Membership

Becoming A Member
Download your on-line membership form,

Membership is one of the best and most basic ways of getting more involved with – or being of support to– the ever expanding and deepening work of the Animá Center. There are several different kinds of Available Memberships that you can choose from, according to your desired degree of involvement or your ability to help… and all include a subscription to the emailed Animá Journal. You need not be a student or practitioner of Animá, nor ever visit the Center, to become a member. All that’s necessary is for you to feel a personal affinity with any of the various components of this place, project or service, such as:

• The development and distribution of Animá Teachings and practice

• The Counsel and support, inspiring life changes

• The continued writing and publishing of essays dedicated to increased awareness and healing, personal and global wholeness (see Writings under Guides)

and/or

•The protection, restoration, or uses of the special Amimá Center land as:

• A place of teaching, Events, Quests and Retreats

• A Women’s Sanctuary

• An Archaeological Preserve, ancient ceremonial site, and place of power

• A Botanical Sanctuary and Wildlife Refuge

As with all our programs and opportunities, membership is by suggested voluntary donation.

Animá Journal

All members receive a personal letter of welcome, as well as a regularly emailed newsletter Animá Journal… featuring organization news, stories by both staff and participants, profiles of students and supporters, relevant book and movie reviews, Animá Center events and teachings announcements, announcements of events and programs by other allied groups and organizations, new photos of the Center and its plant and wildlife, progress reports on the restoration work at the Center, information on natural healing and medicinal herbs, inspiring artwork, poetry, and recently published articles by Jesse Wolf Hardin, Kiva Rose, Loba and associated students, friends and authors. The Animá Journal will be sent out via email, so be sure your spam filters allow in files from [email protected].

Available Memberships

Membership types/levels all come with the same privileges and benefits, the difference being the size of the total annual donation you commit to giving. We would provide discounts to events, if everyone wasn’t already welcome to come regardless of their ability to contribute! Your donations are absolutely essential however, so please pick a membership that represents what you can afford to give, as well as how much you can support this place, teaching, work and service in your heart. Donations can be made monthly, quarterly or annually, and either by Pay-Pal, money order or check.

Basic ($15 to $30 per year suggested)

Associate ($50 to $100 per year)

Facilitator ($150 to $250 per year)

Guardian ($300 to $500 per year)

Core Supporter ($600 or more per year)

Donations

There is no charge for Anima membership or any events, services or materials per se, though there are suggested amounts for voluntary, sliding scale donations. The Center has absolutely no other income or financial support other than your contributions, and is totally dependent on your generosity not only to survive and tend this land but to do this important work. In addition, none of the directors/guides have an outside or fixed source of income, let alone a savings account or medical insurance. And almost none of the many published articles receive any compensation from the magazines they appear in, being submitted solely to reach and inspire those who need it most. You can get a better idea of what you are helping to fund, by reading the “What Your Donations Provide” section that follows.

Please offer as much as you are able, to the degree you value what is given. Since no one is turned away for lack of funds, those who can donate extra help support the attendance of others with little or nothing to contribute.

Anyone moved to donate substantially – periodically or sporadically – are what we call Supporters, some of whose profiles we are pleased to include in the Supporters section.

Please understand that your donations are not tax-deductible, due to our not yet having incorporated as a nonprofit.

You can make a donation through PayPal here.

They can also be sent in the form of checks or Money Orders made out to:

Gretchen (Loba) Geggis
P.O. Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830

Larger donations can be deposited directly into the account. Please contact us for details.

What Your Donations Provide

• The preservation & active restoration of the Animá Botanical & Wildlife Sanctuary, a rare Southwestern river ecosystem. Once largely defoliated, the land now features a willow and cottonwood forest that’s home to wildlife such as endangered songbirds, elk, bear, lion, raptors and waterfowl.

• The protection & resacramenting of an important archaeological site & sacred place-of-power. The sanctuary was once a village site and spiritual center for the ancient Sweet Medicine (Mogollon) people, and has never been excavated or disturbed.

• Making Animá teachings, quests & gatherings, resident internships & counsel available to all who can benefit from them. There is no charge for any of our opportunities or offerings, and we host a number of impoverished students and seekers each year.

• Support of a wilderness Women’s Sanctuary devoted to The Medicine Woman Tradition, and the empowerment and rewilding of sensitized womankind… with special programs for connecting to self, to each other, and to the living earth.

• Getting out the message & lessons through the publication of inspired writings. Without your help we couldn’t afford the time to write down these insights, or get them printed in important but nonpaying magazines. Loba, Kiva and Jesse’s work currently appears in dozens of periodicals from Atlanta to Vancouver, as well as national publications such as Sagewoman.

• The giving of books to libraries, learning centers, & engaged activists and seekers. Some of the people who need and deserve them the most, are also the least able to pay for them.

• The photocopying and mailing of magazine articles, interviews and unpublished books to anyone requesting. We send out a large amount of writings and descriptive materials to interested folks from all over the world.

• Letters of counsel, including dozens every month to various students, teachers, activists and seekers. Everyone receives a personal response addressing their quandary or need, affirming their authentic selves, encouraging them to fulfill their most meaningful purpose and fully live their dreams.

Anima Wish List

Sponsoring Specific Projects

Some Supporters and one-time contributors prefer to sponsor and take some responsibility for a particular important project, rather than donating to the general fund. Sponsors are currently being sought for the following specific needs:

• Self publishing any one or number of existing unpublished Anima works including the important Way of Anima, Wolf’s edgy Kokopelli Seed novel, the canyon-inspired Gifting Bones runic stones syestem, Loba’s philosophy and delight-filled cookbook The Enchanted Pantry, and the bridge building Town That Waves

• Recording and publishing spoken word CD’s of existing books and writings

• Funding an Anima outreach campaign

• Purchase of a solar powered freezer, solar panels and batteries so that we can store fresh wild and purchased food at the Sanctuary

• Additional 12 volt gel-cel deep cycle batteries for the internet system

• Drinking grade plastic water storage barrels

• Purchase of a used vehicle getting optimum gas mileage

Non-Monetary Ways Of Contributing

There are other ways besides monetary donations that you can give to this place and work, including labor or personal services, or donating items that you might already have and not need.

Misc.:

Folding chairs, bean bag seats and folding tables. High Capacity internal or frame backpacks for hauling supplies into the Sanctuary during high water events. Saplings and berry cuttings indigenous to the mountainous Southwest. Canning jars and lids. Solar powered LED lanterns. Tarps. Printer paper. Shawls and sarongs. Wool blankets, sheets, pillows and sleeping pads. Flashlights, especially LED. AAA and AA batteries. Solar outdoor/yard lights.

Medical:

Everclear (grain alcohol), Vodka or Brandy for making herbal tinctures. Herbs (especially home-grown or personally ethically wildcrafted). Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Jojoba Oil. 1 to 6 ounce dropper bottles. Canning jars and lids, any size. A blood pressure gauge. An herbal tincture press for medicine making.

Large Items:

We are also looking for especially generous benefactors to donate A small car (Miata, Honda, Suburu) with excellent gas mileage, as higher gas costs are really impacting the Center. Replacement Apple laptop computers, and/or repair work on our broken laptops. Construction materials for building a second composting outhouse.

Services:

We appreciate any help you can be with tree plantings and riparian restoration projects. Vehicle maintenance. Construction. Firewood cutting and splitting. Internet research or outreach for Anima. And photocopy services at your home or work.

Download your on-line membership form, .

To donate through PayPal, go here

Over the past three decades, both this Sanctuary and this work have been blessed by a small number of especially caring and committed individuals. Some of these were people the Center or it’s residents had helped, others were neither students nor guests, but all felt connected… and moved to help. Some provided essential financial gifts, some provided important connections or services, some have become dear and lifelong family. Below are a few brief profiles of the Center and Sanctuary’s current supporters and allies.

shay1SHAY MICHAELS, Core Supporter, has quickly become not only a major contributor but one of our most empowered and able students. It is her name that comes up when we want to mention someone as an example of radical honesty, responsible action, and utilization of what is given. She is truly a boon to everyone she encounters, in her work and in her life. Even when wearing her professional clothes she is an unmistakable woman of magic and power, and when her hair is braided, the stands of life, love, earth, service and purpose are seen tightly woven together. We treasure her, delight in her, and are at least as committed to her growth and fulfillment as she is dependably devoted to Anima.

THE MORGAN FAMILY are Core Supporters, and a dear and sweet component of the Animá family, community, Sanctuary and mission. Nick and Sloane live with their wonderful boys Paris, Jeremy and little Django, at the center of an intimate neighborhood and wide ranging circle of activists, artists, musicians and visionaries. For decades the Sanctuary and Center was supported solely by Hardin’s menial labor and sporadic sales of artwork and magazine articles, with the young founder refusing assistance in order to ensure his motives in doing this work were pure. Nick was the second person ever to help with direct donations, and it was his loving need to give and be of service to the world that first made everyone feel good about accepting the involvement and help of others in manifesting this vision. Like all our supporters, they take satisfaction in hearing about the continued restoration of the canyon ecosystem, as well as the many people that are inspired and helped here, who might not have been without their assistance and love.

Suesmall1SUZANNE KIERMONT first came to the Sanctuary afraid of nature and her own natural self and needs. Rather than indulge her imagined limitations, Sue came back for repeated experiences and even a difficult Vision Quest, and has proven to be one of our more determined and focused students and allies, courageously insisting on respect from the people in her life, healing as she grows and develops her power as a healer. She currently lives alone in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a dental hygienist working to learn new skills to better effect and benefit others. Nature and the Sanctuary have become her helpers and allies, even as she as become a loving aid to the earth through Anima.

SarahRoyawebSARAH MACE & ROYA have begun to make small regular tithings – in spite of their many existing financial obligations – in an effort to provide some of the dependable support that Anima needs. Over the many years that they have been coming for quests, visits and events, the young and gifted Roya has grown up with the Canyon love and purpose in her heart. Her single mother Sarah has made the difficult choice to remain in an urban environment, and to notice and aid others in noticing the elements of nature still found there… not only to be close to her Seattle family, but also to effect the world through the opportunities that her career provides. As a teacher of young children, she is able to connect with, nurture and inspire her charges in ways that they may never have known otherwise, and through her workshops she is equipping other teachers to do the same. We have long appreciated being able to assist and encourage them both, and treasured their deeply felt love – and now we also welcome and give thanks for their important commitment to consistently help fund this place and work.

JOHN DRAKE is the most trustworthy guardian angel any land every had. He has been family to us as well as a partner in our efforts for nearly 30 years, and without his unflagging support the Sanctuary property would have been lost on several occasions. He continues to help guarantee the land’s protection, through his purchase of a portion of it, his participation in restrictive land covenants… and his ensuring by whatever means that it will remain wild, and not on the real estate market, through the coming generations. He promotes our work to everyone he knows, and his faith in it has been a blessing. John is a true Renaissance man, a single father devoted to his son, a horseman, an incredible old-timey musician and unrepentant mountain man. An avid reader and visionary thinker, he is equally at home with writers, artists, poets, mandolin pickers and backwoods homesteaders.

LAURA PONCE While women had always made up a large percentage of our participants and students, our most devoted supporters were either men or couples. We welcome Laura as our first promised female supporter, an accomplished actress and singer-songwriter who has not only studied the Animá teachings, but courageously changed how and why she lives her life. The self love and self knowledge she has developed has made it impossible for her to any longer tolerate dishonesty or disrespect, or to compromise herself and what she values most. What was once a set of careers through which she tried to fill a lonely void, are now simply the artistic means that make possible her fullest becoming, her service to the world and gifts to this place. “This Canyon and its Hosts… gave me the power to become whole enough to drive me to a purpose I all ready had within my heart, to preserve this wild place inside me, and all it has to offer to heal. I commit, and am humbled.”

THE WILHITES are well respected and loved among the alternative, spiritual and magical communities, for their integrity, attitude and service. In addition to being artful thespians, Elle is a practicing priestess of earth and healing, and intense wolfen ally Steve is also a firebrand political advocate and activist. Orlan, their son, is a medicine man in the making, and together their family has been sweet support to the teaching and Sanctuary. Besides their efforts to promote our books and services, they rushed a replacement laptop to the Center when one of ours broke, though they could barely afford to do so. Their suggestions and feedback are much valued, and their continued commitment to periodic donations warms our hearts as well as helps make possible this work and mission.

GLENN HENDERSON, Guardian Supporter, is a huge hearted seeker and long-time faithful friend of this place and effort. For several years he made the Animá Center his number one priority, underwriting outreach, providing a solar powered satellite communications system, assisting with medical and other needs, and contributed facilities for the Center. Following the counsel he received here, he has since quit his high paying job in order to give attention to his personal healing and growth, and to serve his community. These days he’s engaged in volunteer service work in Silver City, New Mexico, yet continues to send the Center what he can each month out of his meager wages.