Animá Lifeways & Herbal School

In the midst of creating the Summer issue of Plant Healer, organizing the TWH Conference and preparations for an oncoming wildfire, I’m also pleased to be able to announce the release of Wolf’s new book, The Medicine Bear. A powerful novel of love, healing, devotion, coming of age, and sense of place, but more than any single element, it is a tapestry of the vital medicine that connects the people to the land, and all of us to each other. The skillful hands of the curandera heal even while the soldiers endure a bloody struggle. Through it all, the medicine of this tale is found in the power of personal transformation and bone-deep passion. Readers of novels as diverse as Frazier’s Cold Mountain and Urrea’s The Hummingbird’s Daughter will be pulled into the mythic yet eerily relevant story of the Medicine Bear. The vibrant weaving of the many cultural elements that make of the American Southwest on the border are beautifully represented, transporting us to the lapiz skies, red clay, and lush canyons of New Mexico but the tale is applicable and relatable to the reader wherever they might be.

Never has a story of magic and healing, clarity and wildness been so needed as now. Hardin’s masterful approach to magical realism and history grants us a seldom seen view into the events that have shaped the borderlands and its people. So pull up a seat, and listen to a master storyteller’s tale of an mestiza healer and her true love.

I’d appreciate your comments on the novel and would love to share them with folks, and preorders now will help us further with fire prep.  Thank you so much! -Kiva Rose

Now Available To PreOrder, The Exciting New Novel
THE MEDICINE BEAR

“The story of a healer, a love, and a time of transition”
in the Enchanted Southwestern U.S. during the closing days of the Old West
by Jesse Wolf Hardin

www.TheMedicineBear.com

Illustrated with 70 original Drawings and Period Photos
The First Copies Will Ship Out To You On July 15th
To Order Your Personally Signed Copies, Click On:

www.TheMedicineBear.com

“If you have ever loved, healed or been healed, bemoaned a changing society, and felt the animal spirit within you, this tale is for you.”
–Charles Garcia (Curandero and Director of the Calif. School of Traditional Hispanic Herbalism)

Follow the wild-woman herbalist and Omen, the impassioned writer and adventurer Eland and archetypal Medicine Bear through a time of great cultural as well as personal transition, down plant-filled paths of discovery and healing and to the juncture of our own return to wholeness and health, rooted home and true love, meaningful mission and – ultimately – satisfaction and contentment.
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"Eland & Omen, Herb Gatherers" From The Medicine Bear by Jesse Wolf Hardin

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Taking place primarily in the mountains and deserts of the American Southwest, we experience the confluence of Indian, Hispanic, and Anglo cultures that was and is New Mexico.  Spanning from the birth of Eland in 1892 to 1964 in its closing scene, its central event is a little known retaliatory raid in 1916 by Pancho Villa’s poorly equipped Indian revolutionaries, in what was the sole invasion of the U.S. by a foreign army since the War Of 1812.

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"Villistas" Historic Photo from The Medicine Bear by Jesse Wolf Hardin

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At the very heart of this story is always Omen, gifted but abused as a child, resilient as a pre-teen studying with the curandera Doña Rosa, determined as an adult to move past her wounds and further her craft, forever experiencing the beauty and complexity of the world through her awakened senses and caring heart.

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“To Omen, they were not just wondrous sunshine-eating entities, without whom humans and most of the life on Earth would die.  Plants were proof of miracles, and reason for hope.  The inspiration for a good and balanced life, and examples of how to live it.  They were her ever growing, ever reaching truth.  They were the medicine she would need.” (from the text)

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"Nuestra Señora de las Yerbas" The Medicine Bear by Jesse Wolf Hardin

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Over 70 full page, 6×9” illustrations compliment the text, a combination of original drawings by the author Hardin, and antique photographs from the period adapted for this role.  Character portraits and regional stills help tell a story Hardin first painted with his descriptive and evocative words, reflecting a vision that is Omen’s, Eland’s and ours to share.

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"Eland - 1920" from The Medicine Bear by Jesse Wolf Hardin

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“‘Healing is a magical process,’ the curandera Doña Rosa explained to Omen, giving each word its worth and weight.  ‘We need no more proof than a bloody cut quickly healing until there is no mark, to know that our bodies are miraculous indeed.  The things we use – our focused energy, skills, prayers, practices, and knowledge of nutrition and herbs – can all assist with this miracle.  But the intention of the Medicine Woman is neither to help people escape all pain, or help some being to forever avoid its mortal demise.  Our work is to help other people to become as conscious and balanced and whole as the ever changing earth we are a part of.’”  (from the text)
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"Doña Rosa, Curandera" Jesse Wolf Hardin www.TheMedicineBear.com

The Medicine Bear will be appreciated by anyone who values a well told tale with colorful details and deeply developed characters, or the Southwest’s complex multicultural history, mythos and magical allure.  And most especially, it may be treasured by current day herbalists and healers, by the lovers of magical realism, and the communicative natural world, by those of you who hear and respond to a calling of any sort, by readers welcoming of the inspiration and affirmation to do whatever it takes to fulfill your purpose and live your dream.
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"Medicine Bear" www.TheMedicineBear.com -The Medicine Bear by Jesse Wolf Hardin

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Signed by the Author:
$18 + $6 Priority Mail
or get 3 copies at a discounted price, and give 2 to friends:
$48 + $12 Priority
Order now… first shipments mail out on July 15th
To Order, Click On:

www.TheMedicineBear.com

(be sure to include a note with your PayPal payment, with the name of the person you’d like Jesse Wolf to sign it to)
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“Jesse Wolf has a depth and breadth of insight, and a true writer’s touch for bringing it to life. I hope other people will read this novel and understand the world that he sustains… and hears, in the Medicine Bear’s rumble.  A book of herbal teaching, healing, loss, love, and love of the land… a remarkable treasure of words… a jewel of a story!”
–Virginia Adi
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Thank you so much for you help and support!
–Kiva Rose and All
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Medicine Bear by Jesse Wolf Hardin - www.TheMedicineBear.com

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Whitewater/Baldy Complex Fire Update

The Northwest Edge of the Blaze Now Approx. 6 Miles From our Land, School, Home…

177,000 Acres and Climbing – Now The Largest Fire Ever in Recorded New Mexico History

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The latest IR (Infrared) map was released showing the closest hot spots twice as close to us as yesterday.  It is our belief that these are backfires lit by the USFS fire teams to reduce the fuel load between the north end of the main fire and the are around us and the village of Reserve.  It seems crazy to release a map showing scary westwards spread without marking it as deliberate backfires if so.

Whether backfires or simply fire spread, the forecast was for winds to blow towards to the northeast today and they did quite the opposite, blowing at a speed of 10 to 20mph from out of the northeast and towards us southwest of the fire’s tip.

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Latest Map – Night of May 28/29

Below is the latest Infrared map, showing scary new growth to the west and towards us from at the most northernmost tip of the fire, with some of that likely being backfires set to slow the fire’s advance towards the village of Reserve and our nearby Anima Sanctuary.  When the winds blow towards the northeast, this is an especially workable strategy.  But whenever east and northeast winds blow towards the west or southwest, we’re still in immediate danger from the spread.

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Friends in Nearby Mogollon Safe So Far

The dozen or so folks we know in the are of the old “ghost town” of Mogollon south of us, have so far been spared thanks to the successful use of backfiring and the structure protection put in place there by the crews.  Fire fighting equipment has been set up to protect the structures belonging to our TWHC Sponsors and dear friends from Super Salve Herbal Skin Care company, and we are wishing extra hard for their home and business to be spared.

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Trail Boss Working Hard on Cabin Protection

Our friend and conference staff “Trail Boss” is back today busting butt on the plumbing for the sprinkler system Daniel devised to protect our humble school/home structures, and Dan should be back from family difficulties in Oregon, in time to be more help before any flames could reach here.  At least 20 sprinkler heads will be pointing at our main cabins, and if they work, will provide the best protection they could come up.  Ideally we will get dirt over the plastic feed pipes, so that falling embers won’t melt them and defeat the system.

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The Frequency and Causes of MegaFires

The huge and hugely destructive “crown” fires that we increasingly see in the West, are certainly triggered by the droughts and affected by Global Warming.  That said, there have been repeated hot and dry periods throughout the life of the planet, and now tree ring analysis shows that even during the driest times in the past there were still less destructive fires than those we are experiencing these days.  The reasons the scientists cite are human activities, including centuries of livestock grazing and fire suppression.  Prior to civilized human activity in the Southwest, fires were frequent but of low intensity, with mature trees usually surviving, and the soil undamaged.  To read a fascinating synopsis of the most recent research using tree ring analysis, check out this link:

The ScienceDaily

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WOOF Helpers

We have 2 or 3 WOOF homestead volunteers due to arrive here between the 28th of May and the 26th of June.  We are making sure that they are kept appraised of the situation here, but will welcome help from any who show.  If we need to evacuate at some point, their assistance could make a huge difference.  If it passes by us as we hope, we will be continuing with our vegetable cold frames, wildcrafting and other projects with their help.  And if the unthinkable happen now or in future Summers, the aide of WOOFers and our many herbal community friends will prove vital.

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Smoke

Smoke from this awful fire has only been affecting us early in the morning so far, thanks to conditions.  On some days it has been thick down here from about 3 A.M. until 11 A.M., but so far it has fortunately cleared off for the rest of the day and night… making it harder for people in Socorro, Albuquerque and Las Cruces to breathe but sparing us.

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Evacuation Plans

We still don’t “sense” that the canyon will burn, but if it looks like it will, we have our plans in place as to what to do.  Lists have already been made as to what to take in the first, second and third trips out, and things are already being sorted just in case.  If we find that it is wise to evacuate at any point, we will be asking for volunteers from Silver City and Albuquerque to assist.  There would be sufficient time to get the belonging most needed safely moved to another location.  If fire comes through and our home survives, we will be moving right back in to resume the lifelong work of nurturing this wild land and affecting and helping heal our culture from this always special place.

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Fire Fund & Materials Progress

There have been close to ten donations so far to the Anima Fire Fund, enough so far to pay for the last of the pipe we needed and 2 high pressure fire hoses. This will hopefully be enough to make the basic system function.

We next need to have a small trailer built up and outfitted with the water pump, and get an auxiliary fuel tank so that the pump will run longer and keep the sprinklers going longer after our possible evacuation.  If there are funds available above that, we want to purchase the fire resistant foil wrap to cover the Gifting and Gaia Lodges that have no sprinklers to protect them, cabins much cherished by our Retreat guests and helpers.

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Contributions

Contributions are being accepted for further fire protection needs, or to rebuild if we burn. To contribute to the Anima Fire Fund, either send a postal money order in any amount to:
Gretchen Geggis
PO Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830

or make a PayPal instant payment by going to:
www.PayPal.com

Enter the amount as a personal “gift” and send to “Shannon Bell” (A.K.A. Kiva Rose!):

TWHKiva@gmail.com

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Whitewater/Baldy Wildfire

May 27 Update and Latest Map

Now Level With Anima Sanctuary and Only 10 Miles East of Us

The Whitewater-Baldy continued it’s mad race yesterday, the 50mph winds pushing the flames hard and fast.  If the winds had continued being south winds blowing straight north, our Anima Sanctuary would already be burning by today (Sunday).  In a single night the fire gobbled up another 20 plus thousands acres of forest ecosystem, to over 130,000 acres by this morning, a long thin spur of the fire has made it as far north as the Anima property, and only about 10 miles to the east of us!

Because the winds have shifted for now, the leading spur is continuing towards the northeast, while only slowly backing down to the west in our direction.

The winds are unlikely to shift towards the West or Northwest, but if they do we could be overrun in less than a day.  If fortune holds out and winds continue blowing in a Northeasterly direction, it should take the fire as much as week to slowly spread west to us.  Wind speed in another factor, with the winds blessedly having slowed a little today so far.

Whitewater-Baldy Fire Map May 27, with additional markers added based on the latest fire progress reports from officials here

It turns out that there were no slurry planes available with this fire first started spreading.  While the USFS press releases only talked about it being a “natural process” doing good things, some in the agency were stressing that the aircraft needed were stationed for use in Arizona and that nothing was available for use on The Whitewater/Baldy!  And the reason we have had to go to Google satellite images for map updates, is that there have been no new USFS Inciweb maps in 48 hours due to there being only one available plane with Infrared mapping abilities in the region… and with it broken and waiting for repairs!

Once again we are impressed with the women and men sent out to manage these fires, and absolutely amazed at the ineptness and lack of preparedness on the part of the decision makers.  To what degree this is a result of inadequate federal funding I do not know, but if we can fly constant surveillance planes and fighter jets over Afghanistan we damns sure should be able to keep Forest Service observation and slurry planes in the air over endangered communities and forests.

Trail Boss showed up to work more on the fire fighting sprinkler system being set up around our cabins.  He hopes to be back in time to get it serviceable, and hopefully with a way to add a larger fuel tank to the water pump for longer run time.  A bad time to have no other helpers, we will be looking in the village for workers to assist with evacuating our belongings if required.

The loss of our hand built homes, as little and hillbilly rustic as they are, would be awful, as we would struggle to remain residents and care-takers of this land.  Losing the belongings that could not be removed in time, is sadder still, given their often rarity or sentimental associations.  But these trees I saw sprout and grow over the course of these 33 years, the incredible botanical diversity we have assisted, the creatures and their homes, the nests of the birds and hideouts of the javalina, the squealing just-born elk babies, the ringtails smoked out of burrows, bobcats trying to move their young, the wild grape vines and woodbine that trellis over the trails… this thought, this possibility, we are most unable to bear.

We’ll be close in touch.  Thank you for you concern and love.

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Contributions are being accepted for further fire protection needs, or to rebuild if we burn. To contribute to the Anima Fire Fund, either send a postal money order in any amount to:
Gretchen Geggis
PO Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830

or make a PayPal instant payment by going to:
www.PayPal.com

Enter the amount as a personal “gift” and send to:

TWHKiva@gmail.com

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“Largest Wildfire of The Year” Bearing Down On Anima

Not Again!
Time to stay calm, do our Plant Healer and conference work, and keep noticing what is wonderful and right.

This is the blog post we didn’t want write, but considering the amount of worried emails we have been getting, it is time.  As has been reported on NPR and television news, the officially proclaimed “largest fire of the year in the U.S.” is consuming the rich Ponderosa ecosystem only 20 miles to the south of us… and is fast heading our way.

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WhitewaterBaldy Fire, looking east from Anima, early May 25

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For the second time in as many years, the Anima Sanctuary and our homes are threatened by wildfire, this time by what has been named the Whitewater/Baldy Complex Fire due to its being a merging of two separate burns into one.  As of tonight, it is over 100,000 acres in size, covering around 150 square miles.  We’d been spared breathing or even seeing the smoke until Friday the 24th, thanks to the SW winds pushing the column east as much as north, but as of Thursday night the wind direction had shifted to due north and brought the terrifying smoke column close enough to see.  The photos show Friday’s view above our cabin, facing east.

How funny, that this post should follow one on the importance of maintaining our wonder and noticing the human and animal shapes in clouds… and even while feeling their ominous weight, I couldn’t help but notice what looked to us like the face of some bearded Ukrainian fellow!  Is it odd to have fanciful visions in the midst of dire threat?  Perhaps, but then there is no time when it more important to maintain our ability to be touched and amazed.

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An old bearded guy with one tooth, lookin' right at us... not a very menacing image for such ominous smoke

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Both our WOOF volunteers and our closest helpers have been gone for awhile now, so we may be trying to hire men locally to assist Dan’l with the completion of the fire fighting system.  Much has been done since last Summer, and now we need to see the sprinklers and pump up and working.  We have reopened the Anima Fire Fund to donations, to help make sure we can get all the materials and labor needed to maximize Anima’s protection.  See Fire Fund details below.

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WhitewaterBaldy Fire Column above Anima cabin, early Friday Afternoon

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The New Mexico Department of Health and New Mexico Environment Department today issued a smoke advisory for norther and eastern New Mexico, as a result of our Whitewater/Baldy Complex fire.  One line stood out:

“Based on current extreme drought conditions, it is possible that smoke in the region could persist until the monsoon season.”

When mentioning smoke, of course, they are inferring that the fire producing that smoke isn’t likely to slow any until the rainy season which could start as late as August… something that the USFS has yet to publicly admit.  The fact that the Forest Service press releases describe the 500-plus firefighters now based here as being “kept on the sidelines” due to terrain and weather conditions, is a pretty clear indication that neither the existing fire management policies nor fire fighting technology and resources are adequate to the task.  After decades of complete suppression and fuel buildup, it is impossible to simply write off a fire as a process of nature, and both when to do control burns and when and how to suppress wildfires needs to be figured out while there is anything left of the drought stricken mountain West.

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Whitewater-Baldy Fire and Anima Sanctuary

As always, the winds will be the factor in the speed as well as direction of the fire, and hopefully the 40-plus mile per hour winds of the last few days will at least slow after the weekend.  Following a course towards the Northeast would destroy some wonderful forest but threaten the fewest human abodes.  Whenever it blows due north, the edge of the blaze is being driven straight towards us.

Truthfully, it is hard to imagine that this latest inferno will not have already reached and singed our reforested canyon in the upwards to two months that it could be before the monsoons roll in.

And no matter what the evidence, it is impossible for me not to imagine that this land that gives to so many, might somehow again be spared.

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WhitewaterBaldy Fire, Late Afternoon May 25

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THE ANIMA FIRE FUND

Last year’s Anima Fire Fund was suspended even though the protective measure were undone, because the immediate threat from the Arizona fire had ended… in some places only 7 miles from our property’s edge.  Now with all gratitude and humility we are opening it back up for donations.  We would prefer that any help come primarily from folks who can really spare a contribution, so we’re not causing any hardship by accepting the gift.

Project Progress

Monies raised last year paid for the purchase of a high-volume water pump and storage tank, plus wages and much of the needed pipe.  The pump has already been used to fill the water storage tank twice, water which has been used by Loba for the kitchen and washing as well as keeping our few planted beds green.  The main pipe lines have been laid and much of it covered, and the smaller feed lines to the sprinklers are nearly half done, lying in dug ditches awaiting fittings and burial.

Project Needs

To effectively prepare for the possible arrival of the Whitewater/Baldy fire, we will need to be able to invest in:
-3 more high pressure hoses with quick release fittings
-Modification of a small trailer for permanently mounting and easily moving the pump
-Additional pipe and fittings
-Fabrication of an external fuel tank so the pump can power the sprinklers longer, unattended

Any additional monies raised will be used to try and purchase heat-reflective wrap to cover and protect our guest cabins, the Gaia and Gifting Lodges.

This may or may not be the fire that finally gets us, sweeping away the green wildness we have grown.  But even if it does, then with the help of those of you who contributed last year and those who can help now, we may have only bear the expense of protection instead of the cost of replacing school infrastructure, belongings and home.

Thank you!

To contribute to the Anima Fire Fund, either send a postal money order in any amount to:
Gretchen Geggis
PO Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830

or make a PayPal instant payment by going to:
www.PayPal.com

Enter the amount as a personal “gift” and send to:

TWHKiva@gmail.com

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Shapes In The Clouds:

Loss of Enchantment, Return To Wonder

by Jesse Wolf Hardin
www.AnimaCenter.org

“I cannot believe it, I was seeing shapes in the clouds just now!,” my dear friend Daniel breathlessly exclaimed.  He had a rare tear in his eye, admitting to me “It has been so very long, since I have seen shapes in the clouds…”

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To a young child, the world and everything in it almost invariably appears as alive, meaningful and story filled, a matrix of shifting patterns that are constantly revealing new compositions and juxtapositions, songs and designs, whisperings in tree boughs and soft white dragons floating across bright blue skies.  It is only through the programming of disenchanting, conformist public schools and appearance and money focused television that a youngster is slowly ripped away from this essential view of reality as wonderfully mysterious, magical and miraculous, conscious and communicative.  A toddler can often be seen staring intently at a flower-licking butterfly, awestruck at a flash of lightning, or tripping-out on something as commonplace as the intersecting circles created by raindrops falling on a puddle in the yard, or fascinated by the intricate weave of their clothes as seen really, really close up.  What a terrible tragedy, when a child gets to a stage of acting like a common acculturated adult, no longer trusting that there is real magic outside of a movie’s special effects, unable to believe in their own capacities to be heroes and heras, wizards or healers participating in a most-purposeful destiny.  How sad to see someone who is running to get out of the rain, oblivious to the puddle’s patterns, unmindful of the shapes and faces formed by the dense clouds overhead.   How do we know when a society, a culture, is impoverished, un-moored, lost to its highest purpose?  When under any conditions, we can go through the years of our life without being captivated by the creations that wind and cloud do make.
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What is it, that can stand in the way of our view, of the enchanted view of life unfolding?  What preoccupations and distractions, what prejudices and fears, what habits?  A hurried lifestyle, maybe, no time to look anywhere but directly ahead.  Being self conscious about our engagement and amazement, worried about being seen gazing for long minutes at the sunlit veins in a fallen leaf.  Feeling unworthy of leisure and undeserving of beauty.  Being a “hardened man” or a “career woman”.  Abuse that may have shut us down in this and other ways. Residing mainly in our heads, and thus simply missing, missing, and missing things again.  Or perhaps a soul stifling job or disingenuous or unhealthy marriage, that drapes a heavy wet blanket over every light and spark.

Sometimes it is several of the above, and so it was for the 30-plus year old Daniel, ally of and number-one aide to the Anima Sanctuary.  First, an emotional shutting down as a child, that he is only now overcoming.  Then, the distractions of partying as a teen, the necessity of a job, the responsibilities of becoming a father, and the oppressiveness of a relationship that failed both he and the mother… one that seemed to suck the very air and spirit out of him, draining his creative batteries, sending him ever further into the refuge of silence and withdrawal and his own solitary thoughts.  Only now, hurting from negotiations over child custody but relieved of his relationship, is he finding the world wholly fascinating again.  It is this possibility of lifelong excitement and awe, this insistent joy, that he hopes to ensure in his daughter.

“Will you look at that,” he says, pointing at the clouds over our canyon, a huge smile back on his face… and I gladly turn to see.

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THE OUTSIDERS

Magnus and The Cleavers:

Inspiring Resistance To The Machine We Reside In

by Jesse Wolf Hardin

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Let me preface by pointing out that no one is more likely to sneer at popular culture in general, from plastic boobed Barbie dolls to the latest Avengers movie blockbuster.  Entertainment for entertainment’s sake, quite frankly, bores the hell out of me… futuristic machine-filled drivel worst of all.  The closest I get to SciFi is rare super clever magical realism or post-apocalyptic books and films such as “Brazil”.  And while I see value in both revolution and self defense, I find no enjoyment in the gratuitous violence that is at the core of so much media including Magnus The Robot Fighter.  But Magnus is different.  He somehow managed to whack the heck out of all kinds of malicious bots without ever hurting another living thing, and always to protect life against the threats posed by our unliving machinations.  As a young boy, I eschewed Casper The Friendly Ghost and Superman in favor of the first of these Gold Key classics on the indomitable robot fighter, at what was then 12 cents per issue.  I was a barefoot backyard adventurer crawling deep into a hidden alcove within the landscape shrubbery in order to peruse the latest Magnus tale without distraction or interruption.. and I still find something to be recommended in them.

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Check it out: Magnus lives in a future time when machines have have developed to the point of doing all the heavy work formerly done by humans.  Distant planets are mined for minerals, while much of Earth is dotted with giant metropolis where even the weather is controlled.  The inhabitants are generally disinterested in Magnus’ warnings that human kind is getting weaker, softer and easier to manipulate as a result, being satisfied to focus on the latest technological amusements and distractions.  An exception is a group of Magnus-inspired pre-teens calling themselves “The Outsiders”, ostensibly named because they prefer adventures outdoors to sedate activities inside, but they are clearly outsiders to their own parents and kind as well, due to their unwillingness to remain passive, and how very differently they view the world.

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Magnus was specially prepared for his unique role as a champion of both the foolish and unfit citizens, and of the “old ways” that he believes could be humanity’s single best chance.  Every issue, he is called to put a halt to the destructive acts of robots either set into motion by accident or directed by some demented person on the sidelines.  In doing so, he often draws on the powers of the earth, the forces of nature, or the spiritual and magical assistance of Native Americans both still living and long deceased.

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Magnus was trained since childhood in both awareness skills and a secretive martial art, a technique that somehow allows him to karate chop through the metal necks of heady robots without breaking every bone in his hands.  It’s a good thing, since he is forever finding himself fighting alone, one of the only ones who has a clue and is determined at great risk to do something about a threat or injustice.  We see him again and again, surrounded on all sides by an unfeeling enemy, trying to hem him in and incapacitate him as he wildly but deliberately strikes in one direction and then another.

I could relate.  Nearly a decade before I had any fuzz on my face to consider shaving, I was already feeling besieged myself. At home in the early 1960s, I was surrounded by miles and miles of suburban cookie-cutter tract homes, inundated with the sounds of lawn mowers giving bristly haircuts to the poor bluegrass lawns no different than the crewcuts that parents usually made their kids wear.  And surrounded by people pretending to be happy in order to get along, copying each other in desperate attempts to conform, robotically going through their days on automatic pilot, taking orders from higher-ups, repeating the same polite phrases to one another whether they meant it or not.

I sensed that underneath the pallid skin of television’s “Leave It To Beaver” Cleaver Family was something other than flesh and blood, something coldly manufactured with pre-programed abilities and limitations, prescribed limits and penalties.

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If the kid they called the “Beaver” ever pulled what we now think of as a Fight Club plot device and blew up his own home, amongst the smoldering ruins of the supposed “American Dream” I was sure they’d find a prostrated June and Ward, wires and diodes observable through a host of ugly wounds, their acrylic hair curled into umber afros by the intense heat of flaming formica counters and poly playthings.

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Unlike the “Beav”, I’d had enough of the sameness and lameness, the habituation and automation, I was ready for training, ready to fight for what’s real and natural and right!

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But like Magnus, I also felt as if I were in a confrontation with soulless machinery, in a battle with the larger machine that we civilized people reside and function within.  Thus, when Magnus struck out at robots large and small, it was in my young mind’s eye a swipe against the television and its lies, the public school system that felt more like an automated factory to me, the real estate developers gobbling up the last wild places and replacing them with endless streets and strip malls, the lawyers and legislators that are its cogs and wheels, the government robots that repeat the same hollow tape-loop rhetoric over and over again until one day their batteries give out and slur and stall, a swipe at the faceless corporate-body robot that controls it all.

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Long before I became a social and ecoactivist, first coined the word “rewilding” or moved onto this wild riparian sanctuary that has for over three decades been my home, I found inspiration in the decisive things that this muscled hero in goofy orange spandex would do, and found support in my being an “Outsider” too…

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Anima Nature Awareness & Herbal School

www.AnimaCenter.org

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Plant Healer Summer 2012 Issue

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Here’s Your Sneak Peak at The
Summer Issue of
PLANT HEALER
The Magazine Different
Available for Download June 4th

Excitement abounds!  We are just this week completing production of the 7th edition of Plant Healer Magazine, the nearly 300 page long Summer issue available for download on the 4th of June.

As always, Plant Healer will bring to you a broad range of articles, photography and art covering every aspect of herbal practice and the diverse culture of folk herbalism, this time including:
•A half dozen plant profiles, case study, therapeutics and herbal actions by our awesome Plant Healer writers
•A new “Herbalism on the American Frontier” Department, beginning with an introduction to Traveling Medicine Show sellers by Sean Donahue
•Essential Plant identification with 7Song… plus a lengthy interview with Bevin Clare, revealing the thoughts and spirit of this tree-hugging vice president of the AHG as never before!
•An excellent introduction to Bioregional Herbalism by Lisa Ferguson, and important piece on plant conservation by United Plant Savers director Susan Leopold
•Herbs of the curandera, Susun Weed on Sweet and Bland, Greek Herbal Medicine by Matt Wood, and Phyllis Light’s Four Elements system
•23 full page art posters, herbalist humor, and Kristine Brown and Jane Valencia’s articles for kids
plus
•A full color photo spread of herbalist tattoo art, Aviva Romm on the use of cannabis in pregnancy, and the Virgin of Guadalupe as a powerful historic icon for rebels and misfits as well as for all herbalists and healers!

Now we ‘spect you know where the “different” comes from, in our motto “The Magazine Different”

To whet your appetites, a complete table of contents follows.  To subscribe in time for the Summer issue, please go to the:
Plant Healer Magazine Website

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Time Keepers by Thea Summer Deer

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PLANT HEALER
Vol.II #III – Summer 2012 Issue Contents:

Cover Art: The Summer Garden (photoshop composite)
Art Poster: The Door To Our Purpose by JWH
Art Poster: Folk Herbalism Defined – “Airmid” by Joanna Powell Colbert
Art Poster: Earth Provides The Medicine – “Traditional Healer” by David Gluckstein & JWH
The Healing Journey: What Herbalists Really Want by Jesse Wolf Hardin

Magnolia Mexicana

Poster: Herbal Rebel Family – Paul Bergner and Tania with their New Baby
Happy & Full of Happiness!: A Review of The 2011 TWHC by Katja Swift
Art Poster: “Time Keepers” by Thea Summer Deer
Mountain Medicine: Four Elements by Phyllis Light

Conception by Thea Summer Deer

Art Poster: Czech Flower Girl – 1906 Postcard
Wise Woman Ways: Sweet & Bland: Part II by Susun Weed
Poster: Traditional Herbalist Wisdom Part I – If They Can’t Take a Yoik by JWH
Differentiating Herbal Actions & Properties by Jim McDonald
Art Poster: “The Green Man II” by JWH

Gaia by Holly Sierra

Detecting False Heat by Rosalee de la Forêt
Herbalist Humor Poster: “Feelin’ Awful Pitta” by JWH
Case Study: Herbal Therapeutics for Post-Surgery ACL Recovery by Kiva Rose Hardin
Art Poster: Unfolding Spiral by JWH
Walking The Spiral by Jesse Wolf Hardin
Art Poster: Growth Is A Spiral Process by JWH

Mullein Harves Girl by Sandra Crowell

Mullein by Robin Rose Bennett
Burdock by Henriette Kress
Ocotillo by Darcey Blue French

Ocotillo photo by Darcey Blue

Coffee by Charles “Doc” Garcia
Art Poster: Mullein Harvesting Woman by Sandra Crowell
Learning To Identify Plants – Part I by 7Song
Art Poster: 1880s Peruna Herbal Tonic Advertisement
Medicine Oils and Salves by Christa Sinadinos
Traveling Medicine Shows of Rural America and Early Regulation of Medicine by Sean Donahue
Basic Principles of Greek Herbal Medicine: The Four Qualities & The Four Degrees by Matthew Wood

La Virgen de Guadalupe by Kiva Rose Hardin
Los Remidios de la Guadalupe by Kiva Rose
La Curandera de Auza by Dr. Javier Alvare Caperochipi
Art Poster: “La Nuestra de la Yerbas” by JWH
Art Poster:    “Doña Rosa” by JWH
Art Poster: “Curandera” by Ochichi

Tattoo Bloom: Skin Art for Herbalists by Jesse Wolf Hardin
Art Poster: “Conception” by Thea Summer Deer
Cannabis in Pregnancy by Aviva Romm
Art Humor Poster: Unhelpful Herbalist Language #1 by JWH
Refreshing Mint (for kids) by Kristine Brown
Hawthorn’s Generous & Protective Heart (for kids) by Jane Valencia
Paloma & Wings (for kids) by Jane Valencia
Wildcrafting Cattails by Wendy Butter Petty

Bitternut Fruit

Edible Bitternut by Samuel Thayer
Art Poster: “Gaia” by Holly Sierra
Piles of Greens (food recipes) by Loba
Art Poster: Cultivating A Culture of Healing by JWH
Growing Adaptogens: Gotu Kola and Jiaogulan by Juliet Blankespoor
Art Poster: The Green Scare by Anon
Sacred Groves: Activism & The Conservation of Plants by Susan Leopold
Herbal Humor Poster: 12 Steppe Program by JWH
Plant Healer Interview: Bevin Clare
Bioregional Herbalism: Ecological Relationship & Place-Based Practice by Lisa Ferguson
Healing Animals Heals Us & The Earth by Cat Lane

Photo copyright Henriette Kress http://www.henriettesherbal.com/index.html

Self Care, Part II: Decadence by Katja Swift
Magical Realism: Medicine Bear Review #1 by Charles “Doc” Garcia
A Jewell of a Story: Medicine Bear Review #II by Virginia Adi
The Medicine Bear (fiction for herbalists) Part III by Jesse Wolf Hardin
Art Poster: Ringtail Woman by Rebekah Klitzke
The Medicine Trail: Wild Rambles, Tales & Wanderings by Kiva Rose Hardin
Art Poster: “Keeping An Eye On Folk Herbalism” – 1915 Postcard

The deadline for article submissions for the Fall issue is July 1st.  And August 1st is the deadline to advertise in either the Fall issue or the upcoming 2012 Plant Healer Annual book.  Write for more information.

Thank you for RePosting and Forwarding this Announcement.

Love, Kiva ‘Ringtail” Rose

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Kiva Ringtail Rose by Jesse Wolf Hardin

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