I head off into the woods before dawn breaks. My footsteps are light, my thoughts ethereal, swirling. I turn inward to feel my way. There are only shadows to guide me, the crackle of branches, the soil underfoot. I have withdrawn in pursuit of stillness, communion, hope, a desire to shed the whirring of my rational mind.

There is much in the natural world that to me feels mysterious and potent. Lately, the call to enter into a deeper union with it has grown more insistent. It’s no longer enough to go for scenic walks, or marvel at wildlife sightings. I crave a conversation with nature; on nature’s terms, not just my own human-centric ones.

I yearn to connect with that force, the energy or intelligence, which animates the physical world. This belief, in the sacredness of the Earth, is one that is shared by diverse cultures throughout history. It’s one that we in industrialised societies have become divorced from, to devastating effect – as evidenced by the climate and economic crises of our time, though the tide is turning.

As Thomas Berry writes in the book Spiritual Ecology: “There is a single issue before us: survival. Not merely physical survival, but survival in a world of fulfilment, survival in a living world, where the violets bloom in the springtime, where stars shine down in all their mystery, survival in a world of meaning.”

“To live in harmony with nature means interacting with it – observing, listening, learning, giving, receiving. It means honouring the vast pyramid of life that has existed over time, and our place in it.”

How does one begin to cultivate the conditions for this deep aliveness to happen? Indigenous peoples who live close to the land believe that to live in harmony with nature means interacting with it – observing, listening, learning, giving, receiving. It means honouring the vast pyramid of life that has existed over time, and our place in it, and from recognising that every element of the Earth shares the same life force.

Recently I attended an extraordinary course at Schumacher College in Devon entitled The Call of the Magician. It delved into the ways we, as individuals, might enter into a more sacred relationship with nature and in so doing reconnect with our vulnerability, our humanity, our reverence for the living Earth.

This wasn’t a cerebral transmitting of knowledge, but about feeling through our senses, our emotions, our intuition. For this to happen we needed to be open to suspending the logic of the mind for a logic that dwells in the heart. And we were.

The week was led by Colin Campbell, from Botswana. The son of a renowned anthropologist father and a healer mother, as a child he learned from the traditional San people and at the age of 11 was called to being trained and initiated as a traditional doctor and healer. UK-born Earth educator Lucy Hinton joined him and Manari Ushigua Kaji, the leader of the Sapara nation in the Ecuadorian rainforest – a people on the brink of extinction thanks to the impact of oil drilling, was a guest.

The magician of the title refers to those who are adept at mediating between the human and the natural world. But the week showed me that it’s possible for each of us to enter into a state of inter-being with nature, with intent, and in so doing reduce the separation that we perceive, wrongly, to exist between outer and inner nature. Lucy likened this liminal space to a place “where the sea meets the land”, a sacred zone where everything that happens is potentially significant. And as she pointed out, we don’t necessarily have to believe in something rationally in order to experiment with it.

In the indigenous way of seeing the world, withdrawal into the wild, the sharing of stories, prayer, sacred ritual, dance and song are all vital to inviting in a more dynamic relationship with nature and all that that encompasses: the greater self, the spirit, the ancestors, and the unseen world.

“The challenge before us is to shift from conservation of the Earth to a conversation with the Earth. I crave a conversation with nature, on nature’s terms, not just my own human-centric ones.”

They are difficult concepts for many of us to grasp because they’re vast and often alien to our own cherished beliefs. But every practice was simply an invitation to experience the universe from a fresh perspective.

And so we did. We created a shrine to nature in a woodland glade. We sat, crammed under a tarpaulin, singing around fire-heated rocks topped with medicinal herbs doused in water. The steam allowed the plant based medicines – wild-harvested from traditional lands and prepared with the utmost rigour and care and intent – to cleanse and strengthen us.

On my retreat into the woods, I found myself by an uprooted tree. Can you imagine the force that must be required to uproot a tree that has stood for aeons, calm and deeply embedded in the soil? Nature is wild and not always kind to its own. Imagine what that must feel like; the trauma. I felt that forsaken tree’s grief as a tangible and palpable thing. I wanted to be bear witness to it. I also saw reflected in its uprootedness, my own feelings of dislocation.

That morning I flitted between dark forest and sun-soaked meadows, between resting in stillness and plumbing emotional depths. I gained the tiniest sense of the communion Manari Ushigua Kaji experiences daily in the Amazon. His people, known for the art of dreaming, see themselves as deeply connected to all plants, animals, birds, insects and the Earth. He told us magical tales, stories of the natural world that held us captivated and reminded us of the vastness, mystery and magnificence of nature.

Like what you’re reading? Positive News depends on your support to publish quality inspiring content. Please donate to help us continue pioneering a more constructive news media.

And what of the people who attended my course? They came from all corners of the globe; many worked in roles that require responsibility and leadership and time spent far, far from nature’s embrace. Collectively, we were grounded in the ‘real’ world, but open to grappling with the question of how to bring life truly back into our experience, and what it really means to be human.

This, I believe is the challenge before us: to shift from conservation of the Earth to a conversation with the Earth. “We open the window, and hope the breeze enters,” said our tutor. My experience thus far tells me that there is richness beyond measure when this happens. I will keep opening those windows, to see where the breeze leads me.

Reviving our connection with the Earth

A growing number of individuals, organisations and even governments are placing the living Earth and all that it encompasses at the heart of their work.

Schumacher College offers transformative courses for sustainable living, while also in Devon, educational organisation Embercombe helps people to discover their own potential as leaders through engagement with the land. The Gaia Foundation in London, co-founded by ecological pioneers Edward Posey OBE and Liz Hosken, works in partnership with leaders, elders and networks in indigenous communities in the Amazon and Africa to empower them to revive traditions, advocate for their rights, and protect and gain recognition for sacred sites and their custodians; Polly Higgins, barrister and chairwoman of the Eradicating Ecocide Global Initiative advocates for a sole client: the Earth; the Bolivian government has passed the world’s first law granting nature equal rights to humans; in 2012, Benin passed a national law recognising sacred forests and the need for communities to protect and act as custodians to them; and in the US the Pachamama Alliance seeks to weave together and disseminate indigenous and modern worldviews.

Schumacher College is launching a new programme of short courses and events for 2015. As part of this, Call of the Magician course leaders Colin Campbell and Lucy Hinton will co-run a three-week intensive course called Drawing on Indigenous Wisdom from 16 March – 2 April.

The college is also embarking on a £7 million fundraising drive to further develop their programmes, campuses and to support their bursary programme. If you’d like to make a donation, you can here.

The post A magical conversation with nature appeared first on Positive News.

How did you come to be a gardener at Weleda?

Having a Fine Art degree, my first career was in museum exhibitions and display, but gardening became a passionate hobby. I had just completed an RHS Horticulture Course when I saw an advertisement for a gardener at Weleda, and 12 years later, I’m now the garden team leader. Initially it was a huge culture change, but I’ve no regrets. I don’t know who found who, but I guess biodynamics found me!

So what exactly is biodynamic gardening?

In the 1920s, Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner responded to farmers’ concerns about the reduced health and vitality of their crops and animals. His subsequent lectures became the basis of the biodynamic movement.

As with organic growing, we use no artificial fertilisers or chemicals and look primarily to maintaining a healthy soil. But biodynamics also takes a wider perspective, looking beyond the Earth to the cosmic influences on growth that come from the planets and stars. We strive to work with and understand these living forces that permeate all life on Earth and aim to both heal and revitalise our land.

Why does the company prefer to use biodynamically grown ingredients?

Weleda requires the best quality medicinal herbs for its natural medicines and bodycare products. Biodynamics delivers this by working with the natural rhythms of the moon and the planets in the herbs’ cultivation. We use biodynamic sprays and preparations on our land and in our compost, which ensures a healthy and richly diverse environment for the medicinal plants. We have minimal mechanisation, ensuring there is a very personal relationship with our land and plants. Our land is Demeter certified, which is the worldwide standard for biodynamic certification.

Do you have a favourite plant?

The ones that help to make our compost so fantastic! Namely nettle, chamomile, dandelion, yarrow and valerian – weeds to many, but to a biodynamic gardener, these are not only medicinal plants for people, they heal the Earth as well.

Another favourite plant is calendula. It’s used throughout the Weleda Babycare range, which my son Rowan was raised on! Calendula is a prolifically flowering annual, with antiseptic, antifungal and antibacterial properties plus the flowers are a fabulous orange colour. We grow a whole field full every year and it looks absolutely stunning!

What does the future hold?

Our 15 acre site is gradually becoming more of a nature reserve, with meadows, woodlands and ponds making different natural habitats, so there’s still plenty of development work to do there.

Biodynamics is now on the margins where organics used to be 20 years ago – in another 10 years time, I’m sure we’ll see much more biodynamically grown produce available in the shops.

Personally, I am very fulfilled working at Weleda, playing my part in making natural medicines and being a custodian of a very special piece of land, plus my son is currently at the Steiner School next door. I feel extremely lucky to be working in a positive and practical way with the ideas that offer sound solutions for a more sustainable future.

The post Speaking of Biodynamics appeared first on Positive News.

Xavier Rudd’s new album, Koonyum Sun, sees him collaborating with bassist Tio Moloantoa and percussionist Andile Nqubezelo, under the name Xavier Rudd & Izintaba – the Zulu word for mountains. Tio and Andile, both from South Africa, also add vocal harmonies, often in several different languages. “It’s the most intense musical experience I’ve had by far and I’m loving it,” Xavier reveals.

Born in Victoria, Australia, Aboriginal culture has great importance in the 32 year-old’s life: “It’s been with me strongly since I was a kid,” Xavier explains. “I pay respect to it all the time. I draw from it regularly and I feel that its spirit comes through my music.”

Merging his heritage with that of his new rhythm section, the result is an enticing blend of Aboriginal and traditional African sounds, woven among the reggae flavours. Izintaba add a fresh rhythmic variation and strength, taking nothing away from the signature style of Xavier’s earlier work. “Us coming together, the connection, the music – it’s all been pretty organic,” he says.

After the feel-good slant of his earlier albums and the out-of-character heavier tone of 2008’s Dark Shades of Blue, this latest release gives an impression of balance and insight. There is a depth of emotion in Koonyum Sun beyond that of Xavier’s five previous studio albums. A story of personal crisis surfaces, particularly in Love Comes and Goes, where he sings with tenderness about “sweeping up the pieces of a broken nest,” lamenting that there is “no other pain like losing a soul mate.”

But there’s also much celebration, with the bouncy bassline and jingly banjo riff of Time to Smile making it a likely summer anthem. Despite writing the album during a time of suffering, it has a mood of rejuvenation and is full of Xavier’s gratitude for his life. “I’m very blessed,” he acknowledges. “I’m very lucky. I have a great journey.”

There’s a sense of letting go, of trust, which binds the album. I ask where it arises from: “There’s a bigger picture,” he says. “There’s a great creator and our ancestors are very influential… I think people often lose sight of that but I feel maybe things happen for a reason.”

Mid-point in the album, the atmospheric title track, Koonyum Sun, captures this feeling of acceptance: “I must now move through this great test of patience and grief / and trust what I know, that the future will show me the reasons for some of these things…” The track also features a line sung by one of the artist’s two sons, nine year-old Jaoquin.

Xavier explains how the song came about: “We had just done an [Aboriginal] cleansing ceremony, me and my boys. We were sitting by the fire, looking at the Koonyum mountain range and I started to play a riff,” he recalls. “And Jaoquin just started to sing the line [“If you could see exactly what I could see, it would be a great mystery”] over and over again. Then, I constructed my verses around it; around the day, the story, him singing.” Xavier dedicated the record to his sons, who, he says, are a great inspiration.

Something else close to his heart is his connection with the Earth, which comes through clearly in his songs. “My music’s a reflection of who I am – I grew up in the bush and I grew up surfing, sitting by fire and looking at the stars; those are the things that shaped me. That’s what I still do now when I’m home and it’s such a big part of my journey.”

Sky to Ground is a track that makes this connection known: “This place, my home from sky to ground,” he sings, “I’ve seen the universe connected from the inside out.” The song also mentions the unpredictable events that our changing climate is causing. So what does he make of the uncertainties of our time, I ask. “These are funny days,” he responds. “We can’t assume what they mean. Our minds won’t really have the answer, but usually what we feel is right, because that’s the spirit moving through us. I think the biggest problem culturally,” he continues, “is that too many people live by their minds these days, whereas traditionally people lived by their hearts.”

This is the very approach that Xavier takes with his songwriting. “I don’t think about shaping it,” he explains. “I don’t write anything down either. I just let it come out and the songs that are meant to stay; they stay,” he explains.

He feels a sense of purpose with his music, which often voices environmental issues and advocates the rights of indigenous peoples. However, the purpose, he says, is not necessarily about having a message: “I feel that my music comes from strong spirit. I don’t understand it in my mind and I don’t try to, but it’s very strong, very real.”

Consciously or not, through his music, Xavier calls us to share in the experience of finding peace through a deeper connection with our world, recognising our blessings. “It’s important to respect what our Earth has given us for thousands and thousands of years and try to preserve it for as long as we can,” he says. “This can be as simple as going everyday and just standing with a tree, paying respect to the tree, to the great creator and to the spirit.”

Koonyum Sun is out now, on Anti and SaltX Records. Xavier Rudd & Izintaba are currently on a world tour.

The post Into the Koonyum Sun appeared first on Positive News.

A draft declaration will be discussed at the Peoples’ World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth Rights, taking place April 20th-22nd, which President Morales is convening in Cochabamba, Bolivia’s third largest city.

Other objectives for the event include: working towards a people’s referendum on climate change; looking at strategies for action in defence of Earth’s rights; planning the establishment of a Climate Justice Tribunal and agreeing proposals for new targets and commitments in the United Nations negotiating process with regards to climate change.

Following the outcome of the UN conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, which was widely regarded as inadequate, the Peoples’ World Conference will aim to reach a consensus for a new approach, ahead of the next UN climate summit in Mexico at the end of the year.

Only a few days after Copenhagen, a resolution was passed, placing the issue of Mother Earth Rights as an item on the UN agenda. Put forward by Bolivia, the resolution invites countries to share their experiences and views on promoting “life in harmony with nature.”

In line with this, the Peoples’ World Conference will explore the “structural and systemic causes” of climate change. Participants will look at the fundamental, underlying issues and propose measures to “ensure the well-being of all mankind in harmony with nature.”

“The United Nations climate change framework does not deal with the root causes of climate change and the wider problem of environmental exploitation,” said Pablo Solon, Bolivian ambassador to the United Nations. “Climate change is like a fever that is symptomatic of an underlying disease, which must be cured before the fever dissipates. The underlying cause,” he continued, “is the belief that humans are separate from, and superior to nature and that more is better. These beliefs have fuelled the misconceived and doomed attempts of industrialised, consumer-orientated societies to achieve lasting human well-being by exploiting and damaging Earth.”

Bolivia is proposing a legal framework be created, to maintain vital ecological balances in the interest of all life. With a rights-based approach, protection could be given to other “members of the Earth Community,” preventing further unsustainable exploitation of the natural world.

“Stabilising the climate at levels that allow human life to flourish will require societies to meet our needs in a way that contributes to, rather than degrades, the health of the ecological communities that sustain us,” explained Pablo Solon. This requires balancing human rights against the rights of all other life on our planet.”

Recognising the relationship between ourselves and nature, courts would be able to deal with environmental destruction, and any consequent human suffering, at a fundamental level, ensuring perpetrators are brought to account. President Morales affirmed that: “In order to ensure the fulfilment of human rights in the 21st century, it is necessary to recognise and respect Mother Earth’s rights.”

Pablo Solon said that for centuries, indigenous communities have warned that humans must behave respectfully towards the planet if we are to survive: “We call our planet Pachamama, Mother Earth, because we know we cannot live without her. This understanding is supported, not only by ancient spiritual traditions but also by contemporary science, which continues to reveal the complex interdependence of life on earth.”

“In 1948, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed, it was a declaration of hope into a post-war world,” said Pablo Solon. “Facing a crisis far worse than any world war, might it not be time for humanity to launch a new declaration, one that defends our planet and its biodiversity from ever-continuing extinction?”

Evo Morales has extended an invitation to all, “the peoples of the world, social movements, Mother Earth’s defenders, scientists, academics, lawyers and governments that want to work with their citizens,” to attend the Peoples’ Conference, which closes celebrating Mother Earth Day, on April 22nd.

“This conference will be a transparent and inclusive event, in which no one will be marginalised,” said Bolivian foreign minister, David Choquehuanca.

Meanwhile, UK environmental lawyer Polly Higgins, an advocate of planetary rights, has just launched the Planet Earth Trust. “The planet is our capital asset and we, the people, have a responsibility to ensure that this asset is protected, not exploited,” she explained. “We can do that by being trustees for the planet.” All the trustees sign up to a declaration of intent to protect Planet Earth in Trust, for the benefit of the wider Planet Earth community. The declaration recognises that all life is sacred.

Websites: www.pwccc.wordpress.com
www.motherearthrights.org
www.treeshaverightstoo.com
www.evomorales.net

Pablo Solon quotes reproduced from: ‘We Must Support a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth’ by Pablo Solon and Cormac Cullinan; Huffington Post, Dec 29, 2009; www.huffingtonpost.com

President Evo Morales greets supporters
at the carnaval of Oruro. Photo: © www.evomorales.net

The post Bolivia Calls for Earth Rights appeared first on Positive News.