The Koan of Holism

The Koan of Holism
by Karen Saura
Copyright 2005 all rights reserved

One evening while attending a discussion group focusing on issues and situations encountered by holistic health practionners, our facilitator, Mike, posed a series of questions for us to reflect upon. In hindsight, these questions might be better described as koans, Buddhist "...stories and verses that present fundamental perspectives on life and no-life, the nature of the self, the relationship of the self to the earth - and how these interweave… their study is the process of realizing their truths" (Ciolek, 2005).

Mike asked us, “What is holistic health?” “How do we hold the energy of integration?” “What does it look like?” “What does it feel like?” “What is it that we wish to integrate?” “How do we integrate conventional and alternative medicine? Mind and body? Body and soul?” “What is the role of holistic health education in this integration?”

I have frequently grappled with these questions. The only absolute I can come up with is a resistant acceptance that there is no absolute answer. The experience of wholeness must exist somewhere, precariously balancing in that ever shifting place of relationship between an individual and all the ever shifting facets of one’s life experience.

Life comes at us like it or not. Just when we feel like we’re on top of our game, we get a curve ball. The metaphors are abundant: “to have the rug pulled out from under you,” and “the shit hit the fan,” or “I hit the wall.” These phrases struggle to give voice to a universal experience of the shock felt when hit with an unexpected challenge which “stops us in our tracks.” These dramatic experiences can either shift our perception of reality, broadening our sense of self or send us careening into an abyss of destruction and fragmentation. Our individual challenge is to remain in relationship with life’s unexpected challenges, in spite of the difficulties presented by the circumstances, and strive to allow these experiences to expand our sense of self and to go back and pick of the pieces if we fall. A holistic approach struggles to embrace these life challenges with a sense of assimilation and integration.

As I see it, we are living a dance driven by two opposing energetic forces – disintegration and integration. Disintegration is a force of separation and destruction. Integration is a process of healing and bringing things back into integrity and wholeness. We live in a vortex at the center of this dynamic dance of polarities, experiencing periods of destruction, purging, and release with alternating periods of integration, growth, and healing. Nature mirrors these truths back to us. After the forest fire we see the new growth nourished by the ash from the burn. Floods bring destruction and wash away the debris leaving new soil behind to nourish the next season’s crops. An integrative approach recognizes and emphasizes the cyclic nature of the human journey and strives to embrace these opposite forces allowing for a middle path to be revealed.

The challenge of the holistic practioner is to learn to work with change, with the elements beyond our control and to hold this space of integration and openness within ourselves. Resistance to change brings rigidness and rigidity can lead to fragmentation. Fragmentation is the opposite polarity to integration. Although I believe that fragments can ultimately be recovered, re-integrated, healed and transformed, the challenge for the holistic health practioner is to work within the context of these dynamic forces and hold a fluid space for transformation without fragmentation in a way that can embrace integrity and wholeness.

I’m going to share with you a haiku and a story which I feel speaks to many of these questions.

the End Begins

Desperate hand grips pen:
Memory fractures, fragments, drifts…
Fight with scribbled lines.

by Karen Saura

Dad and I sat in his hospital room sharing precious moments reminiscing on his childhood memories and watching Saturday Night Live as he drifted in the morphine cloud. The nurse came in with his sleeping pill. He swallowed it. I bent over and kissed him good night before I left for a little walk through the long, empty hospital corridors. I was there to share his precious last days as his battle with leukemia came to a close. As I left the room that night, little did I know that this was to be the beginning of the end.

I took my walk and called home to check on my family, half a continent away. 20 minutes later I returned to dad’s room, weary, ready to retire to my fold-out chair-bed for the night.

I remember the door. The long, cold, metal handle. My hand holding it, pushing down, pushing open the door. Something was wrong. I entered. The light was on. I felt danger, terror. Dad was not peacefully sleeping his drug induced sleep. He was sitting straight up in bed, wild eyed and panicked, looking around the room as if for the first time. His eyes were different - they had the look of a trapped, caged wild animal. I entered the room, went over to him and asked what was wrong. He stared at me wildly, blankly. “Who are you?!? Where am I?!?” In his disorientation he was terrified and terrifying.

My dad was a man who always held tremendous control over himself, his kingdom, and his environment. This instinct to control suddenly could find no ground to stand on. He was terrified, and dangerous. Although I try to pull my memories of this event together in my mind, they fly around in bits and pieces, fragmented. I remember him grabbing my arm, tightly, both a drowning man clutching for a buoy and a man feeling his very life threatened and not knowing from whence the threat came. He knew me no more. He could have killed me there on the spot - not in malice, but in instinctual self-defense. I felt the threat in every cell of my body.

Somehow I calmed him and slipped back out the door. Calmly, desperately, I found the night nurse and tried to explain what was happening in the room. The next moments recede into my fragmented memory… its continuity returns with dad in restraints in a wheelchair.

My brother and I wheeled him around all day. In the solidarity of fraternal understanding we were able to ward off our personal horror and find humor and some sense of quality time with dad as we watched dementia dismantle him at warp-speed. By that evening he had lost most coherent memory fragments and was left with desperate instinctual needs for the familiar objects of his daily life. Keys, over and over he asked for keys. He was probably looking to make a get-away, to no avail. Briefcase, pen and paper, the objects with which he had ordered his world and captured his thought. He clutched his briefcase, using it as a surface upon which to write, continuous, copious writing with great intensity and concentration with his familiar gold pen. With these weapons he was bravely warding off the inevitable, tightly holding to the fleeting remnants of the man he had been. Hopelessly he mimicked the motions of his days of power, authority, and control.

When I later pulled out these precious last writings, my heart broke as I saw his familiar script grasping at words, finding letters and movements, then diminishing into scribbles and lines. Line after line of scribbles and lines. His final desperate attempt to hold onto the shadowy fragments of reality and mental control.

What felt like an eternity of compressed time, thoughts, experience, and emotions actually must have passed by in a mere day or two. The doctors never addressed what had happened that night. I suspect it was a drug interaction that caused a mini-stroke in the brain. Probably the left brain considering the loss of linear functioning and conscious memory, yet retention of instinctual, habitual actions. But that is my personal speculation, my desperate attempt to hide my personal horror and grief in a rational scientific explanation. He was there to die. The body was finished. I had hoped for dad a death with dignity. In my naivety I felt that we could facilitate an ideal death transition for him. I had not considered the possibility of a death which careened out of control, fragmenting, disintegrating in front of me, and I helpless to intercede.

After that fateful night, it took exactly 1 week for the process to run its course. I was there when dad finally “died”. When his heart stopped and his final exhale was exhausted. But when did he begin to die? On a random day when some genetic program triggered? Or one moment when he was exposed to just too much of something resulting in the birth of leukemia in his bones? Did dying begin 3 years before when he was diagnosed? Perhaps it began that fateful night when his neurons were shattered in a chemical war in his brain shooting pieces of memory and self out into the universe - gone forever. Maybe it came the night he was finally forced from his body by its inability to take in the next breath. The Tibetans believe that dying continues on for several days after the final breath for the spirit needs time to completely withdraw from the organs and cells, before finally, absolutely leaving the body behind.

I’ll probably never have a satisfactory answer to these questions. My best hope is to find some resolution and from there put it aside. Not away, but aside, in a special place to be pulled out and contemplated from time to time. Perhaps that’s the best anyone can hope for. A dance with Death which allows for personal peace, room to live. A relationship that respects and honors Death when it comes to call, then sends it on its way. A stand which defies Death through a Life well lived.

CarpieDium!

I was my dad’s holistic health practioner. When we discovered he was ill, I began my formal herbal studies earnest, knowing that nutritional and herbal support can play an integral role in battling illness. Dad was blessed and cursed with an interesting variety of leukemia. MD Anderson Cancer Center took him on in an experimental research program. They offered him cutting edge drugs and treatments, magic bullets, and life saving procedures. He was very ill when he embarked upon this journey. The treatment provided by MD Anderson no doubt prolonged his life by three years. Although one might open the topic of quality of life during these three years, but then who’s to judge another’s journey. In spite of the progressively diminishing capacity he experienced as he became increasingly reliant on the medical intervention, I saw that these three years provided him with a unique opportunity to reevaluate his relationships and many other aspects of his life. These topics fall into the category of not knowing. They merit recognition, then release.

What I do know as a health practioner is that many of these treatments brought with them nasty side effects which, because they did not deal directly with the condition being studied were treated casually by his physicians with lesser medications or dismissed as psychosomatic.

The most dramatic side effect was systemic itching as a side effect of the chemotherapy drug treatment. In my herbal studies I discovered that most skin conditions occur as a result of the liver being overloaded. The skin is a second organ of elimination for the body. Therefore, itching can be a symptom of an overloaded liver. If you cleanse and nourish the liver and it is relieved of its toxic overload, then the itching should diminish and ultimately cease to be an issue.

I found a powerful liver cleansing program for dad and coupled it with nutritional superfoods to support his liver and keep his blood counts up. He followed the program precisely. After five days he called me to tell me not to hail victory yet, but he could actually shower for the first time in weeks without taking valium with a glass of wine to endure the itching to come. After seven days he reported that the unbearable itching was gone. When he reported this amazing success story back to his physician it was met with a defensive and dismissive attitude. “It must have been a coincidence” and “You must be careful with those herbs and pills – they are not sterile and could cause problems.”

Well, dad learned the first lesson of integrative health in your typical medical environment – keep your alternative practices to yourself. We kept the itching at bay with the liver flush, kept the blood counts up with green drinks, super foods and daily shots of what he called Whole Food’s Market’s “motor oil” – a blend of wheat grass, beet, and other vegetable juices. We managed these conditions holistically with great success, much to the chagrin of his doctors. What we did was outside the realm of their studies and skewed their research. Our biggest challenge was to keep him on the nutritional supplements while in the hospital during one of the many times he “dodged the bullet” as he put it.

Dad’s battle with cancer probably mirrors many others. His journey began through the doors of the hospital and the conventional treatment approach. He brought in alternative support, explored exotic options too numerous to go into at this time, and eventually turned to soliciting prayer circles and joining a church. He fought it out to the bitter end.

My role as his holistic health educator was to bring him information, give him support, and to hold a space of possibility and transformation open for him as he ultimately made his own choices and lived his own life journey.

Although, through my eyes, his final life experience was one of fragmentation, I watched him go through and incredible transformative journey in the three years prior to his final week. I learned that my biggest challenge as a holistic practioner is to find in myself that place of acceptance and of not knowing. To trust that reality is constantly and spontaneously emerging and to remain open and available to the ever present possibility of the miracle of transformation.

Author's Bio:

Karen Saura MEd, MH, is a master herbalist, science teacher, and holistic nutritional counselor. She emphasizes the use of whole, organic foods, nutritive herbs and supplements to promote optimal health, prevent disease, manage chronic illness and to rediscover the joy of healthy eating. Phone consultations are available.e-mail: ksaura@gmail.com .


References
Ciolek, T. (2005). Zen Buddhism Koan Study Pages. East Anglia, UK: World Wide Web Virtual Library. Retrieved March 21, 2005, from http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/KoanStudy.html.

Unconscious Influences

Unconscious Influences
by Karen Saura
copyright 2003, all rights reserved

We exist in a world defined by conscious intention and filled with unconscious urges. The psyche as a whole is composed of two parts, the conscious and the unconscious. We all share this common make-up of our psychic nature. In fact, it is from the unconscious that our most creative impulses emerge. This is the eternal well of insight and creativity from which true visionaries, artists, and writers draw their inspiration. The conscious mind sets the structure and the unconscious fills the structure with the substance that gives it meaning. Where the unconscious is the ocean, the conscious is the vessel which gives it shape and measure.

What is necessary in order to have a creative relationship between the unconscious and the conscious? How will we define the vehicle of communication? Since the unconscious exists beyond the realm of the conscious (hence the term “unconscious”) possible ways of connecting with it must be found in order to allow it to slip through the control mechanisms of the conscious mind. Methods or practices of consciously accessing the unconscious include meditation, dream analysis, free form drawing and painting. If an individual has a relationship with the unconscious, a communication is established which allows for a balance to exist between the conscious intent and the unconscious urges.

The “shadow” is one of Carl Jung’s most useful terms for the unconscious part of the human psyche. Through conveying a visual image of what we intuitive sense of the unconscious we gain a glimpse of the realm of the unconscious as a dark place where that which we’d rather not encounter dwells... shadowy, murky, always lurking just behind us. The shadow is simply the whole unconscious.

During the late 19th and early 20th century, while the concept of the unconscious as a psychological force was emerging in psychotherapy, artists were simultaneously exploring their personal connection to the unconscious, dredging up dream imagery and drawing upon the realm of the shadow as the center and driving force of their art. For surrealism, Dali, De Anea, even Chagall, capturing dream imagery and the unconscious became not only the artistic objective, but also the defining subject matter for most art through the 20th century. In fact, except for Impressionism, all art movements which emerged during the last century have been defined by the conscious exploration of the unconscious.

Robert Bly describes the unconscious in his book, The Little Book on the Human Shadow, as a “long bag we drag behind us, heavy with the parts of ourselves our parents or community didn’t approve of” (Bly, 1988, p. 2). Bly asserts that we are born whole and as we grow and develop we are forced to reject various parts of ourselves in order to be accepted into society. In our attempt to “fit into” society, we gradually deny parts of ourselves, fragmenting them and hiding them away in this long bag of unconscious shadow stuff as we conform our public persona to fit the status quo.

Jung speaks of “splinter psyches” in The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche (Jung, 1981, p. 98). These “splinter psyche” are bits of the psyche which have split off most frequently as a result of a so-called trauma, emotional shock, or as a result of a moral conflict, ultimately deriving from the apparent impossibility of affirming the whole of one’s nature. “This predisposes a direct split no matter whether the conscious is aware of it or not” (Jung, 1981, p. 98). Jung’s description of these “splinter psyches” and how they relate to the conscious and unconscious describe, from Jung’s perspective, the same dynamics which Bly alludes to with his metaphor of the parts of ourselves stuffed into the “long bag we drag behind us” (Bly, 1988, p.2). Jung goes on to describe how the conscious and unconscious work together to absorb these parts of self which have been fragmented or rejected and must be hidden from view. “The unconscious helps to assimilate the splinter [which has been rejected by the conscious psyche]” (Jung, 1981, p. 98). The splinter psyches are then absorbed by the unconscious without conscious awareness. Now, embedded in the unconscious, Jung describes these splintered bits as going on to exist as “living units of the unconscious psyche” out of sight of our conscious perception, yet present and subtly affecting our conscious activities in unexpected and surprising ways. Bly speaks of the act of eating the shadow, consciously bringing these denied, splintered psyche fragments to the light of our conscious attention and consuming them with awareness, thus re-accepting them as significant aspects of our being and liberating all the creative energy they held bound in their prison of unconsciousness.

The conscious and the unconscious exist as complementary parts of the whole of our psyche. They must exist in a relationship of balance, and if one is emphasized while the other neglected, various degrees of psychological imbalance are the result.

Jung explores this relationship which exists between the conscious and the unconscious whereby “the unconscious behaves in a compensatory or complementary manner towards the conscious” (Jung, 1981, p. 69) and vice versa. If a form of communication has not been established between the conscious and unconscious a situation results of a state of too great a one-sidedness. When the unconscious is allowed to rule, a psychotic condition results in which the individual lives under the direct influence of the unconscious. The opposite extreme would be an individual who structures their life under “directed conscious functioning resulting in a considerable dissociation from the unconscious” (Jung, 1981, p. 69).

Our modern lifestyles demand this type of concentrated, directed conscious functioning. Yet, the unconscious cannot be denied, or ignored. The further we are able to remove ourselves from the unconscious through direct functioning, the more readily a powerful counter-position can build up in the unconscious, and when this breaks out it may have disagreeable consequences” often through a slip of the tongue or a lapse in memory (Jung, 1981, p. 71).

When denied and repressed, the unconscious intervenes again and again in daily life in a disturbing and apparently unpredictable manner. Life can be flowing along according to the consciously structured plan and then suddenly, when you least expect it, something totally unexpected resonates with some hidden aspect of self, some “splinter psyche” stuffed in our bag of shadow material, and out it pops in all it’s disgusting, repressed, emotionally charged, terrifying glory. A monster rearing its ugly head through a tear of the psychic fabric, twisting the moment from rational sensibility into a cubist nightmare of distorted reality colored with rich, rejected, unconscious shadow-stuff. After the initial shock from the trespass of this unwanted unconscious interjection into the present moment subsides, the conscious mind makes a desperate scramble to grab at bits and pieces of rationalization, excuses, and blame, quickly and effectively shoving that monster back into the long dark bag of shadow stuff.

Yet, the unconscious cannot be denied. That would be as futile as denying dreams or sleep itself. Throughout history and spanning cultures the unconscious has held a relevant position in the basic structuring of humanity’s varied expressions. Jung speaks of a collective unconscious shared by the whole of humanity which ties together the planetary psyche via universal archetypes of psyche forces. These archetypes can be found in the imagery which weaves through cultural expressions spanning the ages - defying social, political, and religious boundaries. The grim reaper, virgin, hero, the shadow - these archetypes are universal and serve as a larger background upon which the individual unconscious defines itself within the specific constraints of the individual’s unique religious, cultural, and personal construct.

Our world is structured by conscious intention which is filled from the richness of the vast sea of the unconscious. When tapped into and drawn into the conscious realm, this rich unconscious source serves as an eternal well of insight and creativity for all to draw from. As we each reclaim our creative source through taking personal responsibility for reabsorbing our own shadow self and bring the personal unconscious into conscious awareness, the very act of eating our shadow and facing our fears transforms us bringing each into a lighter, more playful and joyful place of personal _expression. Perhaps through the process of our individual enlightenment we each eat a bit of the global shadow of humanity and thus serve the collective whole to progress towards the collective enlightenment of the global consciousness of humanity.

About the Author:

Karen Saura MEd, MH, is a Master Herbalist, science teacher, and holistic nutritional counselor. She emphasizes the use of whole, organic foods, nutritive herbs and supplements to promote optimal health, prevent disease, manage chronic illness and to rediscover the joy of healthy eating. Phone consultations are available.e-mail: ksaura@gmail.com .

References:

Bly, R. (1988). A little book on the human shadow. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.
Danrich, M. (2003). Spiritual school of ascension. Kailua-Kona, Hawaii: Ascend Press.
Jung, C. (1981). The structure and dynamics of the psyche. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Robertson, R. (1995). Jungian archetypes. York Beach, ME: Nicolas-Hays.

A Call for Global Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods

A Call for Global Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods

By Karen Saura

copyright 2003 Karen T. Saura

“We are confronted with what is undoubtedly the single most potent technology the world has ever known - more powerful even that atomic energy. Yet it is being released throughout our environment and deployed with superficial or no risk assessments - as if no one needs to worry an iota about its unparalleled powers to harm life as we know it - and for all future generations to come” (Batalion, 2000, para. 1).

The debate over the release of genetically modified (GM) foods has raged relentlessly since the first discussions to introduce GM foods into the food chain via the introduction of genetically modified “super seeds” to farmers to test the new strains of plants out in the real world. Supporters lauded the miraculous possibilities waiting to be realized as the vast applications of GM foods are explored and implemented into our society. They claim that this new technology promises to solve many of the current global problems including starvation, malnutrition, and chemical poisoning of the environment. Opponents of the technology warn of the unforeseen natural disasters posed for release into the ecosystem via the “Trojan horse” of GM foods. They fear ominous dangers ranging from new health issues which will develop from the introduction of these alien creations into our bodies, disruption of the fragile ecosystem, future farming disasters, terminator seeds unleashed, and anirretrievable loss of biodiversity on planet earth.

Genetically modified foods have become a part of our world and like it or not they are here to stay. Over the last twenty years, these new foods have quietly and irretrievable been introduced into the open market, escalating the debate surrounding health and safety concerns to a new level involving a heated struggle for control over the rules which will govern the role of GM foods in the global marketplace. Who is to choose which ones are safe? How much information does the public need? Who is to control the global food supply, previously a non-patented, natural resource, provided for by the planet we live on. In the US and many other countries, GM foods are already sold in the marketplace without full disclosure and informed labeling. Consumers have a right to know what is in their food. A global labeling system for GM foods needs to be established that informs consumers about the presence of genetically modified ingredients in their foods. GM foods should be labeled because theglobal consumer has the right to know whether or not the food he may be putting into his body has been genetically modified allowing consumers to choose whether or not to support this new technology through their purchases.

What exactly are genetically modified foods? The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as: “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use” (FAO, 2000, para. 3). With regard to foods, it specifically refers to the new DNA techniques, molecular biology and reproductive technological applications including a range of different technologies such as gene manipulation and gene transfer, DNA typing and cloning of plants and animals. These new organisms are then termed genetically modified organisms.

If we examine history, people have been altering their food for thousands of years. Humans first started cultivating edible crops over 7,000 years ago. Evidence of early agricultural practices such as plant grafting has been found in the ruins of ancient civilizations, proof that agricultural manipulation has been around for a long time. Modern bioengineering practices find their humble beginnings in these earliest attempts to modify crops and livestock. There are ample traces in the most ancient historical records of our ancestors practicing hybridization, the crossbreeding of animals and the crossing of two different plant strains to create new varieties with a combination of traits. Hybridizations are limited by natural barriers between the species. Some combinations absolutely will not take. Genetic engineering allows the scientist to bypass these natural barriers by using technology which literally inserts the genetic material from one organism into an otherwise incompatible host organism. We now have creations blending types of genetic material which could never before be combined. This creates all sorts of new health, safety and environmental concerns, and daunting practical issues to encounter surrounding fair and clear food labeling.

The current status of the humble tomato will well illustrate the extent to which the labeling parameters need to be mapped if they are to be true to their intentions and serve every consumer, including those who choose to completely avoid GM foods in any form whatsoever. In the 1990’s, a new variety of tomato was introduced, the Flavr-Savr ™ tomato. It had been genetically modified to enhance flavor and shelf life. If we are to label the GM Flavr-Savr ™ tomatoes, how is this to be done? Does every individual tomato wear a GM sticker? Or, does the grocer place a sign over the bin in the store? If imperfect and bruised Flavr-Savr ™ tomatoes are purchased to be made into tomato paste with other tomatoes from other sources, does the manufacturer label the product as “may contain”? This would directly apply to affordable and generic brands that often mix lots of produce as they buy for price in order to keep costs down. And how do we handle products created with ingredients from “morethan one country”? The labeling system must be global in order to have a universal compliance and standard if the GM label is to be trusted by the consumer. Should food products derived from GM plants be labeled? Corn meal, for example, and flour, or starch from GM potatoes? How about vegetable oil which comes from plants of possible GM origin? (McHughen, 2000, p. 213).

The FDA has been unable to clearly take a stand on GM foods, fair labeling and public health. Genetic engineering manipulates an organism at the very source of its uniqueness and changes it – fundamentally and essentially. DNA is nature’s blueprint for creating the individuality of an organism. Although it may appear to be essentially the same as its natural predecessor, what if the gene inserted was a gene from a food that could cause an allergic reaction? The FDA’s official position on foods known to cause allergic reactions is clear. Laura Tarantino is the head of FDA’s biotechnology branch. She states, “The food will have to be labeled so everyone will know it contains an allergen, unless the developer can show scientifically that the allergenicity has not been transferred...this is one case where we would clearly insist on labeling” (Ticciati, 1998, pp. 12-13). But adding a gene and creating a new hybrid GM organism may create novel, unpredictable allergens, novel andunprecedented health conditions. Yet, the FDA considers these new GM foods to be safe for the consumer, effectively ignoring potential health consequences to the consumer which may result from the genetic modifications. These GM foods are not labeled in the US.

The consumer should have the information available to choose if they wish to participate in this national bio-tech food experiment, not forced to participate through nondisclosure. How can the FDA justify not labeling foods as such? The FDA has taken the position that, according to their research, at least some of the GM foods already on the market show no “tangible difference” when compared to their natural counterparts, therefore, in their opinion, no such difference exists. They have also taken the position that too much information might confuse rather than enlighten the consumer. Because grasping the mechanics of biotechnology is beyond the technological reach and understanding of most laypersons it can seem unnatural and frightening even though it has been declared safe by the FDA (Hart, 2002, p.243). Yet, consumers have become accustomed to handling labeling information ranging from Kosher or non-Kosher, free-range or organic, saturated, unsaturated, expeller-pressed, #24 red,#45 yellow, msg, bht, and on and on… Consumers have learned how to read these labels and act on the information they provide. For the FDA to suggest that labeling GM foods and additives will mislead consumers is inconsistent with current labeling standards and underestimates the intelligence of consumers. GM foods should be labeled.

The rate at which these unlabeled GM products are hitting the market is growing exponentially by the day. A genetically modified hybrid is considered a new invention and can be patented and protected by intellectual copyright laws. Whoever owns the food patents owns the food chain. The corporate race is on to tweak and twist valuable natural commodities in order to claim intellectual ownership of and future profits generated by the GM foods. Over the past ten years, biotech companies have rapidly used patenting to gain control of staple crop seed stock. This has led to a near monopoly control of certain commodities which have been genetically modified, especially soy, corn and cotton. As a result, almost seventy-five percent of such processed foods contain some GM ingredients. Largely between 1997 and 1999, GM ingredients suddenly appeared in two-thirds of all US processed foods. This flurry of food alteration was fueled by a single Supreme Court decision Diamond vs. Chakrabartywhere the highest court decided that biological life could be legally patentable (McHughen, 2000, 245). Since then thousands of applications for experimental GM organisms have been filed with the US Patent Office alone, and many more abroad. More and more of these unlabeled products are entering the US marketplace daily. It is becoming a very lucrative industry and is being pushed upon an uninformed US consumer. Countries that require GM foods to be labeled generally find their consumers to be very resistant to the introduction of these products into their marketplaces. This is resulting in a tremendous international debate over the labeling of GM products and a global economic war between companies positioning themselves to best profit in the exploding GM foods industry.

Because current labeling laws in the US do not require listing genetically modified ingredients, few consumers are aware that they are currently purchasing and consuming GM food products and that this has been going on for almost twenty years. Granted, you can look at labels and see exactly how much salt, fat and carbohydrates are in the foods you eat, but you would not know if the bulk of these foods, and literally every cell in them had been genetically altered. The labeling laws have not kept pace with the explosion of GM creations. The products containing GM ingredients are currently not labeled in the US. Without labeling, few consumers in the US are aware of the pervasiveness of GM foods.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) is the international organization charged with creating a universal food labeling system to address the new health, public safety, and environmental issues emerging as these biotechnological advances hit the global marketplace. Formed in 1962, Codex’s mission is to protect the health and safety of global consumers and ensure fair practices in food trade through relevant standards. Over its 40-year history it has fulfilled its mandate by establishing some 4,000 standards, recommendations, and guidelines for individual foods, food labels, pesticide residues, food contaminants, food additives, hygiene practices, and other issues relevant to traded foodstuffs (Kalaitzandonakes & Phillips, 2000, p. 1). In 1993 Codex addressed the need to develop global labeling standards for GM foods. An Intergovernmental Task Force of Foods Derived from Biotechnologies was established to create the global set of standards, guidelines and recommendations for foods derived from biotechnologies or traits introduced into foods by biotechnological methods (FAO, 2000, para. 1). Over ten years have gone by and we still have no global labeling standard. Even basic elements of what is to be labeled and when a label is or isn’t necessary is still debated (Kalaitzandonakes & Phillips, 2000, p. 1). The explosion of GM products has created an entirely new paradigm of foods which has never before had to be worked into the parameters of the global society. The old way of thinking about foods, what they are, where they come from and how they are produced no longer applies. Our entire relationship to food and the environment has to be re-evaluated. Meanwhile, as the Codex discusses and debates the issues at hand,GM foods are rapidly infiltrating our food chain, our bodies and our ecosystem spread by the wind, birds and bees and the forces of global commerce.

To illustrate the complexity of addressing what and when to apply the GM label, let’s look at how the US handles the regulation of our food supply. The government agrees that there exists the responsibility to the public to inform and label GM foods. It is unclear, however, who is responsible for this, what food manufacturers should warn about, and who is the regulator. The FDA is responsible for the safety of domestic and imported foods except for red meat and poultry, which is regulated by the US Department of Agriculture. The Environmental Protection Agency is the primary regulator for pesticides, with help from the FDA (Singer, 2000). The FDA only labels if it has been demonstrated that the organism is sufficiently different. It is reasonable for the consumer to demand safe food. However, if the consumer wishes to be discerning, she must weigh the facts objectively. She must consider the pluses and minuses of GM products; those produced with pesticides, herbicides and/oradditives, and the fact that nature has a way of mixing it all up anyway. An ‘organic’ farm may not be as organic as we think. Cross-pollination and other mixing occurs. Nothing in FDA regulations states that GM foods are not organic, so some foods labeled “organic” may indeed be genetically modified (Deaton, 2003).

In the United States, the FDA is responsible for establishing food labeling guidelines. Internationally, each country establishes its own internal guidelines which the Codex is attempting to bridge into a global system. Foods are moved around the world daily via air, land, and sea. Take a look at the supermarket and you will see peaches from Chile, Australian lamb, and Mexican papayas. A huge national and international economy drives the daily movement of food around the world. A working labeling system must accommodate vastly different cultures, politics, economies and laws.

An examination of a time line of proposed legislation from various countries illustrates which countries have taken a firm position on the labeling of GM foods and further reveals to what degree the global public has become concerned about the presence of these GM foods in the marketplace in spite of corporate and governmental attempts to maintain the current status quo. The European Union (EU), China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Australia have already passed legislation requiring some form of labeling for GM products. On May 26, 1998, the EU adopted rules requiring mandatory labels for foods made from genetically engineered soybeans and corn which took effect immediately. August 1999, the Japanese government voted to require labeling of GM crops and foods containing GM ingredients. The Australian New Zealand Food Authority also ordered mandatory labels in August 1999. The Korean government approved mandatory labeling of GM corn, soybeans and bean sprouts, effective in March 2001.In May of 2001, China’s State Council passed a draft regulation requiring clear labeling of GM food products especially with regards to imports. Non-labeled imports were subsequently banned in China. The US responded with sharp criticism of their actions (Hart, 2002, pp. 193, 269).

There have been several attempts at some form of GM food labeling in the US, but to date, none has been approved. November 10, 1999, the Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act was presented in Congress. Although there was significant support for the act from many of members of congress, the legislation was withdrawn without a vote (Hart, 2002, p. 169). In January of 2000 the US participated in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity held with the intention of creating a global set of protocols on Biosafety. Over 130 countries voted in favor of the precautionary principle and regulations for movements of new GM foods. The US was one of the few countries that did not support the Biosafety Protocols, publicly voicing their opposition to and subverting the protocols (Hart, 2002, p. 193). Senator Barbara Boxer introduced a bill in the Senate in February of 2000 requiring that all genetically engineered foods be labeled. “The health and environmental effects of geneticallyengineered foods are not yet known,” she wrote in a press statement introducing the bill. “The bill authorizes long-term studies on the safety of these foods. Such studies simply do not exist today.” According to Boxer, over 92 percent of consumers favor mandatory labels on GM foods. In spite of the overwhelming public support, the bill did not pass (Hart, 2002, p. 233).

The battle over the labeling of GM foods is escalating. The US has recently openly attacked the EU’s ban on unlabeled GM foods. On August 17th, 2003 President Bush asked the World Trade Organization to force the EU to lift the ban on GM food products. The EU responded immediately by exercising its one opportunity to legally block the request. The EU insists that the five-year-ban on GM foods is necessary to provide the EU with time to finalize strict new rules on the authorization and labeling of these new products for their markets. Members of the EU feel that decisions about the food eaten in Europe should be made in Europe and not in the White House (Guardian Newspapers, August 18, 2003). To date, the ban has not been lifted in spite of the US’s efforts to open up the global marketplace to unlabeled GM products.

GM foods have entered the global food chain and global public policy is struggling to keep pace with its advance. There are distinct positions developing in the public debate. There are scientists doing what they’ve been trained to do, multi-national corporations competing to create, control, and profit from new markets, governments striving to serve the conflicting needs of the citizens, environmentalists struggling to maintain a balanced and sustainable ecosystem, and consumers demanding information on a universally shared basic necessity, the global food supply. The future relationship between people and food is what is truly at stake in this frantic struggle over how to label GM foods. Up to this point in human history the Earth has provided food for the people of the planet. If we as a global society allow for the food of the earth to be manipulated, patented, legislated, and sold back to us – especially without our knowledge of such - then we become nothing more than slaves onthe planet with no place to escape to. If this experiment with GM food turns out to be a bad experiment, what’s at stake here is the future sustainability of humans on the planet. The people have a right to know what is in their food supply and must be given the opportunity to choose whether or not to support this new genetically modified food industry through every individual food transaction and every bite of food eaten! Genetically modified foods throughout the world must be labeled.

Copyright 2003 by Karen T. Saura

Karen Saura MEd, MH, is a master herbalist, science teacher, and holistic nutritional counselor. She emphasizes the use of whole, organic foods, nutritive herbs and supplements to promote optimal health, prevent disease, manage chronic illness and to rediscover the joy of healthy eating. Phone consultations are available.
e-mail: ksaura@gmail.com .


ReferencesBatalion, N. (2000). 50 harmful effects of genetically modified foods. Oneonta, New York: Americans for Safe Food. Retrieved October 18, 2003, from "http://creativehealth.netfirms.com/50harm.shtml".
BBC News website. (2002). Famine and the GM debate [Electronic version]. BBC news, world edition, Thursday November 14, 2002. Retrieved November 24, 2003, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/.
Charles, D. (2001). Lords of the harvest: biotech, big money, and the future of food. Cambridge, MA: Purseus Publishing.
Deaton, S. (2003). Poison of Panacea? Paper for SCI4305 Nutrition and Behavior. Orinda, CA: JFKU.F.D.A. Website. (2003).
The food and drug administration website. Retrieved November 4, 2003, from http://www.fed.gov.
F.A.O. Website. (2000). FAO statement on biotechnology. United States: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States. Retrieved October 18, 2003 from www.fao.org/biotech/stat.asp.
G.E.Food Alert website. (2003). Antibiotic resistance and genetically engineered crops. The genetically engineered food alert website. Retrieved November 4, 2003, from www.GEFoodAlert.org.
Hart, K. (2002). Eating in the dark: America’s experiment with genetically engineered food. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.Kalaitzandonakes, N. and Phillips, P. (2000). GM food labeling and the role of the Codex [Electronic version].
AgBioForum, 3(4), 188-191. Retrieved November 24, 2003, from http://www.agbioforum.org. McHughen, A. (2000). Pandora’s picnic basket: the potential and hazards of genetically modified foods. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
McLaughlin, D. (1998). Fooling with nature. Frontline online [Electronic version]. Retrieved November 20, 2003, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/nature/disrupt/sspring.html.
Monsanto website. (2003). Science and technology pages, products and solutions pages, news and media pages. Retrieved November, 2003, from http://www.monsanto.com.
Morton, C. (2002). Report documents health effect of biodiversity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Medical, Dental & Public Health Schools. Retrieved October 15, 2003 from http://focus.hms.harvard.edu/2002/Sept27_2002_/global_environment.html.
Much ado about gm food. (2003, June 30). The Washington Times. Retrieved October 13, 2003, from http://dynamic.washtimes.com/pring_story.cfm?StoryID=20030629-103833-7489r.
Pringle, P. (2003). Food, Inc.; Mendel to Monsanto- the promises and perils of the biotech harvest. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
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Singer, M. (2002). Food for thought: issues in agricultural biotechnology. [Electronic version]. Chicago Fed Letter, (149), pages 1-3.
Shiva, V. (2000). Tomorrow’s biodiversity. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, Inc.
Ticciati, L., Ticciati, R. (1998). Genetically engineered foods: are they safe? you decide. New Canaan, CT: Keats Publishing.
US escalates gm food row with Europe. (2003, August 18). Guardian Newspapers Limited. Retrieved October 13, 2003, from http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-18.

Earth, Life & Diversity: the Plight of the Black Bear

Earth, Life & Diversity

the Plight of the Black Bear

by Karen Saura, MEd, MH

Copyright 2008, all rights reserved.

The earth contains a tremendous diversity of genes, species, landscapes, plants, and animals. Each one plays a key role in the working of the whole. This biodiversity is critically important to the success and well-being of all life on earth. Each species consumes as food the waste products of another, each fills a vital, specific, and irreplaceable role in the intricate inter-related dance which has developed over billions of years. This is a dance which cycles through and supports all species and all life on the planet. Planet Earth is currently experiencing a major species extinction crisis (Conservation Economy, n.d.). For the first time in recorded history, this crisis is being induced by the actions of a single species, and its consequences are both severe and unpredictable. Man is currently the dominant species and as he competes with other species for resources and range, he is currently driving untold species of plants and animals to precarious, barely sustainable population levels, and ultimate extinction.

As the diversity of an ecosystem increases, its biological productivity and ecosystem stability increases. As its diversity decreases, its biological productivity and ecosystem stability decreases. Biodiversity thresholds exist below which ecosystems are unable to sustain themselves over long periods of time. The planet is experiencing a rapid increase in the current species extinction rate, the most rapid in recorded human history (Conservation Economy, n.d.). The causes are many, but if left unchecked, the outcome is inevitable - a decline in the biodiversity leading to ultimate instability in the ecosystems on the planet. Earth will become an increasingly uninhabitable planet.

Consider the American black bear (Ursus americanus). A black bear and a man are both large mammals. Man and bears are direct competitors for space and resources worldwide. The competition is mediated by resource availability and the adaptability of both species. Man is certainly more adaptable and effective at resource exploitation than the bears. Man continues to develop new and effective mechanized resource use strategies while bears continue to attempt to use resources in “natural” ways. Under such a system of interaction, the more efficient and adaptable species will eventually eliminate the competitor unless means are taken to protect the habitat of the threatened species (Servheen, 1989).

There are eight bear species worldwide. Six species are likely in decline while two are probably stable. The American black bear was on the endangered list earlier in the 19th century. Due to active conservation efforts and local government intervention to protect the struggling populations, the black bear has experienced a successful rebound in its populations in many areas of the United States . So much so that communities in bear territory have experienced a dramatic increase in the number of bear/human encounters in recent years. The reason for the increase in the number of encounters is two-fold. First, bear populations in specific regions of the country are indeed recovering, but not to pre-19th century numbers and not in all ranges where the black bear once lived. Second, rapidly increasing and expanding human populations are moving into bear territory. With both populations on the rise, in their struggle to compete for the same space and resources, the bears and humans are encountering each other more frequently and with increasing intensity.

In the communities such as Tahoe , California , situated deep in bear country people and are becoming frightened for their safety and for the safety of their families, pets, livestock, and property. The Las Vegas Sun reports Nevada’s black bear population to be around 300 while the population in California is over 30,000 (Las Vegas SUN, 6/22/02). Bears are very adaptable creatures and quickly figure out how to find food when they wake up from hibernation to find their lovely forest is gone and in its place are strip malls, dumpsters, playgrounds and back yards. Nuisance bears can cause extensive and expensive property damage. They tear into cars, homes, and dumpsters looking for food leaving a wake of destruction behind. The Tahoe Daily Tribune reported on one hungry bear in the Tahoe area who managed to rip open a county-approved bear-proof metal trash receptacle. Local resident Pat Snyder complained that after investing in the “bear-proof” trash can, the bear “ripped the right door off its hinges to get to the trash.” He added, “It’s one of the better items we paid to have” (Tahoe Daily Tribune, 3/24/03 ).

Tahoe, California is a community nestled deep in bear country in the Sierra Mountain Range. During the past fifty years it become a popular recreational destination for both winter and summer mountain activities. Development has skyrocketed, populations have increased, wilderness areas are being encroached upon and the number of bear and human encounters is on the rise. As the human population grows, the number of bear related complaints grows. In a June 22, 2002 report on bears in The Las Vegas SUN, the paper reported that “complaints about nuisance bears have soared by 7,000 percent in northern Nevada in the last 12 years” (Las Vegas SUN, 2002, para.7). These complaints often fall in the lap of the California Department of Fish and Game (the Department).

The Department was established in 1870 and is the government organization charged with managing wildlife in the state. “The Mission of the Department of Fish and Game is to manage California's diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public”. The Department not only oversees habitat protection with the intent of ensuring the survival of native species, but it is also “responsible for the diversified use of fish and wildlife including recreational, commercial, scientific and educational uses” (Department of Fish and Game, 2003, para.2).

Most of the bear related complaints are fairly harmless, such as bears damaging bird feeders and rummaging in trash cans, and come with the territory of living in bear country. But increasingly the types of complaints are expanding in scope and becoming more serious. Bear home invasions are on the rise. According to Nevada wildlife officer Carl Lackey, he was “forced to kill a bear…after it broke into a Stateline home on Tahoe’s south shore and refused to come out” ( Las Vegas Sun, 2002, para.9).

As the number of human/bear incidents grows, the citizens are becoming increasingly concerned about how to preserve the safety of their families, livestock and property. When bears actually break into homes, often the nuisance bear is killed, either by a wildlife officer from the Department of Fish, Game and Wildlife or by the residents themselves. California allows residents to apply for permits to kill bears that have invaded their homes in addition to the fall, by permit, bear hunting season (California Department of Fish and Game, 2004).

These situations and the local residents concern and responses to bears wandering through the neighborhood are common, to be expected and universally reflected in rural towns and suburbs situated in bear country throughout the entire North American continent. Everyone in the community agrees that something must be done, but is shooting the troublesome bears the solution? A true solution addresses long-term plans which look into the related financial, environmental, and ecological issues which are part of the larger picture which the human/bear conflict situation is a part of. In order for humans and bears to co-exist without conflict, solutions must be found which actually speak to the underlying problem: how do we create sustainable communities which allow for the multitude of vital species to co-exist allowing for a healthy diverse ecosystem which meets the needs of both bears and humans.

Cultural, moral and ethical issues must also be considered when developing an effective and equitable bear management policy. Many Native Americans consider the bears to be sacred and oppose public policy which treats them as an “animal resource” to be managed for the yearly bear hunting season. The Indian Country Today newspaper publicly questioned the actions of the California Department of Fish and Game “after it refused to allow a veterinarian and team of animal rights advocates to give medical assistance to a black bear that had been shot and suffered without help for nearly a month.” The article poses the questions: “Who owns the bears? Who has the right to decide if they are jailed of killed or released back into the wild? What standing do tribes with spiritual relationships to bears have in determining their fate? And who speaks for the bears?” (Taliman, 2002). These cultural, moral and ethical questions add another facet to the ongoing debate surrounding wildlife management policies issues.

Bears hold a vital part of the eco-system. In the early 1900’s the black bear was on the endangered species list. The primary preditor for the black bear is man (Black Bear History, n.d., para.12). The San Diego area was once the home to a stable population of Southern California Grizzly (Ursus arctos magister). Unfortunately this species is now extinct due mainly to unregulated hunting (Tremor, S & Botta, R., n.d., para.15). Clearly bear population need to be managed and a wide range of management policies must be put to use to protect not only the people in bear country, but also the bears whose natural habitats are being encroached upon.

The increasing number of bear/human encounters are a symptom of - urban sprawl and loss of bear habitat. According to Bob Erickson, biologist with the Department of Fish, Game and Wildlife, “Bears are good for the natural habitat of the state. They eat insects, bees wasps and termites, and they also scavenge and eat dead carcasses of wildlife to prevent disease spreading” (Stabile, 2003).

The black bears roam throughout the Sierras. There are also large black bear populations in the mountain ranges spanning through Maryland, New Jersey, New York and up into Canada. The State of Maryland created a Black Bear Task Force to address their local bear/human encounter problems and to look for long-range, ecologically based, sustainable solutions which consider both the needs of bears and humans. The Task Force determined that bear hunting targets the wrong bears. Wild bears are hunted leaving the “problem” bears to continue their ways. Bears are essentially shy creatures, but are drawn to humans by food. Bears in the wilderness are not the problem. There exists a “fringe society” of bears who live on the edges of human communities. They forge trash cans and back yards and have come to depend upon humans as providers of part of their food source.

Fringe bears learn trash foraging techniques from other bears. These are the “problem” bears. They have developed a taste for the easy goodies humans leave lying around. Furthermore, hunters tend to take large, adult male bears from the population, leaving the juvenile males more room to expand their range. It is these young juvenile males, searching for alternative food sources, who are more likely to cause problems at homes, campsites and farms. Ultimately, the social structure of the local bear community is undermined by hunting and a new problem of juvenile delinquent bears with no adult supervision is created. According to Mike Markarian, a member of the 2002 Task Force, “Hunting is not a solution to a problem, but a commitment to a permanent problem” (Markarian, 2003). Clearly, in addition to addressing the immediate bear/human conflict issues, long-term solutions must be found.

Many non-violent alternatives to bear hunting are available and, when actively enforced, have proven to be effective in managing bear/human populations. Educating the local citizens is vital to keeping the frequency of encounters to a minimum. California wildlife officer Doug Updike sums it up succinctly, “It’s not a bear problem; it’s a people problem” (Las Vegas SUN, 6/22/2003 ). Educating the local populations as to how to live in bear country and avoid attracting bears into the community is key. The Division currently has an overall integrated bear management strategy which includes a public education campaign, black bear research and monitoring, and more aggressive wildlife control measures including aversive conditioning, trapping and removal, sterilization, and finally, euthanization of bears that pose a significant public safety threat (CA Division of fish and Wildlife, n.d.). “Immunocontraception”, an injected form of birth control, has successfully sterilized wild horses and white-tailed deer in other states and could also be applied in this situation to control local bear populations.

Bears are often conditioned by humans to hang around parks and neighborhoods. Many humans feed bears, both intentionally and inadvertently, and this teaches the bears to look to humans for sustenance. Once bears associate people houses with food, trouble starts. “A fed bear is a dead bear,” notes Dennis Schvejda, conservation director for the Sierra Club (Guynup, 2003). Legislation exists banning the feeding of bears. State law enforcement agencies should aggressively enforce this ban on feeding black bears while simultaneously cracking down on municipal and private waste management services, and enforcing the requirement to use bear-proof dumpsters and waste containers in areas with bear problems.

A major issue which must be considered in any effective long-term management strategies is the fact that the increasing number of bear/human encounters is often caused by human development intruding on wildlife areas. Now, bear country sprawls with new housing complexes, shopping centers and vacation homes. This means more bear sightings, more run-ins with humans and increasing property damage. This is a complex and dynamic issue affected by numerous factors, including an increase in suitable habitat, abundant food supplies, increasing vehicular traffic, a more urban/suburban population encroaching upon bear habitats and bears expanding their range into areas with denser human populations.

A truly effective solution involves the active implementation of existing bear control measures combined with long-term strategies involving public education, the development of creative programs to mitigate property loss caused by bears, land use planning which allow for bear habitats and wildlife corridors, and the future management of suburban growth and sprawl to prevent incursions into bears.

Communities must be redesigned to reflect the needs of the local ecology and wildlife as well as the needs of the people they will serve. Given the inter-related nature of ecosystems throughout the planet, a truly effective effort must be global in scope. This effort must reflect ecological and environmental principles such as land-use planning, connected wild lands, preservation of core reserves, wildlife corridors, buffer zones, and actively implement sustainable agriculture, forestry, and fishery principles. (Conservation Economy, n.d.).

Communities built to reflect these basic ecological principles will gradually bring a new balance to the planet through creating safe places for the maintenance of vital biodiversity in regions throughout the entire planet. As these regions gradually recover, biodiversity on the planet can once again flourish. If man is the dominant species on the planet, man must rise to the task of stewardship for the other species co-existing on the planet. Ecological sustainable community development will forge the way for a future of mutual respect and survival for humans and the multitudes of other species interrelating and co-existing on the planet.

We live in a fixed biosphere, the Earth. If we ruin our home, there is no where else for us to go. At present, if we drive a species to extinction, there is no way to bring that species back. Each species holds a critical and perhaps not yet determined role in the global, inter-species eco-system and ecology of the planet. We must begin, now, to implement sustainability community planning measures locally, nationally, and globally to effectively support humans in the creation of global communities which will successfully co-exist not only with the bears, but with all the other species involved in the vast biodiversity of the local and global ecosystem. We must preserve the local and global ecosystems and every precious species in it in order to ensure the survival of a healthy and sustainable planet which we can leave behind to sustain our future generations.

Bio: Karen Saura, MEd, MH is a master herbalist, science teacher and holistic nutritional counselor. She emphasizes the use of whole, organic foods, nutritive herbs and supplements to promote optimal health, prevent disease, manage chronic illness and to rediscover the joy of healthy eating. Phone consultations are available.
e-mail: ksaura@gmail.com


References:
Byers, M. (2000, September 6). To hunt or not to hunt? New Jersey Conservation Foundation. Retrieved April 4, 2004 from
http://www.njconservation.org/html/state/090600.html
Conservation Economy (n.d). The patterns of a conservation economy. Conservation Economy. Retrieved April 22, 2004 , from http://conservationeconomy.net/content.cfm
Guynup, S. (2003, June 16). New Jersey plan to lift bear-hunt ban spurs protests. National Geographic. Retrieved April 11, 2004 , from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0616_030616_tv
Hanley, R. (2003, July 9). New Jersey sets first bear hunt in 33 years. New York Times, Late Edition - Final, Section B, pp. 5.
Markarian, M. (2003, March 28). Black bear task force report and recommendations. Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved April 11, 2004 , from http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/bbtfappendg.html
New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (n.d.). Questions and answers about NJ’s black bears.

New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved April 11, 2004 , from http://www.stateofnj.us/dep/fgw/bearq&a.htm
Servheen, C. (1989, February) The status and conservation of the bears of the world. Bear Biology. Retrieved August 22, 2003 , from http://bearbiology.com/bearstat.html
Stabile, J. (2003, July 14). The bear necessity. The Daily Record. Retrieved August 4, 2003 , from http://www.dailyrecord.com/sports/morrisoutdoors.
Citizens for Responsible Wildlife Management (n.d.) Black bear history. Responsible Wildlife Management. Retrieved May 2, 2004 , from http://www.responsiblewildlifemanagement.org/bear_history.htm
Tremor, S & Botta, R. (n.d.) History of bears in San Diego county. San Diego Natural History Museum. Retrieved April 25, 2004, from http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/mammals/ursu-ame.html
Taliman, V. (2002). Tribes protest; challenge California bear policy. Indian Country Today. Retrieved April 30, 2004, from http://www.indiancountry.com/?1032223785&style=printable

Ecoliteracy and the School Garden

Ecoliteracy and The School Garden
by Karen Saura, MH
copyright 2003

A sustainable society is one that is able to satisfy its needs without diminishing the chances of future generations. We each hold a moral responsibility to live in such a way that we pass onto our descendents a world with as many opportunities as the one we inherited. To achieve this goal of maintaining a sustainable society, the members of the society must understand the principles of sustainable development to insure that their actions and vision for the future will be aligned with the concept of sustainability. Capra states in The Hidden Connections (2002) that "humankind has the ability to achieve sustainable development-to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". In today's world of diminishing resources, it is essential to educate the future generations in the principles of sustainable living. This can be accomplished by creating a sense of responsible community, integrating ecology into school curriculums, and putting these principles into practice in the schools and communities with sustainability gardens.

Ecoliteracy is a word has been developed to describe an education firmly grounded in ecological principles. According to Capra, "being ecological literally means understanding the basic patterns and processes by which nature sustains life and using these core concepts of ecology to create sustainable human communities, in particular, learning communities." As an individual gains a sense of ecoliteracy, he/she begins to develop an awareness of how he/she fits into the larger world and with this a sense of responsibility for his/her actions and their consequence on this larger world. The natural place to begin to teach ecoliteracy is in our schools.

In order to understand the principles behind ecoliteracy one must develop holistic thinking. This is the awareness of existing as part of the larger whole. For example, the individual is part of a family who is part of a community, which is part of the planet. As part of the whole we must see where our actions affect the other parts of the whole and, in turn, where the other parts affect us. This is the basis for thinking in the sustainability model. These basic principles are beautifully demonstrated in a kaleidoscope of ways in the sustainability garden.

Nature exists in an ecological balance with its ecosystems established, each unique and different, yet, interrelating on many levels. They are complex networks nested one inside another, constantly responding and adapting to the environment and outside influences. A sustainable human community is one which becomes a part of the existing natural ecosystem whereby
"its ways of life, businesses, economy, physical structures, and technologies do not interfere with nature's inherent ability to sustain life. Sustainable communities evolve their patterns of living over time in continual interactions with other living systems both human and nonhuman.

Sustainability… is a dynamic process of coevolution" (Capra, 2002). The introduction of a school garden project into the school curriculum provides the entry point for ecoliteracy into the school and serves as a living laboratory of sustainability principles to be participated in by the students, faculty, parents, and extended community.

A sustainability garden can be established in any school. Few facilities will have the perfect location. The initial project might be a vision to reclaim a space for nature to exist in a concrete city environment using pots and planters. Perhaps the school land is dead and depleated. Here the first phase of the project must be to bring the soil back to life before the actual garden can be planted. Regardless of the circumstances, the garden is used as a focal point to create an integrated curriculum bringing the teachers together, involving the students, the community, and introducing the concepts of ecoliteracy and sustainability.

An ecological curriculum designed using the garden as a focus for interdisciplinary education naturally reconnects the various subjects. A sample multi-subject assignment might be, "Working in teams, write about the life cycle of the earthworm, find one in the garden and draw it, discuss what contribution it makes to the garden, how are we like the earthworm, and what can we do on campus to help the earthworm do it job?" If multiple teachers are involved, this assignment can tie in biology, English, art, ecology, recycling, and the kids will have fun and get their hands dirty! By bringing environmental awareness into the child's thinking, everything else they learn takes on a new sense of reality through the connections to the garden and the sustainability principles embodied there.

The school day is overfull of busy tasks with little time left for students, teachers or parents for reflection and unstructured activities. The garden provides a place where a sense of place and community develops. In turn, the school community become stewards of the garden. It is a reciprocal relationship. Working in the garden one begins to experience a different sense of time through the observing and experiencing of natural cycles. Children become aware of time as spanning over the cycles of the seasons as a seed is planted and grows. This expanded awareness of time and of how our actions in the present affect situations in the future is critical to developing an understanding of ecoliteracy. To care for the future we must be able to see ourselves as part of a process and take responsibility for how our present actions will affect the future. In our hectic modern world there are precious few opportunities to teach this understanding. Nurturing this awareness of time as part of larger cycles which are part of other cycles extending from the past into the future of which we are a part of in the present is a valuable part of the teachings garnered through spending time in a sustainability garden.

Education in its truest form is a process which opens the eyes of the students to the wonders of the world, teaches them how to question and seek the answers, and then to take that information and put it into practice in their community. Curiosity must be fostered. The child's intuitive wisdom must be developed and supported. Awakening a reverence and sense of wonder and connection to other species is crucial to teaching ecological awareness. These sensitivities develop naturally as one spends time in a garden. We must awaken to the fact that we all live on the same planet and drink from the same watering hole. This is a simple perceptual shift, yet profound, and it awakens a sense of personal responsibility when it occurs.

This shift in thinking opens the door to teaching the principles of sustainable living. The success of the garden can be measured by assessing the degree to which core curriculum integrates and the extent to which the administration, teachers, students, parents and extended community participate in the actual hands on responsibilities and activities revolving around the garden. The garden itself will grow. It will have good seasons, and not-so-good seasons. Yet, the garden is a process and its goal is to teach sustainable living principles. It's success is not based on what is produced and how much, but on what is learned by those involved and its ability to sustain itself as a living outdoor classroom into the future.

The creation of the garden must be a community process. A good way to begin is by forming a garden club comprised of students, parent volunteers, faculty advisors and liaisons to each discipline of the school. This will be the core group that will anchor the vision into the school through the garden. At various points along the way there will be opportunities for collaboration, Entry Points for Integrating Curriculum (EPIC). The school garden is a student driven process and the students must be directly and intimately involved every step of the way.

A unifying vision and a mission statement embodying the principles of sustainable living and ecoliteracy must be developed before the actual work is begun on the physical creation of the garden. The creation of the mission statement is an EPIC which can enlist the support of English, history, and science teachers and students. To develop our vision we will define our garden and how it relates to the following areas: visionary thinking and how our actions affect the future, the garden in relation to cycles and systems, strategic thinking, stewardship as a component of moral life, the stewardship of natural resources, equality, and globalization. This vision and mission statement will serve to direct the actual creation of the garden and will also be used as the vehicle through which we can share our vision of ecoliteracy and the school garden with the school body and larger community.

Plans for the garden must be drawn up. This is another EPIC where the math, science, and art departments are enlisted to participate, along with the administration, community gardening experts, and local businesses. Students create schedules for garden construction, planting, watering, harvesting, and community workdays, activities and celebrations.

Principles of sustainable living will be brought into practice on the campus through the development of various campus-wide programs including recycling programs, composting for the garden, and growing food to eaten by the students in the campus lunch program. These activities are all EPIC's involving the support of school custodians, teachers, students, parents, and outside businesses.

Students might write articles on their sustainability garden and ecoliteracy as it applies to their campus with photo journalism components and submit them for publication or post them onto a school sustainability garden website. They can write grant proposals using teacher mentors to guide them in the grant writing process. Here is another EPIC bringing together science, English, art, technology and involving the larger community creating networks of information flows via the website, student writings and grant proposals.

Fundraisers can be held using the vision of the Sustainability Garden as the theme, serving to provide funds to support the project and to share the principles of ecoliteracy with the larger community.

True success lies in the development and implementation of interdisciplinary curriculum materials that focus on sustainability and future thinking based on the belief that students need to understand systems and how they interconnect, and how to appreciate a worldview from multiple perspectives. The garden is the natural place to implement these teachings.

To be an agent of change one must first have a vision of something that they can do to contribute to the world at large, feed that vision with active exploration of how to bring it into manifestation, allow for the vision to adapt to the existing circumstances, and take the steps necessary to bring the vision into manifestation. One acts as an agent of change by creating a new vision and bringing its __expression into the existing paradigm thus affecting a change in the existing paradigm and shifting the vision of the whole. Our kids must learn to be agents of change if we are to see sustainability grow into a global vision and viable future for humanity.

The deeper and wider the pattern of connections we teach our children, the better they will understand the earth's processes and their membership in the web of life. Ecological decisions require an attention span longer than a single lifetime and a frame of reference wider than one's immediate surroundings. If you don't have a sense of connection to your ancestors or your descendants, then long term planetary impacts might not seem important.

The exploration of ecoliteracy and sustainability education brings to one an awareness of the individual as a part of the planetary whole re-awakened and invigorated by the principles of ecology as set forth by Capra. As these concepts are grounded and assimilated into an individuals world/community view, an awareness of the community existing as an interrelated part of the world it is a part of grows. Already, in most every community, there are people actively acting as agents of change, doing their part to build a sustainable future by actively applying some form these principles of sustainable living. To manifest a global sustainable future for our children and their children, we must each begin the process of transformation wherever we are, and act as agents of change wherever we can.

Considering today's world of diminishing resources, we each hold a moral responsibility to develop a sustainable society so that we pass onto our descendents a world with as many opportunities as the one we inherited. To achieve this goal, the members of our society must understand and begin to live the principles of sustainable development and teach them to children. Nature is the best teacher of sustainability principles and her garden is the classroom where these principles are best observed. Through the creation of sustainability gardens in our schools and communities, we will educate future generations in the principles of sustainable living and inspire in them a sense of responsible community with which they can insure that their future actions and vision for their future will be aligned with the larger vision of global sustainability.

About the Author:

Karen Saura MEd, MH, is a Master Herbalist, science teacher, and holistic nutritional counselor. She emphasizes the use of whole, organic foods, nutritive herbs and supplements to promote optimal health, prevent disease, manage chronic illness and to rediscover the joy of healthy eating. Phone consultations are available.e-mail: ksaura@gmail.com .

References
Armstrong, J.C. (1999). Let Us Begin with Courage. Berkeley: Center for Ecoliteracy.
Capra, F. (1999). Ecoliteracy: The Challenge for Education in the Next Century. Berkeley: Center for Ecoliteracy.
Capra, F. (1994). Ecology and Community. Berkeley: Center for Ecoliteracy.
Capra, F. (2002). The Hidden Connections. New York: Doubleday.
Capra, F. (1997). Turn, Turn, Turn: Understanding Nature's Cycles. Berkeley: Center for Ecoliteracy.
Casella, J. (n.d.). EcoStars. Retrieved [June 14, 2003], from [http://www.ecoliteracy.org].
Comnes, L. (n.d.). A School Community for Children. Retrieved [June 14, 2003], from [http://www.ecoliteracy.org].
The Center for Ecoliteracy (n.d.). fritjof capra. Retrieved [June 14, 2003], from [http://www.ecoliteracy.org].
The Center for Ecoliteracy (n.d.). Thinking Outside the Classroom an Interview with Zenobia Barlow. Retrieved [June 14, 2003], from [http://www.ecoliteracy.org].

The Inner Circle

http://www.spiralmuse.com/spirit_home.html

The Inner Circle
by Karen Saura, MH
copyright 2005, all rights reserved

"...in the circles where we face ourselves,we listen like a miracle,and I reclaim the song which is mine..."- Janice Mirikitani, Where Bodies Are Buried (Bolen, 1999)

The circle is an ancient symbol. It is a line without end. It can symbolize a container, a seed, a well, a womb. It has been used by cultures as a place for communion, celebration, communication, a place of equals. The circle is a universal archetype which holds a timeless and ancient position in our psyche.

Jean Bolen is a Jungian analyst who uses the circle as a sacred place for women to come together in communion to share, to heal and from this place of newfound wholeness, to create. In her book, The Millionth Circle, Bolen casts a vision of women’s circles forming in women’s gathering places all over the planet. Each circle has the impact of a pebble cast into a pond... it’s presence in the pond creates ripples that continue to spread over the surface and to the depths, around and around throughout the entire pond, quietly, subtly affecting each and every thing within that pond.

Bolen hopes to inspire women to form women’s circles and to see these circles in the larger context of a planetary transformation. She writes, "When a critical number of people change how they think and behave, the culture does also, and a new era begins". Bolen has created The Millionth Circle as a process which proposes to "(change) the world and (bring) humanity into a post-patriarchal era. Women...will be the ones to do it, if it is to be done" (Bolen 1999).

I was inspired by this vision of Bolin’s Millionth Circle. In contemplating its intricacies and implications I wondered why it couldn’t be applied to personal inner growth as a way to heal the many embodiments of one’s inner female persona, the Anima the female complement to the masculine Animus, as Carl Jung chose to call them. Why couldn’t it be applied to shadow work and the reclamation of the unconscious hidden parts of our female psyche which we have lost along the way?

Robert Bly describes the unconscious as a "long bag we drag behind us, heavy with the parts of ourselves our parents or community didn’t approve of" (Bly, 1988). Why not create an inner circle, a place to go to in meditation where we can call forth and reclaim from our bag of unconscious stuff these fragmented and lost parts of our Anima, our Goddess self, our inner feminine nature in her infinite forms?

When a woman’s inner Goddess nature is reclaimed, healed and empowered, this woman then becomes a Goddess in her own right, a Goddess in whatever situation she lives in whatever part of the world she finds herself. True inner and outer transformation can only occur as each one of us begins the journey of healing and reclaiming all the lost aspects of our Goddess self. As these emergent Goddesses in woman bodies unite through outer sacred circles in their infinite expressions, there will emerge a tremendous potential for unprecedented global transformation.

The Inner Circle was created to complement Bolen’s Millionth Circle. I share Bolen’s conviction that "when a critical number of people change how they think and behave, the culture does also, and a new era begins". Here’s to a paradigm shift and ultimate global transformation!

Bolen speaks of the first circle we see as existing in the mind’s eye and imagination. The Inner Circle is invoked through creative visualization, yet the ways to cast a personal circle are as many as there are women on the earth. Perhaps one paints their sacred circle and uses this sacred painting as the focal point for the circle journey. Writing could be used to describe circle. The circle may manifest as a cave or a garden, it may float over the water or in a bubble. A circle might be danced, or sung, and it may change over time. The circle is a sacred place where we will go to get to know our inner Self. Once the circle is cast it will serve as the inner sanctuary for inner reflection, inner healing, and for the reclamation of the lost aspects of our psyche.

The circle must have a center, a focal point around which the many aspects of our Self can come together. Perhaps in the center of the circle is a deep quiet reflection pool that allows whatever needs to come into my awareness to surface. It might be a sacred alter where personal power objects will gather. It could be a yawning cavern into the underworld through which to call to our unconscious to come forth when beckoned. Fire may hold the center with a flickering candle, a warm campfire, or a fiery cauldron into which we can cast our outgrown self images, beliefs, and thought constructs to be burned, deconstructed, purified and offered back to the fire Goddess Pele resting deep in the molten core of the Earth.

To enter this sacred place and hold the circle intact over time, one must first master some basic meditation techniques. These are numerous and might include processes such as learning to quietly sit with oneself while remaining distant from the chattering mind, or deep and relaxed breathing techniques. These techniques allow one to become centered and still. As the mind slows and time spreads out, the moment arises from which you gather your intent and cast this inner circle, this sacred place where the inner family will eventually gather and reunite over time.

This is a magical circle which will shift and change to meet the needs of the inner aspects of Self as they are called forth to be heard, recognized, accepted, and honored. Remain open to the unexpected and trust the process. Ask your subconscious to provide you with any tools you may need to work with at any given time. These shall emerge from your unconscious, perhaps they materialize on the alter or appear in your hands. Also intend that the full knowledge and understanding of how to use them emerges simultaneously. These tools are gifts from your subconscious, forgotten skills and abilities and they will serve to aid in bringing the lost fragments of self to the conscious awareness. As they are bathed in the light of consciousness, these fragments will become one with the conscious psyche and will recover their proper positions in the inner hierarchy of the sacred circle of the inner Self.

Into the circle call forth all aspects of the inner Self to take their position around the circle. Bolen defines the Self as that archetype through which we derive a sense of meaning and affiliation with something greater than our small selves (Bolen, 1994). As these aspects of Self come forth, each will have a seat at the circle. Yet not all the places will be filled. The empty seats are awaiting aspects of Self that have been completely lost into the unconscious and have yet to be reclaimed. These can be called forth, eventually, over time.

The aspects of Self that enter the circle come in varying states of focus, intensity, and awareness. Some are startled at being noticed as they have been ignored for a very long time. Others are frightened to come into the open as they have not been protected and nurtured and have had to fend for themselves over the years. One might be dominant, powerful, well-dressed, and arrogant. Another might appear disheveled or wounded. Whether they come into focus quickly, or linger unfocused on the shadow edges of the circle, every figure which emerges must be recognized, contended with if necessary, listened to, reasoned with, brought into balance and eventually loved and healed and reclaimed into the collective psyche of the Self.

As we visit our inner circle, we find that every time we enter this sacred place in our inner world, it develops in richness and detail, gradually taking on a force and vitality of its own. Some days it emerges as a bright, happy and enlightening place. Other days it remains shrouded under dark clouds of emotion. Occasionally, all of our inner hierarchy may be present for the circle dance. Other days one or another may be away, or reluctant to enter the circle, hiding behind a rock perhaps, needing to be coaxed out or comforted, frightened perhaps by events in the outer world which need to be addressed by the circle group as a whole.

Intend, (v.t.) is defined as: to have in mind as something to be done or brought about; to design or mean for a particular purpose, use, recipient, etc.; archaic, to direct (the eyes, mind, etc.) (Stein, 1984).

The inner circle is created through personal intention and for the purpose of calling in and reclaiming lost parts of self. Intentions are used to gather the mind, will- power and emotions together. From this point of inner alignment and personal power one then begins to visualize and create the inner sanctuary. Follows is a list of beginning intentions which will serve to hold the space for the inner circle and its process. Intentions may need to be added to or changed as the inner circle grows and evolves.

Set the intentions for the circle. It will be visited daily. This is to be a safe place. Any disruptive influences will immediately be put into containment thus insuring the sanctity of the circle. Nothing is permitted into the boundaries of the circle which could cause harm to any aspect of the inner family. The circle is to remain intact over time and space. Once the process is begun, it will continue day and night as the inner reunion progresses. All which occurs in the sacred circle will come to conscious awareness in right timing for healing and integration. Intend that the work of reconciliation of the inner family will continue in dream time and that all which comes to the surface will be brought to the awareness of the conscious mind for integration. Intend that the integration be at a pace which allows for the complete and thorough integration and assimilation of the reclaimed aspects of self and that it also occurs at a pace which does not interfere with the obligations of daily life.

It is helpful to write out the intentions for the parameters of the circle and review them daily. This helps to hold the focus. Feel free to amend these intentions as necessary to allow the circle process to fit your individual needs and the needs of the inner family as circumstances arise.
Journaling is a valuable tool for capturing insight and personal reflection as one embarks upon this journey of reclaiming the lost aspects of Self. Writing has long been heralded as a tool for accessing one’s unconscious. Each journey into the sacred circle will be unique unto itself and will be a window into the psychic atmosphere of the moment. There will be days when the inner aspects come forth with terrifying intensity full of details and stories which are stunning in their startling and personally intimate details. Other days may be filled with resistance and obstacles.

One must trust the process and allow for whatever is arising to have its place in the circle.
Through the circle process we are calling psychic fragments, parts of ourselves we have lost along the way. We call these fragments back into our conscious awareness, learn from their journey into the darkness of the unconscious and then reintegrate them into our psyche. Jung speaks of these fragments as "splinter psyches", bits of the psyche which have split off, most frequently as a result of a so-called trauma, emotional shock, or as a result of a moral conflict, ultimately deriving from the apparent impossibility of affirming the whole of one’s nature (Jung, 1981). These lost parts of self, buried in our unconscious, carry the emotional charge which was present at the moment of the splintering. These emotions must find a place for _expression. As these lost fragments of Self are called back into the circle, space is given to each one to tell their story and to express any anger, rage, and pain. In this way the energy is discharged and emotional balance is re-established.

In coming together, some of the fragments may begin to take on the form of universal archetypes, mythical figures such as the divine child, the twins, the crone, the primordial mother. Jung proposed that archetypes are "primordial images, representations of the instinctual energies of the collective unconscious". This collective unconscious, according to Jung, is shared by all humans and "results from experiences that are common to all people". It includes material from our pre-human and animal ancestry. Jung felt the collective unconscious and the archetypes which emerged from this rich universal psyche to be "the source of our most powerful ideas and experiences" (Fadiman & Frager 2002) (text).

In Crossing To Avalon, Bolen explores many faces of the Goddess in her infinite bodies of _expression. These same archetypal God and Goddess forces have emerged in cultures in all corners of the planet, from the present to the most ancient remnants of civilization. The names and depictions vary reflecting different eras and cultures, yet the qualities remain throughout time and place.

Bolen identifies the three aspects of the triple Goddess - the three faces of the feminine - the maiden, mother and crone. These feminine faces mirror the three masculine faces of God - the father, son, and Holy Ghost. Bolen refers to the triple Goddess by their ancient Greek names, Persephone, Demeter, and Hectate. The Romans knew Demeter as Ceres, and Hectate as Artemis. Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty was called Venus by the ancient Romans. The Virgin Mary has many names and faces in the Christian world and is known as Quan Yin in many parts of the Far East.

Figures such as the child, the fool, the queen and priestess have names too numerous to undertake in this writing. Other archetypes include plants, animals, the elements, caves, ponds, and mountain peaks. Mankind has forever called upon the Sun, the Moon, the Planets, and the Stars. We can invoke mermaids, centaurs, unicorns, Pegasus, angels, devils and demons. Transitional phases are embodied in the archetypes of seeds, floods, birth and death.

Through reflecting upon these rich and ancient archetypes, becoming familiar with them and calling them into the circle, we can bringing their universal qualities into our psyche thus serving to fill in missing parts of our psyche and to trigger unconscious aspects to emerge. As Jung reminds us, "we are in the realm of archetypal experience and share a collective unconscious". These "archetypes... are universal, and if we are receptive to these archetypes in ourselves, there is a corresponding resonance in us... a sympathetic reverberation of inner chords" (Jung, 1964).

Jung’s collective unconscious is composed of archetypal images, associated feelings, patterns of behavior. We are unaware of them until they are activated and brought into our conscious. Through the device of the inner circle we are calling in these unexpressed archetypes laying forgotten in our psyche and bringing them into the consciousness via the circle. Here we will reclaim their strengths and understandings, ultimately bringing these gifts into _expression in our external world.

Bolen advocates focusing on the feminine archetypes as we live in a patriarchal culture which subverts feminine attributes while emphasizing and emulating the attributes represented in the male archetypes. In The Millionth Circle she explains why. "Western civilization is the story of patriarchy, a dominator, hierarchical history of power and intellect that together have brought us to new heights of technology and to the possibility of destroying our planet". Bolen continues, "If the patriarchy is to be healed and the planet is restored, might women’s wisdom be needed?" We need to heal the feminine nature, reclaim our women’s wisdom, and recover our female voice so that when we speak our truth, it is heard!

We must recover those archetypal aspects of our psyche which have been rejected by this patriarchal society we live in. A place must be made for our Wild Woman, she who knows the truth and must live it. It is she who recognizes the Goddess, and in embodied sacred moments, becomes the Goddess.

We must come to terms with the four faces of the Great Mother - the life-giving, Nurturing Mother; the Death Mother, she who is so depressed that she refuses to let anything grow; the Ecstatic or Dancing Mother; and the deeply wounded and broken Stone Mother, she who no longer feels (Bolen 1994). Bolen suggests that we use these faces of the Great Mother to help heal our own maternal relationships.

We can call upon these aspects of the Great Mother to comfort the inner child. We can empower the inner Crone by seeing through her timeless eyes and observing our outer circumstances through the filter of her timeless wisdom. We can invoke our inner Warrior to summon the courage to encounter the challenges ahead. Each aspect of our inner Anima has a place at the circle as does every aspect of our Animus. As we come to know the many facets of Self through reflection, communion and relationship with our inner archetypes, gradually we heal our wounded psyches. The stories they share are forgotten aspects of our own individual personal history. As these stories are heard through the voices of the archetypes, the fragments are gradually reabsorbed back into the psyche of the Self. As our inner Self heals and expands, the transformation is mirrored to outer Self, that part which expresses who we are in all of our relationships and daily life situations. From this newfound position of psychic wholeness we can now embark upon the journey to bringing transformation into our outer reality. The path to true transformation begins in first reclaiming the inner psyche.

I began working with my Inner Circle as inspired by Bolen’s The Millionth Circle about a month ago. The process I used followed the general instructions set forth earlier in this article. I began with the Inner Circle intentions and allowed them to evolve over the last few weeks. Although I do not have a designated time and place where I meditate and reflect, I do take time daily to work with the process.

I first cast and entered my circle, created my center there and called for all aspects of my inner Self to come forth and take their places. I focused on the feminine aspect of my family as this is the focus of Bolen’s Millionth Circle. I looked around the circle and called forth my inner child, the adolescent girl, the teenager and the young adult. The mature adult woman came forth and she reminded me of my inner infant and toddler. I called forth my ancestors to fill the positions of the inner elders.

I looked around and surveyed who had come forth. In their customary positions were my familiar companions, my priestess advisor, the indian crone, my inner child, amongst others. The ones who were messed up or missing were those who mirror areas in my present life which are presenting strong challenges and those who mirror yet unresolved times from my past which were especially difficult, challenging, and overwhelming. As I reflected on why this is so, the wise woman elder steps in and explains that in order to get through the tough times I shoved these parts of myself aside and took care of basic survival needs, neglecting the maintenance of my psyche. "Splinter psyches" as Jung had defined them.

I have worked with my inner child for many years now and I will share a brief recounting of her gradual evolution to illustrate how the inner archetypes can grow and evolve as we work with them.

I easily recognized my little child when she came into the circle. I know her by name (she said it’s a secret-I can’t tell) and she’s about 8 years old. She used to be timid and too frightened to come out and play. I would often find her hiding, trembling under a large rock, terrified of situations occurring in my outer life. Long ago I asked our ("our" refers to my inner family of which the "I" that my conscious self identifies with is a part of) Source, that presence which holds all that I am, for a tool to help her feel safe. Our Source materialized a magical rainbow cloak, long and flowing, with a wonderful full hood. This magical cloak holds the wearer invisible when the hood is pulled on. My little child self loved this gift from our source and pulls it on whenever she is threatened or afraid. Since receiving this gift she no longer hides and has become much more present, playful and available in daily life.

My inner child needed lots of attention early on. She required lots of holding and comforting from my mother aspect. As she began to heal over time her behavior changed. She has become much more settled, less compulsive and demanding. It is truly amazing to watch the progress over time.

Working with the Inner Circle has brought me into contact with my shadow world and given me tools with which to call it forth and reclaim it. This Inner Circle can be compared to the first circle which Bolen speaks of, that circle we see in our mind’s eye and imagination. Once the inner circle is cast it can then be made manifest in out outer world. The next evolution of the circle journey is to reach out to other women, join a woman’s circle or form one (Bolen, 1999).

Just as the inner psyche mirrors the outer psyche, so the inner circle mirrors the outer circle. As one becomes acquainted with the Inner Circle journey, the next evolution is to embark upon the outer circle journey.

A peaceful revolution is going on,a women’s spirituality movement, hidden in plain sight.Through circles of women, healing women, Might the culture come around?-Jean Bolin, The Millionth Circle

References
Bly, R. (1988). A little book on the human shadow. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.
Bolen, J. (1994). Crossing to avalon: a woman’s midlife pilgrimage. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco.
Bolen, J. (1999). The millionth circle: how to change ourselves and the world: theessential guide to women’s circles. Berkeley, CA: Conari Press.
Estes, C. (1992). Women who run with the wolves: myths and stories of the wild woman archetype. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.
Fadiman, J. & Frager, R. (2002). Personality & personal growth, fifth edition. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Jung, C. (1964). Man and his symbols. London, England: Aldus Books.
Jung, C. (1981). The structure and dynamics of the psyche. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Copyrighted 2005 by Karen Saura, all rights reserved. ksaura@gmail.com

Bio: Karen Saura, MEd, MH is a Master Herbalist graduate of The School of Natural Healing, science teacher, holistic and nutritional counselor. Consultations are based around the principles if combining inner healing practices with the use of whole, organic foods, nutritive herbs and supplements to promote optimal health and wellness.
Phone consultations are available. ksaura@gmail.com