….

Canyon Updates:

Nourishing Time, Wildfire Progress, Equal Opportunity Offender, and Medicine Bear Novel Sent Off To Printers

….
Greetings to you all, and Solstice blessings.  It will soon be the longest day of the year again, and the official first day of Summer.  We hope you are all planning on vacations or at least focused hours doing the things you love most… ideally out of doors, with the internet and cell phones turned off.  Remember, you not only need it, but most likely deserve it as well!
….
We don’t take vacations ourselves, partly due to the daily requirements of running  magazine and conference, but also because there is nowhere we would enjoy visiting more than the mountains, canyons and desert surrounding us.  What we desire is to see ever more of the Gila, and so we will be nourishing and rewarding ourselves with day long jaunts to the high alpine meadows along the Black River, in Arizona to our east.  To the Frisco Box with its lower elevation riparian plant life.  And to the confluence of the Frisco and Gila rivers, said to feature swim holes deep enough to dive into from atop jutting cliffs.  We also want to go up Silver Creek above the historic mining town of Mogollon, near where the flames came so close to our friend Denise’s home, and to the edge of the burned out areas up Whitewater Creek… the watershed from which the Whitewater-Baldy Complex wildfire gets its name.
….

….

Wildfire Progress

The fire grew yesterday by another thousand acres, to 300,000 burned, but the USFS has established containment lines around 80% of its perimeter, and the growth has been to the south rather than towards us.  Fire progress through the previous burns has been faster than expected, but we’ve also been extremely blessed, in that the winds have generally blown the fire in every direction but ours.  We won’t be hoping for more fire-related donations after this week, as it is unlikely we could get enough money together for protective foil wrap for the guest cabins, your donations already ensured that the sprinklers would be installed and working, and most of the remaining expenses affordable.  Daniel will be making final installments and adjustments, including a “frost free” outlet we can use for watering the small native plant beds of the “Oasis” when no fires threaten.  Thank you all so much.  The latest scientific reports I’ve been reading indicate that wildfires will be hotter and more frequent each year in the West, as a result of accelerating climate change… and so the added peace of mind you’ve made possible cannot be over-exaggerated, knowing that even if or when a blaze moves through here we will most likely still have a sprinkler-soaked shelter standing in which to continue this important work, and a home from which to tend the scarred but resurgent land.

….

….

Equal Opportunity Offender

While expressing our gratitude, let me add my thanks for your many letters and comments following the “Supergirl” blog.  The amount of support from strong women meant a huge amount to me personally.  It is seldom use of a single word chosen for its humor value that offends readers, but it does seem important to rattle cages, to challenge assumptions and prejudices, and to try to show all sides over any issue or idea… at the risk of discomforting well meaning people, ruffling ruffle-able feathers, insulting sacred cows, debunking much-loved illusions, and showing  ourselves to all be imperfect and in-progress.  It also seems that we need to be as willing to discomfort or aggravate the folks who share most of our values and views, and not just piss off those people we consider “on the other side”.   You can count on the blog and school being an Equal Opportunity Offender, with nobody deliberately hurt, but none of us exempted.

….

….

Plant Healer Articles Appearing Here

We hope you enjoyed this weekend’s post on Spirals in Nature.  It is an example of the kinds of articles we have been including in Plant Healer Magazine.  Though not specific to herbalism in any way, these kinds of pieces draw a deep connection between the wondrous and healing processes of nature with our own paths and lives, celebrating beauty while furthering thought.  Because not all of our thousands of blog readers are interested in subscribing to Plant Healer, we intend to continue posting here excerpts or full length articles we imagine you’ll enjoy or benefit from, borrowed from the pages of the “magazine different.”  The deadline for Fall article submissions is July 1st.  Subscription and Submission Info available by clicking on: www.PlantHealerMagazine.com
….

The Anima On-Site Helper Experience

Hosting helpers that volunteer through the WOOF program has been one of the most satisfying programs we have run.  The help that the sanctuary has received from folks in the last year has been huge, no doubt about it!  Mattie, Gina, and now the wild Evangeline are currently doing an incredible job of clearing dead brush from the property to make us safer from fire, burying the sprinkler plumbing, and using new carpentry skills to turn our bus porch into a lovely bedroom for Rhiannon.  Rhiannon has been more than happy to sleep in her little treehouse in all seasons, but she has literally outgrown it with her recent growth spurts, and she is incredibly grateful to Daniel, Trail Boss and the above enthused helpers.

What’s interesting, is that even though WOOFers ostensibly come to learn practical skills, nearly all who have been called to Anima Sanctuary have also been looking to be empowered, to increase their self knowledge, to study and evolve their identities and purpose or roles.  One of the many ways that this land serves, is as a point of rediscovery and redirection, often dashing illusions and inspiring growth and action.  And what Loba, Kiva and I like to contribute, is support for this process of becoming, orienting… and accelerating.

Greg Sanford was one such recent helper, coming determined to invigorate his vision of re-wilding self and planet.  Go for it, Greg!  At all costs, and with due rewards!  We recommend you read his well written telling of his experience and perceptions here in the canyon by clicking on: Greg’s Blog

If you are perchance interested in giving one or more months to an On-Site Commitment, write us for an application.

….

….

Medicine Bear Novel Off to Printers!

I’m excited to announce that my new novel The Medicine Bear has been proofed, illustrated, laid-out and now uploaded to our printers.  Due to the speed of efforts by proofreaders and helpers (thank you again Kiva, Lauren, Asa, Resolute, Inga, Danika, Traci and Katie!), it is possible we will be able to begin shipping copies of the preordered book out on July 1st instead of the 15th.  This makes makes it much less stressful for us, being able to release it a little sooner, before we get into the crazy 2 month long pre-conference crunch period.

None of the Medicine Bear announcements have mentioned the number of full page (6×9”) illustrations, because we kept adding more right up until the last minute!  I originally didn’t plan to include any at all, leaving it to the text to paint a picture of the world that our characters interact in.  When Kiva suggested lots of art throughout, I agreed to draw only portraits of the Medicine Woman, Omen, Eland and the Curandera, Doña Rosa… but then things kinda snowballed, Summertime or not.  What we have now is now only several drawings by me, but also photos of the canyon and its plant life, the decor of Omen and Eland’s cabin, and historic photos I found that amazingly look like how I envisioned my characters at different stages in their lives.  The result is a total of 75 drawings and photographs, illustrating what we now know will be a 376 novel of adventure, healing and love in the old Southwest.

“The Medicine Bear is an unabashedly magical, sensual, and yes, romantic tale of love and loss, of longing and renewal. It is a paean to wildness within and the southwestern wilderness that Eland and Omen are married to, along with each other, and whose exquisite beauty we are drawn into through the soulful eyes and language of Eland. The plants, the mountains, and the medicine bear sing to us, calling us each to full aliveness. While the old west is fading and the grizzlies are dying, love inspires, even beyond death itself.” –Robin Rose Bennett (Wise Woman Healing Ways, author of the upcoming book “Green Treasures”)

The Medicine Bear is being serialized in Plant Healer Magazine, and selected excerpts will be appearing here on the Anima and Medicine Woman Roots blogs very soon.  You can preorder personally signed copies for your selves and as gifts for your friends by going to:
www.TheMedicineBear.com

Regards, indeed. –Wolf

….

(we appreciate you sharing these)

Share This

Categories: Announcements & Updates

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2012 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Announcements & Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.