation go deep. It began with a foreign religion taking hold of Western Europe by force that largely viewed Nature and women as evil (Ellerbe 1995), a source of temptation and as a result spiritual ruin (Berry 2015). In addition, it also put humans as center of the Universe, and gave man divine sanction as the undisputed lord of creation. All other species were subordinated to him, as the Bible puts it, he was granted dominion over all the Earth and her creatures (Gen 1:26).

This society languished under the yoke of theocracy, rise giving rise to the Dark Ages (Ellerbe 1995). Learning was set back hundreds of years, and if it were not for the Arab peoples, we would have lost even more of the great works of antiquity. During this period followers of the Old Ways, or the indigenous religions of Western Europe(Norse, Druidic, pagan in general) were branded as evil, forcibly converted, and if they refused, tortured and murdered, in the most horrific ways possible. Their knowledge and healing arts were regarded as heretical (Ellerbe 1995), and their wisdom, a wisdom in harmony with nature, was almost completely lost as they were forced underground (Conway 1997).

Yet somehow, someway, the stranglehold of faith lessened, and with it came the Renaissance, with great thinkers who not only challenged the Churches anthropocentric view of man and the Earth in relation to the cosmos, but also produced great works of philosophy that revolutionized everything politically to metaphysically. In spite of these changes, there still were intellectual limitations, in part from the Church still retaining enormous power both politically and spiritually, in part from the arrogance it bred to be placed at the center of creation for so long. Descartes, father of the principle of Sufficient reason was known to cut open animals while still living to demonstrate these “lesser” beasts felt no pain. Man still relied on reason solely, continuing to deny the intuitive. Even after Kant published his Critique of Pure Reason, elegantly pointing out that rationalization will only get a person so far; that there must be something else, as truth is one can rationalize anything, cold reason still prevailed. This continued reliance on reason only allowed for all sorts of atrocities to continue, as much as it allowed for great scientific advances (Ellerbe 1995). Whether it be from feeding man’s arrogance in thinking that he is better than all other creatures on the planet, or in the case of the East India company, allowing the concept of Imperialism to take hold, reason, and only reason, still didn’t solve the problem. In many ways it gave more power to it.

Imperialism is of great import to the discussion that will unfold in this work, as Imperialism is largely responsible for the social, financial and environmental mess we are in. One could argue that it no longer exists, but I would argue, that yes it does, the powers that be just changed the name to Globalism. The practices remain the same however, whether its forcing the Chinese to smoke Opium leading to the Boxer rebellion, or using them to manufacture goods cheaply with pittance wages and no environmental standards so that China is a disaster area in terms of pollution, or wars waged on foreign soil for Oil (Iraq) or Uranium (Afghanistan), the story remains the same. We (as a former colony of England I would include the United States) force others to do what we want, we take their resources, human or natural, and we exploit them. Underneath it all, it cannot be argued that Western society is responsible for environmental pollution & exploitation globally as others adopt our methods, or are forced to source and support our way of life whether they want to or not.

Out of this tragic din of human and environmental suffering has arisen what some scholars would classify as a new religion, but in reality is the reconstruction of a very old religion, older that Christianity, older than Judaism. It is as old as Taoism and Hinduism if not older than them (Buckland 1995). Today, this resurgence is known as Wicca. But throughout the centuries, the term “Witch” has been one to stir up a potent mix of fear and respect on the part of the hearer. Works such as the Malleus Malefic arum were written to identify possible witches during the Inquisition, and it has remained a constant theme throughout the West’s recorded history, that there existed certain people capable of supernatural things. There is no real way to know how accurate the reconstruction of this Art really is, we are left with only a few scraps of paper in essence, a few leafs from books largely burned by the Church, or stolen. But some spell books did survive some pre-Christian religious texts as well. Wicca is the only “nature centered” religion wholly generated by western culture; it is based off of indigenous European traditions that are varied and multifaceted. In this paper I will argue, that yes Wicca is a nature centered religion, it is a response to environmental pollution and it is the natural immune response of a threatened planet targeted at the very society responsible for the threat. It goes to the root of the problem, and is destroying the beast, from the inside out.

Methodology

The primary purpose of this paper is to illustrate the correlation between the rise of the religion known as Wicca and the progression and then abatement of environmental pollution. It is to elucidate not only the connection between the two from a sociological/historical standpoint, but also from a more profound purposeful perspective. Furthermore it is to fill the gaping void of scholarly works on Wicca as a legitimate religion, especially credible philosophical works on the religion’s practices and beliefs. However it is also intended to be accessible to the “lay” readership, non-scholar adults interested in religions, and environmental issues, whether they be Wiccan or not. That being said, the arguments and to whom are those arguments directed are a myriad group of people. Scholars, environmentalists, ecologists, sociologists, politicians, theologians and others, will find informative value in the subject I am covering.
To do this I considered multiple sources of data, they are:
• Demographic data
• Political data (legislation primarily)
• Historical data (history of witchcraft and the modern Wiccan movement, as well as EPA pollution data)
• Personal perspective (statements from Wiccan authors as to the purpose and philosophy of the religion)

I am taking a scholarly approach to analyzing this data, as a glaring weakness of the Wiccan movement is a lack of scholarly works, weakening valid claims of legitimacy as many writers within the religion are simply not writing in this manner, for what reasons I could only speculate. Furthermore as a Wiccan myself, I want to give a perspective on the religion to outsiders, scholars specifically, that simply is impossible to give unless intimately involved with the religion, as I have been for over 15 years.

As this is a paper largely dealing with religious and ecological subjects, it helps to define exactly what I mean in the usage of the various terms associated with both subjects. I speak of ecology, both in environmental sense, as in a biome of interrelated creatures; but in the sense of religious ecology, a grouping of interdependent ideas, practices etc. that make up a religion, as well as the indigenous understanding of “religious ecology” where there is no separation between Humanity and Nature, and separation is an artificial construct (Grim & Tucker 2014). I primarily focus on the definition of religion attributed to Paul Tillich, “Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern” and I define spiritual as being concerned with not only religious matters but again in the indigenous sense, spirits as in entities possessing humans, flora, fauna and the elements themselves.

As to understandings present about the connections of “religion”, “ecology”, and “environmental degradation”, a Wiccan would almost intuitively grasp, much as a native would, that the separation of religion from the environment/natural world is the source of environmental degradation and as it pertains to my thesis, pollution. As Wiccans invoke the elements of Nature in all rites, there is no separation between one and the other, religion is in no way separate from the ecology of the natural world, nor is there any separation between the individual and the perceived world. This separation quite plainly is an artificial illusion Wiccans in no way subscribe to.
Wicca’s earth centered spirituality, and religious ecology is indeed useful and hopeful for the issue at hand, not only from the standpoint of environmental stewardship, but also in the concept of Magic (belief), one person does have the power to change the world for the better. This idea that the individual, or a group of individuals can effect change, change that is seemingly miraculous and/or supernatural, is essential to Wicca as an antidote to the systems that have brought us to the place we are now. However, the converse of this is that Witchcraft can also be used for self-serving ends if the philosophy and ethics behind it are not understood, or disregarded. As is the case presently with the lack of concrete philosophical works on the subject it is all too easy to abuse the Power. As King Solomon puts in the Greater Key of Solomon, to do such a thing is taking the name of the Lord in vain (MATHERS 1888). Too many are attracted for self-serving power, when selfishness, separateness and anthropocentricism are what got us in this mess in the first place.
Finally I borrow from Grim and Tucker’s “Ecology and Religion” their elucidation of the process by which to analyze the data and put it in perspective. They laid out retrieval, reevaluation and reconstruction. As it applies to Wicca, I will use this method to retrieve what was Wicca, or as it is referred to historically, Witchcraft, to reevaluate it, as where it went wrong, and what it had right, and reconstruct witchcraft as a system of beliefs, a religious ecology that has reconstructed itself to form the religion we now call Wicca.

Body/Analysis

Part 1 Modern resurgence of Witchcraft-Wicca

Retrieval
To begin with, there must be an understanding of where “Wicca” came from. Etymologically speaking, Wicca is an Old English term for Wise Man or Sorcerer, whereas Wicce is the feminine form of this term meaning Wise Woman. It should be noted that Wicca is part of a greater Neo-Pagan revival, and so it is important to understand what practices it borrows from. Within the context of the greater Pagan community, Wicca at present mixes elements of Asatru, the revival of the old Norse religions, that look to the Icelandic Sagas and Prose Eddas as their “sacred” texts; it borrows mostly from the reconstructed Celtic Druidic traditions, and it also uses elements from what would today be classified as Hermetic or Ceremonialist Texts, a tradition almost inextricably linked with Masonry, Thelemics and the Works of King Solomon, who acknowledges a legendary figure, Hermes Trismegustus, as their founder.

A thorough analysis of the various historical teachings and practices of these paths would be impossible in the context of this paper, so instead I will focus specifically on the works that the founder of the modern Wiccan movement, Gerald Gardner, used to formulate his system. It is important to understand historical witchcraft from the perspective of the meanings of different label used in association with the practitioners of the Occult. A witch may be understood to be a practitioner of magic, proficient in spell craft, he/she may be considered benevolent (white witch or right hand path), or malevolent (black or left hand path) or some combination thereof, typically referred to as a grey witch. A sorcerer should be defined as a conjurer of the black, left-hand arts, and usually practicing a Craft closely associated with hermetics or Thelema. An adept simply is someone who has mastered the magical arts, no matter the ethical bent, white, black or gray.

Reevaluation
Part of what scares people when you tell them you are a witch, is the history of that word. Whereas some within the community would insist it is undeserved, I would say such a statement is disingenuous and naive. It is well known that Roman historians documented practices of human sacrifice among the Druids in Britain, and whereas we can argue as to whether that was simply a form of political slander to justify conquest, or actually the truth, the perception of it being factual is there, and that is what matters for the eventual success of this “new religious movement”, the proverbial court of public opinion. Furthermore, there are plenty of instances of the practice of blood magic and necromancy, rumored or factual again being irrelevant, and let us not forget that the ancient religious ancestors of Wiccans, the pagans, took great delight sacrificing Christians to the lions in Rome for their refusal to take the vow of state allegiance to Jupiter. There is a reason there are Biblical injunctions again sorcery (Lev 19:31) and that allegations of witchcraft were enough to make the entire town of Salem Massachusetts lose their collective marbles.

But there are the elements of the old pagan paths, parts of witchcraft that should be revived. The old wise men and women were known for their healing arts, their knowledge of natural medicines in the form of medicinal plants and herbs. Wise women were midwives, as well as the angel of death with a brew of Deadly Nightshade to ease the suffering and transition into death for the terminally ill. The acknowledgement of Feminine divinity alongside the masculine, as well as an understanding of elemental power (Ellerbe 1995). By that I mean understanding that we, like the Earth are a balance and combination of the four natural elements, and through this mystical understanding, seemingly magical change could be effected. Druids on either side of battles in ancient Britain lended aid to their king’s troops, by calling up fogs, or blighting the opposing force’s crops or kings (Cowan 1993). Some might say these are only stories, but to many these stories are fact.

Reconstruction
It is important to note that the sociological ground was fertile for something like Wicca to arise, even though when looked at specifically it would seem to have come out of nowhere. Evan Barry in his book “Devoted to Nature”, not only documents the religious framework of the Middle Ages and earlier that lead to Nature in essence being demonized, but he also chronicles the shift from those attitudes beginning in the Enlightenment with Rousseau and others. Nature slowly evolved from a spiritually dangerous thing, to something that could not only offer redemption, but salvation as well. Specifically towards the last half of the 19th century, and gaining steam in the 20th, great ecological thinkers, such as Thoreau, Muir and Leopold gave this transition steam, viewing the land in radically different contexts than their medieval forebears. I would note that this shift occurred, and gained steam the most, at the same time the Industrial Revolution, and all that came with it, occurred. There is a correlation.

Not surprisingly then, the precursors to the founding of Wicca as a religion occurred at this same time. During the Victorian era there was an interest in Orientalist philosophy and the occult, in the form of mediumship and séances. This is also the time of the Theosophical society, Madame Blatavasky’s “Isis Unveiled” and in general an uncharacteristic interest in subject material that only a century or so earlier would have been branded heretical and quite possibly punished by death. One could argue it is precisely because the stranglehold of the Church had been broken, allowing such things to resurface, but I would argue the stranglehold had been broken a good century before, negating the idea that this was a product of that.

It is in the context of this renewed interest in alternative philosophies and occult ideas that Wicca arose. Wicca attempts to be the modern incarnation of these ancient paths pieced together, quite the challenge when the corpus of texts was by in large destroyed or stolen. There is a legend surrounding Gerald Gardner in the early days of World War Two. When faced with the very real threat of Nazi (who also were deeply interested in the Occult and specifically the resurrection of the Old Norse religion) occupation, he and his coven got together on the chalk cliffs of Britain, and performed a ritual. This ritual, or spells intent was to prevent said feared Nazi occupation. As history proves, whereas the Nazis did bomb Britain repeatedly, they never made landfall. By all appearances Gerald’s spell worked. So much so that not only did it help to repeal Britain’s antiwitchcraft laws, but made Gardner famous, meeting with Winston Churchill among other things.

Gerald Gardner’s Craft was a mix of various practices (Gardner 1949). He had apparently read the Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon, a work attributed to the Hebrew King himself. A lot of his ritual formulations come from there, most importantly the concept of a circle and sacred space in which to do magic. Solomon also deals with the raising of spirits to do ones bidding, commanding them in the name of God. This is not to be confused with necromancy, or the raising of the dead, it’s a hairsbreadth worth of difference, but a difference none the less. Being English, he borrowed heavily from the traditions handed down ancestrally in his homeland, specifically referred to as British traditionalism. This in turn comes from the Craft of the Druids, and their greatest contribution was the concept of elemental Magic, invoking the power of the forces of nature to achieve a desired end. I cannot emphasize this enough as it is the main crux of my argument that Wicca is nature centered. In every rite and ritual, the four elements are called and invoked, incense made of plants and resins is burned, each element is represented on the altar, salt for earth, incense smoke for air, candles for fire, and water for water (Buckland 1995). Rituals are mostly (although not always and they do not have to be) conducted outdoors. Characteristic of Gardner’s brand of Magic however, was an almost folksy romanticizing of Nature, his notion of redemption through nature only echoes the voices of Rousseau and Thoreau, Gardner just takes it a step further and puts a magical/supernatural bent on it.

What he did however spawned a movement whose true reach and size cannot be fully accounted for. His ideas gave rise to a philosophy completely unique in the West. Goddess worship is usually something we think of in regards to Hinduism, but Wicca acknowledges feminine divinity as an equal partner to masculine divinity (Moura 2003). Whereas some Christian theologians may balk at this, it cannot be argued that Yahweh, the Canaanite precursor to the God of the Bible, had a wife, the Goddess Asherah. From my perspective, this is already restoring a major component of our image of the sacred that should have never been lost, as the Goddess, no matter if She is called Asherah or Isis, serves as a counter balance to male power. If God is rational, the Goddess is intuitive, if God is the Conqueror, the Goddess is the Nurturer. This balance between opposing forces can be best understood from the Taoist perspective and the concept of Yin and Yang. All of Creation and Destruction is a balance and interplay between two forces, and either at the extreme, without the other, becomes evil.

It should come as no surprise then to any Wiccan that the reason we have the wars, the financial exploitation and environmental destruction is because the Feminine was stripped of her rightful place. Symbols have power, and just as the symbol was stripped, so was the physical manifestation, the Earth has been raped, as have the women who are her earthly incarnations, as well as been blamed for man’s fall and shortcomings, both forced to bear, to the point of death.

In addition to the unique facet of Wicca that is Goddess worship, is also the four elementals. Technically there are five, as spirit (aether) is considered one, but for the sake of brevity I will focus only on the four physical. They are Earth, Air, Fire and Water and they are to be understood as not only in the physical sense, but as living conscious entities and active in the psycho-spiritual sense (Wolfe 1996). Interestingly enough, Grim and Tucker without being Wiccan to my knowledge honed in on this in their work. “The elements of earth, air, fire and water are important in religious ecologies as biocultural realities that literally and symbolically weave humans into the vibrant processes of earth and the cosmos. However as biocultural symbols, air, earth, water, and fire can be seen as corresponding to religious ecological processes of orienting, grounding, nurturing, and transforming humans” (Grim & Tucker 2014). They speak of the elementals, without even knowing it.

Part 2 Coincidence with Modern Environmental Movement

As an American, I am the most familiar with events in American history, and so I will study the rise of Wicca from the American perspective. In modern times the first “Wiccan” in the United States was Raymond Buckland. Known affectionately as Uncle Bucky, he was born in London, his mother English, and his father Romani, or as we would better recognize, Gypsy. He was influenced and later initiated into Gerald Gardner’s coven. Not soon after, Gerald Gardner died and the two never met again. Buckland arrived in the U.S. in 1962, bringing Gardnerian Wicca with him. He established a coven, known as the Long Island Coven, and every Garderian Wicca in the United States pretty much can trace their magical lineage back to this coven. There are some exceptions, but by in large, they all come from him.

The 60’s are known as a turning point in American social history, Haight-Ashbury and the Summer of Love, the civil rights movement. While the hippies were better known for free love, drugs and rock and roll, the social revolution of the 60’s also included the Occult. It is in this atmosphere, that Gardner’s/Buckland’s new religion found fertile ground. Whereas demographic data can be very hard to find as the census does not require people to self-identify their religious affiliation, independent sources show a very clear trend of increasing membership. In short, Wicca caught on like wildfire.

It should first be noted that I could not find any data for the number of Wiccans in the United States before 1970. However after that, a sampling of the data I was able find is as such:
• 1972, “John Godwin estimated in “Occult America” that “there were at least 20,000 organized members in this country.”
• 1980: J. Gordon Melton of the Institute for the Study of American Religion estimated 30,000 to 40,000 adherents to some form of Craft doctrine. The estimate was based on data collected at the 1979 Pan Pagan Festival.
• 1990: The US Army published a book for the guidance of its chaplains when dealing with a soldier of a non-traditional faith: “Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains.” 3 In the 1990 edition, the author comments: “MEMBERSHIP: Because of the complete autonomy of covens, this cannot be determined. There are an estimated 50,000 Wiccans in the United States.”
• 2000: The Covenant of the Goddess conducted a year-long poll of Witches and Pagans, starting 1999-JUL. They estimate that the total number of Witches and Pagans in the United States is about 768,400.
• 2001: On MAY-13, Stats Canada reported on the religious identification of Canadians, as determined by the 2001 census. Unlike the U.S., the government of Canada asks religious questions during their census data collection. They found that Wiccans and other Neopagans showed the greatest percentage growth of any religion in the country. They totaled 21,080 members in 2001, an increase of 281% from 1991. “If we assume that Canada and the U.S. have similar cultures and thus have a similar percentage of Wiccans, then there would be on the order of 197,429 Wiccans among the estimated 277.60 million Americans, compared to the 29.64 million Canadians. ” ((http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_nbr2.htm))

These numbers are expected to continue to grow, and some estimate that not only is it the fastest growing religion in the United States, but it stands to be the third largest religion in the U.S. by 2020.

In the same year as Raymond Buckland arrived in the United States, the modern environmental movement was born with the publishing of Racheal Carson’s “Silent Spring”, 1962. This work cannot be overstated in its importance and effect. It was the impetus for The Clean Air and Water acts, which in turn lead to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Those two pieces of legislation in turned spawned many other acts, the Safe Drinking water act as well as the Superfund Act among others. Conservation already was part of the national agenda, but no one exposed the endemic issue of chemical and industrial pollution quite the way Carson did.

Part 3 Rise of Wicca as a natural “immune” response to pollution threats to nature.

I am not a believer in mere coincidence. Formation of the modern environmentalist movement occurred at exact same time as rise of Wicca in United States; just as Silent Spring signaled a major shift in resource policy for the nation, so did Wicca signal a major socio-religious shift.

There are two ways in which one could look at this. The first is from a directly causal correlation/relationship. Most Wiccans would self-identify as environmentalist, and so one could argue that people already concerned with the environment saw what I saw in it, that is a religion that grasps the sacredness of incarnation, and the Earth better than any other commonly available in the West. Or one could look at it from the other perspective that as Berry argued religious attitudes were already shifting in a more ecologically friendly manner and Wicca just somehow sprung up in the midst of all this. Certainly the data backs up the claim that there is a correlation between the two. Whether one caused the other or vice versa is up for debate, but the connection definitely seems to be there in some way.

But I think there is something deeper going on here, and far more profound. For centuries we have regarded the Earth as inert, a lifeless hunk of rock with a molten core that just so happened to generate a magnetic fields that keeps us all from frying to death in the solar rays, and just so happened to have all the conditions to create and support life and did so, in all of its myriad forms for millions of years. It seems so odd to me to conclude that something that seems to heave forth life from every orifice and cranny, would itself be lifeless, especially when one looks at that magnetic field as very similar to the aura surrounding humans and every other living thing.

James Lovelock along with Lynn Margulis developed what is known as the Gaia Theory in the 1970’s, again extremely close to the time frame when Wicca and environmentalism (as defined by natural resource managers as someone whose primary concern is pollution) also appeared. In it they state that the biosphere is a self-regulating entity, able to maintain and adjust the balance within the environment to sustain life. It goes on to say that not only is the biosphere self-regulating, but both organisms and environment affect each other and co-evolve.

Consider systems theory in general. The earth a biological, geological and chemical system, whose parts are so numerous and complex that quite frankly the odds of it all working right for a day, let alone billions of years, are astronomically against life continuing. In fact if looked at from that perspective it does actually become impossible that it has worked, and the fact that it has, is nothing short of a daily miracle. But perhaps it isn’t all random, perhaps there is a consciousness guiding it all. Then the odds change from being stacked against life, to wholly in favor of life.
What if this inert lifeless hunk of rock hurtling through space isn’t lifeless at all, what if the Earth is not only alive, but conscious as well? And what if coevolution is exactly the way of things, and by what we are doing with massive industrial and chemical pollution, an entity that moves slowly by the laws of physics (greater inertia to overcome, dimensional scaling), cannot keep up with the rapid changes created in the 20th century? What if we truly are killing our mother and all other life on this planet? What is a being with complex agency supposed to do when one group of her children seem hell-bent on killing her?

As crazy as such a theory sounds, we are just now discovering that trees communicate with each other in ways never realized before, that the network of mycorrhizal fungi under the soil surface acts as a neural network. We are discovered that plants are far more complex than we ever thought. Even soil itself is teeming with life. If the trees are speaking to each other, is it so farfetched that the entity they grow from might be alive and capable of communicating in some way? And how would such a being communicate and what would it say to us? I admit I am in the realm of pure speculation at this point, but in the face of the myriad threats facing us I’m pretty sure that that being would try to communicate to us to stop, and in some way to show us she’s alive. There have been messages over the years, the dust bowl in response to over plowing the Midwest, increase in earthquakes around fracking injection sites, mine collapses, storms of increasing intensity, the signs are all there, if one ceases to look at it as all random. And if this being were very wise, She would understand the most potent symbolism known to man are the unconscious symbols of religion. And considering She has born witness to everything that has gone, on more than likely she would see the toll an anthropocentric unbalanced religion devoid of feminine influence has caused the predicament we are in and somehow, someway she would find a way to make us remember what was lost, that should not have been forgotten. And I imagine such a being would not speak in words, for the Earth does not have a mouth, but rather in unconscious thoughts and feelings. Quite simply, the Earth speaks to us in the language of dreams. Every indigenous shaman on the planet would agree. We in the west just had it beaten out of us for 2000 years. In the words of Merlin, “For it is the doom of men that they forget”

Conclusion

All that being said, yes, Wicca is a nature centered religion, it is a response to environmental pollution and it is the natural immune response of a threatened planet targeted at the very society responsible for the threat.

If I’m right, I must also impart to you the reader why you should care, of what import is this theory? Quite frankly if I must explain to you the profoundness of the Earth being alive in terms of the shift in consciousness and ethics it would entail, I would seriously question your intellectual and ethical capacities in general. We are using, and abusing and in danger of destroying the being who gives us life, with everything from climate change, to geoengineering and seismic weaponry, among other things. We suck the blood of the earth, oil, out like vampires. We chop down Gaia’s lungs, which are our lungs. We genetically tamper with creatures with no real respect for the virulent potency of life, and what happens when it is profoundly changed without millennia of evolution to stabilize it in the context of the environment. Such a revelation, changes quite simply, everything.

In terms of what it means for the legitimacy of Wicca, a religion that is quite possibly the voice of the earth, it means it becomes more legitimate than the Judeo-Christian traditions in terms of the mouthpiece of the profound. No longer is it the angsty fringe, for losers and weirdoes who couldn’t fit in, but rather the haven of prophets in a society that thinks God is dead. It means that magic isn’t delusion, and that we were meant to live a life far more meaningful, miraculous and frankly mind-blowingly blissful, then what the powers that be have prescribed for us. In short it would revolutionize society. Do I think the religion is ready for it? By majority, no. I think far too many lose sight of God, and project themselves in It’s place. They emphasize formula and hierarchy over truth and what works. Their egos and quest for power make them lousy servants of the Divine. But there are a few that truly get it, and more than likely for that very reason, lack of ego, you don’t know their names, although there are the rare few like Buckland who were forced into the limelight when they didn’t want it, divine providence in action, for if he wasn’t, would we in the United States know about this? Wicca is a nature centered religion, it is a response to environmental pollution and it is the natural immune response of a threatened planet targeted at the very society responsible for the threat. Let’s hope we have the sense to keep listening and get over ourselves.
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The New City

“And I saw a new heaven and new Earth.  For the first Earth passed away, and the sea is no more.  And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying “Behold the dwelling of God with men, and he will dwell with them.  And they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  And death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” -Revelation 21:1-4

For the six years I have been writing, regardless of my justified wrath at corruption and desecration of the Earth, I have never advocated violent revolution, and I never will.  It’s tempting, dont get me wrong, but I can never in good faith condone such a thing.  Not because certain folks dont deserve to be dragged out in the street and strung up by their toes like Mussolini, but because history has shown revolutions are very often replaced by a worse order than the ones they overthrew (China in the 20th century, the French Revolution, the sack of Rome, etc).  The point at which we are now, so yoked to tyrranny, oppression and fear, is only reached by a sickness of spirit, and no amount of revolution will solve that crisis, if anything it will only make it worse.

It is too bad more people do not take it upon themselves to understand what the Mayans were talking about with 2o12, for it echoes the very same themes I have spoken about for years.  It is not an apocalypse, rather the end of an old order, an order than very much needs to die, and the rise of a new order.  In fact the carvings specifically mention that adversarial conflict will not bring about this new order, it will only perpetuate the old.  Lord knows I have fallen into that trap over the years, as it is very easy to let all that is wrong will the world take root as anger in the heart, but that anger is a poison, a poison that will slowly take you over, and in the end you will become the very thing you are fighting against.  In the end you wont even recognize yourself anymore.

Anyone who has paid attention to my writings knows that the last 2 years have been doseys for me.   Almost exactly a year ago I was in a tractor accident that should have killed me, and in the instant that I saw the front end of it come up and over on top of me, I felt two things.  One I heard a demon in my head say “gotcha”, and as I went limp, as I truly thought I was a goner and let go as a result, I felt two hands on my arms.  Two hands that guided me in such a manner so that when the tractor came down on me, it took out my arm, and my ribs on my left side, but missed my heart and my head by an inch.  If I had fallen any other way I would have been decapitated or it would have stopped my heart. I bring this up, because the events of the last two years, in addition to a long history of unbelievable stuff, put me in a deep crisis of faith.

I was broken, shattered to pieces, both literally and figuratively, and it has taken a long time to put myself back together, to make sense of it all.  I know all things happen for a reason, and that the Divine is always there, as are the Spirits, and so for all this to happen, both the injustices and the miracles, the agony and the ecstacy, was alot for my little mind to assimilate and understand.  But I think I have. For too long I have led a double life, nay triple life.

On one hand I am extremely domestic, I loathe leaving the house and prefer the company of children plants and animals, to most humans.  I do not hate people, rather I have found most people do not understand my kind, and rather be relegated to the role of scapegoat in the pack, when truth be told I am smarter than just about anyone,  I prefer to be a lone wolf, and enjoy the company of innocents, than be crucified by those who let the fire and purity die in their hearts long ago.  My second life is that of a public servant.  I love my furry, feathery, leafy and little friends so much, that long ago I decided I would rather die than watch them be systematically destroyed.  I almost did destroy myself from the unbearable pain, but long ago, as I stood down a 6’2″ white supremacist with a knife by only my words, I realized two things.  One my words had power, and two that I did not fear death anymore and it began a chain reaction of thought that left me with something that can best be summed up in a quote I once heard, “a fool wants to die for a cause, a wise man lives for it”  This peculiar mix of life experience and wisdom makes me a formidable defender of the Earth and those who cannot fight for themselves.  But as I said before, you spent a long enough time fighting something, eventually you become it.

Which brings me to my third life, that being a druid priestess. There is much tittering and throat clearing that goes on in this town over my controversial spiritual path.  Its too bad, for as people decide to pull the wool from their eyes and actually ask me what being a druid priestess all entails, they find that it is not the devil worship and debauchery that they have been told it is (ok, there is a little Bacchanalia, but not the kind that is hurting anyone, and man is it fun 😀 ), rather it is a path that is peaceful and encourages harmony between man and nature.  I have always known it is key to the spiritual poverty plaguing our world.  It is the gravest of sins that the church fathers deliberately concealed the true message of Jesus to consolidate their power.  That we are created in Gods image, that we all have the power of God within us, and it is our spiritual duty to cultivate this divine nature.  The power of God as in, with the proper discipline and spiritual seeking, one need only think something and truly believe it and it becomes a reality.  I tell people, I wish I could let them see through my eyes, for only a day, for they would understand that there is no more need for pain, for suffering, even for death, the world is a brilliant and awe inspiring testament to the power of Love, Life and yes, Magic.

They say a house divided, falls, and for many years, I have been that house divided.  I hide my spiritual path for the most part with my public environmental work, my domestic side very often languished as my work, both environmental and spiritual consumed much of my time and energy, and all three, my domestic life, my public persona and my spirituality have suffered as the stress and fear of retribution for tackling pollution in this town slowly whittled away my peace of mind, my very sanity.  It is no surprise that what has happened in the last two years has happened, it needed to.  Glory be to the Divine, whatever name you may call It by, for although It may be ruthless sometimes, it is always with a purpose, always with wisdom, its just whether or not the pea-brained human decides to get over herself and listen to what is being taught.

This will be the first post I publish on all three of my websites, unashamed, and unabashedly.  A new leaf of unity and of peace.  Ghandhi said “be the change you seek”, and for the most part my lifestyle at least on the surface has been that change, but my headspace has not.  I shouldnt have to compartmentalize, I know I am only one among many in that department, many hide who they really are, for fear of being judged or retribution, but you wear a mask long enough, you forget who you are underneath, and so I lay the first brick, in the building of the new city.  No more fear, no more stress, no more fighting, no more hiding, only being.  That is the antidote to the spiritual sickness of our society, but it is only the beginning.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a pyschological theory that orders the needs of a human in terms of priorities and requirements for a fufilled and happy life, if things at the bottom of the pyramid are not tended to, the higher order needs will never be realized.   Below is the pyramid of needs:     This model can be extrapolated to society at large, and it becomes even more apparent the ills and shortcomings of the world.  Many do not have clean air to breath, healthy food to eat, if any food at all, many survive without clean water, many people find it difficult to sleep in our age of anxiety and stress.  And that is only the base of the pyramid….

In the years I have been fighting for the environment, I have focused primarily on the tearing down of the old order, the old city.  Fighting pollution, corruption etc, whereas I have touched on solutions to these problems, truth be told the focus has been primarily negative.  I have shut down polluters in this town or at the very least severely hampered them, and seen the results of a people with no jobs, losing their very identity as a result, and those people’s anger and backlash have been a daily part of my life.  I sought to free people from sickness, but in doing so created a whole new set of problems.  As I said it is not that I didnt pose solutions, but they never came to the forefront of my work.  It was a mistake, and considering to some extent I created the lack of jobs (not completely, but I did have a hand in it), it is my responsibility to fix it.  And so I present to the people a vision for the future, the New City, the New Jerusalem.  May all hear and heed my words, and may the New City last forever.

To begin with, with Maslow as a guide, basic physiological needs must be attended to. I work for these things actively, so do not think I am just writing, as God as my witness I will use all of my power within the city and as a priestess to make what follows a reality, and I challenge all who read this, to likewise use their power and influence (everyone has both, whether they realize it or not) to realize this vision.  First off, the water and air,  are polluted here, with some superfund sites.  Many do not have access to wholesome food.  Many live in homes that are moldy and drafty, if they have a home at all (I know Maslow doesnt list shelter as a basic physiological need, that must be an oversight as it is as necessary and breathing and eating).  I could tackle pollution head on, but it would drive away the few jobs left, and Im pretty sure I would have a lynch mob on my doorstep in relatively short order.  So instead, new ways of earning a living must be found.

One way to employ people is to put people back to work, tending the land.  We have too many factory farms, both for veggies and animals, that are tended by nothing but machines and chemicals, either pesticides on GMO crops, or antibiotics used in CAFO’s as no creature can survive in such deplorable amoral conditions.  I have already worked for years to foment urban agriculture, and I will continue to teach biointensive sustainable organic agriculture, free of GMOs.  Put people back on the land working it in small plots, without machinery, pesticides, petroleum, and right there that is a huge amount of jobs provided.  The USDA helps first time farmers with loans, they practically will bend over backwards to help someone interested.  But rather than buying the standard 40 acres, unless you have a small army to help you tend it, we need to think smaller, much smaller.  5 acres is more than enough to pull in $100,000 in organic vegetable sales, and that can conceivably be tended by a family, free of dangerous and polluting machinery, free of the overuse of synthetic fertilizers, the main reason the water here is toxic with algae blooms that are killing the fish.  I highly recommend if not insist anyone who is a farmer/gardener read the book “How to grow more vegetables*” by John Jeavons.  It is a primer on the biointensive method, it will teach you how to really farm, and that method is the true solution to world food shortages, NOT GMO.  In addition conservation tillage, would reduce global CO2 emissions by 20%.  What many people do not know is that all the dust that is kicked up from plowing is 20% of the climate change problem.  Not to mention tractors create plowpans, an area of compacted soil 9-12″ below the tilled layer that actually reduces yields as a plant’s roots cannot penetrate it.  In addition we raise livestock and crops not only for food, but for textiles as well.  Central Wisconsin is perfect for sheep and their wool, just as flax and hemp can be grown here and spun into textiles, just as the natural dyes can be cultivated as well.

Water/Air pollution is twofold, there is industrial and agricultural.  I have already given the solution to the agricultural, as to industrial, we need to embrace the green technological revolution, as not only does it solve mercury and radioactive contamination(40% of world freshwater usage is actually in cooling thermoelectric generators, and that water is NOT usuable afterwards), but it generates jobs, lots of them.  The green energy sector is the faster growing portion of the economy by a country mile.  But simply providing the jobs is not enough.  We need a new method of doing business, and new basis of economic theory, steady state economics and cooperatives.  Steady state does not accept the Malthusian premise that boom and bust cycles are inevitable, it does not put growth of capital and profit as the primary driver.  Rather steady state economics finds a happy middle ground between boom and bust and stays there, indefinately.  No more crashes and people losing everything.  No more ridiculous profits either, but I am pretty sure all but the greediest and morally bankrupt of our society would agree that stability is sorely needed.  Furthermore, cooperative business models do exist in the form of profit sharing, I would only add that salaries should be within a sane range, those at the bottom should make a livable wage (15/hr minimum) and those at the top should be rewarded for their leadership, however there is a limit to how much that really is.  Greed should not be rewarded or institutionalized, many have more money than any man could need or want, and if they truly are the uppercrust and the better part of society as they arrogantly think themselves to be, they would have the moral decency to know that they do indeed have an obligation to give back to the system and people they profited so handsomely from.  What did Jesus say, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven?

These few things that I have listed, would transform society, but it is only the foundation.  Once people no longer have to pay for their food, or if they do it is by choice, once clothing is a local industry, once pottery is a local industry as well as the already established breweries, once herbal medicine, the true medicine is available, and not jacked up by pharmaceutical companies ruthlessly pursuing the bottom line and patenting it, once people are not driving themselves to injury and death either in their cars, their tractors, their lawn equipment or in the dangerous factory they work in exposed to hazardous chemicals and unsafe machinery, once the mortgage is paid with a decent job, once we all have free energy because the solar system they worked at the solar plant (that had all the environmental controls so that it didnt become the very problem is sought to ameliorate) to earn is paid for and the house in properly insulated and peoples homes are heated for free with biogas from waste, once local economy is established so that people no longer need to drive all over God’s green Earth to earn a living, and cars are no longer necessary, and if they are they are produced at cost rather than for profit (pnuematic cars cost roughly $4000), tell me what then are peoples expenses?

Then we get into the higher order needs Maslow spoke about.  Dare to dream folks.  Imagine a world where we no longer have to work 40 hours a week unless we choose to, where our budgets are no longer eaten up just trying to survive.  Where our basic needs are provided for, we have security we have food water and shelter.  What a world that would be.  A world where you can spend time with your families, your mate.  Where resources are no longer consumed at unsustainable rates and society turns away from oligarchies and plutocrats and industries that pollute and impoverish.  What then?  Then we find ourselves again, then culture reaches new heights, technology reaches new heights and we have a world where the common man may spend his time in leisure, educating himself, in spiritual contemplation, whatever he so chooses.  Then we hit the top of the pyramid, self-actualization.  We become the race we were born to be.  Divine and free. What are we waiting for?  Look inside yourself and around you and begin building the  new city, the New Jerusalem today.

Some basics of natural medicine and herbalism

In my continuing fight against big pharma and their attempts to hook everyone on dangerous drugs, I feel it necessary to put out there basics of natural health, so my post is divided into two parts, one, being a overview of the principles of oriental medicine, ie food as medicine, and then secondly, a basic list of herbs useful in treating common ailments.

To begin with Oriental medicine is a medical system dating over 3000 years.  For us westerners we are accustomed to decrying medical systems that old as the product of the dark ages, but the dark ages were only in the west, the arabic and oriental nations maintained their direct lineages from the time of the ancients and contrary to popular belief, the ancients knew much more about healing than modern sources are willing to give them credit for.  To their credit they did maintain something akin to the scientific method, and through thousands of years of direct observation, compiled an incredibly effective system of medicine free of radically invasive procedures and destabilizing drugs.

Oriental medicine is based off of Taoist thought, so the interplay of opposite forces (yin and yang) resulting in a dynamic balance that is greater than the sum total of its parts.  The I Ching and Feng Shui are also examples of Taoist contributions to society.  Building upon this premise of balance between yin and yang, is five element theory.  It is through this basic framework that all ailments can be treated by natural methods.

Yin can be defined as substances that have a cooling or sedative effect, whereas yang are foods that have a warming or energizing effect.  As the interplay of these two is cyclical, it is possible for some foods to “switch”, the most obvious example of this being very hot peppers, who start out as warming, but because they are so hot, they act as a diaphoretic (makes  you sweat) and as a result are cooling in the long run.

Five element theory is not only the five elements of taoist thought, but the five organ systems as well, they are as follows:

 kidney/adrenals/water,

liver/gall bladder/wood,

 heart/mind/fire,

spleen/pancreas/digestion/earth, 

 lungs/metal. 

 The cycle begins with the kidneys as the foundation and in the creation cycle runs through the systems in the order given.  Each organ system is dependent on the health of the ones next to it so if a person has a stopped up unhealthy liver (as most westerners do), it will affect not only their kidneys, but their heart and mind as well.  The kidneys and heart are linked, as to much water extinguishes fire, etc.

There are secondary organ systems included with each major organ system and they are as follows,

water-bladder/sex organs/bone/hearing/urine,

 wood-gall bladder/eyes/tendons/tears,

 fire-small intestine/blood vessels/speech/sweat,

 earth-stomach/muscles/taste/saliva,

metal-large intestine/nose/mucus/skin and colon. 

 There are emotions associated with each organ system as well and listed after are the “virtues” if you will to balance this emotion;

water-fear/keeping moral precepts,

wood-anger/patience,

fire-joy/wisdom and concentration,

earth-worry and anxiety/giving,

 metal-grief/vigor.

There are tastes associated with each organ system, as in certain flavors affect each organ system, listed are examples of food containing these flavors as well as food to maintain normal function of each system, as well as the season when these foods should be emphasized in the diet;

water/kidney(black and blue)-salty, winter-miso, soy sauce, seaweeds, salt, millet and barley.  In addition beans and protein should be emphasized in the winter months.  Also it is important to eat foods that help the heart and mind as well, as there is a link between the kidneys and heart.

wood/liver(green and brown)-sour, spring-lemon, lime, apple cider vinegar, leek, sauerkraut, pickles, apple (especially green), blackberry, grape.  Also algae (chlorella or spirulina), Omega oils coming from flax, borage and evening primrose, romaine lettuce and sprouts, wheat and oats.

fire/heart-mind(red and orange)-bitter, summer-romaine, sprouts, rye, citrus peel, radish leaf, scallions, white pepper, celery, asparagus, quinoa and apple cider vinegar.  Also algae, omega oils as listed above, tomatos, bell and hot peppers, cucumber, summer squash, mushrooms, corn and amaranth.

earth/spleen/digestion (yellow and brown)-sweet, late summer, early fall-corn, yellow summer squash, begin winter squash, begin warming spices (fennel, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, ginger onion family etc), potatos, millet and barley.

metal/lungs (gold and white)-pungent, fall-rice, winter squash, onions and tubers, pungent/warming spices as listed above)

It should be obvious that there is carry through on these seasonal nutrition choices, there is no set date where you end eating for one season and begin the next, it is a gradual transition, and it really depends on what is seasonally available, and what your body craves.   It should go without saying that you want to get as high quality food as possible, free range and hormone free meat and dairy, organically grown, whole grain, whole food.  If possible eat the skins of what you consume, as there are immune enhancing minerals in the skin.  The adage goes as such “those who eat food with no clothes, will also have no clothes”.  It should also be noted that we are what we eat, and eating GMO or factory farm meat where there is massive suffering involved will meld with your mind, and affect your health.

In addition to making proper nutrional choices, there are some herbs that help with specific conditions, and they are listed below;

chamomile-helps cool both the liver and heart mind.  Beneficial for cleansing (diuretic) as well as wind disorders, such as ADHD, bipolar, as well as allieviating the underlying causes of depression(stopped up liver)

burdock-benefical for weight loss as it dries up fatty accumulations in the liver, together with red clover it as a powerful diet aid.  Drying, would want to consider adding fruit or something of the like to the diet to combat any dryness that might arise.

pau d’arco-destroys yeast in the body, can be taken internally, as well as made into a tea for douching purposes.  Also drying.

valerian-powerful sedative, warming. 

schizandra berries-cleansing to heart/mind.  Source of ying or life essence, ie foundational energy of the body, aids longevity.

fenugreek-warming, aids lactation, renews mucus membranes, affects lungs

yarrow-diaphoretic/induces sweating.  helpful for cleaning out heart/mind, as well as the treatment of diabetes (together with bran and omegas).  Purported aid in the development of psychic powers.

horsetail-high silica content, aids in restoration of teeth and bones, aids in formation of integrity.

scullcap-anti-anxiety nervine (affects heart and mind), sedative.

nettle-cooling, aids in mucus membrane renewal and as such affects the lungs.  Also high ying content, aids longevity and is also purported to aid in psychic development, including levitation.

comfrey-immensly effective in the treatment of muscular injuries and strains.  Made into a compress can alleiviate just about any cramp, strain or tear.

algae (chlorella and spirulina)-mana, one of the most nutritionally complete foods with ample amounts of highly digestible protien.  Together with brown rice this is what was given to concentration camp victims and other victims of severe starvation.  Algae is very cooling, contains high amounts of Omega oils, magnesium to repair muscles and cures such things as restless legs and muscle cramps.

Kelp-nutrionally also very valuable, moistens dryness as well as very cooling

Garlic-natural antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial.  Warming.  Use fresh garlic.  Also chelates (removes heavy metals such as lead, aluminum and mercury)

Cilantro-mild sedative as well as chelates, together with garlic and algae, it can be used to treat the toxic metal buildup in associated with Autism.

Oregano-warming, also anti-bacterial.  Useful for sinus and bronchial infections if put in a bowl of hot water and the steam is inhaled.  If using for this purpose, add nettle to balance its warming effect

Red clover-blood purifyer together with burdock

marijuana-useful in the treatment of neurological disorders where calming is needed, and severe liver and mental damage due to prescription psychiatric drugs.  High in EFA’s (omega oils), and is beneficial in certain eye disorders.  Cooling and overuse can lead to a “spacy” personality, or inability to focus, as well as a depletion of ying/life essence.  Also useful as a meditation aid.  Sacred to Shiva.  Also anti-nausea as well as appetite stimulant. 

Flax-high in EFA’s as well and therefore has the same effect on the liver as well as helping in the clarity and moisture content of skin.  Benefical to mental function as well

Borage and or evening primrose-high in GLA, useful in treatment of alcoholism as eventually body loses the ability to produce GLA on its own and is dependent the alcohol to do it.  Useful in the treatment of schizophrenia, and aids mental and liver function in general.

As  final note it should be emphasized that the expression all things in moderation is key here.  The most basic premise is learning to balance cooling versus warming, sedative versus stimulant and respecting the power inherent in the medicinal properties of plants.  I highly recommend to anyone being a vegetarian for a while.  Having a mnd free from the influence of flesh is a soul-nurturing and centering experience.  It should be cautioned that you can become too passive on a vegetarian diet, stemming from an empahsis or more cooling foods.  As a person who was a vegetarian for 5 years, I can tell you I had more stamina and clarity of mind so that now, when I do eat small amounts of meat, I have a string foundation to guage it’s effect on me and how much is too much, and most people in this country eat WAY too much meat.  I have roughly 1/4 – 1/2 of a pound of meat a week.  Over consumption of flesh leads to the liver stagnation evident in most people.  You will also find that humans do naturally have night vision.  As the eyes are linked to the liver, we have gotten so used to side-effects of a out of balance liver we dont even know what baseline normal is.  Not only does vision improve, but so does skin clarity, aging is stopped if not reversed to some extent.  Try this, and for further reading, buy Paul Pitchford’s healling with whole foods, as the information in this post largely comes from that work.  And invaluable purchase.  Happy healing:)