Animá Lifeways & Herbal School

Depths:
Affirmation River, & Mountain-Style

by Jesse Wolf Hardin

www.animacenter.org

After a series of eastward-blowing storms, it’s been brilliantly sunny again.  Besides the pleasant warming ambiance, it has meant the ritual snowmelt, with the quickly saturated ground giving up its overflow in a convulsion of water.  Migrating in sheets off the steep cliffs and mountains, it breaks up into liquid fingers gurgling down parallel gullies, then plummets from the ledges in 2 feet, 6 feet, or 100 feet drops.  No matter their individual mini-headwaters, their destination is the same, gravity combining with earth’s ecosophic purpose to feed a quickly swelling river.

Quickly, I say, sometimes rising from a foot deep to over 20 feet deep, and from gently moving at a relaxed pace to madly rushing like a herd of bison stampeded by lightning.  Today the Sweet Medicine River varied from 3 to 5 feet depending on its width, as well as on the holes scooped out by the swirling force of eddies.  At such times it would be reasonable and perhaps even wise to stay at home here, in wood heated cabins perched far above all but the most biblical flood heights.  Reasonable, however, does not determine my actions when there is a cause to be championed, an innocent to be defended, a mission to be furthered… mail to be mailed, or cream, butter and treats for the gals to be got.

The adventure begins with taking off my pants and shirt and rolling them up, then holding the bundle of boots, clothes and outgoing mail above my head while stepping off into cloudy swirling waters where I can’t see the bottom.  From the second I touch bottom on sucking sand or bruising rock, the current pushes me hard down the canyon and to the southwest and Arizona and Mexico when I need to remain determinedly pointed to the east.  To compensate I set off 30 yards upriver from my preferred landing spot on the opposite bank, then bounce across in leaps that give in equal proportions to the diverging directions of man and river.

I’m very warm blooded, but snowmelt anywhere above the thighs is stunning to say the least, a jolt that arrests all thought even as it so loudly reminds me through every sense that I am alive.  Getting out onto largely muddy ground with clean feet is a trick best accomplished by holding onto railings of exposed Alder roots, and then squatting and dressing in atop its foundation of shore-clutching arms.  The climb to the waiting vehicle starts out at a 30 degree incline, and any thought of being cold is gone within the first third of the ascent.  Sitting for hours writing articles, books and emails is poor exercise and preparation, and my legs begin to complain.  When I was in my 20’s, I made it a practice to run as fast as I could without stopping for the entire 2 mile climb, carrying a pebble in my mouth because I had read the Apache ensured breathing through their noses that way, causing greater stamina.  Now I considered a satisfactory feat just to be able to scramble up its sides on deer trails that for a deer would be a relaxed pace.  And while the snow lay only in patches at the bottom of the canyon, with the first 500 feet of elevation increase the snow had thickened to a 18 inches or more, obliterating any sign of the winding way up.  With familiar landmarks draped or obscured and the ground appearing but a single precipitous angle, I was likely seldom if ever actually a trail, making headway by thrusting the sides of my boots into the snow for each step, and proceeding more sideways than forward myself.

Increasingly aching legs and ever more slippery and indecipherable terrain inspired even greater attention to each committed step.  A slip could mean plummeting at breakneck speeds checked only by collisions of flesh against bark, careening pinball style off one ponderosa tree after another.  The Winter is found no less lovely by the trekker, knowing that growing stiff and weary, or stopping and taking too long of a rest could mean never getting back up again.  There is only continuing as an option for life, as it is with all life forms empowered by this force and will to live, the anima.  And less dramatically, there is never any stopping and giving up for me.  Older and less exercised limbs showed no sign of giving out, but only signs of continuing to give their all.  In fact, the aching actually eased for the most part at the point when the climb was most difficult, and in that I found great encouragement.

The microclimate shifted with each few hundred feet of ascent, such that near the 7000 feet level I found myself walking into a cloud, a strata of airborne strata so pronounced that for a moment I could see my boot clearly while everything at head height was covered by mist.  Like the entrance to Avalon, all magic seems to be veiled for protection by a cloud of unknowing.  But for me then, it was a knowing instead, the knowledge that once in the cloud I was essentially at the mountain’s top and a waiting snow-tucked vehicle.  As always, the cream in our coffee will be made all the more enjoyable by the means through which it was obtained.  The books sent out will have an extra story to go with them, recounting their untypical journey.  And the where and why of our lives is yet again reaffirmed, not by the ease of our admitted paradise but by what we are willing to do for and because of it.  Affirmed mountain and river-style, instead of through its vista and sparkle we come to know its measure by its depth.

(Post and share freely.  Photos (c)2010 by Jesse Wolf Hardin)

Intro: Our Animá school is situated in isolated Catron County, New Mexico, only 2 percent private land and a populous nationally famous for their their anti-government, libertarian, and sadly but understandably anti-environmentalist views.  Even as they have embraced a tree hugging ex-biker philosopher named “Wolf” as their own, they are terrified of the real wolf introduction program and angry over the ways the program has been operated.  For all its twists and complexities, we are very fortunate to live in a place where individual liberty is a paramount value, wide open spaces treasured, wild food eaten, medicinal herbs appreciated, gardens grown and human bonds strengthened.  Folks jump to help us and each other, and are disappointed if we don’t stop to visit.  If you ever make the trip here you will expect to see the disparaging sign about spotted owls in our landmark Uncle Bill’s Bar, but you may be surprised at the friendly greetings of folks walking or driving your way.  There is a reason why I may be calling my upcoming “straight shot” book of rural humor and land based insights “The Town That Waves.”  This will likely be its opening chapter.  -JWH

The Town That Waves

by Jesse Hardin

I will never forget rolling into my home country for the very first time, awestruck by the sheer physical beauty, giddy with excitement as Sonoran desert gave way to vast stretches of piñon-juniper, then into thick stands of ponderosa pine bearded with dangling usnea.  The continental divide.  The exposed cliffs near the village of Aragon, with that inviting cave within sight of the road.  The bright green meadows fed by generous springs, the twist of the Tularosa river, the view to the north of the Frisco box.  Elk feeding at the edge of the pavement.  Bald eagles circling.  A fox dashing for cover at the sound of my engine.  The vast distances seemed to cast a spell on me, soothing my beastly youthful impatience.  And the land… the land felt animate with the ghosts of the past, its human and natural history somehow still alive for us to sense, learn from, and give thanks for.  Call it the presence of God if you will – or call it the power of the Great Spirit as previous generations of awestruck natives did – but the land seemed to me then and still seems to reflect, embody and vibrate with a divine force, appearing magical even to a hardened modern mind.  The closer I got to what would become my lifetime home, the closer I felt to heaven.  Blooming wildflowers and a buoyant northeastern wind worked in consort together, easing me into a timeless state of mind steeped in reverie on that long, long drive.

I was amazed on that fortuitous initial visit, however, not just by the landscape but also the people.  First, that there were so very few of them, with me seeing only a handful of trucks in the final one hundred and thirty miles.  And second, amazed that the drivers waved as they passed by!

I don’t think that a roadside iguana race hosted by hula dancers would have have been any greater a surprise to the 23 year old me.  Having been a teen runaway in the harder neighborhoods of several cities, I’d grown to expect a “dirty finger” flipped in my direction, or an occasional beer bottle being tossed at me by someone with an aversion for “long-hairs” or chopped motorcycles.  And even in the nicer parts of town, I could expect stiff indifference, pedestrians as well as drivers understandably going by without making eye contact, with me largely anonymous and irrelevant to them.  But waving?  I was dumbfounded.  Nonplussed.  Flabbergasted.  And I might add, deeply touched.

For the first few weeks here I felt guilty, like an impostor, worried that they were confusing my vehicle for someone else’s they knew.  Surely if those folks realized I wasn’t a local, they’d resent the effort.  And up until then I still preferred being ignored to being resented.  But that’s all changed in the decades since, and it’s gotten to where I’d rather be actively disliked than ingloriously ignored.  At this stage, I only feel guilty if I get so distracted with changing the music on the stereo that I fail to wave back.

For all those who wave, needless to say, I’ve noticed there are a few who never do.  These include the occasional stockman, too John Wayne-like stoic to do anything so ostentatious and undignified.  The nearly blind, who drive ten miles an hour and can barely see the yellow lines, let alone make out a raised hand behind the glare of an opposing windshield.  The teens scarcely old enough for a license, who are characteristically way too cool for such things.  And those who are both extremely old and stubbornly willful, working with white-knuckled determination to keep their thirty year old pickups on the road, justifiably afraid to take either hand off the wheel even for a second.

The above are the exceptions, while the majority of my community faithfully continue with this valued practice, going through the motions because we care.  Being a county of individualists, however, no two of these waves are exactly alike.  The personal variations demonstrate both the degree of emotional investment and the current mood of the waver, such as:  A single pointer finger lifted.  The same finger lifted, but wagged.  Two fingers doing the same.  The whole palm lifted, with the heel still on the wheel.  An entire hand raised and held still in the air, like pinto pony-riding Plains Indians meeting up in a flat stretch of buffalo grass.  The whole hand raised and waved back and forth, like a bobbing dashboard hula-dancer.  And there is both hands momentarily off the wheel, flapping wildly in the air because the driver happens to be truly excited to see you.

Such waves are about bonding, affirmation and membership in a way, about being genuinely pleased the other fellow is out on such a good day to be alive!  About fellow county residents sharing a common place and history, and a number of values and hopes.  But the wave is also about recognizing each other as fellow human critters only temporarily boxed up in ironclad machines on wheels, no matter our fellow driver’s place of origin… as sister and brethren sharecroppers working in a fractured economic system, breathing the same air, struggling with the same issues of growing up or parenting, of aging and health.  The same prostituted politicians and freedom-robbing legislation.  And similar purpose and belief, hardship and hope.

That said, my rural neighbors and I aren’t any too bothered if some tourist or house hunter motors by without giving us the courtesy of waving back.  We understand.  He or she just doesn’t know any better yet.

(Post and forward freely)

When the familiar and welcome sun came back out, our batteries were so low that the panels surged to 34 amps and freaked out our charge controller.  As of last night we had already stored enough juice to be back up to 80 percent.  While dealing with the natural ebb and flow of electricity here in the canyon, we had no idea that the entire county had been suffering an outage for 4 whole days, with gas stations shut down and only the clinic, courthouse and little grocery store running on generators.  It was a reminder of how fragile even “self sufficient” minded communities are, large or small, that a storm-dropped tower can render it helpless, with houses unlilt, cars parked for lack of fuel.  And it was encouraging, to realize again not only how blessed – but how truly possible – it is to depend on oneself and alternate technologies instead of on a system that makes us dependent.

Today I walk out, wading the thigh deep ice melt river to get to Resolute’s Owl Rover vehicle and on into town for vittles and mail.  For the first 3 years I was here I walked the entire 10 miles to the village, so these days a short walk to a warm car due to washed out crossings seems like nothing but a minor adventure and opportunity to trade hours on the laptop for awakened senses, a gratified heart and chilled feet.  I start by following the rabbit tracks in the snow, bounding as best I can through the entrance to life’s Wonderland.

Whatever your own adventures today, we hope you make sure they serve you as well.

-Wolf

Preface: Thank you for the dozen requests for my recent piece on the topic of authority.  I hesitated to run it here only because it was written in the intemperate tone I relax into when writing from a rural or general audience, rather than the less expletive ridden and hopefully more professional tone and language of our Animá articles and books.  I would like it if you not only learned and were inspired by the following, but if you were to enjoy it as well.  -JWH

Because It’s Good For You:
Insurgent Thoughts On Authority, Certification & Law

by Jesse Wolf Hardin

My advice is not to trust all authority, but to find the authority in ourselves
to know who and what to trust!

“Because I told you so!” was the answer I often got as a youngster, when – from parents and teachers alike – I’d routinely ask the reasons for what it was I was being told to do.  If the adults in charge had simply explained the reasoning behind the order, custom, protocol,  tradition or rule, there’s a chance I would have a considered it the beneficial and honorable thing to do.  But telling me “because I told you so” is like saying “because I’m bigger than you,” “older than you,” “better connected than you,” or “better armed than you.”  This is the limited reasoning and self justification of bullies, whether it be an expansionist empire or playground antagonists.  Having such advantages might mean that they can make us do something, but that doesn’t mean it’s right to force us to bend or conform, nor does it mean that the ways they want us to behave are necessarily good or just for us, the human spirit, the things we cherish or the larger world.  I wouldn’t buy it back then, I’m not buying it now.  I would have much preferred the exhortations of the wise and caring mother, the caretaker, the healer: “Because it’s good for you!”  And even then, I would have wanted to know exactly why, how, and under what circumstances and amounts any medicine or course of action might be best for me.

I was willing to heed, but not heel.  And what I most readily heeded was counsel and direction from people who clearly knew more than me, who were more experienced and appeared to have grown or learned something from their experiences, who acted out of a deep sense of caring and strong set of principles, with allegiance to truth and to justice.  As a teen runaway, I took advice from old bikers on which year Harley-Davidsons had the coolest ride, and I had no objection to coming to a stop when ordered to by a life-saving traffic cop.  I kept the counsel of well meaning hobos who had “been around the block,” trading normalcy and security for a life of minor privation and immense freedom.  I took to heart the lecture of a drawling rural Sheriff who kindly counseled me not to do stupid illegal things I didn’t even believe in, and from a confirmed outlaw who talked about it being just as important to break those laws that we know to be “wrong-headed” or unconstitutional.

That I could respect and listen to individuals on both sides of the law, is an indication of how little significance I placed on costume and insignia.  Then as now, I couldn’t understand the military expression “salute the uniform, not the man.”  A person who was worthy of being respected, listened to and followed seems just as worthy to me whether out of uniform, off duty, retired or fired!   Conversely, those unwise or unworthy in character remain ignorant and unworthy regardless of what official clothing they might don, or what agency or administration finances and directs them.  And just because something is either mandated or banned in one of the hundreds of thousands of laws that govern every aspect of our civilized lives, doesn’t make it right… nor make it honorable for us to obey.

Authority is simply not something that a government or agency can give someone.  Genuine authority cannot be “vested” as they say, it can only be earned.  And because it has to be earned, it can also be undermined through unfair application, squandered away on superfluous regulation, and overturned if based on or upheld by false premise and manipulative lies.  It’s not authority without the weight of truth, it is only base imposition and oppression.  And the problem with exercising power over someone or something, is that it only works so long as enough pressure can be put on.  Somewhere, sooner or later there is a break, a lapse or loophole through which not only truth and liberty but all kinds of trouble can arise.  The wife-abuser is only really in control until he falls asleep, as a number of angry men have found out to their horror.  The schoolyard bully can hold you down with a head-lock for only just so long, the second he stops to rest there’s nothing except possibly fear or self doubt to prevent you from retaliating or remedying.

If there is authority in a truth, standard or directive, it retains its influence without mandates, manipulation and control.  It rings true when we are alone and our acts unwitnessed, as surely as when we are being closely monitored or working under the gun.  When such is the case, we do not need the force of law to rein in our actions nor compel us to act.  As herbalists, it isn’t certification that determines how effective we are, it’s our actions, means and results, and government inspection of plant medicines will never be the reason why we seek to use the finest quality and teach the safest methods and amounts.

We’re unlikely to ravage and steal even though no one is watching and there may be no price to be paid, if we feel deeply that rape or theft are wrong.  And hopefully, we don’t obediently toe the line, surrender our rights and liberties, compromise our beliefs and march to the orders of the established powers… just because they happen to control the military and the most awesome weapons ever developed, will soon have video surveillance cameras on every street corner, have planted informants among every activist group and provocateurs in every citizen militia, wield a court system that functions to protect the elite and punish the independent, can count on the connivance of “new world order” strategists and the support of multinational financiers, and have made the building of new jails and penitentiaries the fasting growing industry in America.  I agree with the prickly ex-Colonel in the movie Legends of the Fall, and his feelings regarding this nation’s ruling administration and its morally compromised minions: “Screw ‘em,” he said in a voice slurred by a powerful but obviously not debilitating stroke. “Screw ’em!”

The origin of the word “authority” is from the Latin auctoritas, from the word auctor which means both “originator” and “promoter.”  Our authority is our ability to affect and influence, as parents and teachers, craftspeople and gardeners, artists and healers.  It is a result of what we put forward and promote, and as such, it can only originate with us.

———–

(Share and post liberally.  To learn more, go to the Writings and Correspondence Course pages of the Animá School website at: www.animacenter.org)

Since I last posted, a second and third storms did indeed come through, one of the few times that the internet weather reports have been right for this area.  Perhaps it is the remoteness and thus economic irrelevance of this area that results in the scant nearby data and poor forecasts, and at times we know it is the canyon’s micro-climate, as there can be storms all around us with an eye of blue above us.  Not this time however, with each subsequent front coming through on barreling winds that shook the house like a toy in a cat’s mouth.  There has been many instances of my regretting how well I nail things together, the often bent-over nails making renovation difficult, but at such times we are all amply glad that the humble little pine board cabins are so securely held together.

Judging by the snow sticking on the roof, we got over four inches of fluff the second storm, and a good 6″ on the third go-through.  The rain barrels were quickly filled, along with the outdoor tub, making us wish we had more food-grade barrels, or at least more heavy duty rubbermaid can that can be used to hold the precious fluid.  Given the increasing periods of doubt, saving the bounty of the storm events will be ever more important.  We have long though about getting a very large container and using a 12 volt solar powered pump to move water into it, but the fact that a first flush is ashy and for washing, and additional flushes for drinking, requires a system of smaller containers that can be rotated, as well as easily accessed and cleaned.

The second storm was as much cold rain as anything else.  And thus, yesterday we awoke to the sound of a river, choppy with whitecaps, overspilling its banks.  But by last night it was already back down to thigh deep at the deepest, since there was no store of previous snowpack to be melted by the rain and sleet deluge.

Rhiannon was already sledding when I got up early this morning, knowing that impending blue skies would quickly melt her boon.  Sure enough, a few hours of even Wintertime New Mexico sun was enough to strip the trees of the piles of white briefly held there.  I did get these photos for you before it was gone, proof that we know what the stuff is even if – unlike the Eskimos with their dozens of word for snow – we have can find only one word for it: amazing.

It doesn’t take long to miss the sun, however, for its warmth, the way it cheers and emboldens us, and the vital electricity that it puts into our solar system, converting brightness to power the satellite internet that this school and its projects depend on, the writing we do, and the music that we listen to and our inspired by as we write and do our other tasks.  In the 4 days of thick cloud cover, we ran the large bank of batteries down into the “red,” but were still able to power up long enough to download and send off emails, and never lacked for lights at night thanks to the energy efficient LED bulbs in the cabins.  It wasn’t possible to run a high-drain appliance like the coffee grinder, so Loba and Rhiannon ground my treasured Ehtiopian beans with an ancient stone mano and metate I discovered when I first moved to this Mogollon village site so many years ago.

Students can expect to get more lessons back in the coming weeks, with us getting close to caught up with all the Animá conference and other project needs.  Kiva is close to releasing the first of her Animá Herbal Tradition correspondence courses, on herbal energetics.  And I have kept up with magazine article deadlines, while putting together a full color 11×17 Traditions in Western Herbalism poster that we will introduce here in a few days.  Hope you love it…  The conference has turned into a huge project, but with the help of Resolute, Rosalee and our other motivated volunteers, we will make this miracle happen.

I’ve been asked to post my latest column for general audiences, on the topic of authority… and resistance to others having authority over us.  I hesitate to run too many non-Animá specific pieces, but may share it here if sufficiently provoked.

Everyone sends their best, on this truly lovely January day.

Love, Wolf   (www.animacenter.org)

A snowy greeting to you all, from a canyon finally fully blanketed in fluffy white.  While other parts of the country were reporting freezing weather, we were enjoying warm sunny afternoons and worrying if the land would get the moisture it needs this Winter.  Then a few days ago a front moved in on powerful winds, rain and sleet at first accompanied by deep muffled thunder such as we usually only hear in the Summer.  A day of mixed sun, and then a second storm hit. This time the winds have been slight and clouds a heavy dusky gray, and we awoke to 3 inches on the ground and more steadily falling.  Being light and relatively dry, Rhiannon has found it perfect for both sledding and making bizarre Calvin and Hobbes inspired snowmen.  I cannot hardly slip out of the cabin without getting nailed by an increasingly accurate barrage of otter-tossed snowballs.

No power for the batteries of course, so we are only turning on the satellite internet for long enough to download and send off.  This makes it impossible for us to do the vendor and sponsor research that we need to be helping with, as Rosalee and our volunteers work hard to cover all the geographical areas.  Arizona, in particular, needs more attention and outreach, and hopefully we will have sun by the weekend in order to get on it.  No internet means Kiva has fewer competing tasks bugging for her attention, and can switch for a day or two to long waiting herbal consultations, her first herbal 8 week correspondence courses, and her Animá herbal book.  Apologies if we prove slower to respond to emails this week.

Today I will be working with our daughter to create a historical timeline, to give her perspective on the flow and patterns of human and natural events.  She is very anxious!  Somehow I must also meet immediate magazine deadlines, reply to students, and begin planning the conference posters before driving Loba to town in our street legal Jeep.  The offroad jeep, raised and snorkeled, is unfortunately in the shop waiting for a thousand dollars worth of repair to its water damaged rear end.  Loba would as always, prefer to stay home… but she was enticed to make the trip by renowned herbalist Susun Weed for an interview on Susun’s acclaimed women’s radio show.  The interview will be on the subject of rewilding, sense of place, and the connective power of voice and song.  We will provide a link for you to hear it as soon as it is released.

Thank you for the continuing stream of letters of support and love, and especially for the recent gifts and donations which are keeping us going and encouraging our efforts.

We are happy to be here for you.

-Wolf

Skepticism and Hope

A Reason To Feel Encouraged by the Latest Negative Polls

by Jesse Wolf Hardin

As someone who has witnessed again and again the miracles of nature and potential for extraordinary human feats, I am not inclined to be a skeptic.  I do, however, like to expose harmful illusions and challenge manipulative lies.  And in the face of a climate of increasing unquestioning acceptance, adherence and obedience, I’ve actually come to find reasons for hope in periodic eruptions of skepticism among the general population.

For example, I periodically read various accredited national polls, in an attempt to gauge the mood and test the knowledge my fellow citizens.  It can be unsettling, realizing how little most voters know about the issues they help decide, or about the legislation their elected officials sign into law.  I am most alarmed, however, not when there is great fractiousness and diverse opinion, but when a uninformed consensus forms in blind allegiance to dated illusions, or else in knee-jerk reaction to unexpected situations.  Any President getting an 85% approval rating exposes a degree of self serving delusion that bodes poorly for any nation.  And we need to beware any constituency we ever see lock-stepped in near 100% agreement.

It is encouraging to me, on the other hand, whenever both doubts and expectations are reported on the rise, and the poll numbers again indicate a taste of reality if not genuine sober reflection… that it’s just possible we may may as a nation not be as easily fooled as the bulk of evidence would seem to indicate.  I actually found this week’s reported low appraisals reassuring in a twisted sort of way, with folks starting to act like auction goers who too recently thought they’d bought themselves a priceless antique and then finally discovered it was a fake.  People surveyed gave the floundering Republican party a dismal 26% approval rating, while the bankrupting, over-legislating Democrats did only a little better at 39%.  Both earned a failing grade, it should be pointed out, by the standards of even the least demanding school board.

And this at least temporary holding-to-task didn’t end with elected leaders.  In an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released a few days later, I was relieved to see that a mere 17% of us trust the health insurance companies.  Only 65% of us reported that they could trust our government to do the right thing even “some of the time,” while 11% reported “never!”  Only 39% have any confidence in the Supreme Court of the land, 24% in the Federal Reserve and 19% in the U.S. Treasury.  The ignoble winner turns out to be the U.S. Congress, with only 15% of respondents trusting their Senators and Congressmen as far as they can throw them.

Not to be outdone, I have conducted a little poll myself, drawn not from anything like a fair cross section of the population but from the thoughtful, heartful, sensitive, radical, passionate, self motivated, questioning, un-bought, tree hugging, adventure taking, home schooling, medicine making, chicken feeding, wild foods gathering, cage rattling, garden tilling, song singing types with whom I have the privilege of mainly dealing with.  I’m pleased to report that only a very few believe in the lies handed out by the powers-that-be or the lap-dog media, and that the 3 or 4% who do, do so not out of obedience but a deep need to imagine the best in everything and everybody.  The folks I know consistently rate the dominant cultural paradigm low, with no gold stars for either low morality wars or half fought efforts.  Less than 5% trust what they read in the papers, the slant that school textbooks put on world events, or the purity and sanctity of a majority of official religious leaders.  And it can be said that only the same incredibly low number have any confidence at all in lawyers or legislators, recent vehicle quality or modern product warranties, advertising claims or flu vaccines, carbon credit programs or weight loss plans, in government action on global warming, tax fairness or hair restoration.

Likewise, a high percentage of these confidants value the very things that modernist techno-culture obscures and the powers-that-be threaten.  As with all polls, the replies would depend on how I phrased the question, but even at that, the folks I know are special and a good portion of them would be certain to come out in support of personal liberties and individual responsibility, at a cost to so called “security.”  Of privacy, as well as the right to express ourselves, and of justice for all just as the Constitution says.  Of the sanctity of home and family, the importance of regional governance, the vital nature of community, and the protection of nature.  Of not just less pavement but more trees, breathable air, drinkable water, habitat for more than simply the human species.  Support of more natural health care, and healthier-lived lives.  Of the old ways and land based traditions, and a lifestyle more conducive to our own truths.  Of more truly precious time with our loved ones, and for a world with both more truth, more courage, and more love.  Of those challenges that inform us.  Of the struggles that strengthen.  And support of any opportunities to distinguish ourselves, tend who and what we most care about, to serve a larger purpose or calling, or to simply savor the awakened moment.

It remains a positive thing, nonetheless, that there will always be a small percentage among my students, friends and readers who insistently think and do the opposite, who buck even what I know in the very marrow of my bones to be right and healthful… who through either rampant optimism, deep generosity, fool hardy acceptance or simple downright obstinacy ensure that I – unlike various corporations and despots, gurus and dogmatists – will never have to suffer from the uniformity and ignobility of unthinking agreement.

(to learn of the ways and practices of Animá, consider an engaging online 8 Week Course, possibly beginning with Orientation, Principles & Pitfalls: www.animacenter.org)

(please do post and share freely!)

Hello again!!  How are you, after the holiday season is over?  Have you noticed that the days are getting longer?  Are you excited to start getting more blogs from us again?  It’s snowy again today, after many days where it was so warm and sunny here.  We’ve all been wonderfully busy here, Papa and Mama Kiva working on the conference and with students, and Mama Loba and I doing Winter type stuff like finally organizing and cleaning the storage area we call the library (because it has so many books in it of course!).

I have been looking though my powerful telescope that Resolute got me, before the moon is up, when I am best able to see stars. I think I may have seen one of the stars on Orion’s belt even! I love astronomy. A friend of mine Sabrina came down that night and we both got to look through the telescope.  We had lots of fun looking at stars. She also showed me some constellations I hadn’t seen before, like Orion’s belt. We used both our eyes, the binoculars and the telescope. I also have a “Turn Left at Orion” book and its very nice to use cause it also shows how to spot things with a small telescope. Like Cassiopeia, and the galaxy Andromeda. I am certainly very thankful to Resolute for such a special gift! It’s very lovely having a telescope, I look in it when ever I have time. Looking at the stars is saticfying it gives me a feeling that I’m that I’m fulfilling something.

I also love studying Folklore, History, and many different kinds of Sicience’s I think I’ll be a scolar when I grow up. Papa has been doing lot’s of history with me, just a little bit ago he got me three history books full of interesting history. I drink up knowledge like a spunge!  Still, I think that pretty much my favorite study of all things is Astronomy.

This is a picture of my new friend Che, another home schooled wild child who is going to visit me maybe next month.  She sent me a handmade doll me had made me she used pipecleaners to make it. It’s amazing it has beautiful clothes she had sewed on to it and it even has two pairs of shoes one pair yellow and the other purple. I named her Azul. The word Azul is a spanish word, it means blue (Mama Loba teaches me some Spanish), for she has a blue braid with a little wreath on top of it. I have a brightly colored puppet, that’s a duck it’s tiny like her and has purple wings it’s name is Lola. It matches her well so I pretend they’re friends. It’s nice to have her around cause there’s lots of other dolls I have that are her size plus a paper doll I made. So she had lots of friends.    The other dolls names are Nina, Larua, May, and Lissa. All about her size.  Papa will put a picture of me and Azul too.

Papa posted another piece of his essay on dangerous Pitfalls.  I hope you will all read and benefit from it, because you have to know the pitfalls so you don’t waste time falling into them you know!

I hope every one is having a wonderful winter!!!!

Love!
Rhiannon Cadhla Hardin!

(9!)

Pitfalls
On the Animá Path of Self Growth, Self Realization, Service & Purpose
by Jesse Wolf Hardin
www.animacenter.org
Part 6 of 7

The following is the sixth in a series describing dangerous or limiting pitfalls on the path of personal growth and purpose, misconceptions and maladies that can hinder our understanding, development and manifestation.  Please feel to share these with friends:

•  The Goal Of No Suffering
Religions have long promised an end to suffering in the “life after death,” while some New Age and Eastern dogma promises techniques to rid us of suffering right now.  Avoidance of all suffering in this life, however, can be counterproductive.  The expression “no pain no gain” is true in matters of personal growth as well as bodybuilding.  Pain is not punishment, but a call to attend.  It is not our duty or karma, but rather, the balance to exquisite pleasure.  It is the counterweight against which we pull, and it is that pulling which provides the strength of our joy.  Pain is not how we pay the fine for past crimes, but how we pay the dues of our membership in the rolls of the aware.  It is, in one form or another, one of the prices of heightened sensation, and part of the reward of being a heartful feeler.  And beware the draw of drama: The trick is to be awakened and deepened by it, not addicted.

•  Misconstruing Illness & Vilifying Death
It is wrong and harmful to imagine that good health and long life is proof of one’s spiritual level or personal powers.  At its worst, such thinking can cause the ill to feel at blame for their maladies, and make death seem like a defeat instead of a teacher and unifier.  Additionally, while healing oneself physically is important, it’s not as essential as learning from our every illness or disability.  It is the practitioner’s sometimes painful lessons and trauma-instigated transformation that affords her the power and wisdom to assist others.

•  The Cult Of Happiness
In the pursuit of happiness, some spiritual approaches recommend we avoid negative influences.  However, it is exposure to the so called “negative” that tests and fortifies the positive.  Systems, habits and regulations are potentially more dangerous to one’s spiritual path than chaos or disruption could ever be.  Besides, nature teaches that happiness is too easy a goal for our fleeting finite lives, too low a mark for our aims, too little to ask for one’s primary prayer.  Better we covet childish exhilaration and sensual ecstasy, strive for quiet contentment and raucous excitement, pray for the realization of our truest, responsive, sensate selves!  Better we seek the fullest expression of that being, suffer the price of our increased awareness, and bear the utter joy that is then our reward!  After all, joy and suffering are polar twins, pointing to the same capacity and willingness to feel.  Together they widen the scale, expand the measure of how alive we truly are!  Happiness is the mind freed of immediate worries, the basket of our lives emptied of all disruptive input.  Joy, on the other hand, is an ecstatic disruption – that together with longing and sorrow – fills that basket to the brim.  Happiness is comparatively shallow and inevitably conditional, whereas joy is so deep it remains undefeated, even with our honest embrace of the saddest of events.  Animá teaches us to embrace both, and to give thanks.  For to really enjoy, one must fully enjoin… and fully rejoice!

•  Transmutation Of Desire & The Distrust Of Instinct
At times bosses, husbands, priests, politicians and gurus alike have taught that we can’t trust our intuition, because it’s what tells us that “something’s wrong with this picture.”  All vested authorities should fear the power of our inherent, native intuition, for it’s what warns us when we’re being disempowered, and what begs us to strike out against what binds us.  It’s a red light designed to warn us about the hours of our lives burned up without engaging in truly meaningful activity, the days spent stuck in artificially lit boxes, our earth damaging or soul deadening careers, and any partners we might live with who don’t love and honor us like they should.  Intuition is simply “body smarts,” ancient corporeal knowledge directing us to what best serves our real needs and authentic selves — and away from anything failing to serve us in this way.  It’s fulfilled by mindful food gathering whether in a store or a field, but it recoils at standing in line.  It’s attracted to learning, but suspicious of schools.  Our deepest instincts are the still-valid messages echoing the cumulative experience of our evolutionary past, and the forward looking intentions of the Whole.  While ideas can be independent of and even contrary to the direction of earth and Spirit, instincts are inseparable aspects of anima inclination and will.  Teachers can pass on all the best ideas and processes in the world, but we still need to develop intuition, instinct and discernment in order to personally know how, where and when to apply them.

…to be continued

(To further deepen your study and practice we recommend enrolling in the various Animá 8 Week Courses described on the website, especially the introductory “Orientation, Principles & Pitfalls” and the new course on “Awareness”)

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Call For Help with Conference Sponsor/Vendor Outreach

Free Registration, Acknowledgment & Unending Thanks Offered to Volunteers

doing outreach to potential event Sponsors, Vendors & Practitioners

and

Any Amount of Help Welcomed from Anyone

willing to send a Sponsor or Vendor Invite and Application to any business or nonprofits you personally know of

The TWHC is getting huge amounts of buzz on the internet, participants are already arranging rides here from as far away as New England and Canada, and we received so many requests to speak that we filled all the spots the first week.  There will be a deep ecological and conservation element, with the help of United Plant Savers. Flamenco dancers and musicians volunteered for free, and two earthy bands were so honored to be involved that they signed on from the east coast without our being able to pay their transportation here. The website has been upgraded, a special blog built just for conference announcements, a first batch of flyers and brochure went out, and more are in the works.  And finally, Mt. Rose Herbs and LearningHerbs.com made the first good sized sponsor donations.  That said, we have a number of tables/spaces to fill, and we could use more financial sponsors to ensure the event’s success.

There are 3 essential elements to this work:
-researching related businesses, nonprofits and health practitioners in NM
-Sending materials email, or snail mail when necessary
-making followup calls to be sure they got the material, encouraging them to commit

We could especially use more help contacting places BETWEEN NOW AND FEB 1ST , the deadline for Sponsors to be included on the first 1,000 20″ posters, in the first 1,000 revised color trifold brochures, and in our Sponsor Drive Director, Rosalee’s slide show video due to be made available through YouTube and through herbal and healing portals.

And those of you who understandably can’t commit to filling a Volunteer Position in this way,

we would still welcome your help sending out to any business, nonprofits and health practitioners you know:

a) TWHC Sponsor Invite

b) TWHC Sponsor Application

c) TWHC Vendor Invite

d) TWHC Vendor Application

You can click on any of the above to download them, the send them yourself and let us know you contacted.  Or alternately, simply send us  the contact name and email and phone, and we will get ahold of them ourselves.  Please try to think of what business, healers, educators and advocacy groups you know of that might value an opportunity to be involved with this conference and promoted as its essential supporter.

Thank you ever so much!  As with all of this work, it is only accomplished with the help of you, the larger Animá tribe.

Click here for more information on the TWH Conference

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