This path Moonth the effects of global warming have been intensely felt – record heat, drought and fires in the western US, and here in New England at the very end of August it still feels like July. By now the weather should be clear, dry and cool but next week the humidity and summer-like temperatures will be bouncing back yet again.
My neighbor reports that he was standing in his yard a few weeks ago and a huge stag came huffing and racing across the yard, pursued by something that was “larger than a coyote”, followed by a coyote. They came crashing through at breakneck speed and if my neighbor had stood seven or so feet closer he could have been trampled. No one on my street can let cats or small dogs out anymore, though some still do. It’s just a question of “when” not “if” the cats get eaten. I found a small poodle half eaten, right next to my driveway, watched over by some very sinister looking vultures.
Apparently scientists released a pack of coy-wolves into a wilderness area nearby about twenty years ago, to help control the deer. Then they issued hunting permits so humans could go in and shoot the deer. Now the coy-wolves have little to eat except domestic animals; cats, dogs and the occasional old or sick deer. So much for science.
I was privileged to recently spend three hours with a group of indigenous shamans from Columbia. It was a very moving experience. Luckily I speak Spanish so I was able to catch things the translator missed. The shamans (led by a woman) spoke of their struggles with the Colombian government and gave a few details of their sacred practices. One in particular caught my attention. They live around a sacred mountain which they consider to be the navel of the world. They have 54 sacred sites that they visit on a circuit to feed the Land Spirits. They need to offer payment or gifts to keep the land healthy. They give simple things like shells, fluffs of cotton, etc. to sacred trees, rocks, rivers, the ocean, etc. They showed how apartment buildings are being put on top of the sacred rocks and how fences are keeping them away from sacred trees (they climb over the fences now, just to get to the sites). They showed highways and trash dumps on top of some of their sacred sites. It was very sad.
When they “make payment” at sacred sites they do it for their own lands and also for all peoples on the Earth.
They said the damming of rivers and pollution of water, earth, fire and air and the lack of spiritual relationship with the land is causing the weather disasters and sickness they see now. They are very concerned about that.
I asked them what we could do here on Turtle Island (America) and in other places to do the work so the waters and land stay healthy. They said to consult local indigenous tribes to find out where the ancient sacred sites are in your area and if there are no indigenous people left, consult old farmers who might have a memory of such things.
I immediately thought about my own Celtic Druid tradition of course. Most of us are now living in the diaspora and we need to find liminal places in the landscape where we dwell, where the walls between the worlds are thin. I consider that to be one of the most important tasks of a Druid.
Here where I live we have given things like silver coins, fruits, vegetables, grains, milk and flowers to the stones, waters and the soil. If you give to a stream, that water runs into a river and then into the ocean where it laps against all lands, eventually. Even if you just sing to or pray over water it will carry the message.
I wonder if this is one reason we Druids are so scattered now, so we can do this work all over the globe.
You can read more about the indigenous shamans of Columbia (the Mamos) and how to help them here.
When the shamans ended their talks a lot of hugs were shared. They told me and others that we are all one, doing the same work, one heart.
BOOK NEWS
I have a new herbal SECRET MEDICINES FROM YOUR GARDEN coming out in March 2016 (inner Traditions/Healing Arts Press) and we have been putting the finishing touches on the illustrations.
Endorsements are already coming in for my newest Druid book A LEGACY OF DRUIDS, a book of interviews with American, Canadian and British Druids (Moon Books). It should be out late this year or early next year (I haven’t been given a publication date yet).
- A recent radio show I did in California
- I have a few bits in the debut issue of Mythology Magazine. A gorgeous issue and well worth the price!
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
- ADVANCED FORMULA MAKING AND CASE TAKING CLASS
September 25-26-27, Philo, California (near Mendocino)
Advanced case taking and formula making class with Ellen Evert Hopman, Herbalist AHG
A Friday night lecture on the Doctrine of Signatures.
On Saturday and Sunday you will learn basic Chinese Five Element Theory; seasons, flavors, taste, voice tone, emotions and the fundamentals of Facial Diagnosis; lines, colors, moles, blemishes
You will also learn an advanced formula making technique to design individually crafted remedies for individuals
In-between we will walk outside and meet some of the plants and trees in the garden.
The Philo School of Herbal Energetics website has information on directions & lodging. $250 for the weekend; register here.
Lodging: They do not offer lodging. Please go to the Anderson Valley Chamber of Commerce page for available lodging. - SIX MONTH HERBAL INTENSIVE IN WESTERN MA (near Amherst)
October 17, 2015 – April, 2016
Two Saturdays a month, 1-5 PM near Amherst, MA
The Western Massachusetts School of Herbal Studies
Intro to Herbalism and Self Care
With Ellen Evert Hopman M.Ed. ~ Registered Herbalist AHG
author of “Scottish Herbs and Fairy Lore”, “A Druid’s Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year”, “A Druids Herbal – Of Sacred Tree Medicine” and other books and DVDs
Covers Western herbal Materia Medica, formula making, case taking, Chinese Five Element Theory, Homeopathic First Aid, Flower Essence Counseling, plant identification, ethno botany, an herb walk outdoors and hands on herbal techniques such as poultices, tinctures, salves. Over 550 pages of handouts are included with the course. A certificate of completion is offered at the end.
Cost: $1,000.00 (plus a $100.00 non-refundable Xeroxing fee)
MA NURSES CAN GET CEUS BY TAKING THIS COURSE
“I studied with Ellen Evert Hopman back in the late 90’s. The information she shared with me has helped me in many aspects of my life! I learned the skills to identify, and properly utilize, many herbs as; essences, teas, salves, poultices and tinctures. I found her program to be quite thorough!” ~A. Potter
*Below you will find the usual past Moonth’s assortment of links to archaeology, religion, nature and Druid news. Enjoy!*
*And Please Remember!* You can purchase books, DVDs and tree elixirs from this site, and get a signed note from the author.
WAYS YOU CAN HELP THE PLANET
- A Requiem for the Arctic ice
Please sign and share - Climate change is already here
ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS
- Ancient monolith found underwater near Sicily
- Ancient Egyptian medicine (video)
- Ancient Egyptian bee keeping (video)
- Early humans made animated art
- Recycling in the Viking Age
- Coins of the Galatian Celts
- Alexander the Great depicted in an ancient synagogue?
- Newgrange through the ages
- The Hill of Tara
- Tara (video)
- Viking sites in Iceland
- The oldest human hand bone found so far
- Dig may unlock secrets of a Pictish carving
- 2,700 year old writing discovered in Georgia
- ISIL beheads Syrian archeologist
- Evidence for a 7000 year old Neolithic massacre
- A decorated stone found in the Ness of Broadgar, Orkney
- 3.4 million year old butchered animal bones found
- When the Romans invaded, whose side were the British Celts on?
- Secrets of the Denisovians are coming to light
- How to build a Celtic round house
- Grave of a Sarmatian warrior woman found
- Bronze Age Irish gold came from Cornwall
- Is this Boudicca’s grave?
- Was Nefertiti buried in Tutankhamun’s tomb?
More… - A Danish monster pulled from Swedish waters
- Newgrange, Ireland
- Viking families found in Iceland
- Skeleton found near the Rollright Stones
- The Cerne Abbas giant
- A monolith carved over 9000 years ago found under the Mediterranean sea
- Facts about bog bodies
- Neanderthals had very large eyes. Did it help or hinder them?
- 5000 year old Irish carving records eclipse
- Ancient Egyptian workers had paid sick days and health care
- A Bronze Age burial mound excavated in Cheshire
- England calls for volunteers to survey coastal archaeology
- 6000 year old “halls of the dead” found in UK
- Stonehenge area contaminated by asbestos
- Homo Floresiensis (The Hobbit)
- Three fourths of the hand stencils in caves were made by women
HERB NEWS
- Herbs to protect the lungs in areas plagued with wildfires
- How the Moon influences plants
- Houseplants that clean the air in your home
- Plants that are toxic to pets
- Fireweed Jelly
- Purslane
- Duck potato – a plant that wants to be eaten
The challenge with this plant would be finding it in clean waters
More… - Make Staghorn Sumac lemonade
- A 390 year old white pine that survived the Hiroshima blast, still alive today
- Chanterelles
NATURE NEWS
- Scottish wildcats (video)
- He plants trees to save the rainforest (video)
- Can Monarch Butterflies be saved?
- HELP THE BUTTERFLIES – GROW MILKWEED!
- Wolves have returned to California
- Playing music for whales (video)
- Cecil the Lion’s pride still being protected by his brother
- Texan pays $350,000, kills an endangered black rhino (just another criminal with a gun)
- Dogs are being used to sniff out illegal ivory
- Costa Rica was the first country to ban hunting for sport
- Only four white rhinos left on Earth due to human greed
- Texas man shoots armadillo and the bullet ricochets back into his face (that’s karma for you)
FAIRY NEWS
RELIGION NEWS
- Druids – who are they now?
- Folk healers and witches of Poland
- Paganism defined (video)
- The “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” is it a forgery?
- Why the Lakota revere Eagles (video)
- Pagans in Pakistan (of all places)
- Russian Pagans still celebrate in their sacred Groves
- Russian Pagans worshipping (video)
- Who was Mother Shipton?
- British Pagans celebrate the Earth Mother (video)
- The tradition of the “Corn Dolly”, often made from the last sheaf gathered in at harvest
- Ancient Pagan festivals, food, farming explained
- The ancient art of spodomancy
NEWS YOU CAN USE
- Fantastic new technologies that could save the planet
- HELP THE BUTTERFLIES – GROW MILKWEED!
- Suburban homes designed around farm plots, not golf courses
- How to block companies tracking you on Facebook
- What happened when they put a preschool in a nursing home
- Women are better at understanding what other team members think, MIT study finds
- Become a tree when you die
POLITICS AND ETHICS
- Ron Paul aide indicted
- Republicans deliberately altered Benghazi e:mails
- America is already Socialist, here’s why (video)
- The US is still the only developed country with no paid leave for new mothers – 1 in 4 return to work in 2 weeks or less after giving birth
- Creative techniques Republicans use to torture the poor
- Halliburton is killing babies – where is the “pro-life” outrage?
- Declassified CIA document shows the Bush administration had zero justification for invading Iraq (we knew this)
- Israeli generals back the Iran deal
- Bernie Sanders laughing through the media blackout
- Socialism for dummies (video)
- Why Bernie Sanders is surging despite the official meme “he can’t win”
- Youth vote is at a record low, ideas for reversing that
- Under Regan Republicans supported research using fetal tissue
- The Swiss have a gun culture that works
- The Bush White House e:mail scandal – the Republican congress of the time looked the other way
- Donating fetal tissue is not illegal
- Indiana clears Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing after scam videos emerge
