Hello friends, I’m back after a period of up-dating the Being Change vision and web site. I’ll continue to post in the blog AND I’ve added a Substack newsletter. Go to the bottom of the home page to subscribe. They will both offer stories, resources, inspiring and thought provoking people and organizations, and opportunities to get involved. I hope you will find them both very worth your while. Tell you friends! Comment here, in Substack or email me with any feedback or resources you’d like to share.
To launch this leg of the journey, here’s a beautiful short film by Alixa Garcia called Becoming Imaginal.
“Summoned By the Earth” is a book I’d been waiting for ever since the author, Cynthia Jurs, announced its pending publication. Imagine my delight when I was asked if I would review it. (The second time I’ve received such a request lately! See the previous post.) They sent me a copy and the following is my response. In a nutshell, I loved it!
“Sacred Activism is a transforming force of compassion-in-action that is born of a fusion of deep spiritual knowledge, courage, love, and passion, with wise radical action in the world.”
– Andrew Harvey
These words beautifully describe Cynthia Jurs and her extraordinary quest to fulfill an “assignment” given to her (by a 106 year old Buddhist lama in a cave in the Himalayas, no less) in answer to her question: How can we bring healing and protection to the Earth? The assignment? Travel the world planting Earth Treasure Vases, an ancient tradition that transmits the healing energy of prayers and sacred objects to wounded, endangered, and beloved places.
How does one capture the essence of such a monumental story? Cynthia says it best herself. “My journey … always felt as if I were living in a mythic landscape, carrying out an epic assignment to do an impossible task.” Yet, after more than three decades, the journey continues. I’m in awe of the courage and commitment it has taken to follow this path. How inspiring it is to know that healing and protecting the Earth is, yes, mythic and epic but not impossible.
I recently was asked to review a book by a woman I hadn’t heard of before. When I read the blurb and explored her web site, there was so much resonance that I whole-heartedly agreed to support her in whatever way I can. Her name is Leah Rampy and her book is Earth and Soul – Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos. Here’s the review. Check out her website. Buy the book!
In “Earth and Soul – Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos”, Leah Rampy courageously and compassionately invites us to consider some of the most challenging questions of our time. For example:
How do we bear witness to the unfathomable and multifaceted “predicaments” wreaking havoc on our social and biological systems, while being open-hearted to the many ways we are called to respond?
How do we wake up from the trance of the old story that no longer serves life, while re-membering and re-embodying our kinship with the “other” and the more than human world?
How do we hospice this “old story” while midwifing an ancient/new story that we can live into now, each according to our own unique contribution and no matter what the outcome?
Leah suggests that how we respond to these questions, and more, is a journey, not a destination. It is nothing short of an initiatory process requiring deep listening, discernment, and the humility of letting go of our need to have all the answers. In community with each other, the more than humans, and the Earth herself, perhaps we can find the wisdom and grace to (re)wild, (re)en-soul and (re)birth our Selves and our world. I am grateful to Leah and her beautiful book for guiding us along the way.
Anne Baring is a fascinating woman who looks deeply into the predicament of our times. Please visit her web site and read her epic work “The Dream of the Cosmos – A Quest For the Soul.” Imagine what it would look like if “the women of the world commanded that All war and violence stops NOW!” Imagine bringing forth such a world. Where would you begin?
Here is her message:
Urgent Call to All Humanity: War and Violence Stops Now!
This is a critical moment in our evolution. The choices we make now will determine our collective futures, for centuries to come. War and violence has to stop NOW. War is an ancient sacrificial ritual, which has become a highly profitable high-tech industry. War is a collective psychosis where fear and hatred overwhelm the human mind and heart. Men are not naturally cruel but regress into barbarism when destruction of the enemy becomes the overriding goal.
Most of us do not experience the carnage of war. But those who are ordered to fight and kill, if they survive, are traumatised for the rest of their lives from the atrocities they have witnessed and the injuries they have sustained.
War devastates the lives, homes, and livelihoods of millions and the life of our planet. This is unacceptable and has to STOP. Bitterness, hatred, fear, and trauma pass from generation to generation. Trauma does not vanish with time but is held within the collective psyche of humanity, which creates a perpetual cycle of further war and violence.
Must we remain enslaved to this devastating pattern? NO! Women are one half of humanity, yet our voices are not heard sufficiently to stop this madness. War is anathema to mothers who have raised their children from infancy to adulthood. Mothers and grandmothers never recover from the unbearable loss of their beloved children and grandchildren. There is only one power in the world that can eliminate war and violence. That power is women in service to Love. We call upon the Women of the World to join us in Commanding that All war and violence Stops NOW!
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023 is World Water Day. The theme this year is “Accelerating Change,” which speaks to the urgency of honoring, protecting and healing this sacred element. The web offers many ways to get involved as individuals and as communities. Take a look and learn, share, act!
If you wish to do ceremony with water near you, here are a couple of beautiful resources I intend to use at a gathering with some friends by our neighborhood pond.
Here is a beautiful deep dive into the essence of the Great Turning. Imagine sitting in circle with these amazing visionaries while they tell their stories of living in this planet-time. Visit the Great Turning web site and meet Maddie Porte, its creator. Lots more good stuff there too.
I came across this powerful statement when I was recently visiting Vandana Shiva’s web site. Vandana is one of Being Change’s eco-spiritual mentors and I love her dearly for her championing for our Earth. Learn more about Diverse Women For Diversity here.
“We women, in all our vibrant and fabulous diversity, have witnessed the increasing aggression against the human spirit, human mind and human body and the continued invasion of an assault upon the Earth and all her diverse species. And we are enraged.
We demand of governments, international organisations, transnational corporations and individual men who share our rage, that they address the crisis that has been caused by the creation of monocultures and the reduction, enclosure, and extinction of biological and cultural diversity.
We insist that those who would address the crisis listen to and take leadership from women, indigenous peoples, farmers, and all who have raised these concerns at the local level. We ask them to heed those whose wisdom, stewardship, knowledge and commitment has already been demonstrated by the preservation of the diversity we celebrate today.”
Now I feel like all there is left for me to do is sing and pray directly to Her. Build altars and sit with Her as much as possible. Listen. Listen. Listen.
Alixa Garcia
I’m finding that as I go deeper and deeper into my spiritual journey, the above quote pretty much says it all. I’m far beyond wanting to put any energy into the madness of the status quo beyond what I feel is being responsibly aware.
I feel such a deep grief concerning what’s happening in our world yet, of course, there’s so much I don’t know. I’m beginning to understand what it means to be in the unknowing, undoing. It’s difficult, truly, to be in this surreal world of “anything’s possible” on the one hand, to “we’re screwed” on the other, and everything in between.
The messages I’ve been receiving from many sources have been about profoundly letting go of all the egoistic control and contraction while opening up to “the bigger picture:” the imaginal realms, the body/soul, the indigenous wisdom, the cosmic consciousness, the messages from the Earth and from the ancestors.…
If there is any wisdom running through my life now, in my walking on this earth, it comes from listening in the Great Silence to the stones, trees, space, the wild animals, to the pulse of all life as my heartbeat.
Vijali Hamilton
Recently, as I was walking in the woods, I wondered: What does the Earth ask of us?” This I received: Reciprocity, gratitude, ceremony and wakefulness. Of course, we must follow through with “right action” however that is defined according to our unique callings.
I’d like to share this beautiful short video “Reconnecting to Nature, the Earth, and Each Other”:
Beautiful words from María Sabina (b. 1894 – d. 1985), a Mazatec sabia (“one who knows”) or curandera (medicine woman), who lived in Huautla de Jiménez in southern Mexico.
Cure yourself with the light of the sun and the rays of the moon.
With the sound of the river and the waterfall.
With the swaying of the sea and the fluttering of birds.
Heal yourself with mint, with neem and eucalyptus.
Sweeten yourself with lavender, rosemary, and chamomile.
Hug yourself with the cocoa bean and a touch of cinnamon.
Put love in tea instead of sugar, and take it looking at the stars.
Heal yourself with the kisses that the wind gives you and the hugs of the rain.
Get strong with bare feet on the ground and with everything that is born from it.
Get smarter every day by listening to your intuition, looking at the world with the eye of your forehead.
Jump, dance, sing, so that you live happier.
Heal yourself, with beautiful love, and always remember: you are the medicine.
These five vows were created by my beloved mentor Joanna Macy. They are so “simple” yet so profound that I’m still trying to imagine what it would be like if we could truly embody them in our lives. The beauty of these words moves me greatly and they could be a powerful spiritual practice in themselves. See how they resonate with you:
I vow to myself and to each of you to commit myself daily to the healing of our world and the welfare of all beings.
I vow to myself and to each of you to live on Earth more lightly and less violently in the food, products, and energy I consume.
I vow to myself and to each of you to draw strength and guidance from the living Earth, the ancestors, the future beings, and our siblings of all species.
I vow to myself and to each of you to support you in your work for the world, and to ask for help when I need it.
I vow to myself and to each of you to pursue a daily spiritual practice that clarifies my mind, strengthens my heart, and supports me in observing these vows.
