Orthodox Paganism

Pagan temples in every major city, pagan community centers and libraries, pagan-run food banks and community gardens, no pagan having to celebrate a sabbat alone, unless they chose to do so, politicians having to consider the ‘pagan vote’, pagan political action committees, having a pagan on every interfaith panel around, having pagan groups listed in every Yellow Pages published, having the general public so well-educated on the topic of paganism that it is as controversial and spooky as someone being a Lutheran, having every police station in the country with a reliable pagan resource to contact, never having to see a child taken from its mother in court because she is pagan, and infinitely more. These are some of the things that I can see our community accomplishing in the next few decades, but I see no way for us to get them done if we keep doing things the way we do them now.

I’ve been a self-identified pagan for the last 18 years and an organizer/activist for the last 12. Over that time period, I’ve gone out of my way to see and understand the pagan community here in Wisconsin as deeply as possible and the vast majority of my observations and beliefs on the topic are WI-based. There is a distinct possibility I’m completely wrong as it relates to the rest of the world and if so, if someone has information that is different, please let me know, otherwise I shall labor under the assumption that Wisconsin pagans are fairly typical.

The Problem
Most of us who have come to paganism were typically raised in a Christian world with a Christian world view that was rejected and replaced with a practice that can only be described as ‘extreme eclectic’. We are a religion/path/spirituality of converts with a hard core individuality streak that often lead us to immediately reject any formal doctrine, structure or dogma. Most of us have taken this to the point of becoming sole arbitors of our path and how we chose to exist as a pagan. This is fine for individuals who are seeking their own way in the world, solitary and alone, but completely unworkable if we are to accomplish things as a tribe or community. We act as though we, as individuals, are the center of the universe and everyone and everything is secondary to, or revolves around us. This has led us to a situation in which organizations and groups of pagans focused on and accomplishing goals are extremely rare to the point of near non-existence in most areas. Here are a few of the primary issues I’ve seen arise in a consistent manner within paganism over the years that have consistently held us back and kept the community exactly where it is now.

‘Organizing pagans is like trying to herd cats’

A common phrase spoken by anyone that has every tried to get more than a handful of pagan folk moving in the same direction on anything at all. We are independent, stubborn, and anarchistic to a fault, which is fine as long as you are content with how things are done and how the mainstream society sees and treats us. Many pagans will sit in a meeting and instead of focusing on the project at hand and making that a priority, they will put energy toward the idea of who among the group they won’t work with or trying to making sure the project is done the way they want it done. As one might imagine, compromise is hard for folks who are used to living by their own standards. If the work gets the slightest bit hard or folks realize there is real work that needs to be done that isn't fun and exciting, people start drifting away. The handful of leader-types or folks that want to get things done are quickly left with a dwindling number of people that are progressively burdened with more work and frustration and/or the mentally unstable that inevitably want to be involved in any project going. Burnout follows rapidly and the project fails, the leaders and good workers disappear, sometimes forever. This is because of their aforementioned individuality that we had to fight for to get where we are and our unwillingness to budge, even a little, on our view of it. The project or event has to mean more to the individual than their personal ego in the moment and there are just not that many pagan folk around that are able or willing to do that. The temporary sublimation of the ego to the advancement of the greater good is the only way vital projects and basic goals can be accomplished. We have to start thinking of this as we do work. Very few of us would go to our jobs, for no pay nor would we do things exactly as we are told, if we had the choice. But because we need money (or wish to accomplish our goal) we sublimate our ego and buckle down, doing what needs to be done. If we want to see our community advance, we need to apply the same standards to our work within the pagan world as well as in our interactions with our larger community.

“We just don’t have any good leadership”

Leadership within the pagan community is a strange and multi-layered issue that needs its own anthropological study at this point. See if this sounds familiar to you; Lady Jane has been around a while and wants to start having consistent sabbat celebrations in her community. There are a number of pagans of many paths around but no solid groups, so she asks around, best she can, and gets a handful of exited folks that willing to help and they start. Soon it becomes apparent that not everyone that volunteered is quite qualified to do the tasks and roles they would like to or as inspired to get the work done as Jane thought they were. Jane ends up covering for people who do not show up or taking care of the designated responsibilities others had agreed to help with. Personality conflicts from years past begin to bubble up and meetings are taken up with petty squabbles and melodrama. Jane does her best to focus people on tasks at hand, yet acknowledges that everyone’s concerns and feelings are important. More work falls to fewer people, personal lives suffer and more workers start to fall out. While trying to maintain a façade of things working and that the sabbat event is coming together, Jane is getting stressed and has no idea why people don’t just focus on getting the work done. She wonders why people think their petty personal dramas are more important than the work they signed up for. Amazingly, she pulls it off with a couple of good folks that stayed on task and managed to throw a great day long sabbat celebration. She and one other person had to cleanup afterwards though, as everyone else just went home. Instead of the participants seeing how “together” Jane seems to be, they see a stressed individual. After it all Jane starts hearing back, about people that were pissed off, that weren’t included in a way they felt they should be or upset because they were not asked to bring something to the event and some say that others felt that she was a bit “authoritarian” about how she ran her meetings. She tries to get the next sabbat celebration going and again ends up spending her time dealing with people wanting to be in charge of things they are not qualified for taking on responsibilities that they may not be able to meet and getting phone calls from people telling her how to run things ‘the right way’. Eventually Jane just can’t take the prospect of spending so much time on so much frivolous drama being injected into the process of serving the community by organizing an event, so she simply stops. The events end and the rest of the pagan community think and say, “Well, that’s just what happens with pagans and our events”.
It’s happened to me like that and to a half dozen others I know personally, I can only imagine how often it has happened across the country, or in fact, around the planet.  There are many good people in our community willing to step up and do good work but the general pagan community simply does not support leaders. We are inherently suspicious of someone ‘in charge’ and not only will a prospective leader get little to no support, they will be consistently attacked and undermined by those within our community that do nothing, have nothing to contribute or help with and will always take as much as they can and give little or nothing back. These people are commonly known as “trolls”, this small percentage of pagandom is responsible for more pagan leaders leaving and more projects failing than any other single factor. (http://www.wargoddess.net/essay/troll.php is the amazing and definitive essay on the idea of ‘trolls’ and is required reading for any pagan leader)*Let me say, The Otherfish Wrap apologizes in advance because at the time of this posting, this link is no longer active.

The solution is simple; support established good leaders and new ones just starting out in any way you can, do it in a way that demonstrates that you know your own resources, abilities and limitations. If you cannot or will not support a leader/organizer for whatever reason then at the least don’t attack, undermine or gossip about them. If they are an idiot or incompetent they will rapidly be standing alone and need no help from you getting there. There are the rare cases where a ‘leader’ is acting in a criminal fashion and needs to be dealt with by the community, a topic for another time. We have plenty of good leaders and potential leaders waiting in the wings, we just need to support them. If you are a good leader, do it without apology or the expectation of making everyone ‘feel’ good and accepted or wanted. Coddling people that need a case worker, medication, a hug, a friend, or whatever else is not your job or responsibility and the time you spend on that, exponentially increases your burnout rate and undermines whatever good work you are engaged in. It’s great to take care of people and work to assist the needy within our community and if that is what you are driven to do, great! If not, just don’t do it, explaining politely but firmly that you do not possess the resources, skill, willingness etc. and are not able to help them in that way. Respect often follows being clear and truthful about your personal limits, even if it occasionally follows at a distance. Ideally, the community is large enough and diverse enough, to be able to foist the “needy” person off on someone who is willing and able or has the resources to work with them in that regard.

Basic Cosmology and Worldview

Orthodox paganism adheres to some very simple and basic principles regarding the nature of the universe and our place within it.
Polytheism; there are many Gods, Goddesses, spirits and entities that are separate and distinct individuals. The New Age/Christian belief that all Gods or Goddesses are aspects of the “One”, commonly known as the ‘gemstone theory’, has no place in an Orthodox Pagan worldview. However one understands the Gods, their nature of existence, their structure and how they interact with humanity is the individual’s own business. This underscores the need to understand that some level of authority is necessary on the physical plane to get us all to the places that we enjoy. That is why most cars have only one gas pedal and only one steering wheel and why both are controlled by the same operator. We cannot all be “in charge” of everything and just because things unfold differently than we would like, or expect must never mean that they are, therefore, wrong.
The history of the universe and life; our universe is time-less, reality/matter has always been and always will be, the form merely changes. The ‘big bang’, ‘multiverse’ and other theories regarding how the universe is set up all are based on the principle that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it just is. The idea of “creation” or “prime mover” or any point where there was not nor will be matter is ridiculous and against basic common sense. Humans and all other life on this planet evolved and continue to evolve along the general Darwinian model; although we are all made up of elements that were formerly stardust, our species is no more special or unique than any other species. Race and ethnicity are opinion and personal preferences are based purely upon when a person chooses to stop going back in their genealogy. This is not to say that there is anything wrong having pride in you genetic history but in the end its really just what part of your family tree you know about, pay attention to and ascribe value to.
Spiritual/Religious practice; Orthodox pagans see Nature as inherently sacred with value and worth distinct from its value to humans. Any practice that includes that basic principal is acceptable. Magick, spells, and rituals are to be done with intent, focus and deliberation. Just phoning it in or merely “showing up” is not acceptable. These rites are powerful tools that allow us to connect with Nature and the Gods and are not to be engaged in lightly. We are 100% responsible for the affects our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical actions have on our selves, each other and the Earth. Any belief that includes a variation of the Law of Three or the understanding that we accept all of the consequences and benefits of our actions is acceptable.

Sexuality and Romantic Relationships

The underlying premise, in this respect, is that whatever consenting adults do is their business. Whatever a person’s belief, tendencies or practices are is acceptable as long as they are honest and straightforward with all concerned. Monogamy, celibacy, group marriage, open relationships, whatever. If everyone knows what’s going on and consistent straightforward honesty is used then whatever the adults involved do is their choice. With ultimate freedom, however, ultimate responsibility is required. The only concern is when honesty fails or is not part of the relationship and we call that ‘cheating’. An OP is responsible enough to be honest with themselves and anyone else in their life so that a relationship that is not working is either modified or ended as soon as possible in order to minimize the inevitable pain that occurs when a relationship of any kind ends. Flaunting sexuality in public or engaging in ribald talk when children are around is not acceptable. If you can’t keep your hands off a partner in public or refrain from talking about explicit topics around minors or keeping the sanctity of relations, then you are not OP material.

Personal Appearance

How we look matters. How we prepare ourselves before we go out in public is an indication of how we see ourselves and how we wish others to see us. Dressing up to shock or stand out for its own sake is not acceptable. We all need to be and feel secure enough in your own skin that we don’t need to draw attention to ourselves with outlandish clothing, piercings, hair styles/colors and the like. Wearing a cape, pointed hat and half a dozen pentacles to go to the store is just plain dumb and does not say ‘I’m comfortable being a pagan’ its screaming ‘look at how unique and special and out there I am, LOOK, LOOK!’  Orthodox pagans strive to be both comfortable and functional. There is nothing wrong with wearing clothing or modifying our appearance because we truly want to do so, the problem is figuring out if we are doing it because we think that’s the best way to express our identity, or if it is to get a reaction out of people. Well-intentioned people tend to judge all pagans on the first impression they get from the first pagan they run into. If the first one they see is someone with facial tattoos and ripped camo pants then their understanding of paganism will be ‘Ahh ha, pagans are creepy, scary, weirdoes’. Is it fair or right? No, but its reality, deal with it. If you are “too far gone”, unwilling or unable to look relatively ‘normal’ then OP is not for you. If fashion is more important to you than how people truly see you and our Path then you need to reexamine your priorities in life. Health, weight and hygiene are also important. If pagans are seen as obese, dirty, and unhealthy, the assumption will logically be that paganism causes people to be that way or at the very least, is unable to help them rise above such things. If we want paganism to grow and attract quality people, we need to be a cut above the norm when it comes to physical appearance and health. Personal improvement and staying committed to individual health and well-being is not only a benefit to the individual but part of our responsibility to the pagan community as a whole.

Finances and Money

We do not seek to take vows of poverty (although some have) or live on handouts (although some do) nor do we seek out a life that is materially full but spiritually impoverished. We have all seen, first-hand the dangers of that. If you are working hard at a job that you hate because you need to buy another, or bigger, plasma screen tee vee or make a payment on the second vacation home you are doing something wrong. Wrong, but fixable. As always we are striving towards balance and sustainability. As our species has gotten farther and farther away from an Earth-based spirituality and world view we have also lost an understanding of basic economic principles. Economics is merely an extension of ecological principals as all the players within any economic system are a subset, contained within the ecological sphere. All financial situations, no matter how dire, can be solved through self-discipline, focus, and being willing to do what is necessary to achieve your goal. Many people at this point will be thinking, “No, not me, my situation is so unique and so special and I’ve been put upon and oppressed so mercilessly, for so long, that there is just no way out of it. I’m forever condemned to work a crappy job so that I can afford a crappy place and enough beer to help me forget how crappy my life is”. If that’s so and you want to continue that life, good on ya’, enjoy your choice. It really is a choice. If, however, you want to change that then there are always solutions. Ask for assistance in this regard if you don’t know how to proceed yourself, ask other people and request assistance from the sacred as you understand it. A major part of living a good life is having good meaningful work to do. Getting up each morning and having nothing else going on except deciding what videogame to play or which drug to take in order to tolerate another dawn (or noon) is not living a life, its dying by inches. There is infinite possibility in this world and anyone that is willing to work at the process can have a job that they actually love, enjoy doing and to look forward to going to again in the morning. It is all about priorities and recognizing the basic natural laws of the world we live in. Your goal can be, to have enough money to sustain a lifestyle that allows you to do what you truly want this time around. If you have to work 80 hours a week and collapse in exhaustion each night, this is not a life worth living. Ditto if you are in massive debt or spend all your time maintaining or chasing possessions and assets. Consumerism is a disease of imbalance that serves to destroy the Earth, keep consumers unhappy, focused on wasting money and lusting after things they don’t need. A wise man, Tyler Durden’ ,once said ‘The things you own end up owning you. Throughout most of human history, poverty and lack have been roadblocks to overcome; now we are in the odd situation where excess and wealth are the impediments to spiritual growth and fulfillment.




 

Sorry for the image quality...If it resonates with you, I'm sure that you can find, or make a better one.


 
What Will be Expected of You

Someone who commits to an Orthodox Pagan path is explicitly stating that their spiritual path has meaning and worth and that they are willing to work at serving that path and the others that are on it. It’s the equivalent of being a "warrior for the faith", a zealot, a fanatic. It’s for those few that can see the amazing potential that paganism has to positively reshape our world and who are willing to do the necessary work to make that vision a reality. You will be expected to maintain or acquire a stable, sustainable, and functional lifestyle. Meaning; that they have a consistent and decent paying job or at least enough income that they are not living paycheck to paycheck, own a viable and working vehicle, have consistent, reliable means of communication open (phone and email), are either single or in a stable relationship, are completely out of the ‘broom closet’, maintain a healthy lifestyle (being in decent physical shape, drinking and smoking kept to a minimum). Your public behavior must be a cut above the rest, known as “pentacle out time”. This means that anytime you are out in public and are acting in a leadership or representation capacity you are putting yourself up as an example of what paganism is. If you are a known pagan or have any bumper stickers, clothing or jewelry that identifies you as a pagan you must act in a forthright, considerate, polite and helpful manner. No cutting people off in traffic or stiffing a waitress, no uncouth language or inappropriate actions. In addition you will be expected to consistently serve the greater pagan community and assist other orthodox pagans in any way that you can. This can and will take many forms, specifically but not limited to; creating or facilitating consistent social pagan events like pub moots, tea and talks, or other purely social events. We need to have free public events where pagans can go and meet others in a simple and pressure-free environment. These are simple to start but hard to maintain long-term and are not recommended for one person to tackle on their own, because of the strong possibility of them failing or a single organizer suffering burnout.
Setting up, publicizing and carrying out public sabbat celebrations. There are few things worse than a person on the pagan path being forced to celebrate holidays alone. To put on a decent half day sabbat celebration in any medium to large population center requires at least 3-5 dedicated individuals. If you are interested in such a thing, take one sabbat that is not being covered in your area and just do that one really well for a few years before you expand to others.

Doing public outreach/relations. Things like ‘adopt a highway’, blood donation, food/clothing drives, group volunteering at homeless/battered women shelters, food banks, and similar projects require minimal effort and can do a great deal of good while also doing the vital work of changing perceptions of what it means to be pagan in the minds of those you serve or serve with. There is also the option of volunteering your time at hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, and other institutions where pagan folk desperately need to see a friendly face.

Starting a Pagan Unity Council. Once you have a fair number of committed and functional pagans in an area you might consider formalizing your efforts around a Pagan Unity Council (PUC) that will be a clearinghouse of ideas and contacts as well as a focal point for organizational efforts in a particular city or county sized rural area.

Assisting with online groups. A great deal of modern pagan community is online and having consistent and well managed online forums, discussion groups and the like will do well to serve the pagans. You might also consider compiling online information and resources about your local pagan community and making that information available to all. Having a listing of active groups both online and real world as well as contact with local businesses and events can be a huge step forward for all of us as well.

Be a contact for police, media, and other institutions. The reason we are portrayed poorly in the media and are massively distorted or misunderstood by the police and legal system is because they have no reliable and consistent source of information regarding all things pagan. Think about this, if there is any legal question or controversy in your area about anything remotely pagan who do the police and media contact? They might get lucky and know someone who knows someone, they might contact Circle Sanctuary or Deeply Rooted, more likely they will make something up or ask the first freaky looking goth/hippie type they run into on the street. Not the best way to get information, but it is perhaps the only way they know to get input. This is an extremely important role that cannot be stepped into lightly and to do so without appreciating the importance of such a role will only further undermine the public’s perception of us.

Get involved with community gardens. Nearly every city of any size has some sort of community garden space that is open to the public and most years the property sits mostly unused. I can think of no better thing for pagan folk to do then to have a huge community garden plot in which we grow a ton of food, feeding ourselves and donating the rest to local food banks. Minimal effort is required, yet it produces a maximum of benefits and a multi-layered return on investment of both time and energy.

Literally thousands of other things that need doing are not getting done. Find something that speaks to you and run with it, hardcore. Find others that will help and are willing to focus on the good work and leave any other pettiness at the door. Support any other pagan group, Orthodox or mainstream that is doing what needs doing. Be unapologetic about what you are doing when the naysayers and whiners show up. Also remember to only commit to what you intend to follow through on. Support other Orthodox Pagans to the hilt both in public and private. If there is a problem, fix it. If you can’t support someone for some personal reason then do it quietly and without drama. If someone in the community is acting illegally or unethically to the point where they are making us all look bad then talk to as many people as possible and then, remove or expose the malefactor in a rational and unemotional way. Treat your service to the community/Gods/Goddess as a job, its serious and necessary work that deserves your full attention and priority.

If you are interested in doing something and don’t know how or have questions, ASK! There is nothing wrong in not knowing, the problem is, when people try to reinvent the wheel and end up making the same mistakes made a dozen times before, rather than just opening their mouths and asking for assistance. There are almost always people around who have done or attempted to do just about anything you can think of within the community, tap that pool of knowledge. Orthodox Pagans are required, repeat, required to help others looking to do good work within the community. If you know how to do something better or easier and are asked about it or see a fellow OP struggling with something you can help with you are required, and will be appreciated if you step up and assist to the best of your ability. This is not an easy path or way of doing things, but it needs to be walked in order for us to advance and move forward. The power that we feel in ceremony can be with us in every step, every moment of our lives, but it requires us to live according to our truest, most compassionate and most pure nature.

If you have any questions or would like an application for Orthodox Paganism please email at: deeplyrooted75@yahoo.com If you would like to check out our web presence, Deeply Rooted


Note: This is a hybridization of writing from a good friend, who hails from Central Wisconsin and although I tried to stay true to his message, I admit to adding a few sentences. Thank-you Wade, for your gracious giving, your insightful vision and your thoughtful reflection on coming changes for our community, our civilization and our planet. We all need to carry water from time to time, I appreciate your labors doing so.

U.S. Medical Research Tops 100 Billion/year

It may not seem like much, but imagine what could be done with an extra dollar per day multiplied by every single man, woman and child across our great nation. The biggest fallacy in this funding storm is that we will learn something important for all of these dollars. I have personally designed and carried out research that led to important discoveries, but they languished, were never published and never was funding available to allow full-time commitment to studying the important information that had implications for health, welfare and quality of life issues that will be with us for generations. If I could have tailored my research to support the multinational drug companies, or showcased the beneficial impacts of corporate greed or deception, I might have made a career of continuing research. The problem, for me, was that in seeking truth, I ran headlong into the teeth of the corporate welfare machine. Researchers who attempt to take the high road are both scoffed at and most often never funded.

In the cases that I studied, I neglected to think through who might pay for the sort of information that I gathered. If I had done so, I would have understood that my lines of inquiry posed a threat to current beliefs and understanding that command our attention and circumscribe our imagination. Great fortunes and careers can be made if researchers tailor their lines of questioning, as well as the answers they seek to the predominant approach to "science, medicine, and health" that are currently serving the ultra-wealthy. Any attempt to redefine our concept of health, (physical, mental, emotional or spiritual) welfare, security, physical reality or our relationship with the planet will not receive the attention they deserve and those who wish to carry our research on ways to live better at lower cost are deemed subversives and their research never sees the light of day. If the rich and powerful corporate welfare recipients cannot make even more money, they will have none of the truth that comes out from even the most cursory investigation. however, if there is a proprietary "cure", a silver bullet shrouded in side-effects or a patentable device, they will pour as much money as necessary into the investigation just to "make sure" that it works.

Ideas as simple as food is medicine and medicine is food cannot find a funding source because there is no money to be made by corporados on carrots, broccoli or cabbage. The lion's share of these research dollars flow to places one might expect. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, you know them, the poster children for medical research. If those who produce the commercials can find a soft spot in our armor, they can begin their work, getting us to donate to their "cause". Frequently, we see the results of our hyper concern, but the underlying truth is covered up as surely as the causes of our maladies. The Livestrong campaign, as many know, used Lance Armstrong as their organization's "face". What better person to put on your anti-cancer campaign but a survivor of testicular cancer. Old one nut was dropped as the spokesperson for their campaign after his doping fiasco came to a head last year. Lance finally admitted that he did take both banned substances (which can be carcinogenic) as well as using blood doping to win the Tour de France repeatedly. The part that the news spent the least amount of time on, however, was the fact that the Livestrong campaign spend less than five cents of every dollar they raise on cancer research and aid to those who have the disease. The elaborate heart-string pulling ads, the cute yellow bracelets and the multi-million dollar ad campaign primarily funds the PR folks, the kickbacks to sponsors, the corporate welfare whores who are the primary culprits poisoning the world. The research that shows plainly the rise in cancers and the collateral increase in carcinogenic materials in our environment are blackballed before they ever see the light of day.

Learning to ask the right questions can take a lifetime and I certainly am not the best authority on this topic, but the trends seem to be far to clear for us to ignore. The rapidly escalating occurrence of gluten intolerance, allergies of all types and mental disorders stem from a common source, but research that threatens the status quo will never make it to the trade journals, never be "taken seriously" by the monied classes and even if we were to do the hard work of proving the fallacies of business as usual, there would never be enough political will to go against those who are the major funding sources of either the research or the political campaigns of our leaders. Even benevolent and compassionate folks who seek to improve the quality of life for others buy into the failed systems of ecological destruction, scientific mayhem and dislocation that flows from the tendrils of corporate greed machines. This is why the first green revolution failed. This is why missionaries nearly always fail. This is why unequal distribution of wealth gets increasingly worse, never allocating resources fairly, never assuring that quality of life increases are not tied to ecological destruction. The way we attack problems has not changed, so expecting outcomes to change by doing more of the same is tantamount to building castles in the sand. Basing our way of life upon lies can never lead us to a better place. Confronting truth, even when it is uncomfortable is the only way forward.

My entire health-care budget is barely a dollar per day. I buy and grow my own herbs, visit a chiropractor occasionally and do my best to avoid breathing, drinking or eating anything that causes negative health impacts. I occasionally have to look at what others put in their grocery carts, what they choose to do for a living and the activities that they deem to be "fun" and wonder why more people are not dying off more quickly. Approximately 85% of what is sold at most grocery stores is what I consider to be non-food items. Pure salt, pure sugar, (or a combination of both) processed with a long list of questionable or dangerous additives, etc. The research that we all need so desperately is not the stuff that giant corporations and institutions are willing to fund, quite the opposite, it is what they are unwilling to see, unwilling to admit and vehemently opposed to seeing. I know a handful of people who grew up near or had parents who worked at the nuclear generating stations along Lake Michigan's shore. They are all battling thyroid conditions and several have had cancers, but none of them think that the radiation had anything to do with their conditions. Research into these sorts of toxic hot spots would reveal much, but the cost to industry of this sort of truth could be their undoing. I'm sure that they would have us know that there will be none of that!

Magic Beans U.S.P.S. (Untited States Postal Service)

I have said for years that the best way for the Postal Service to turn around budget woes is to go to MWF (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) delivery. Transportation of mail, through the expansive vehicle fleet is the single largest cost of their service. Continue to pay staff at current wages and try to utilize available hours for neighborhood involvement or community building. Imagine hundreds of thousands of USPS emissaries across the nation, making a difference in their families, home life and neighborhoods. This would reduce carbon emissions by nearly half and provide the biggest bang for the buck for those that want to slow climate change. The waiting of a single extra day should not cause any trouble on mail of any type save those that already incur extra charges. I have looked at the numbers, over half the postal service costs are transportation. Reducing red ink is as easy as stopping the funds hemorrhaged into the oil (fossil fuel) economy. A day of reckoning is upon us, either we will treat the planet with a bit of humanity and honor, or we will perish through ineptitude.

A second way to increase revenue is to make advertisers pay their way. If any for profit company wants to utilize the US mail, they should pay full freight for that piece. This unnecessary subsidy of corporations is hurting real people who have to lug that waste paper around! The incentives for cutting this beast's head off are many, but the benefits would accrue to everyone save the .0001%. Corporate welfare is class warfare.

We have the right to demand what serves the most of us the best, whether it be in things as deeply personal as our relationship to Creator, or with the Earth and the rest of creation; as communal as our food system or our education, or as public as either the rarefied echelons of governors who run our collective affairs and as mundane as how we each get our mail. We need to think what one of us would even be willing to run down a couple blocks for less than fifty cents, much less ship it all the way across this great nation? It is time to put on our big boy pants and get down to the matter of fixing the matter once and for all.

People over profits! This bean was once rare. When I first planted it, I was lucky to get a few pods with a few beans in each. After selectively harvesting and replanting the best each year, I now have only a few with only three seeds. Ideas are much the same. If we tend them and make good choices, weeding out the crap and re-investing only the best, they come out just fine. Anyone who tells you that they have all the answers is just kidding, but when they agree that we could all experience a lot more by trying than wringing our hands, studying the matter further or ascribing blame. If we invest in our best, give back to the community and become exemplary corporate citizens, abundance flows.

A Closer Look at America's Top .0001%

Forbes just released their annual report on the nation's four hundred top income "earners". The average income of this group is 1.38 Billion dollars, yes that is right. The numbers confirm that they are richer than ever. To get our heads around it, perhaps it would help to divide the income of just one of these ultra rich people by the four hundred million or so people in The United States of America. Looking at the numbers this way puts it in slightly better perspective. Let us say that each one of us, every man woman and child gave three dollars and fifty cents to one of these folks, then, to keep things straight, these folks made a line four hundred deep. Each one in turn would come to the front of the line and get their $3.50 and so on. They would collectively receive $1,400 from each man woman and child in America. Now I'm not provincial enough to not understand that most of these folks are involved in a worldwide network of exploitation (sorry to all the rich folks out there, I mean earnings), but to get a better picture of how much wealth these folks control, it helps to break the numbers down to what an average person can understand. I raised four children for the last twenty years on around 20K. If you look at the cost to our household alone of these very wealthy individuals, it would be about 1/4 of our income, siphoned off to support these levels of earnings for just those 400 wealthiest individuals.

I do not begrudge them their wealth, but I do detest the fact that they unduly influence public debate, political fortunes of our representatives and I certainly will not remain silent as their agendas are pushed through the Halls of Congress, The White House, or The Courts. I certainly do not want them to receive any sort of corporate welfare or subsidization of any kind. However, many of these fortunes are subsidized greatly and the extreme reach of government virtually assures that these people are rewarded at the expense of the rest of us. It is our hard work and as they say, our blood, sweat and tears that fund this level of luxury.

My children, if they want to "make something of themselves", will go into debt for the privilege, paying interest for years, so that the wealthy can play the system for all it is worth. If my children want to purchase a home, many of these people will get richer at their expense. If I or my children do not read labels carefully and remain ever-vigilant about the products that we buy, it assures that a large part of their purchases will flow to the pocketbooks of these billionaires. We will look a little closer at the numbers, but letting this sink in for a while will help to see some of the problems, and solutions that are necessary if we want to return to being a nation for, of and by the people.

Less than 2% of these 400 individuals are self-made women. Nearly ten percent of the top four hundred are female, but the vast majority of those women inherited their wealth. Once again, looking more closely at the numbers, the vast majority are older white men. I have tried to forgive as many of the mistakes that this "class" of people have made over the years as possible, but for their continued attempts to claim that climate change is fiction, for their continued fight against living wages for the rest of us, for their rape of the planet and her people and for the insensitivity to the levels of corporate welfare flooding into their coffers, I am not ready to forgive them. It seems that most of these individuals are either blind to their own responsibility or in denial about their complicity in many of our national problems, most of the environmental destruction and the lion's share of the human tragedies that are lived with day in and day out by the rest of us.

The wealth of the heirs of the Wal-mart fortune is a good case in point. Just one of the three stores that this company has built in my home town, (that continuously skims off money to be sent to Atlanta, never to return.) has received millions of dollars in subsidies. The local tax payers paid dearly for the "opportunity" to shop there. Not only was Wal-mart given seven years of tax exemption, (what small businessperson would not love to have that opportunity?) but the facility needed an intersection that cost over one million dollars to upgrade. The creek that used to flow past the area, supporting a wide variety of wildlife is now choked with boxes and bags, shopping carts and car piddle from the giant parking lot. Our city is not huge, only around 100,000 people, but this giant corporate entity thinks that building a fourth facility right in the heart of the city would help them to capture more wealth from our residents. The public is not interested in having them, but the monied interests weigh more heavily on state and local officials than the people who have to live here.

The most vile subsidy that we give the Wal-marts of the world, at least here in Wisconsin is that the poverty wages that they pay assure that publicly financed health care and food stamps are helping to keep their wage slaves alive. Millions more dollars, not going directly to the corporation, but paid by our citizens to prop up the economically unsustainable approach of the exploiters. Then, we can add in the dozens of locally owned and operated fabric stores, food stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, pharmacies, art supply stores, appliance stores, stationary shops, hardware stores and bike shops that have gone away since they came to town and you have a rough sketch of how they gobble up our quality of life while wresting more and more income from places that cannot afford a single penny more, for less. No one seems to like to look in the mirror anymore. We are the ones who have let this exploitation occur. We are the ones who feel threatened by our own poverty and we are ultimately the ones who line up for this sort of exploitation at the hands of the oligarchs.

It is my humble opinion that we need to understand that there has always been class warfare and the truth of the matter is, as Warren Buffet (who is always at or near the top of this list) himself has said, "My class, the rich are winning."

Change Agents

We are all at the helm. Truly, we are. There is a word in chemistry that describes when all the ingredients for change are ripe, available and ready to catalyze. They say that the mixture is ready to "go". Most often when these conditions occur, the change is quite noticeable. Energy, often times vast quantities of it are liberated as chemical bonds are broken or reorganized. Associations are made, intimate connections are established. We humans are not unlike our atomic relations. If you have ever been to a party where things are slow to get started, or where everyone is somewhat resistant to having a good time for one reason or another, you may have seen how the atmosphere can change radically in a very short time if someone takes the first step toward being open. I have seen that inspiration to change come from some of the most unlikely places. Once, it was from a person who just made the statement, "This is fun."

Conditions are ripe for exponential change, but it seems that someone has to dip their toe in the water before anyone else will be willing to take a dip in the waters of the new age. Who has not seen the rising tide of rebellion and protest around our planet? Why do you think that these things are taking place? We all know that we deserve better and that the people that have been at the top of the income ladder have been having their way with us, with the environment and with the resources of the planet. There are more and more stark reminders that if we do not put our foot down, and soon, there will be nothing left to save, nothing left worth eating and nothing to leave our children.

If we do not hang together, we will surely all hang separately was the watchword for the American Revolutionaries. Thomas Jefferson himself said, "God help this nation if it should go even twenty years without another revolution of this kind", and he was speaking of the revolution. we have put over two hundred years in the history books since then without an uprising of that type. The trade unionists made some tentative steps toward wresting some of the money and power from the ultra-wealthy, securing a bit of rest from their wage slavery and an end to outright exploitation of children, but over time many of those protections have eroded. Worldwide, women are still second-class citizens in many nations. Remarkably, just those in India and China abused by forms of  sexual slavery dwarf the number of black slaves that were traded worldwide during the cruel exploitation of the northwest Coast of Africa 150 years ago.

Global consciousness and a growing conscience is on the rise. Protests are gaining strength and followers. some are willing to die rather than accept continued exploitation. We must not let their deaths be in vain. If we do not stand for something, we can expect nothing from the elites who have plagued civilization from the start. There are plenty of billionaires who deem themselves benevolent, but the working class, the wage slaves who give their lives so that the wealthy can sleep on their golden fleeces, eat at the trough of luxury and bathe in the blood of the rest of us need to understand that we are the actual makers of all wealth upon the planet and they are the real takers.

When we conserve, we are always met by the powers that be raising the price of whatever it was that we conserved. When we buy nothing, we are told explicitly that we are the reason that the economy has collapsed. Never mind the fact that we work longer hours for less, or that we have to make choices between food and medicine, or the health of our children and a job. It is criminal that we do not have truth in news, in advertizing, often even in our schools. This on top of the fact that Christ himself, if you believe in him, would have been a radical, yet the churches refuse to speak truth to the wealthy and powerful elites that run our nations ragged trying to keep the wealthiest in the manner to which they have become accustomed.

We need to take conversations of this type into our family gatherings, into our faith communities, into the schools and the marketplace of ideas. No one is going to do it for us. We need to be the catalyst for taking a long hard look at what needs to be done. When the change starts to "go" all the money in the world will not stop it. All the weaponry on the face of the planet will not snuff our hope and the small steps we take to get things started will be remembered for the essential part they played in kicking off a revolution of conscience.

I would like to add a special thanks to Films for Action. blessed Be and namaste'

The Morning After

It seems to many that the way we "remember" the victims of 9-11 is wholly inappropriate. If we really wanted their deaths to be memorialized, perhaps we would not give in to the terror that struck our hearts on one specific day twelve years ago. The only prudent step or two that needed to be taken to prevent future "attacks" of this sort would have been to install locks on the cockpit doors, or perhaps, simplest of all, utilize the information that we already had on terror suspects to prevent a gang of them from all getting on the same plane together. That would have made the victim's lives somewhat more important. Instead, we have bands play somber music, read their names, ring bells, create elaborate and moving displays of the flag, create million-dollar sculptures, (even in cities and towns that experienced no loss on "that fateful day") visitor centers and spend billions on "security" based on the fact that several dozen people stepped outside the very clear lines of decency. Simultaneously, we, (our nation's representatives) resort to threats of warlike behavior, continue to hold the title of largest arms dealer on the planet and to undermine peace and security amongst nations halfway across the planet.

I personally find this deplorable. Our abuse of nations continues unabated. We have effectively turned our backs on every region of the planet that the "intelligence community" has deemed a hotbed for the foment of terrorist organizations. We have collectively ignored most of the facts about terrorism and allowed trillions to be spent "protecting" us from the miniscule chance of danger. More people die each month from drunk drivers in our state of Wisconsin than were lost in the attacks of 9-11, yet we feel a sense of pride when reports say that our rate of binge drinking is higher than any other state, or that drinking to disability occurs even in our young people not yet old enough to legally consume alcohol.

Just to get my facts straight, I read the 2012 Global Terrorism Index the peak year for deaths attributable to terrorists was 2007. Since that time the number of deaths annually has dropped 25%. Of those deaths, 6% are the terrorists themselves. Although The USA spends the lion's share of the money that gets spent on security, the threat is the lowest here. Western Europeans are nineteen times more likely to be killed in a terrorist attack than people in North America. Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan were by far the most dangerous countries according to this 2012 report.

Our leaders and the media like to blur the lines of reason and accuracy for their own purposes, this is not new, but since they have latched on to the image of the radicalized Islamic terrorist, it has been used to taint the morality, disparage the piety and assault the integrity of Muslims everywhere. This is often done subtly, but the overt racism behind our fear factory allows us to ignore the plight of virtually every brown person on the planet. Never mind the fact that in our own country, religious fundamentalists are often associated with KKK (Ku Klux Clan) activity, other forms of bigotry and hate, chattel slavery, spousal and child abuse and the growing hate speech displayed by tea party groups. There seems to be an understanding that has been reached between home grown terrorists and those who tell us what to fear. Being the majority led many to believe that "might makes right" and that our nation is a "Christian nation", or even that we had the God-given authority referred to as Manifest Destiny, which allowed us to kill off and subdue the native populations, not only of our nation, but those of the Caribbean, Central and South America and wherever resources existed that we wanted for our own.

As the numbers change, The United States of America is becoming a land of fewer and fewer "whites". In fact, if we add up all the "colored" people, taking them as one group, the whites are in the minority. How many years will it take for Congress to look more like the average citizen? More importantly, since we live in a culture that worships money, how long before our representatives change from being predominantly rich white men to more closely approximate the average American? We may all have a bit of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from the events of 9-11, but the daily assault by the ultra-wealthy upon the fabric of society is far more disabling. It seems that any attempt to speak truth to this kind of power relegates the speaker to the realm of terrorist sympathizer, un-American, or worse. Just as the rich and powerful branded those who called for environmental protection, improved educational opportunity and health care as Communists, the same forces are at work undermining the status of millions, if not billions of people who are calling "Bullshit" on the failed system that funnels more and more wealth to the highest echelons of wealth and power.

On 9-11, I always reflect on the slow death that our entire nation is experiencing at the hands of those who think that they will never have enough, in spite of the fact that they are choking on their own abundance. These are the same people who think, or at least try to tell us, that everyone hates us for our success. Those who have no standing, which is actually a larger and larger segment of the world's population will never matter to those who seem to count in our system. Not a single bankster, corporate welfare whore or Wall Street fraudster has been charged with wrongdoing over the collapse of our economy. Not a single person who claims that we would all be better off if the government was run like a business has been called out for their belief in fiction. Still, millions of Americans go to bed each night, fearing that they will lose their homes, that their retirement income will be wiped out by another crash of the stock market, or that they will be arbitrarily singled out for prosecution by the growing dragnet of information gathering that goes on under cover of "anti-terrorist" surveillance. The fraud, abuse and neglect of important issues that has come from committing so many resources to "making us safer" has hurt far more than the loss of a few thousand innocent people.

Denial Of Basic Fact

Truth is often far stranger than fiction and this is exquisitely so regarding the folks that make their way to powerful positions. This week we have been hearing a lot about two such anachronisms. Senator Ron Johnson who supposedly represents the great state of Wisconsin and the media personality Glenn Beck have both come to the attention of the public, not for what they stand for or believe in, but what they continue to deny. Contrary to the overwhelming preponderance of information regarding anthropogenic climate change, these two individuals choose to claim that it is all a hoax. I am seriously disturbed by the fact that instead of relegating the two of them to convalescent homes or mental institutions, we continue to give them huge salaries and bonuses for their utter ignorance.

You too could be a Senator in these United States, if you are willing to parrot back the tired old line of the oligarchs. This week, our illustrious Senator was called to task over his big huge foot in the mouth about how climate change has been trumped up by the rabble rousers who have implemented an "ecological jihad" against the benevolent "makers". The words that get used amongst politicians are even more bizarre than the code words for sex used in the cheapest dime store novels. fifty thousand signatures were delivered to our senator, calling for him to come clean about climate change and reluctantly he did speak to the subject, but only in the weakest of terms, clarifying his belief that the scientific community is still not sure what is causing the ice caps to melt and the oceans to become warmer.

Along with this aberrant perspective, Mr. Beck was quoted as telling his staffers that if they installed energy efficient light bulbs, they would be summarily dismissed. Now, I can empathize with folks who don't want to change, just because someone is telling them that they have to, but this is not yet the case. Incandescent bulbs are still available and will be for the foreseeable future. Perhaps I am odd, but I have been an early adopter of several cutting edge technologies. Not every tech gadget appeals to me, but when something works well, saves money and outlasts the item that it is meant to replace, I jump right in and buy it. this says quite a lot about me I guess because I tend to not like buying anything if it is not necessary. It just so happens to be the same day that we installed our first six LED bulbs.

In addition to being mercury free, these bulbs are instant on, energy efficient and cool to the touch. The compact fluorescent bulbs that they replaced  require 17 watts and their replacements produce a more even and brighter light for just 7.5 watts. Over the life of these bulbs, they would have saved over five hundred dollars in energy costs had I been using forty watt incandescent bulbs. Since I was already using CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lighting) my savings will be around half of that. However, after looking carefully at the facts, I was sold on the CFL technology twenty years ago. The primary "reason" people give for not liking CFL technology is that the bulbs contain mercury and require special disposal. In fact, the amount of mercury that is in a CFL bulb is less than the amount that would be spewed into the atmosphere by the wasted electricity required to get the same amount of light from an incandescent bulb. I do have to save the bulbs up to make sure they make it to the proper disposal facility, but that is a small price to pay for protecting the environment.

Just as many cities are requiring people to use composting facilities for their yard waste, it is becoming more important to make sure all of our "waste" gets tot he proper place so that it can be recycled or reused. compost is even better because it gets waste to transform into a useable product without the addition of hardly any energy and only a tiny bit of water. I have been composting for most of my life and the amount of dirt that I have created through this process would fill most houses. This soil is home to billions of creatures and even the enrichment of soils that I no longer live near makes me feel good and helps others to grow better vegetables. In time, we may be able to teach the idiots that are rich and powerful, but I'm not waiting around for that day. Instead, I share what I have come to know with whoever is willing to pay attention.

Thank you for being part of the process of building a better world. Do what you can to bring truth to the halls of politics. Encourage others to find solutions amongst the sea of problems that they tell us about on the news and above all, think long and hard about what each of us can do the heal the schism between humankind and nature. It may be the only way that we have to leave something for our children that they will be proud to call home.