An Array of Utopian Flowers
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Wildlife Crossings: Animals Survive with Bridges and Tunnels
Posted on May 19, 2013 | 1 Comment -
Henry Miller’s Free Association into the Surreal
Posted on May 19, 2013 | No Comments -
La Loba: Wild Woman, Luminous Wolf
Posted on May 15, 2013 | 1 Comment -
Vandana Shiva: Maintaining Biodiversity and the Seeds of Freedom
Posted on May 11, 2013 | No Comments -
African Garden Cities: Urbanization Without Planning for People
Posted on May 7, 2013 | No Comments
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WilderUtopia in 64 Languages
Chasing Ice: The New “Inconvenient Truth”
Arctic Melting Before Our Eyes - In his new film on the disappearance of Arctic glaciers, “Chasing Ice,” author, award-winning photographer and reformed climate-change denier James Balog used time-lapse photography to capture global warming in progress.
Read MoreEcological Urbanism
A City Green Re-Imagination - We must demand an ecological retrofitting of our urban environments to live together more efficiently, giving credence to community, allowing space for the open wild.
Read More
Rituals and Traditions Archive
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La Loba: Wild Woman, Luminous Wolf
Posted on May 15, 2013 | 1 CommentClarissa Pinkola Estés retells the Tarahumara story from the deserts and mountains of Northern Mexico, about a wolf woman, a collector of bones, who resurrects the wild spirit of life from the depths of the Underworld. -
Haitian Vodou: Summoning the Spirits
Posted on April 30, 2013 | No CommentsLike several West African religions, Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Bondyè, from bon "good" + dyè "God." Because Bondyè is unreachable, Vodouisants aim their prayers to lesser entities, the spirits known as Lwa (Loa), contacted and served through possession. In turn, the Lwa confer material blessings, physical well-being, protection, abundance. -
Spring Equinox, the Eostre Bunny, and Other Wiccan Mysteries
Posted on April 2, 2013 | No CommentsEostre - the Germanic goddess of dawn and fertility, whose name gives us the word Easter - must be pleased. Two millennia of Christianity, and she has yet to be displaced from our annual celebration of fecundity. Easter eggs, representing birth, nod to both pagan and Christian traditions. -
California Condor: Overcoming Extinction, A Symbol of Renewal
Posted on March 6, 2013 | No CommentsThe California Condor Recovery Program has defied the odds to rescue from oblivion the last of the prehistorics and icon of Native Californian cosmology. Threats such as lead ammunition, microtrash, and sprawling land development threaten these impressive gains of an endangered species. The film "The Condor's Shadow" documents this struggle and is showing in locations around California. -
Papua New Guinea: Rainforest World of Sustainable River Guardians
Posted on January 9, 2013 | 1 CommentThe Sacred Land Film Project captured a revival of a canoe ceremony with feasting, dancing and carving, honoring their sacred Ramu River. The region is part of the third largest intact rainforest ecosystem left on earth, where sustainable agriculture and forestry practices have allowed societies to thrive for thousands of years, now threatened by multinational logging interests and corrupt governmental entities. -
Maya Ruins at Tikal: A New Beginning at Winter Solstice
Posted on December 21, 2012 | 1 CommentTwenty five hundred years ago, a group of peoples settled Tikal, surrounded by the lowland rainforests of the Petén Basin of northern Guatemala. Their descendants would create a remarkable civilization that populated cities and villages across much of southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Today, it has returned to the jungle. -
Maximón: The Underground Great Grandfather of Western Guatemala
Posted on November 23, 2012 | No CommentsMaximón is a folk saint of the Maya of Guatemala, associated with pre-Columbian earth lords who provide money or economic opportunity to client-petitioners. He is an opener of the way, a bringer of rain and symbolizes male sexual power. -
All Souls Day Procession Honors the Ancestors in Antigua, Guatemala
Posted on November 5, 2012 | No CommentsIn Guatemala, a procession through the cobblestone streets of the former capital, Antigua, marks the end of the Day of the Dead, All Saints and All Souls. -
Day of the Dead: Aztec Dance Honoring the Soul’s Rest
Posted on October 29, 2012 | No CommentsIn the pre-Hispanic era, skulls were kept as trophies and displayed during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth. These ancestors passed down the knowledge that souls exist after death, resting in Mictlan, the land of the dead, not for judgment or resurrection, but for the day each year when they could return home to visit their loved ones. -
Kumeyaay People: Traditions Survive in Baja California
Posted on October 22, 2012 | No CommentsGroups of Kumeyaay People live in the isolated canyons of the Tijuana River watershed, high in the Baja California peninsula. They harvest acorns and pine nuts, hunt rattlesnake and small animals, collect grasses to weave baskets. They allow a glimpse of what life in Southern California before the Spanish arrived was like. -
Riding the Sky with Reindeer Shamans of Siberia
Posted on September 30, 2012 | No CommentsIn Siberia, shamans combine a distinctive imagery of reindeer and of bird-flight. Their costumes sometimes include imitation reindeer antlers, occasionally tipped with wings or feathers, placed on the headdress or attached to the shoulders at the very point where reindeer are tattooed on the Pazyryk mummies. Like the participants in the Eveny (Evenki) midsummer ritual, shamans may ride to the sky on a bird or a reindeer. -
Popol Vuh: The Ancient Maya Dawn of Life and Overcoming the Forces of Awe
Posted on July 23, 2012 | 5 CommentsThe Popol Vuh (Maya K'iche' for "Council Book" or "Book of the Community") features a creation myth, the Dawn of Life under the spectre of a flooded world, followed by the epic mythological stories of two Hero Twins: Hunahpu (Blow-gun Hunter) and Xbalanque (Young Hidden/Jaguar-Sun) as they confront the Lords of Death and Disease in the underworld caves of the "Place of Awe." -
Chumash Healing With Spirit: A Tribute to Cecilia Garcia
Posted on May 26, 2012 | 1 CommentTo honor the soul transition of Chumash teacher and healer Cecilia Garcia, we share an article written by her and USC Professor Jim Adams on mind, body and spirit healing. -
Mythology of the Crow: Love Trials of the Magic Buffalo Wife
Posted on May 23, 2012 | No CommentsAn Apsáalooke Crow man falls in love and has a child with the magical Buffalo Woman, which requires him to prove his love and devotion to her and her Buffalo Nation. -
Caribbean Garífuna: Masked Warriors Dance into the New Year
Posted on April 27, 2012 | 1 CommentThe masked dance ritual called Wanaragua, takes place as part of the New Year's celebration among the Garífuna villages on the Caribbean Coast of Central America. -
Aboriginal Dreamtime: The Rainbow Serpent
Posted on April 12, 2012 | No CommentsThe Aboriginal Australian Rainbow Serpent meanders snake-like like a river across the landscape, sunlight reflecting the spectrum of colours. He inhabits permanent waterholes and controls precious oils and waters. -
Papua New Guinea: Sepik River Initiation and the Crocodile Cult
Posted on April 6, 2012 | 2 CommentsCrocodiles feature in the legends and rites of passage of various Sepik tribes, sharing a belief in ancestral ties to the aquatic reptile. Risks from mining in the upper river threatens the health of the people of the basin. -
Chumash Stories: Julie Tumamait-Stenslie Speaks at Ojai
Posted on January 4, 2012 | No CommentsMonthly RoundTable discussion of myths, legends, and stories at the Ojai Foundation on January 22 will focus on Chumash stories, with Chumash elder and storyteller Julie Tumamait. -
Soyal Ceremony: Hopi Kachinas Dance at Winter Solstice
Posted on December 22, 2011 | No CommentsThe Soyal Ceremony begins on the shortest day of the year, and symbolizes the second phase of Creation at the Dawn of Life. Its prayers and rituals implement a plan of life for the coming year, ceremonially turning back the sun toward its summer path. -
Tonantzin Transforms into Our Lady of Guadalupe
Posted on December 17, 2011 | 1 CommentThe future St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin explained to the Bishop of Mexico City how the Virgin appeared to requested a temple be built at Tepeyac in her honor. -
Virgin of Guadalupe: The Apparitions of An Aztec Goddess
Posted on December 14, 2011 | 1 CommentA Mexican Indian Catholic convert experiences visions of an obscure Aztec goddess, Tonantzin, challenging his faith. Thereafter the goddess becomes associated with the Virgin Mary in post-Spanish-conquest church. -
Iroquois Thanksgiving Address
Posted on November 24, 2011 | 2 CommentsThis prayer is a gift from the Haudenosaunee People (The Iroquois Nation), words of Thanksgiving with ancient roots dating back to when the Great Law of Peace was brought to the people by the Peace Maker, Dekanawidah ("Two River-Currents Flowing Together"), the Iroquois prophet, statesman, and lawgiver, who counseled an end to warring between the tribes. -
Olvera Street Day of the Dead – Los Angeles with an Aztec Flair
Posted on October 31, 2011 | 2 CommentsOlvera Street near downtown Los Angeles burst with color, reverence, and dance for the annual Dia de los Muertos celebration and procession. -
Self-Healing with Chumash Native Plant Medicine
Posted on October 21, 2011 | 4 CommentsThe late Cecilia Garcia taught Chumash traditional spirit healing with prayers, laughter, dreaming, herbal medicines and aromatherapy, leading to mending the body's physical processes. -
Chumash Sky and Earth Deities and Cosmological Rock Art
Posted on October 20, 2011 | 1 CommentDepicted on high mountain cave pictographs, the Chumash saw the stars as powerful, competitive sky beings that affected human life and the balance of the universe.
