Showing posts with label Paul Manski. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 05, 2026

Bioregional Vitalism and the Spring Equinox Revelations

Wild Herb Ways: Bioregional Vitalism and the Spring Equinox Revelations

11 sources·May 5, 2026

Wild Herb Ways: Bioregional Vitalism and the Path

Executive Summary

The "Wild Herb Ways" framework, primarily articulated here by Paul Manski, in written form, is a workable repeatable practice rooted in a practical deep ecological small group process and represents a workable, repeatable synthesis of deep ecological small learning re-learning groups, rooted within bioregional herbalism, learned and practiced in the American southwest. Manski frequently references the primarily 'magical realism' literary approach often sentient in the southwest. Paul Manski did not originate the practice or the lexicon but learned it through teachers such as John J Slattery, Michael Cottingham, Mimi Kemp, Donna Chesner and students of Michael Shaw Moore sharing insights gained from face to face small group encounters with these teachers. Manski further focuses his own traditionalist Tridentine Latin mass Catholic Christianity, with direct learning, experiences and transmission within both Rinzai Zen and Hindu yoga, from residing for years at ashrams and zendos practicing eastern therapeutic body movement practice. European ancestral vitalism with small group experiential practice therapeutic work informs his framework for study and small group deep ecological based experiential learning in the American southwest that Manski calls "Turtle Island" within his 'magical realism' comprehensive teaching learning frame designed to heighten small group solidarity herbalism. In addition Manski integrates his western "medical model" clinical experience and training as a licensed RN.

At its core, the work is small group experiential practice. Manski in his writing. posits that small groups must gather, venture, and regroup into the ecosystem of person, plant and place. The process is small group: gather, venture and share within what John J Slattery calls the "4 directional model" of authentic plant study. Paul Manski writes throughout his blog that bio-learning demands a liberation ethic of a journey out of self limiting modernity which is currently "compromised" and "traumatized" by a mechanized, technology-driven culture that forms alienated self individuals alienated from their small group inherent biospirit nature. Manski posits the welcoming small group as "tool-using social animals" members with innate wellness tendencies can form a homeostasis model self-thus, self-modulating stability and well-being mode of study.

For Paul Manski Sobriety is a key practice for biospirit unfoldment. Sobriety is a mandatory foundational practice for well being unfoldment. Maintaining sobriety is a key core component value. The culture of "experimental drug use" is a form of "degeneracy of experience" and is viewed as an intentional "erasure of Western norms" for the purpose of control and disempowerment.

https://youtu.be/N-L_gXdTzYk?si=_3KzSI-VpaPRTKwk

The remedy proposed is a "radically peaceful" return to "sitting with plants"—an experiential, intuitive practice of reconnecting with the local landscape (specifically the Southwestern "Turtle Island" bioregion) through intimate small group workshops called the "oral tradition". This practice is not merely medicinal but biospiritual, advocating for "Wellbeing" and the "Common Good" as defined by experiences aided by Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy. Key takeaways include:

Biospiritual Vitalism: The belief that all life is animated by a divine spark and that healing requires an experiential descriptive "is" "root shift" in experiential consciousness rather than a proscriptive "should be" "heroic" focus on symptoms.
Bioregional Identity: A rejection of abstract, proscriptive belief identities in favor of local descriptive experiential identity, face-to-face community grounded in specific watersheds and mountain ranges.
Traditionalist Synthesis: The synthesis of the Virgin Mary completed as the fulfilled "Madre de Dios" "Mother of God" with localized and European archetypes (e.g., "Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe", "Changing Woman" "Pachamama" "Santa Teresita"and "Europa") a 500 year tradition in new world Catholicism to form "Earth Mother" and Sky Father" figures central to experiencing "folk" place in the bioregion, person, plant and place.
Techno-cultural Critique: A warning that modern "entertainment" media forms a sub-conscious mythology. While exploitative technology (drones, AI, video games) function as "negative programming" non-experiential, sub-conscious vicarious memories which sabotage subconscious thought "ok-ing" the violence of for profit mechanized war. Sub-conscious thought is an automatic process. "negative programming" non-experiential, sub-conscious vicarious memories as entertainment are designed to erase ethnic and spiritual heritage to support hegemony of the uni-verse vs multi-polarity of the multi-verse of place.

I. The Practice of "Sitting with Plants"

Person, plant and place. One foundational method of "Wild Herb Ways" and people seeking deeper relationship as small groups undergoing experiential training is the small group together action corridor of "sitting with plants." "sitting with plants" is a small group practice created and utilized by bioregional vitalist John J Slattery who developed the practice, theory and lexicon. Manski describes this as a small group experiential exchange of energy between the actually present small group of persons and the actual botanical world as "person, plant and place" as per Slattery, present as both a solo and group together practice. Sitting with plants involves a small group practice which centers on what Slattery calls "listening to the whole terrain". Then sharing the experiential insights within the trusting circle in what Slattery, Dolores LaChapelle, Mimi Kemp and Donna Chesner called the "talking stick" approach. This is then expanded as more experienced elders present within the small group circle add botanical specifics, historical herbal history known as "plant story" and clinical herbal notes. During the process, if appropriate to the plant, herbal teas maybe be brewed on site on portable stoves, herbal glycerides or tinctures passed around, or small portions of the above ground plant may be sampled in a process Slattery calls organoleptic testing. Participants are eased into the process of using and becoming familiar with specific herbal lexicon to describe the "taste, smell, texture, color, and botanical attributes".

https://youtu.be/M913hbWeHPE?si=6qqSZgQAX4o7vN13

A. Methodology of Connection

Intuition and Presence: Practitioners are encouraged to experience the actual place, the "whole terrain" of the small group encounter and enter the "present moment place" through honing observational skills, focused breathing and "organoleptic" study (tasting, smelling, touching) in the small group workshops therapeutic environment of a specific bioregional place.
BioSpiritual Introduction: The process for Paul Manski often involves repetitive litany prayer (specifically to male and female forms of God within the Father Sky and the Blessed Mary Earth) and an introduction of oneself to the plant, entering the place, explaining the intention to help one's community.
The "Verb" of Medicine: Medicine is defined not as a noun (a commodity to be bought) but as a verb—a process, an active "connection" that cannot be "bought" though can be facilitated in the small group. -as per herbalist Michael Cottingham

B. Core Concepts

Focus on small group circle: The small group, face to face, IRL learning formative experiential learning mode which Paul Manski describes as "herbmaxxing".
As above so below: The vitalizing principle "out there" is active and operant "in here"
as well as within the small therapeutic group practice circle of person, plant and place. The present here now monment is one model to facilitate loving becoming in the bioregion of mountains, watersheds as bioregion. -as taught by Dolores LaChapelle at the way of the mountain center Silverton, Colorado
Multiverse vs. Universe: The "situation unfoldment" can be experienced as specific place as a "many-storied" multiverse of multipolarity, rejecting the "hegemony" of a single dominant narrative or power. Each person to be fully authentic must be specific fully here, fully now within a bioregion of person, plant and place.
Tool-Using Social Animals: Human beings are defined by their nature to use tools and function most effectively in the small group. Manski argues this small group nature called by poet Gary Snyder, the "real work", has been "hijacked" within a state-ism by trauma for mechanized war and violence, requiring a peaceful extension of small group energy to reclaim it within the remedio.
Vitalist Sovereignty: Vitalism is defined as harmony with naturally present "as above so below" forces and energetic relationships present in both the living landscape which he calls the localism and sovereignty of one's body-spirit, hence "biospirit" and immediate small group based community functioning as a wellbeing imperium.

https://youtu.be/SC1e81jV7Lo?si=bY45Lu35yid30toH

"In Ayurveda a person with kapha dominance tends to be overweight, sluggish and tends to present with allergic reactions, congested, stuck mucus and may suffer from depression. Depression in the sense of limitation on activity, suppression, decrease, inactivity, I think the key point here is depression. And I will address this soon in terms of the Gestalt approach to illness. Because while chronic inflammation has a metabolic and physical cause it manifests as a decrease in activity and this is called in Ayurvedic medicine, kapha dominance. So this kapha dominant formula addresses the multi-factorial processes of inflammation.

This kapha dominance could best be understood as a person with chronic systemic inflammation. One of the key points of inflammation is that it manifests as loss of proper function in a particular area of the body or in a particular organ system and I think this would be a good working definition, nonjudgmental for what is often turned depression.

Depression is precisely that, a depression in physical activity. A decrease in physical activity means you are doing less hence being less, becoming less. A decrease in the essential inner life of the person. As unitary beings a sustained decrease in physical activity tends to spill over into lowered vital force. We as westerners have inherited a frame of reference identified by Descartes. 'Cogito ergo sum', I think therefore I am. Yet Descartes did not create a separation. He noticed, identified a separation. He noticed it within and with his thinking perception. The separation is actually there in the dual hemispheric mammalian brain. This separation is due to an actual left right hemispheric process in our human brain. This split identified by Descartes is due to the hemispheric processing mechanism of the brain, left right. This divided symmetry is present in everything we do. We can encapsulate this situation by saying, we have two hands left and right with a single heart. If you learned to write old style cursive with your right hand, then break your right hand, so it is in a cast, you won't be able to write cursive with your left hand. It is as if your right hand belongs to a person who writes cursive and your left hand belongs to another person who never learned cursive handwriting. So there are multiple truths happening at the same time within a unitary package. I posit in my teaching a unitary identity concept I call biospirit. I intensify biospirit identity as part of the essential well-being health process. There is a subtle dualism, a mind body perception split, within a unitary response corridor. With a decrease in the physical doing life of the person, the person becomes over involved with inner processes that would best be left to the inner flow of internal events and processes. Imagine a person, who was focused on changing an autonomic process like the heartbeat. The heart in normal conditions adjusts to an increase or decrease in activity, there is no need to control it, it controls itself. Thought and the pattern of thought is and should be for the most part an automatic process which changes with conditions. To be neurotically involved with controlling thinking is to distrust the natural movement within the psyche. "The person is not 'moving', is 'stuck' and this stuck-ness and sluggishness of the body produces an over abundance of mental contents. Often these thought patterns of self-stimulation are loops of repetitive thought, that become more and more prescriptive in nature, focusing on should, what should be done, what could be done, what if scenarios."-Michael Cottingham

This is the manifestation and this formula addresses various elements of this situation. For instance in something like chronic arthritis what you have is a joint which is unable to move or is painful to move so what you have is the person not moving. You have a person who is not moving around because they have bilateral knee joint pain. You have decreased or depressed physical activity which manifests mentally, spiritual decrease. We are body in spirit, spirit in body. We are biospirit. And with this pain comes a lack of movement. And with this lack of body movement you have lack of spirit movement. You have a lack of becoming. So what happens when you don't move around, and you eat an bio compromised american nutrient poor fake diet? You have a decrease in the life force. You have Biospiritual attack." - Paul Manski within his studies of Fritz Perls and Gestalt Therapy in the small group Context https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2016/02/turmeric-tonic-and-fritz-perls-by-paul.html

II. Botanical Profiles and Medicinal Applications

The sources detail various Southwestern plants, attributing specific "biospiritual" and physiological qualities to each.

Plant Name	Common/Folk Names	Key Uses & Attributes
Conopholis alpina	Cancer Root, Squawroot	Restorative; used for male potency and muscular weakness following significant illness; "Neptunian" energy.
Corydalis aurea	Scrambled Eggs, Golden Smoke	Nervine and relaxant; acts as a digestive stimulant/bitter; helps "open up" the practitioner to the now.
Krameria erecta	Porphyry	"Herbmaxxing ascension plant"; used for "ancestral healing memory" and treating incurable wounds.
Prunus serotina	Black Cherry	Dependable anxiolytic for "overtired, edgy types"; used as a cough suppressant and flavor enhancer.
Ptelea trifoliata	Hoptree	Carminative digestive bitter; used for loss of appetite in old age or malaise following feverish illness.
Maianthemum racemosum	False Solomon Seal	Topical skin soothing poultice (astringent); aligns with kidney and lung Qi.
Larrea tridentata	Creosote, La Gobernadora	Defines the Southwest; used for sunburned skin and as a bitter; symbolic of sustainability and availability.
Rosa spp.	Rosehips	High-vitamin food; rebuilds the immune system and restores boundaries between self and other.

III. Philosophical and Political Framework

The "Wild Herb Ways" philosophy heavily integrates classical Western philosophy and contemporary "dissident" political theory.

A. The "Common Good" and Group Politik

Citing Aristotle, Cicero, and Thomas Aquinas, the documents argue that the city-state (Polis) must prioritize the "Common Good" (bonum commune) of its specific citizens, in a specific place of watersheds and place. The"common good" is hence the wellbeing of the small group being the primacy of the family.

Wellbeing: The framework advocates for "Wellbeing" as a legitimate moral pursuit, arguing that current "anti-life" regimes prioritize "Entertainment media cosplay" and "global consumerism" over local direct folk.
Immune System Analogy: Group identity is compared to a biological immune system. Just as a cell requires a membrane to distinguish "self" in order to promote the cell from "other," a small group community requires boundaries to maximize well-being and re-facilitate and promote small group encounters on the actual landscape of place within a tyranny of technological force continuously "broadcasting" a narrative of nihilism to maximize consumption while minimizing the validity of actual IRL person, plant and place within the bioregion of watersheds and mountains.

B. Critique of Modernity

Media Programming: Modern media is described as "electronic media conditioning" that uses "monotonous repetition" to program defeat, nihilism, guilt, addiction into the population to facilitate weakening the small group and promoting selfish individualism addiction hoarder values and conspicuous consumption.
Technological Violence: Any technology (that highlights proscriptive media entertainment memory) that "divorces human beings... from their innate small group experience" is categorized as a form of violence utilizing the micro-aggression of trauma to attain rupture and hence the atomized isolated fragmented individual as commodity.
"Sobriety": Sobriety is a key practice for biospirit unfoldment. Maintaining sobriety is a key core component value. The culture of "experimental drug use" is a form of "degeneracy of experience" and is viewed as an intentional "erasure of Western norms" for the purpose of control and disempowerment. https://youtu.be/HfLi2R2Vqtg?si=jd-z1x03LwTDD-H9

According to Paul Manski writing on the essential foundational value of sobriety. Manski proposes: "....No western society that has stood the test of time can endure the threat of mass decriminalized drug use. The deconstructed social order agenda mandates tolerance of and non apprehension of social parasite criminals who transport, sell and encourage the use of intoxicating addictive deadly drugs like alcohol, opiates, marijuana, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines. The deconstructed social order mandates the suspension of laws banning the sale of these deadly substances. It encourages the use of these intoxicants among our young to destroy the power of the young next generation so you have an inevitable step down, dumb down decline. The spread of poverty flat unhoused tent cities in all urban areas is now accepted as part of the beautiful new deconstructed social order. Rather than treat addiction and maladaptive norms and punish crime and drug sales, instead promote crime and drug addiction as the new fun way to be. The dumbed down masses annihilated through openly sold death mantra marijuana, death mantra opiates, young ladies swigging beer and whiskey like tattooed sailors on shore leave birthing a proud new generation of fetal alcohol syndrome, ADHD autistic Jerry’s kids, sex drugs and rock and roll, proud low IQ handicappers, is now said to be a new moral good.

Even though countless medical studies prove that the genetically altered marijuana when used as designed creates gene expression changes that trigger lifelong schizophrenia and psychotic breakdowns. If only 1:25 people enjoy the marijuana psychosis gene expression over a societal cohort of casual marijuana abusers that means there are millions of forever mentally handicapped non functionary hangers on, non contributors. Millions of our children pushed via a child abuse agenda on a life long marijuana sold for profit addiction march towards lowered potential. Much like the use abuse of the red man’s indian indigenous curse tobacco that causes lung cancer, causes heart disease, emphysema, copd, deforms unborn children in the mother’s womb, was marketed as a good pleasant billion dollar death industry to our children in previous generations. And exactly are the psilocybin mushroom, ketamine, marijuana, fentanyl, opiates, psychiatric antidepressants of today, marching our children in a death march to lowered achievement slavery. None of these chemical addiction strait jacket stories are new. They were told over and over again in the freak show side show story now become the social media influencer. Or exactly like alcohol marketed today as an identified teratogenic substance in a billion dollar industry to women of childbearing age, entrusted with birthing our future. Know that our future is only through the mothers who birth our race. Alcohol is marketed to western women to dumb down intellectual capacity of the children they will inevitably carry.

As said before sobriety is society. Sobriety is not an optional occasional break from the chase for an ever deeper dopamine high. Sobriety is the fundamental basis for our continued group existence wellbeing. This does not even begin to address the meth amphetamine salts, meth both pharmaceutical meth and private underground lab meth, opiates, fentanyl, psychiatric drugs, benzodiazepines made available to western youth that will forever doze our western biospirit into the chemical sleep of erasure." -Paul Manski

IV. Theological Synthesis: The Divine Mother and the Earth

The theology of "Wild Herb Ways" centers on the "Theotokos" (Mary) and her relationship to the natural world. https://youtu.be/Md1hA7xlLvk?si=3vvEADblAhmuiYMI

A. The Archetype of "Mary the Mother of God as Changing Woman"

The documents combine the Catholic Mary Mother of God and traditional Catholic concepts of the southwest https://youtu.be/9xibIefTl18?si=T0NJbUSmu2NkautP

Self-Renewal: Like the seasons, she attains old age and is reborn, representing the "perpetual rejuvenation" of the earth.
Mistress of Animals: She is the keeper of sheep, deer, and all wildlife; the "Queen of the Flower World."
Lá Bealtaine: The high holy days of Beltane (May 1st) are dedicated to her as the "Earth Mother," celebrating the rising energy of spring. https://youtu.be/kwbJDk-SU7k?si=lvcqjKgTRorFy-_T

B. Celestial Lore and the Bear Stars

The "Wild Herb Way" tracks the solar and lunar cycles, emphasizing the Big Dipper (Ursus Major).

The Bear Path: The rotation of the Great Bear around Polaris (the North Star) mirrors the rising and falling energy of plants.
Ancestral DNA: Manski asserts that European and Eur-Asian circumpolar peoples share "Neanderthal DNA" and the associated "bear star stories," which are foundational to their biospirit. https://youtu.be/SU2PqNm5DdU?si=CvyKDzAGUrDL_1YN

"Orchid Manifesto genius world genius teacher wild herb ways, peace pilgrim, smash your tv, get rid of airconditioning, Resist the deadly A/C mandate composition, as long as you live never watch a cinema movie ever again. All rights reserved copyright 2025. Recorded 21.8.2025 Santa, New improved, Claro New Nuevo Mexico. Written composed, recorded by Paul Manski (Orchid Manifesto for two basses, slide guitar, vocals, lyrics, percussion, music all performed, by Wild Herb Ways is the phenomena entity, writer researcher giving you the tools to become a people, an us and maximize our wellbeing. Blogging ocotillo, juniper to pine…Building the commune of love for us as a people together the obviously obvious non-enigma, giving selflessly in the here now, all things in common, be the love we are. Wild Herb Ways plant study commune is community focused on Wild Herb Ways Vitalist Christian in the Five Principles:Love, sobriety, law, beauty, truth; as teaching/learning, learning/teaching, and is active on Turtle Island in the southwest paw of the Turtle. We understand Jesus lived walked and taught here on Turtle Island and was born to the Virgin Mary who married Ursus Major the Great Bear, and she never died, went up in the sky. maybe to Polaris?. We trend Catholic as peace pilgrim church disavowing violence. We boycott the military industrial complex. We bicycle as much as possible. Homes, land, cars, trucks cell phones owned communal. Our ministry is spreading face to face herbalism as part of our religious monkey wrench practice. Be blessed. We use gestalt psychology CBT DBT as the hot seat, mid wifery, herbal cures, and lots of talk. We understand music is prayer and punctuate our live song, live strong, do something even if it's wrong..

Hold your slick rock turtle island shoulders high. Fly under the radar. Be simple, be plain. We understand one or two years are left and therefore Vote love, vote always, wave the we as an us, as a people flag, become the who of what we are, beautiful, a people...Honour folk, plant, place....gray and red squirrels, wolf and elk, beaver, chipmunk, skunk and snake, road runner,.... Lyrics, music, copyright 2025, all rights reserved: “Green Orchid Manifesto, Orchid knows, everything knows, Orchid knows where raspberry grows. Orchid knows, I stand with the green, in all directions, may all be well, blessings always, with green Paleolithic Neanderthal Mary Orchid rose. Orchid knows Orchid knows gray and red squirrels, wolf and elk, beaver, chipmunk, skunk and snake. Orchid knows. Green Orchid manifesto orchid knows, orchid knows where raspberry grows, where road runner, hawk, raven, hopping red breast robin goes. Orchid knows blue stellar jay, cinnamon bear coyote fox, bob cat, Aspen meadow snow. Orchid knows perfect love flows orchid knows. Orchid knows I am wild herb ways. Orchid knows I am the medicine road. Orchid know where raspberry grows. You are a golden raspberry rose, orchid knows. Orchid knowsI stand with the green, in all directions, may all be well, blessings always, with green Paleolithic Neanderthal orchid Mary. Orchid knows At your side orchid knows the perfect wild rose, supply of flows. Orchid knows iris raspberry rose, bitter yellow, oh orchid knows clear to have met your taste. Holy Ghost air wind nourish with vital force, orchid manifesto. I lift them up alive, your family grows. Orchid knows greenness of remedios, waters flow, the sunflows, live in light, the orchid rain falls flows, orchid flows knows the moon rising. sunset she is flamed by his light, to rise again… I stand with the green, in all directions, may all be well, blessings always, with green Paleolithic Neanderthal orchid Mary. The mother of mothers knows where the raspberry grows, mother of sons, mother of daughters, mother of raspberry rose. Orchid mother of holy remedio. Orchid mother of rocks and cliff face ledges, orchid mother of golden dawn, orchid mother of heaven’s door, orchid mother of morning star, orchid mother of angel messengers, orchid knows my mother of ancient ancestor agrimony and saint john’s aconite Poleo bugle weed, and our mother of the snow. Orchid knows mother of red and white monarda grow. Orchid agrimony and saint john’s aconite Poleo bugle weed, and our mother as the racial ero-cult of faith built generation by generation. Orchid through eternal sacred celestial marriage between a man and woman in the sacred euro tribe. The Orchid manifesto flows, and it goes. The Orchid knows green flame force, hidden in blowing winds blow. All of the essence and not found in death. Orid knows I am the vital force alive, Crawling up your turtle island spine. Orchid knows the way back home back. Your slick rock shoulders continental divide under oaks with pedicularis, flowers color chocolate orchid knows, orchid knows the way back home. Orchid manifesto the perfect iris raspberry rose, orchid knows, orchid knows." https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2025/12/green-orchid-mind-of-master-paul.html

V. Key Insights and Directives

The sources offer several aphoristic "Revelations" for the "Peace Pilgrim":

"Life is too short for grief, or regret, or bullshit." (Quoting Edward Abbey).
Responsibility for Wellbeing: Individuals and small group communities must take responsibility for their health and psychological state; blaming others is a "disaster strategy."
The "Inner Smile": A Qigong practice to nourish vitality, beginning with activating a happy memory and imagining a cloudless blue sky.
Faith Action Bioregion: "Faith is meaningless" unless it is expressed through small group action and the "the experience living out the fundamental truth of family within specific bioregion" and small group dynamics
Suspicion of the "AI Intranet": The AI internet is viewed as a "potential trap" and "surveillance device" True work and "dialogic communication" should occur face-to-face in situations that maximize small group dynamics within bioregion of place.
Vote for love, give your television to someone else. Pledge peace, and never watch mainstream movies again. Entertainment is poison. Vote for "us" and create your own songs with folk music. Sing every day. Our faith is our music. We have bodies and voices. Create a choir. We will vote forever. We wave the flag that says, "We, we, we are one people." Sobriety is the only happiness. Live as yourself, soberly. As ourselves, beautifully, we are one people. Reject and resist mandatory air conditioning regulations. Ban air conditioning wherever you are. We are vibrant, and our beautiful women nurture the children of the future, embodying the loving embrace of the Orchid Declaration. If you are a woman, live like a woman. Stop living the lies of the abortion and death culture that erases us. Stop. Your leg and armpit hair are natural. Your butt and breasts are perfect. Your nails are perfect. Live simply. We embrace this healthy revolution of living as ourselves. Thank you for being yourself. See you soon. There's still so much to teach and so much to learn. https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2023/10/aralia.html

https://youtu.be/vIT-tVKwC3Q?feature=shared

"Medicine is a verb, it's not a noun. And this whole illusion of disconnect... makes itself known in our language. You can't buy connection.", a quote from Michael Cottingham of Voyage Botanica— The provided texts, written by Paul Manski under the Wild Herb Ways moniker, present a dense blend of bioregional herbalism, Western philosophy, and identitarian vitalism. For Manski the plants themselves within a bioregion of place serves as a "world teacher". Manski who combines detailed botanical field studies of Southwest plants with small therapeutic group practice, sitting with plants, Qigong exercises and spiritual revelations. A central theme is the "biospirit," which connects the person to place to the natural laws of the specific land they inhabit. The writings frequently critique modern media, globalism, and selfish individualism , arguing instead for a return to small group communal sharing, ancestral traditions and small group practice solidarity. Ultimately, the sources advocate for "wellbeing" through a disciplined life of sobriety, small group workshops, deep ecology, direct experience sitting with plants, and the medicinal use of southwest Remedio flora.

The bioregional herbmaxxing philosophy is a vitalist, small group community-centered approach to healing that integrates the study of local plants, personal responsibility for wellbeing, and a "radical peace pilgrim" lifestyle. For beginners, the philosophy centers on several core practices and concepts:

1. "Sitting with Plants" derived from John Slattery, Mimi Kemp and Michael Cottingham

The fundamental practice of herbmaxxing is "sitting with plants" to learn their stories and voices both intuitively and scientifically based on John Slattery's four directions approach

The Method: Rather than just identifying a plant, you should come face-to-face with it, introduce yourself, and perhaps nibble on a leaf, focus your breathing into the ground around it.
Intuition and Relationship: Beginners are encouraged to find the "plant's house" (where it grows naturally) and establish a connection that goes deeper than superficial consumption, called "herbs of commerce" ny Michael Cottingham.
Respect: This process is small group intuitive, features non-judgmental disclosure and multi-polarity; the person, plants and actual place are viewed as "teachers" that share their energy without boundaries.

2. Radical Responsibility for Wellbeing

Herbmaxxing teaches that wellbeing is the inherent responsibility of the individual within the small therapeutic and their local folk perspective.

The Five Principles: Life should be reinvented through love, sobriety, law, beauty, and truth.
Holistic Health: Nourishing vitality is achieved by "doing well, eating well, working well, resting well, sleeping well, loving well, and fucking well".
Sobriety: A commitment to sobriety and clear thinking is essential to counteract the "negative programming" of modern mechanized entertainment media and industrial culture devoid of place. https://youtu.be/6C-wE0OlzzI?si=VCxD8goeiID92ys6

3. Understanding Our Nature as "Tool-Using Social Animals"

A key tenet is recognizing that humans are tool-using social animals.

Tools: We use auxiliary implements to extend our boundaries and live more effectively.
Social Small Group Nature: We naturally live in small groups with hierarchies, and our wellbeing depends on these cohesive social bonds.
Extension of Energy: We are taught to experience extending our life force in a peaceful, caring supportive small group setting as a way to help ourselves within specific "place" thrive.

4. Bioregional and Vitalist Identity

The philosophy is rooted in localism and the "biospirit" of one's specific land.

Turtle Island: Much of the source material focuses on the Southwest of "Turtle Island" (North America), emphasizing allegiance to local watersheds and mountains rather than abstract nations.
Vitalism: This is the belief that a "spark of divine life" animates and protects the body, rejecting the idea that humans are "mechanical machines".
Folk First! Earth First!: Beginners are taught to prioritize their immediate small group community and local ecosystem.

5. Spiritual and Energetic Practices
https://youtu.be/GjvzfAJIA78?si=3-3iq8a-mgpDlaM4

Beginners are encouraged to integrate physical and spiritual exercises into their daily lives:

Qigong: Practices like Zhan Zhuang ("Stand like a tree") and the Microcosmic Orbit are used to circulate vital energy (Qi) and build resilience.
Seasonal Celebrations: Aligning one's life with the solar year (Equinoxes and Solstices) and lunar cycles to celebrate the "victory of solar season".
Prayer: Engaging in "continuous dialogue" with the Creator, the person, the plants, and the place through prayers like the Jesus Prayer ("Jesu cum Maria sit nobis in via") or "I circle around, I circle around the boundaries of the earth" to stay connected while traveling the "medicine road".

6. Decoupling from "Death Culture"

A final major component for beginners is the peaceful decoupling from industrial war culture. This involves rejecting mechanized violence corridors and "selfish individualism" in favor of a commune-style sharing of resources and knowledge. The goal is to become "technicians of the sacred" who live as "plain peace pilgrims". As Michael Cottingham says, "Do no harm'.

In the bioregional herbmaxxing philosophy, health is not a static state but a dynamic process intrinsically linked to the solar and lunar cycles, which dictate the movement of vital energy (Qi) in both the landscape and the human body. Seasonal cycles, particularly the Equinoxes, serve as pivotal "turning points" that impact health through energetic shifts, physiological changes, and spiritual renewal.

How do seasonal cycles like the Equinox impact health?

The Vernal Equinox as a "Solar Victory"

The Vernal (Spring) Equinox (around March 21) is characterized as a "triumph of light" and a "solar victory" over darkness.

Psychological Resilience: Experiencing this victory directly is considered essential for mental health, providing the "courage" to navigate life's struggles and navigation of seasonal changes.
Rejuvenation: This period marks the renewal of the Earth (often personified as "Changing Woman"), which is reflected in the human "biospirit" as a time for "rejuvenation wellbeing" and the activation of the "liver energy".
What is the importance of 'sitting' with plants?
'Sitting' with plants is the foundational work (spiritual practice) of the bioregional Vitalist as developed by teachers like Mimi Kemp, John Slattery, Michael Cotingham. Manski call it the herbmaxxing philosophy, serving as a method to build a commune of peace and sobriety. It is an intuitive, experiential process where one approaches a plant as a living being and a teacher rather than a mere object of study or a commodity to be bought.
https://youtu.be/xooAA5_WTOQ?si=QbBCcBCnoOOV-WZj

The importance of this practice is defined by several key functions:
- Establishing Connection: In this philosophy, "medicine is connection," and sitting with a plant is how that connection is forged. It is described as a "face-to-face" encounter where the practitioner introduces themselves, states their intentions to help their people, and enters the "present moment".- Michael Cottingham
- Healing Modern Trauma: Sitting with specific plant families, such as the Orobanchaceae (Cancer root), is seen as a way to address the "trauma of our trauma-laden age". These plants are believed to reach out to compromised, isolated individuals to help them walk in balance and create relationships based on mutual respect and healing.
- Finding "Plant Houses": The practice emphasizes the importance of "where" a plant grows. By sitting with a plant in its natural "house," practitioners learn the specific songs and stories of that place. This process helps individuals understand "where you are, who you are, [and] what you are doing". - John J Slattery
- Non-Judgmental Energy Exchange: Plants are viewed as anti-authoritarian teachers that share their energy within the boundaries and frameworks of place. By "sitting hard" and letting down personal barriers, practitioners can participate in a reciprocal energy exchange, such as hugging an aspen tree to share unique generative healing energy.
- Intuitive Learning and "Plant Schools": Rather than relying solely on books or experts, sitting with plants allows the land to provide a direct transmission of knowledge. This practice establishes "plant schools" for the mutual benefit of all beings, where the plants themselves provide the instruction.
- Listening to the Earth: The practice can involve physical actions like breathing into the ground around the plant or putting one's ear to the earth to hear what the roots are saying. It is a way to see what the plant "has to say" and to acknowledge the Creator's role in placing these remedies on the earth.
Ultimately, 'sitting hard' is a way to de-couple from "death culture" and industrial war, replacing mechanized violence with a peaceful, communal study of the biospirit through "plant person place" strategies.

Physiological Impacts and Organ Systems

According to John J Slattery: The transition into spring creates specific biological pressures that the body must navigate:

Liver and Gallbladder Energy: In the tradition of "genius wild herb ways," spring is the season of "wood and wind," which specifically activates the liver and gallbladder.
"Liver Attacking the Lungs": The abundant release of pollen from trees like cedar, juniper, and ash during the Vernal Equinox enters the nasal cavities and lungs. This can cause the liver energy to "attack" the lungs, manifesting as Seasonal Allergy Syndrome (SAS), characterized by itchy eyes, hay fever, and respiratory irritation.
Potency and Vitality: Certain "restorative" plants like Conopholis alpina (Cancer root) are sought out during the wet abundance of spring to restore muscular strength and potency in those sidelined by illness.

The Celestial Clock and Energy Flow

The philosophy uses the "Bear Stars" (Ursus Major) as a celestial indicator of health and energy management:

Rising and Falling Energy: Just as the Great Bear "wakes up" and stands on two legs in the spring, plant energy—and human vitality—is seen as rising during this time. Conversely, in autumn, the energy "lies down," signaling a period for rest and the "rebirth of light" within the home's hearth during the winter solstice.
Microcosmic Orbit: Practitioners use these seasonal cues to adjust their Qigong practices, such as the "Microcosmic Orbit," to circulate vital energy in alignment with the "sunwise" (clockwise) turning of the seasons.

Ritual and Community Wellbeing

Seasonal cycles also impact health by governing communal "party love festivals".

Shared Experience: There are 34 designated opportunities per year (including 8 solar holy-days and 26 lunar celebrations) to gather as a "folk" to celebrate and pray together.
Environmental Harmony: Health is defined as "living in harmony with the sun—the father of all things—and the earth—the mother of our people". This harmony is maintained through seasonal prayers at the tops of mountains to ensure the falling of rain and snow, which nourishes the bioregion's watersheds and, by extension, the community's health.
How does the 'liver attacking the lungs' principle work
The principle of the "liver attacking the lungs" is a concept derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and integrated into the bioregional herbmaxxing philosophy to explain the physiological impact of the Spring Equinox.
https://youtu.be/a3SnFUv_Nr4?si=LQplw7Rbtgf5pF_E
This principle works through a combination of seasonal energetic shifts and environmental triggers:

1. The Wood and Wind Principle

In the "Wild Herb Ways" discourse, spring is identified as the season of wood and wind. The Vernal Equinox (around March 21) signifies a "revival of the liver," which is the organ associated with the wood element. During this time, the liver’s energy—or "biospirit"—becomes highly active and "stirs".

2. The Environmental Trigger

As the sunlight triumphs over darkness, trees such as cedar, juniper, ash, and elm release an abundance of pollen. The "winds" of spring stir these plants, carrying the pollen into the human nasal cavity.

3. The Energetic "Attack"

The lungs are considered the "wind-related organ" in this system. When the woody pollen enters the lungs, the hyperactive energy of the liver (wood) is said to "attack" the lungs, disrupting the body's internal balance.

4. Resulting Symptoms (SAS)

This energetic conflict manifests physically as Seasonal Allergy Syndrome (SAS). Common symptoms include:
- Itchy and watery eyes.
- Runny nose and hay fever.
- Respiratory irritation.
5. Herbal Remedies

To counter this "attack" and restore harmony between the liver and lungs, the philosophy suggests specific regional formulas. One primary remedy is Large-leaved ragweed (Ambrosia ambrosioides), which is used as a tea or tincture to treat SAS. Other plants used in this formula include New Mexican thistle, plantain, and elderflower.
What role does the 'Bear Stars' constellation play in vitality?
In the bioregional vitalism of the "Wild Herb Ways," the Bear Stars (the Big Dipper or Ursus Major) act as a celestial clock that mirrors and governs the movement of vital energy (Qi) in both the natural world and the human body.

The role of the Bear Stars in vitality can be understood through the following principles:

1. Seasonal Mirror of Energy (Qi)

https://youtu.be/HwzGkJGgW8w?si=OFqkUwukVm8AzDdN
The movement of the constellation provides a visual map for how vitality shifts throughout the year. The sources explain that "our holy sacred wild herb way plants kind after kind" follow the lead of the Bear Stars:
- Spring Rising: In the spring, the Great Bear "wakes up" and stands on two legs. This celestial movement corresponds to the rising of plant energy and the renewal of human vitality (the "biospirit") during the Vernal Equinox.
- Autumn Falling: In the autumn, the Bear walks on all fours, becomes sleepy, and lies down. This indicates a time when plant energy "falls" and vitality returns to the roots or the internal hearth, signaling a period for rest and replenishment.
2. Internalizing the North Star Energy

A primary practice for maintaining vitality involves "bringing the northern stars into your center".
- The Hara/Solar Plexus: Practitioners are taught to pull the energy of the northern stars into the hara (the solar plexus or abdomen at the belly button). This is described as a way to "hearth" the sun's energy within the body to strengthen the legs, support the feet, and promote healing for one's community.
- Microcosmic Orbit: Specific Qigong exercises, such as the "Microcosmic Orbit," are based on the "standing tree northstar Polaris orbit," which circulates vital energy around the spine in alignment with the celestial center.
3. Spiritual and Mythological Connections

The Bear Stars are deeply integrated into the "biospirit" through shared ancestral stories and sacred relationships:
- Marriage to the Mother of All Things: One core teaching states that Mary (the Mother of All Things/Changing Woman) married Ursa Major, linking human reproduction and seasonal fertility directly to this constellation.
- The Mother Maria: In this tradition, the Bear's mother is identified as Maria (the "Lady of the Mountains"), who turns at the center of the northern sky near Polaris.
4. Communal Wellbeing and the "Gourd Dipper"

The stars also play a practical role in the survival of the bioregion. The constellation is sometimes referred to as a "gourd dipper" filled with water.

Prayers for Rain: The "Gourd Dipper" is connected to the "north star man" and "the woman Cassiopeia," who work together to pool water in the sky.
Vitality of the Land: Community members must pray at the tops of sacred mountains to "fill" these celestial dippers with water. If these prayers are neglected, the sources claim the snow will not fall and the rivers will not flow, leading to anger and a loss of social cohesion within the "folk".
How does Qigong practice align with the North Star?In the bioregional vitalism of "Wild Herb Ways," Qigong practice—particularly the Microcosmic Orbit—is designed to align the practitioner’s internal energy with the celestial axis of the North Star (Polaris).
This alignment works through several specific physical and energetic principles:

1. The Polaris Orbit and Microcosmic Orbit

The foundational energy-circulation exercise, the Microcosmic Orbit, is explicitly described as being based on the "standing tree northstar Polaris orbit". While the natural seasons and the sun move in a sunwise (clockwise) circle, the night sky rotates counterclockwise around Polaris. Qigong practice seeks to mirror this celestial stability and movement within the human body to cultivate and circulate vital energy (Qi).

2. Centering Energy in the "Hara"

A central technique in this alignment is "bringing the northern stars into your center".
- The Physical Action: Practitioners are taught to reach toward the North Star as it sits low in the sky.
- The Target: This celestial energy is pulled into the hara, which is identified as the solar plexus or the abdomen at the belly button (umbilicus).
- The Result: By pulling this "sun-like" star energy into the hara, the mountain is said to support the practitioner's feet, strengthen their legs, and initiate healing.
3. Zhan Zhuang (Standing Like a Tree)

The alignment is often practiced through Zhan Zhuang, or "standing like a tree".
- Root and Crown: In this stance, the practitioner develops an energetic loop with the earth and the sky, much like a tree that remains rooted while its crown reaches toward the heavens.
- Axis of Stillness: Just as Polaris is the stationary hub around which the "sun wheel" and the Bear stars turn, the practitioner strives to find a "hub of the axle that remains stationary" within their own body through rest and proper posture.
4. Storage of Vitality

Once a Qigong series is completed, the gathered energy—often visualized as an energy ball between the palms—is shrunk as small as possible and moved into the hara at the navel. This stores the "Polaris energy" for later use, nourishing the individual's "biospirit" and resilience.

In this system, the North Star represents the "divine principles of perfection and order" that practitioners seek to embody through their movements and breath.

How do I bring the Northern Stars into my center?

To bring the Northern Stars into your center according to the "Wild Herb Ways" philosophy, you must engage in a specific energetic practice that aligns your body with the celestial axis of Polaris (the North Star) and the Bear Stars (the Big Dipper).

The Practice of Centering the Stars

The process involves a combination of physical posture, visualization, and the cultivation of vital energy (Qi):
- Locating the Center: In this tradition, your "center" is the hara, also referred to as the solar plexus or the abdomen at the belly button (umbilicus).
- Reaching for the Star: You are instructed to reach your hand toward the North Star, seeing it as it sits low in the sky.
- Pulling in the Energy: You should visualize yourself pulling the energy of the star (described as "the sun" or celestial light) directly into your hara.
- Internalization: Once the energy is pulled in, you should visualize a "rising sun" within your abdomen while breathing and focusing on healing.
- The Microcosmic Orbit: This practice is often part of a standing Qigong form known as the "Microcosmic Orbit," which is based on the "standing tree northstar Polaris orbit". In this form, while the sun moves clockwise, you align with the night stars that rotate counterclockwise around Polaris.
Storing the Vitality

A critical step in concluding these exercises is the "shrinking" of the energy. After completing a Qigong series, you should imagine shrinking the "energy ball" between your palms until it is as small as possible, then move it inside your body through the hara at the navel to store the vitality for later use. (Note: The sources specify that women should move this energy into the heart area rather than the belly during certain times).

Benefits of the Alignment

Aligning with the Northern Stars is believed to have profound physical and spiritual effects:
- Physical Strength: This practice is said to support the feet and strengthen the legs.
- Spiritual Connection: It connects the practitioner to the "divine principles of perfection and order" represented by the North Star.
- Bioregional Health: By "filling the gourd dippers" (the Bear Stars) through prayer and centering, the practitioner helps ensure that rain and snow fall to nourish the local watershed and the community.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Flowers From Stones:50 Year Gulag Notebook

Flowers from Stones

50 year Gulag Notebook 1976-2026

Argument Main Points Wild Herb Ways Paul Manski

Paul Manski

03/17/2008

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” –King James Version, Isaiah 35:1

The vision of the prophet Isaiah was to imagine an abundant flowing stream of living water in the desert. The culture of the desert was a search for dependable water. The story of water in the desert is the story of life. This vision of bounty in the desert was also the vision of the Hohokam people living more than a thousand years ago in the Gila River valley. Hohokam is a Pima word meaning ‘the one’s who have gone’. They built a system of canals to bring water from the Gila River for their irrigated fields. Any one in Phoenix, Arizona is living upon the world of the Native Americans who have gone before us. This researcher will explore the deep ecology of every day water in Phoenix, Arizona. Deep ecology is a way of understanding life as relationship and process. Our life is an interconnected web with a spiritual component. According to deep ecology a life fully lived is a spiritual life that includes an understanding of a spiritual matrix that exists in the plants, animals, birds and watersheds and the humans who participate in that life.

According to a story in the New York Times by Sam Roberts, March 20, 2008, “Maricopa County in Arizona, which includes Phoenix, swelled by 102,000 since 2006, making it the biggest gainer numerically.”…by population, in the United States. These 102,000 people are coming to live in an area that averages just 8 inches of rain in a year with daily maximum temperatures over 100 degrees from April through October. These people coming whether Latinos from Mexico and points south or Anglos from the north are coming to a place that is home to non-human life. Water is not only hydrogen and oxygen, it is the blood of mother earth.

Water is the most basic of human needs. The water that sustains life in the Valley of the Sun arrives here not by accident. This water flows by the ingenuity and vision of human design. Though this water flows by human design it still is to be regarded as sacred. This vision of life in the desert is built upon some of the same canals used by the Native Americans living here hundreds of years ago. The purpose of deep ecology is to develop a reverence and respect for this water even though it flows in a concrete man made canal.

The water arrives because it is stored in a series of dams along the Gila River Watershed. These dams built in the early1900’s along the Gila supply 20-25% of the water needs for the valley. This system of ground water pumping and storage facilities supplied the Valley’s growth through the early 1960’s. The majority of water for the valley’s 100,000 annual net growth population comes from a 337 mile system of dams, water pumping stations, tunnels and canals called the Central Arizona Project. It was late 1980’s when water first arrived from the Colorado River flowing 300 miles to the west along the California/Arizona border.

The Valley of the Sun’s story begins 900 miles away in Wyoming at the foot of Down’s mountain. Snowmelt in the spring gathers in a series of lakes on the west side of the continental divide. The first of these lakes is Green River Lakes. According to deep ecology visualization of the watershed pathway leads to a realization of the spiritual component of water. So when bathing or showering imagine the path the water took to get here. You are without question washing your face with Wyoming snow melt.

These streams and mountain lakes come together to form the Green River which feeds into the Colorado. The Wind River range in back of Pinedale, Wyoming is the home of bear and elk. Their spirit to paraphrase Dogen is in the water. Practice feeling these beings and forces in the water.

The Central Arizona Project takes its water from a lake formed on the California/Arizona border. This lake is formed by a dam built across the Colorado River. This water travels in a man made canal across the state of Arizona to Phoenix and on to Tucson. This water though traveling in a concrete ditch is still earth juice. It is like bathing in the spiritual flow of joyful tears. It is a spiritual embryonic fluid that causes all life to quicken and sing. When one perceives the true nature of water the perception is understanding the true nature of the self.

Rachel Carson’s 1962 landmark study Silent Spring is credited with establishing that our human life is enmeshed with the world around us. Her book is understood to be the catalyst for the ecology movement and for helping bring about an ecological consciousness. However according to deep ecologists 1962 was not in any way significant. Deep ecological insights are more like the revelations of Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. In the Gita it is said that whenever the forces of darkness are greatest then in that moment will Lord Sri Krishna incarnate himself into the world. This is exactly the same as Christ as the Logos taking flesh and dwelling amongst us. The darkness today is an ecological darkness and the evil is to view the earth as a series of chemical relationships. The risen Christ is the living earth. As Dogen said, “Study the stone Buddha giving birth.”.

According to deep ecology this knowledge is always making itself known because the earth itself is the Christ. The earth is a living being. As the Dine people say, Nahasdan Nadle, the Changing woman, the white turquoise shell woman; These are names for your mother. These insights later were condensed by Bill Devall and George Sessions into a way of looking at the world called deep ecology. This researcher will examine the life blood of Phoenix, Arizona –water, from the perspective of deep ecology with respect to the ecological self. This researcher will trace the path of water as it flows from Wyoming and Colorado’s high peaks into the south west and its meaning from a deep ecological perspective. According to Dogen the mountains and waters are constantly walking.

Deep ecology is a way of understanding and points out the work to be done. According to pioneers such as Gary Snyder, Dolores La Chapelle and Peter Berg the bioregion and watershed are the boundaries of our place.(Berg) It is within this watershed that our work is done.(Snyder) Work in this way is realizing the self. The realization of self is working with the energies that flow in a specific place.(Dogen)

Deep ecology is a way of understanding and points out the work to be done. According to pioneers such as Gary Snyder, Dolores La Chapelle and Peter Berg the bioregion and watershed are the boundaries of our place.(Berg) It is within this watershed that our work is done.(Snyder) Work in this way is realizing the self.(Dogen) The realization of self is working with the energies that flow in a specific place.(Selby)

The Gila drains the Mogollon rim up to Flagstaff by way of the Verde River. It drains the area from Tucson up to Phoenix by way of the San Pedro. It drains the area of the Gila National Forest in New Mexico and heads east joining the Agua Fria and the Salt river gathering the Valley of the Sun and meeting with the Colorado near Yuma.(Folk-Williams)

This portrait of watershed is made complex with the addition of a 337 mile concrete canal which by way of tunnels and pumping stations brings water west to east up, over, and across from the Colorado River. This concrete lined canal is the Central Arizona Project. It creates a loop, an ox bow dumping water back into the Gila system. This water is also used to recharge the underground aquifer at various points in the valley.

The learning of deep ecology is a listening and observation of natural processes in a specific place. A lot of the real work involves learning the names and listening to the stories. According to deep ecology one listens so that the songs can be heard and understood.

The deep ecology of water in Phoenix, Arizona is made difficult due to the existence of a man made river flowing winter and summer. It is a challenge to feel the belongingness of water coming 337 miles by way of a concrete pipe. Along this artificial watershed there are no trees or riparian areas because the Central Arizona Project is designed for efficiency. It delivers water from point A to point B. A river is more like a process. It nourishes the earth along the way. The CAP is not a river. It is a water delivery system.(Johnson) This difficulty in sensing the spirit of an anthropomorphic construct is precisely the importance in developing a deep ecological understanding of water in the Valley of the Sun. It is imperative that residents of Phoenix develop love, respect and gratefulness for the actual life lived here.(Berg)

Peter Berg offers us the idea of bioregion and the challenge of reinhabiting the place where we live. Our nature as humans is urban. Our nature is communal. Our fate is drawn up together. The Hohokam and Pima lived as we do, close. By understanding the nature of the water we use we can develop an intimate relationship with that water. Knowledge is powerful. The mighty Colorado, the snow melt of Green River Lake can not be wasted.(Fradkin) We are called upon as stewards of the land to honor a sacred compact to love and cherish this water. Dolores La Chapelle goes so far as to entitle her book Sacred Land, Sacred Sex: Rapture of the Deep:Concerning Deep Ecology and Celebrating Life. Deep Ecological Insight is powerful and liberating because it involves all the senses.

Deep ecology is fun. Understanding who and what you are is fun. It is a journey of sitting naked with saguaros overhead in a hidden hot spring following the water course home. It is inching up a vertical slope of gneiss hiking on the last glacial remnants of the Pleistocene in the Wind Rivers searching for a drip that becomes a torrent in spring blood like the rich mucous flow of a female in heat above Moab, UT. It is taking mud baths along the Paria. It is rich and frothy and completely beyond control like our inner flow of thought.

According to La Chapelle, Berg and Snyder it is precisely this interface between the sacred and profane that offers us a graceful exit from this quagmire of seeing that blocks our entrance into a sustainable culture. According to these icons from the 1960’s joy is the antidote for the deathsong played and playing at your local movie theatre. The black hole of neurotic fear that Henry Miller warned of in The Air Conditioned Nightmare, written in the late 1940’s is not the birthright and heritage of America and points beyond. This kind of fate can only be draped on the flag because the children don’t know the four directions. They are making choices without knowledge. Real knowing must include information. Information must be accurate. Knowing must be informed by where we are. That knowing is the earth and the wilderness. A man can not be considered educated unless he knows the first flower of spring.

The earth itself like Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita reincarnates herself amongst us to bring us to the light:

Whenever the balance of the universe is disturbed by external interference from any of its parts, then I reveal Myself as the Power of eternal balancing. For the protection of those who are in harmony, and the rectification of everything disharmonious, I incarnate Myself at every juncture of time.(Krisnananda)

She is speaking and calling a generation to see, feel and happen what is right underneath your toes and fingers. Underneath your tongue are the inner fluids of a virgin. She is Nahasdan Nadle called down by Neve Jensen from a bundle of stones wrapped in a badger pelt.(Frisbe) Called the Logos by the early Christian church she is Sophia. It is a truth that takes form and sustains us from the inside out. It is water. It is the deep ecology of everyday water in Phoenix, Arizona.

Works Cited

Abbey, Edward. Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside. New York: Holt Paperbacks, 1984.

Bear, Sun. Walk in Balance: The Path to Healthy, Happy, Harmonious Living. New York: Fireside, 1989.

Berg, Peter . "Bioregion ... Location." Planet Drum Home Page. 10 Apr. 2008 <http://www.planetdrum.org/bioregion_and_human_location.htm>.

David W., Kidner. "Depression and the natural world: towards a critical ecology of psychological distress." Critical Psychology 19 (2007): 123. LexisNexis Academic. Scottsdale Community College. 17 Apr. 2008.

Deardorff, Julie. "Nature deficit sends kids down a desolate path." Chicago Tribune 24 Feb. 2006. 17 Apr. 2008 <http://ezproxy.sc.maricopa.edu>.

Devall, Bill, and George Sessions. Deep Ecology - Living as if Nature Mattered. Layton: Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 2001.

Dogen, Eihei. Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen. New York: North Point Press, 1995.

"Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 24 Apr. 2008 <http://www.search.eb.com/eb/article-9057736>.

Folk-Williams, John A. The Gila basin and the waters of southern Arizona: A guide to decision making. Santa Fe: Western Network, 1991.

Fradkin, Philip L.. A River No More: The Colorado River and the West, Expanded and Updated edition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.

Frisbe, Charlotte J.. "Jish." Twin Rocks Trading Post - Quality Native American Arts and Crafts. 24 Apr. 2008 <http://www.twinrocks.com/legends/153-printview.html>.

Johnson, Rich. The central Arizona project, 1918-1968. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1977.

Kidner, David W.. Nature and Psyche. Albany, New York: State University Of New York Press, 2000.

Krisberg, Kim. "Movement to reconnect kids with nature growing nationwide: Working to improve childrenâ€™s health." APHA: American Public Health Association. 24 Apr. 2008 <http://www.apha.org/publications/tnh/archives/2007/Oct07/Nation/KidsandNatureNation.htm>.

Lachapelle, Dolores. Sacred Land, Sacred Sex: Rapture of the Deep : Concerning Deep Ecology and Celebrating Life. Santa Fe: Kivak I Press, 1992.

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods. New York: Algonquin Books, 2008.

Merchant, Carol. "Radical Ecology." Dhushara. 10 Apr. 2008 <http://www.dhushara.com/book/renewal/voices2/recol.htm#anchor3990038>.

Merchant, Carolyn. Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World (Revolutionary Thought/Radical Movements). New York: Routledge, 2005.

Nabhan, Gary Paul. The Desert Smells Like Rain: A Naturalist in O'Odham Country. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2002.

Nearman, Hubert. "Shasta Abbey Buddhist Monastery Dharma Publications, Talks and Events." Shasta Abbey Buddhist Monastery Dharma Publications, Talks and Events. 10 Apr. 2008 <http://www.shastaabbey.org/shobogenzo1.htm>.

Paul Manski

Argument Main Points