Healing Our World: Weekly Comment

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http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2002/2002-08-02g.asp

Healing Our World: Weekly Comment

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

Celebrate the Harvest - But Be Aware of the Pain

Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess

The dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven,

She whose body encircles the universe:

I am the beauty of the green earth

And the white moon among the stars

And the mystery of the waters

And the desire of human hearts.

Call unto your soul: Arise and come unto me

For I am the soul of nature who gives

Life to the universe.

From me all things proceed

And unto me all things must return.

-- Zsuzanna Budapest

Ancient people who embraced the passage of time and their connection to the

natural world celebrated the seasons with great reverence. Another of the

celebration times of the people of the Northern Hemisphere is upon us, since

the time around August 1 was celebrated as the holiday Lammas or Lughnasadh,

the Celebration of Harvest. It is the beginning of a time where we give

thanks to the Earth for its bounty and beauty, because it is from these

harvests that we eat through the upcoming winter.

Statue of the goddess Ceres in Puigcerda, Spain (Photo courtesy City of

Puigcerda)

Honoring the Celtic God Lugh, the shining one, games and sports are played

to celebrate strength and good health. The Greek goddess of grain and

fertility, Demeter, called Ceres by the Romans, was also honored. This is a

time to harvest the dreams planted earlier in the year. The name of the

holiday comes from the Old Irish word Lunasa which means August. It

celebrates the Sun god, but is principally a grain festival, celebrating the

harvest.

I am always amazed at the power of the Earth's seasonal cycles to ground and

center me as well as provide lucid metaphors for the happenings of my life

and the world around me. They are times to celebrate, times to embrace the

life force, and times to reflect on the bounty of our lives. But in our

troubled era, they must also be times for reflection on the challenges we

face and the suffering of others.

I am convinced, though, that if we all took time, at least during the

important seasonal holidays, to appreciate their power and reflect on how

they fit into our lives, we would find many less pressures on our paths.

With the toxic load our bodies are faced with every day, many believe that

we may all be suffering to some extent. Yet how often do we ignore our ill

health, brushing it off as " the flu " because of a lack of evidence to the

contrary? Some believe that the problem of environmentally induced illnesses

cannot be understood by applying traditional scientific methodology to the

problem.

Harvest, Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin (Photo by Bob courtesy NREL)

The answer may lie not in looking for a microscopic solution, but a

macroscopic one that involves an attempt to understand the complex

interactions and interdependencies that exist between life forms and life

cycles on Earth.

How did we get so out of touch with the cycles of life, the rhythms of

nature, and the truth from our souls? Everywhere around us the clues to the

solution abound, but we keep ourselves so protected, so isolated, so shut

down to the " sounds of the Earth crying " as Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn

says.

In our consume-at-all-costs culture, our leaders wait until a toxic problem

kills before they act. And the resulting action is minimal, designed to keep

commerce flowing.

In Seattle, one citrus longhorned beetle was found and an over-reactive

state Department of Agriculture, fond of calling the sighting of one insect

an " infestation, " ordered the killing of over 1,000 trees rather than

consider long term solutions. That department is heavily influenced by the

lumber industry that has often turned its fears of loss of profit into

government sanctioned environmental devastation.

In Oregon, home to devastating wildfires over the last few weeks, knee-jerk

reactions abound as legislators talk of ordering the wholesale destruction

of huge stands of old-growth forest.

By contrast, five year old children in Cambodia dig through the mud of

streams - and hope they don't encounter unexploded ammunition from the

Vietnam War - looking for a few crabs to bring home to their destitute

families for a meager meal.

And a Seattle billionaire rejoices as he leases out 133,000 square feet of

his new building to a pharmaceutical company in the largest lease in the

city to happen in over a year. That company, Merck, is at the center of a

global controversy about the morality, and legality, of keeping prices high

on drugs to combat the global killer, AIDS.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) says, " The cost of these

drugs is $10,000 to $15,000 a year - placing them far out of reach of the 36

million people in low income countries, including 25 million in sub-Saharan

Africa, who need them. "

Merck is one of the companies that refuses to lower the price. A top Merck

official told the CEPR, " They are stealing my intellectual property, and I

cannot accept that. " The center says, " Most people would not be convinced by

this argument. Should millions of people be condemned to death in order to

protect the patents of pharmaceutical companies? "

Rancher up at sunrise in ville, Texas (Photo by Warren Gretz courtesy

NREL)

We all desperately need to globally connect our issues and stop allowing

individual greed to rule the land. Acknowledging the seasonal cycles can

help to achieve this goal by providing a focus for the need to connect the

issues on a planetary scale.

How many of you have noticed that since the Summer Solstice on June 21, the

Sun has, each day, risen a little farther to the south of east and has

remained in the sky a few minutes less? The days have been getting shorter

and shorter until on Yule, the Winter Solstice, we in the Northern

Hemisphere will experience the shortest day of the year.

Recognition of these times of year can be a powerful healing tool for us.

Imagine how the ancient peoples of the Earth felt as they observed that the

Sun, the orb that gives us heat and light, kept getting lower and lower in

the sky and the days kept getting shorter and shorter. The fear must have

arisen that the night would get longer and longer and that the Sun would

eventually disappear completely. What could they do but surrender to this

fear and prepare themselves for the winter. They gathered food, they made

their families as safe and warm as they possibly could, and reflected on the

bounty of the past harvest and the joys that might be taken away.

These people must have felt that they were receiving the incredible gift of

life when the Sun began journeying higher and higher and the days got longer

and longer as Winter faded. Eventually, this time of year became a part of

the Wheel of the Year, the earthly representation of the Earth's journey

around the Sun, the cycle of life, a time to slow down, reflect, and

appreciate the bounty of the harvest.

Foods made from corn (Photo by Weller courtesy USDA)

As July ended, there was much to be harvested and our ancestors - and many

connected people today - realized that protecting and celebrating the

harvest was vital as the shades of winter to come could be seen on the

horizon. Techniques to preserve food were developed and the Corn Mother and

Corn Maiden were celebrated in ancient Germanic countries and those of

Eastern Europe. Other countries had their own spiritual representations of

this powerful grain.

Lammas recognizes that while there is much to celebrate, there is also much

hard work ahead and much to harvest before winter comes.

For a week, become very aware of the rising and setting of the Sun and Moon.

Don't let a day or a night go by when you do not go outside and look for the

two heavenly objects that are such an important part of our lives.

Make a cornbread with your family and have a quiet feast, reflecting upon

your own bounty. But also be mindful of the suffering throughout the world

caused by forces out of your control. And be especially mindful of the

suffering that is caused by our daily overconsumption of precious resources

and inadvertent poisoning of our Earth's life systems.

Just be aware that you are of this Earth.

RESOURCES

1. Visit the Wheel of the Year website for information on celebrations from

cultures around the world at: http://www.wheeloftheyear.com/index.html

2. There are many ways to celebrate Lammas. Dry some corn kernels and make a

necklace of them with your family. As you are shucking the corn, sing a song

like " Mother of Corn, I harvest thee. In Spring thou wilt, a maiden be! "

(from " Ancient Ways, Reclaiming Pagan Traditions, " by ine Campanelli.

Llewellyln Publications, 1993)

3. Read of the controversy about AIDS drug availability at the Center for

economic and policy research at:

http://www.cepr.net/columns/weisbrot/aids_drugs.htm

4. See more about the citrus longhorn beetle issue by clicking here.

5. Visit the Environmental Defense website to learn about what toxic sources

are in your community at: http://www.scorecard.org/

6. Learn about the seasonal cycles and celebrations at the School of the

Seasons website at: http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/index.html

7. I will soon have a new book of images published that will help you focus

visually on the web of life and reflect on our many issues. See a preview of

the book, " Of This Earth, Reflections on Connections, " and the images at:

http://www.ofthisearth.org

8. Take action on important issues today with the help of Working Assets Act

For Change website at: http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/index.cfm.

9. Visit the 20/20 Vision website for more ways to make your voice heard on

issues today at: http://www.2020vision.org/index.htm

{Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle and the

author of " Healing Our World, " A Journey from the Darkness Into the Light, "

available at: http://www.xlibris.com/HealingOurWorld.html or your local

bookstore. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at:

jackie@... and visit his website at:

http://www.healingourworld.com}

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002