When I was interviewing Napa therapist and water activist Charlie Toledo, Executive Director of the Suscol Intertribal Counsel, this week, we had a conversation not directly related to the drought and water that I found particularly healing. She told me that in pantheistic times, people had more fun. “When I speak to elementary school kids,… Read more »
Charlie Toledo: The Earth is Alive!
This week I had the good fortune to interview water activist Charlie Toledo about the upcoming election ballot measure Proposition One that provides funds for alleviating some of the water problems in California. We are in our third year of drought. Suddenly the general population is acutely aware of the implications! There are some big… Read more »
Drought, Racu and the Rainmaker
Although Racu has moved on to greener pastures, and in his place, less cantankerous llama Hijo guards, this true story about a rainmaker at another time of severe drought has never been more relevant. The blog first appeared in June 2011 at the beginning of California’s drought. At first no one noticed the Buddha I had placed in the forest… Read more »
Is There a Biodynamic Lifestyle?
In a radio interview this last week, I was asked, “Are there ways for people who don’t want to be farmers to live biodynamic lives?” This question cuts to the chase. “Yes,” I replied, and suggested practical actions, like joining a Biodynamic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, in which you subscribe and get a box of… Read more »
The Sale of a Small Family Farm
When I saw the recent missed call on my cell phone, I grew worried. I had just spoken with my sister Judy several hours before. Something must have happened. I didn’t reach her until late in the afternoon. “I received the first payment,” she said. “The farm is gone.” We knew this was coming. I… Read more »
Lilith–Serpent Dragon Wakes
When a serpent dragon wakes, beware! In the early hours of August 24, I woke to the slam of an earthquake which rocked the house and then kept going, increasing in intensity, for a full 45 seconds. Outside the sky lit up, confusing my sleep-drugged mind. Was this a thunderstorm—or had a bomb just dropped?… Read more »
Dousing, The Serpent Mind, and Lilith
In exploring Lilith’s qualities reflected in being depicted as a serpent, I want to refer to a description of her from the 13th century Cabalistic text, The Zohar. Lilith is described as “the soul of all the beasts of the field and every living creature that creepth.” As such, she can talk with plants and… Read more »
Women, Creativity, and Lilith
In the mid 1980’s I read Judy Chicago’s commentary on women’s creativity in The Birth Project. Chicago invited craftswomen throughout the country to participate in fabricating various needlework and quilting projects depicting birth. In her book about the development of the project, Chicago included the exuberant letters from the women whose work was deemed of sufficient… Read more »
How Lilith Got Us Evicted and What It Means
Who is Lilith, really? She is often named as Adam’s first wife, cohabiting with him until he was given a soul. Then she flew off and began to cause trouble, first appearing as a serpent and tempting Eve with the forbidden fruit, then proceeding to terrorize humanity in her volatile, fiery ways. She is that… Read more »
Gratitude & the Great Turning: Five Things to Do
A garden is a great place to prepare for the Great Turning. You can tell almost immediately how well it is being tended. In a tended garden, there is a feeling of peace, busy peace, perhaps, with bees and hummingbirds, monarchs and swallowtails, but also a calm contentedness that comes when the weeds are not… Read more »
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