change warrior

The Kingdom of the Pearl

2026-10-10T01:33:37.414-04:00

10:10:10 Affirmation - My karmic lessons are complete - my destined chapter has begun.
I now receive devoted love, multiplied abundance, divine favor and dreams that reflect the person I have become.

October 10 closes a nine-year karmic chapter and begins the part of the story where everything learned starts returning as blessings, reciprocation, peace, abundance and effortless wish fulfilment. The 10:10:10 Gateway returns for the first time since October 10, 2017.

The Birth of the Pearl

October 10 marks the completion of a spiritual curriculum our soul spent years mastering. Experiences that once arrived through testing chapters begin returning in completely different ways.

Through devotion, supportive people, fortunate developments and blessings that reflect who those years helped us become.

On October 10, 2017, a hurricane came (to Puerto Rico) and devastation reigned. Trump 101 was slow to respond and never provided the required support. He wrote his first refrain, a testament to our pain - here we are almost a decade later.

Pearl of Love

Nine years of experience have changed us - how we read people, situations, timing, attraction and our own inner signals.

Sweet words still touch the heart, yet behavior reveals far more now. Chemistry brings excitement, although consistency decides how deeply somebody enters your life.

Intuition can catch patterns that once required months of analyzing. Support looks different because we recognize who genuinely celebrates our growth and who appears mainly when it benefits them.

Pearl of the Bamboo

Dreams speak differently as well, because certain desires have survived years of change and still return with the same unmistakable pull.

October 10 marks completion and beginning at the same point. Heavy karmic lessons clear vast emotional space. The central teachings now live within our instincts. Patterns that once required years to understand are recognized before they become another long cycle.

Peace becomes part of our standard because our heart understands the signs. Relationships begin from mutual care. Abundance expands through gifts finally recognized as valuable.

Pearl of the Cloud

Long-held dreams receive room to grow because we no longer reduce our self around circumstances connected with a past version of our story.

Across the coming days and weeks, prepare for visible signs that the next chapter has already started. A message may turn into plans, attraction could become unmistakable effort, somebody might show how seriously they value the connection, or an idea may reach the person capable of taking it further.

The Talisman Pearl

Written by well-known Parisian jeweler, Leonard Rosenthal, in 1919 and published in Paris as Au Royaume de la Perle.

He commissioned Edmund Dulac for 10 illustrations for the deluxe English edition - The Kingdom of the Pearl, published in 1920 in London by Nisbet & Co.

The art is done in a Persian miniature style uniquely Dulac.

summer blows over

2026-09-15T21:57:57.606-04:00

We are already halfway through September. The ninth month of the year and one of the most powerful for seeing our manifestations and intentions come to life!

If you like to set intentions in the first few months of the year, September is often a time when we can start to see some progress.

A new season brings a new rhythm.

Ground. Bring grounding stones, earthy incense, and protective ritual goods into your space.
Refresh. Clear out the energy of summer with cleansing sprays, smoke, bells, and other space-clearing tools.
Gather. Stock up on the incense, candles, herbs, and ritual essentials you’ll want close at hand as the days grow shorter.

Prepare your space, refresh your ritual, and rebuild your altar. Gather what you need for the months ahead.

hard rain's gonna fall

As we reach the middle of the month, we experience the Equinox and the Sun moving into Libra. This is a powerful day for our planet, and a time when we can really soak up Mother Earth’s healing vibrations with ease.

It is also a powerful point in our month to reflect on how we are choosing to spend our energy and whether our expenditure aligns with where we want to be.

September 17 begins the final chapter of a nine-year emotional journey that first began when Chiron entered Aries on April 17, 2018. After briefly returning to Pisces later that year, Chiron entered Aries again on February 18, 2019, continuing a cycle that has been teaching one lesson beneath everything else.

How to return to yourself after life, love, rejection, responsibility and disappointment changed the way you saw your own worth.

Now Chiron returns to Aries for the closing months of this cycle and remains there until April 14, 2027, bringing us back through the places where confidence was shaken, identity was questioned and parts of ourselves were pushed aside while trying to be loved, accepted, understood or kept close.

These final months bring everything back to the deepest theme Chiron in Aries has been working through since 2018 - learning how to fully belong to yourself again.

Between now and April, the greatest change will be the feeling that your heart belongs fully to you again. You can love deeply without losing yourself inside another person, remember the past without allowing it to write the future and desire something fully without asking an old wound for permission.

Chiron closes this cycle by helping you reconnect with the parts of yourself that heartbreak, rejection and disappointment once made you doubt, and that return can become one of the most divine acts of healing you ever experience.

We may find ourselves pondering the question, Who am I really? Chiron moving back into Aries will guide our way and give us fire and motivation, not just to understand who we are, but who we want to be.

celebrating a life path, birthday, new orbit

2026-08-31T21:14:09.725-04:00

Our beloved one and only Mahala turns 47 today - that's a Master Number, 11. Eleven is the bringer of spiritual awareness and a devout supporter of humankind. It is truly a messenger of the universe.

Its energy is tied to intuition, enlightenment, and spiritual awakening. If you’ve been drawn to the meaning of number 11, you may be on the path to discovering your higher purpose.

Eileithyia, divine mother of the cosmos -
guiding the birth of the world & future generations

Focus on your studies and deepen your understanding. The more work you do on yourself, the better you will contribute to the world at large.

For those who embrace this path there are many rewards, including the deep satisfaction that comes from making a contribution to the advancement of others. For some, this will include financial gain and notoriety.

It represents illumination; a channel to the subconscious; insight without rational thought; and sensitivity, nervous energy, shyness, and impracticality. It is a dreamer.

The Master number 11 has all the aspects of the 2, but is considerably enhanced and charged with charisma, leadership, and inspiration. It is a number with inborn duality, which creates dynamism, inner conflict, and other catalysts with its mere presence.

A number that, when not focused on a goal beyond itself, can be turned inward to create fear and phobias. Meanwhile Venus - birth planet of Virgo, goes into retrograde on October 3.

All planets in our solar system turn retrograde (appearing to move backwards from Earth’s point of view) at some point. We all know about Mercury’s retrograde. All the outer planets turn retrograde each year. Mars turns retrograde every 2 years and Venus every 18 months.

When Venus appears to move backward in the sky, our values and connections don’t go forward as usual. Instead, we’re invited to review, reassess, and realign ourselves with our values.

Whether we’re re-evaluating a relationship, our spending habits, or our sense of self-worth - Venus retrograde can illuminate what’s been hidden beneath the surface.

Mahala's birth date number is One. The talents and abilities brought with the energy represented by the birth day number 1 tend to be related to leadership and/or being out front getting things done.

The energy also has resonance with the ideas of independence, innovation, and entrepreneurship - doing what they decide to do without feeling compelled to consult others for feedback. Information tends to be seen as a tool rather than desired for academic reasons.

Her life path number is Nine. The life path energy represented by the number 9 is humanitarian in nature. It tends to be idealistic. It is tolerant and compassionate.

The life path 9 energy comes with a vivid imagination.

The events and circumstances a person with a life path 9 experiences as they live life seems to either persistently or frequently present events and circumstances related to the benefit of humanity.

The person tends to have innate tolerance and compassion. There is a tendency to freely and joyfully give of time and possessions when providing assistance.

Spiritual sensitivity and holistic feelings for humanity generally encompass a wide range — compassion, generosity, sympathy, tolerance.

Although the person generally gets along with all people, they're most comfortable with those who are artistic, philosophical, and inspirational.

being strong & steady stewards

2026-08-05T00:36:20.455-04:00

We celebrated agriculturalists month in July, highlighting the central role of agriculture in many aspects and sectors of our daily lives.

The workers, producers and stewards are also the current custodians of not just agriculture but also the environment and our biodiversity. Along with the ecosystem and sustainability, all are closely linked and entwined.

For centuries, humanity has benefitted from Earth’s rich bounty of natural resources. But these last few decades also make us aware of the ensuing global impact the human footprint makes. Climate change, biodiversity loss, disrupted ecosystems, land degradation, and public health emergencies, including novel pandemics.

After years of a largely slow and sleepy lifestyle in the Negros Island Region - we now massive push and movement - lots of expansion, growth and change. As with everything, there are many parts and facets that require consideration - from all the stakeholders affected in our communities.

It happened when the Spanish first landed on our shores. Then again when the sugar industry was introduced into our island's tropical rainforest. Logging cleared the land and much of our endemic plants and wildlife were endangered and made extinct.

In the upheaval and chaos, it feels at times as though we are being inundated by too much. Dengue and typhoid outbreaks. Recurring swine and bird flu surges. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Typhoons and flooding. Their occurrence has been escalating in continuing cycles.

sugarcane fields & Mount Kanlaon, Negros Island

Prolonged ignorance and exploitation have resulted in huge economic loss, reduced nature benefits, less of natural beauty, and greater risk to people’s health and well-being.

Despite this awareness, the global community has often overlooked scientific guidance and undervalued the importance of nature - in their need to expand and progress. It is up to the people to ensure policy formulation and decision-making processes align with sustainable, safe, and resilient resource allocation mechanisms.

It is critical for policy makers to recognize the natural environment and ecosystems as valuable cultural and capital assets, alongside physical, human, social, and intellectual capital. Did you know that in other parts of the world nature and its elements have been awarded rights just as humans have?

Most folks though still think of agriculture as only crop farming: soil and land preparation - sowing, fertilizing, irrigating, and harvesting different types of plants and vegetation.

Crop farming is just one aspect of the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting sector. Agriculture also encompasses raising livestock; industrial forestry and fishing; and agricultural support services, such as agricultural equipment repair and trucking operations.

carabao hauling cut sugarcane

In our #BAO article last month we featured the local beloved carabao - the domestic water buffalo, independent if not free. Never wholly dependent on the local farmer for survival, while Filipino farmers then relied heavily on groups of carabaos to prepare and cultivate the fields they tilled.

Why is agriculture important? It helps sustain life by providing the food we need to survive. It is also a major contributor in the Philippine economy. Despite agriculture’s importance, data and reports show that farm workers are among the lowest paid in the country.

Agriculture is the practice of cultivating natural resources to sustain human life and provide economic gain. It combines the creativity, imagination, and skill involved in planting crops and raising animals with modern production methods and new technologies.

It is also a business that provides the global economy with commodities: basic goods used in commerce, such as grain, livestock, dairy, fiber, and raw materials for fuel, clothing, and other necessities.

History has tracked the origins of humanity and civilizations to the development of agriculture in different parts of the world.

white sand beach & secluded cove

When wild stands that had previously been harvested started to be planted and gradually came to be domesticated, along with livestock - communities grew and prospered. Traveling troops and conquering hordes led to more exchange, transformation and diffusion of food around the globe.

Agriculture evolved from nomadic to pastoral farming in search of pasture, fodder and water. Forests and growth were cleared for more land in shifting cultivation. This is a type of farming practiced mainly in areas with abundant rainfall where the forest regenerates quickly.

Subsistence farming is practiced to satisfy family or local needs alone, with little left over for transport elsewhere. This comprise about sixty percent of the world's arable land around tropical Southeast Asia, where the Philippines is located.

Intensive farming is cultivation to maximize productivity, with a low fallow ratio and a high use of sources (water, fertilizer, pesticide and automation). It is practiced mainly in developed countries on a vast scale.

Agriculture has been associated with the production of essential food crops. At present, agriculture above and beyond farming includes forestry, dairy, fruit cultivation, poultry, beekeeping, mushroom, arbitrary, etc. All are acknowledged as part of current agriculture.

volcanic rich island of Negros

Agriculture could be referred to as the production, processing, promotion, and distribution of agricultural products. Agriculture plays a critical role in the entire life of a given economy.

Yet urban sprawl and human gentrification are building more cities for a exploding population. Spreading and encroaching more and more into nature and rural places - affecting local wild and plant life that put it all at risk and nudge closer to a tipping point.

How then do we reconcile agriculture and industry that have relied on natural resources beyond sustainable and safe limits? We are better off than the rest of the Philippines on our island - home to healthy and thriving organic farming, fishing and growing practices.

More recently slow food has found a home base here. With community projects like earth markets, food mapping, Arc of Taste, production coalitions, and service alliances. It has become a leading beacon in the Asia and Pacific region for providing good, fair and clean food, directly from farms to our tables.

Agriculture is the backbone of the economic system of any given country - we need to be more aware of its contribution and value. In addition to providing food and raw material, agriculture also provides employment opportunities to a large percentage of the population.

field of freshly tilled rows

Agriculture can provide opportunities for economic equity and help people prosper around the world. For example, since 2000, the agricultural growth rate in Sub-Saharan Africa has surpassed that of any other region in the world (approximately 4.3% annually), contributing to the region’s economic gains, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

While there’s been a global decline in agricultural jobs - from one billion in 2000 to 883 million in 2019, according to employment indicators from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - agriculture remains the second-highest source of employment (26.7% of total work).

The Philippines needs stronger support and sustained assistance for the county's leadership and government agencies. Instead of being tied to a political agenda, we need to work with lawmakers for the good of the land and the people. Instead of treating our agriculturists like mendicants begging for crumbs, we should all be regular consumers and tireless advocates for them.

We have an old saying over here - in our lifetime we may need a doctor a few times, but we all need a farmer to feed us every day. Let us build better awareness and support for our farmers and their heroic effort.

travel trap tourism

2026-07-10T02:16:10.417-04:00

Too often we are presented with the same tourism photos showing off spectacular views of popular wonders of the world.

Many do not even look for a different perspective - one that presents the true reality, which often is never as perfect or pretty.

Taj Majal & its surroundings - Agra, India

Global tourism, as currently practiced, is underperforming, highly vulnerable and heading towards breakdown. Its operating model is no longer fit for purpose and needs to be replaced. ~ Managing Sustainable Tourism Growth, 2019

Travel like it matters. Prepare well and design each trip with care. Socially and environmentally be mindful of your impact wherever you go.

Pyramids of Giza in modern Egypt

Choose curated and guided experiences created by locals - to better share their culture, cuisine and lifestyle. You will be gratified by a sense of place most travelers hardly get to see.

Learn about the area's history. It’ll add meaning to where you go and an appreciation of why some cultural monuments you’ll see exist.

Stonehenge - up close & from the road

The history of a place gives an understanding of why things are the way they are today. Taking some time to learn about where you’re going is a healthy sign of conscious respect.

Respect local traditions and cultures. Take time to understand the customs and traditions of the place you will be visiting. Don't arrive in your destination a clueless and ignorant tourist.

Niagara Falls & its commercial complex

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Respect the local culture by dressing appropriately, using the correct language, and following local customs. They may not be something you’re used to, but learning about them is crucial to an enjoyable cultural exchange.

‍Support local businesses. You can contribute by adhering to the local culture and practices. People are vital to local economies and businesses. By being mindful you can play your part in helping out.

Brandenberg Gate within Berlin

This could include eating at local restaurants (which will become a favourite hobby when working at camp), buying souvenirs from local artisans, and staying in locally-owned accommodations on your days off. Leaving places the way you found them is a sign of respect.

‍Be mindful of wildlife. Keep your distance. Respect boundaries. Do not interfere. When travelling to natural areas, respect the wildlife and their habitats. It is their home and we are its visitors.

Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis in Athens

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This includes avoiding feeding animals, touching them, or disrupting their natural behaviour. Getting too comfy with humans isn’t natural for them, and can cause them problems in the future.

Be nice. Its not cute or cheesy to smile and be gracious. A compliment can change a person’s day. It also reflects on not only you but your own home country and upbringing.

past presidents on Mount Rushmore

Fresh and new ideas, perspectives, and personalities all impact those you come into contact with. Make sure the impact you leave is a positive one.

Be better informed if you pride yourself in being a world traveler. Don't just be a tourist passing through.

Forbidden City - Beijing, China

Remove any blinders and connect with the communities you visit. Be a conscious collaborator in the wake you make. Choose wisely. Make a difference where you can.

Travelling is a life-changing opportunity but doing so with purpose and awareness expands the experience and the entire community.

St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square - Moscow, Russia

balanced & sustainable

2026-05-20T04:59:05.483-04:00

It seems like I have been spending the majority of 2025 and 2026 ranting against the transactionality and commodification, decolonization and better care of human beings - whether we are on home ground or abroad.

Touristification is a phenomenon that is happening worldwide - in both in the north and the south hemispheres or in both high traffic or far flung areas.

a working balance between local & tourist needs

Born and raised in the Philippines, I moved to the US right after 9/11, and have returned for almost two years now - after being abroad for 20 years.

This is a reflection on how touristification can transform a place you love and where once possessed a strong sense of belonging - when you are priced out of it.

I eventually left the neighborhood when my rent tipped past most of my income. Although I lost my daily life, I was still one of the luckier ones. I had options and could choose a new path.

That wasn’t the case for many elderly residents or migrants who didn’t really have a plan B.

Returning to the old neighborhood, I am happy I am not living there anymore. To changes that have made it unrecognizable, marked up prices are high. Cookie cutter cafés repeated on every block. AirBnBs in just about every building.

It's alarming to witness folks - locals, visitors, tourists - unaware of what’s happening in the neighborhood. As well as extended around the rest of the city or in other destinations worldwide.

This is a growing concern and problem. As travelers, we have a responsibility to inform ourselves about the places we visit - their histories and culture, the current situation or circumstance. Be better prepared to face their realities before we hit the ground.

This is the ideal opening toward a more conscious and less colonized transit or travel. It is after all best that we take care of local communities - our own and those of others.

The blame is not the sole concern of tourism but is shared with localized leadership and the government. All share in the responsibility to preserve and create affordable housing, quality of life, safety, and equality - for both residents and visitors.

The people and population as a whole should be better served and serviced. To be able to guarantee a more enjoyable experience for the general public and not just some entitled few.

Let's care well for all neighborhoods and communities.

being human

2026-04-13T23:12:00.002-04:00

“We are not people anymore. We have been products for a long time, and these are our labels”

In a world of therapy-speak, Freya India argues we’ve lost the language of character - replacing quirks with conditions. But are we mentally ill, or just human?

authentic & unapologetic

This is part of a deeper instinct in modern life to explain everything - psychologically, scientifically, evolutionarily. Everything about us is caused, categorized, and can be corrected.

We talk in theories, frameworks, systems, structures, drives, motivations, and mechanisms. But in exchange for explanation, we lost mystery, romance, and lately, ourselves.

So free yourself - live unapologetically with no need to argue in defense of oneself. Be brave and normal - no need to explain, complain, retain. My emotions are mine. My decisions are mine. My memories are mine.

Not to be intruded upon by an audience, the current market, for interpretation by experts. Mine to do with as I please and not at the others pleasure. Not to be filed as deviations from what the medical or any other industry decides is healthy. Your opinions remain yours - not mine.

I remain unsolvable - a mystery ready for discovery. Written in the stars. Wandering the earth. Curious and unknowable - divinely human.

A person, not a product. No explanation needed, no reason required.

global fair food festival

2025-12-10T04:24:00.004-05:00

The Terra Madre global Slow Food community cane together to celebrate the people, traditions, and food systems of the Asia and Pacific region - a five day, fully immersive, gastronomical convention to protect biodiversity and nourish our future food sources and systems.

#TMAP2025 at the Capitol Lagoon Park, Bacolod City, Negros Island

December 10 is designated Terra Madre Day around the world. From small gatherings to large community festivals - every Terra Madre Day event shines a light on the power of local food cultures and the importance of "Good, Clean and Fair food for all."

Global food security is constantly under threat from an overpopulated world increasingly unhinged from nature and its own environment. Urban sprawl and unbalanced expansion endanger our wildlife and natural resources.

Slow Food Negros homegrown celebration

Yet we consume, abuse, destroy in the wake of a human footprint grown fat and indulgent of too many of its creature comforts. We now find ourselves beyond the tipping point of catastrophic consequences. Denial will not change the outcome unless we decide to change our consciousness.

Instead of driving ahead forcefully and blindly, we need to work smart, collaborate together, and build sustainable systems for our communities' increasing demands. Ensure that the basics can be availed by all, not just a chosen few - food, housing, health, clean water, good soil, etc.

local government support for a fair food fest

Instead of greedily hoarding what we have, we need to resolve the matter around open and diverse conversations that lead to diverse and open solutions. Invite folks in, create longer tables, deepen our stores - hand in hand, mouth to mouth, heart and soul.

If our little backwater here in Bacolod city could get the whole island to host this event of regional participants engaging in an international exchange - there is boundless hope in growing this movement to surpass its momentum and move into velocity. Bringing us all along in its wake - the wake we make.

Negros Season of Culture coverage of fair food fest

Join in and be part in sustaining and continuing this global moment of solidarity and celebration. Happy Terra Madre Day to all!

principles & politics

2025-11-17T23:45:00.005-05:00

I am stealing the wise words of this impressive young warrior friend.

On good days I take in our cityscape - its natural dips and rises, its mix of high rise buildings and tiny houses, its trees, streets and people, its cultures and politics - and my heart is filled to bursting with love and gratitude.

On bad days I take in our cityscape - its natural dips and rises, its mix of high rise buildings and tiny houses, its trees, streets and people, its cultures and politics - and my heart feels crushed by anger and frustration.

overflowing slum

Any city will do this to its residents on any day - but all city leaders owe it to their citizens to ensure there is more good than bad in our lives. Sadly, the world over, our leaders are failing to deliver - the outcome is our quality of life is now at risk.

Whatever nature is it certainly has a volatile tendency. As the literary critic Terry Eagleton has argued, this instability is a central feature of what we call culture:

Culture is a functionally variable term, in the sense that what may be cultural in one context may not be so in another.

Drinking alcohol is a cultural affair, but it would cease to be so if it was the only way of quenching an intolerable thirst. Survivors of an air crash in some remote terrain who break open the drinks locker are not having a party.

You may wear a head-dress in Qatar as a badge of your cultural identity, but also to avoid getting sunstroke.

Eagleton is very right to point out that cultural practices often toe the line between natural and unnatural, although he does not make the corollary argument - which I am making, that nature itself usually fails to be registered as natural.

It is not that there is no such thing as nature - psychology, physics, geology, chemistry, biology etc. all point towards the definitive existence of something outside of culture, to the existence of a natural world.

Rather, what I would like to focus on is our persistent tendency to misunderstand what is truly meant by the natural - or rather, that nature frequently expresses itself in a decisively cultural sense.

The same problem of what we consider to be natural can be transposed onto the sociological level with the question of intergroup mixing - i.e. the mixing of ethnic or culturally distinct groups of people.

From a nationalistic viewpoint, the mixing of social and cultural groups is inherently unnatural - it corrupts the independent development of a particular identity and interrupts the natural development of a specie.

From an evolutionary perspective, on the other hand, intergroup mixing produced for a broad genetic exchange that allowed us to adapt to natural constraints. In other words, from this perspective the same process of intergroup mixing is deeply natural.

Back to our leaders failing to deliver and putting us all at risk.

Whether in our personal relationships or dynamics, in worker and employer collaborations, or resident and government oversight - the role human nature takes in the dance of give and take has become abusive and destructive.

Between the haves and the have nots, very likely whoever calls the shots is the one with the greater advantage. In a world that increasingly tilts toward transactional gain, consideration and compassion are qualities that are quickly eclipsed and overpowered.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is worryingly correct when, during a 2024 meeting of Pacific Island leaders, he suggested that the scale of the ecological crisis was “unimaginable”.

It is not only unimaginable in that we cannot know the future consequences of the climate catastrophe. It is also that we ultimately fail to recognize or imagine this natural threat without altering and diluting it.

The power of the people is required to ensure that the people in power do not ever resort to abuse or destruction. These times truly test our resolve.

short & long tales

2025-10-13T22:16:00.003-04:00

Short term tantrums of typical tyrants like Trump can seem insurmountable in their in-your-face tactics. Unless viewed through the long lens of human history here on earth.

The past week the world celebrated - banned books week, world migratory bird day, and indigenous people's day. That's only the top three on our list of worthwhile pursuits to counter our frustrations.

a strong stream of solar wind

When it feels like the weight of the world is tipping towards tragedy - remember what feeds the collective spirit. Direct attention, action, and aggression away from doomsday doldrums.

Cast your nets far and wide - into ambitious dreams and colossal creations, quiet scenes and simple treats. Anything and everything that excites and inspires, calms and nourishes - different strokes for all us different folks.

Make some space to settle down in place.

If an institution r community bans a book - go get it and find out for yourself what the raucous in all about. You are guaranteed to survive reading of any kind - with the added bonus of a fresh perspective and a deepened connection.

Check out flight paths and current status of our avian world. Human and urban encroachment has greatly diminished these flocks. Follow them on their annual migration and be uplifted by how many are still able to make it even now.

Learn what you can from indigenous tribal awareness - how they are the true guardians and keepers of our natural world. Their people and practice have contributed to humanity's survival - in peace and through incredible discrimination.

Lights out for birds during fall migration!

These are just a few reminders that can easily nourish and nurture us as we make our way in the world today. Redirect our focus to acknowledging the awe and beauty in our surroundings - the value in what we hold dear and beloved.

As so many before us have not just survived but thrived - we too can pave the way for our children and their descendants to live in a world made safe and sound by what we do for ourselves today and always.

Truth telling. Resolute Resolutions. Abiding action.

teach our children well

Mahala! Mahala!

2025-08-31T23:42:00.000-04:00

The first of September marks a new orbit for my one and only sweet baby girl, Mahala. Love of my life. Incandescent beacon of light. Beloved creator of all her art.

Her entrance in my life has anchored us to our lifetime vagabond homes, wherever in the world life brings us. Her presence is a constant source of delight and pride, awe and wonder, grace and glory.

on one of our many memorable travels

As I was journaling this morning I listened to a new interview of Arundhati Roy - international literary star and vocal political activist - a woman of substance whose work Mahala and I admire deeply and read voraciously.

We can track our life and progress through the years and the writing she shares with us. Her Booker Prize-winning novel “The God of Small Things” was an early groundbreaking novel we shared together.

traveling together through time

The story opened a mysterious magical world far beyond the borders of our lived experience yet totally entrancing. Over the years her essays and struggles kept us rapt in raptures of raw issues and fierce resistance.

Years later, after that first work was already a classic - we were surprised with the arrival of "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness." Transported along through years in search of a place of safety - in search of meaning and of love.

our three generations

Now she is launching a new memoir that traces her personal and complex relationship with her mother, "Mother Mary Come to Me." A fierce and formidable force of work, it is an ode to freedom and a tribute to thorny love and savage grace - tacking through a lush life both as woman and writer.

These three masterpieces mark stages of our lives as well - Mahala and I. Challenges and struggles, flight and fight, success and triumph. All precious and beloved - in an ongoing journey that grows clearer and more valuable each moment as years unfold.

a shared moment of quiet mindfulness

Happy Birthday to you Mahala! Sun and moon and stars rejoice with me as I bask is the bounty of being your mother in this lifetime. My true and eternal treasure.

fire in the hole

2025-08-26T00:34:00.002-04:00

August has been a fierce and fiery month focused on shoring up a democracy under bad government. No matter where in the world it exists we the people are out in the streets standing up and giving voice to all crimes against all creatures.

Most notably it is women who are the bravest resistance against the terrible behavior of predictably and mainly aging white coots who lay claim to what never has and never will be rightly theirs.

We are not property or possessions to be overused, misused or abused. No! NO! Not ever!

The world is overflowing with such BIG feelings right now. We need to be reminded that emotions arise for good reason. They are there to tell us something - like a road sign or early warning device, they can be quite helpful and supportive.

In a world at odds with itself - between mind and body or war and peace – we appear to have lost credibility altogether. The outcome of our lived experience - conflict intruding into everyday life with increasing regularity.

Ignoring these feelings doesn’t make them go away. They surface eventually, and when we wait too long before addressing them, it’s likely the build up of pent up feelings will bubble over.

We would be wise to process them, as they come, however intense or many - because they are not going anywhere helpful. A healthier mindset can address stressors and keep that all-consuming feeling of being overwhelmed at manageable levels.

Stress reduction contributes to better more stable emotional regulation. Integrating stress reduction techniques into our regular routine can delay and calm racing thoughts. To better recognize what else is going on that irritates or aggravates our emotions.

Learn to name and accept these emotions. Write about it - putting things down into specifics can contain and decrease their effect on us. Grounding techniques can separate us from our distress. By focusing on the here and now, we step away from how overwhelming everything else feels.

Populist turbulence, viral panics, experts under attack: instinct and emotion have overtaken facts and reason in the digital age - how can feelings now propel us into a better future?

democracy matters

2025-06-06T22:37:00.002-04:00

We are waving our banner with pride - as we step up to protect our country, its principles, and its people against a Trumpian dystopia.

Due to an increased demand and ever growing need Heather Cox Richardson has expanded her Letters from an American posts to American Conversations - informative videos all packed with sound advice.

In her latest interview with technology reporter Gil Duran - they discuss recognizing the dystopian vision for human society from a select technology elite - and what we the people can do to disrupt this.

The first thing people can do is recognize the pattern and expose it. This isn't chaos or random techno antics - this is an organized ideological project.

With shared goals, with funding networks, and with a coordinated political strategy to a certain degree. They are making progress - talk about charter cities or special economic zones or freedom cities.

In the coming year remember what this is - this is the network state agenda of Curtis Jarvin's patchworks and it's not something that's benign or good. It's very much a threat to democracy by design.

We the people have to target the corporate infrastructure - the Tesla takedown worked. It put tremendous pressure on Musk and it forced him out of government.

It took money from him and he is still in great jeopardy because that company is falling apart because of his politization of it.

Tesla is not the only company that's a problem - we have to expand the target list. Palantir is trying to create this massive surveillance project with Trump. Andre Horowitz and his gang - including a massive military contractor are largely behind a lot of it, pushing these ideas.

Coinbase crypto is largely designed to undermine government and American democracy. There's no real use case for crypto except for crime. Why are our politicians - including many Democrats, rushing to give these crypto guys what they want

Can any of them explain what crypto is for? Americans lost $6.5 billion in crypto scams last year. Crypto should be illegal not legitimized.

We the people have got to force our elected officials to choose sides. This is very much either you're for democracy or you're against it. You're for tech fascism or you're against it. There is no in between.

colossal hand & torch “Liberty” (1876)

We the people should listen to the true experts on this. In recent weeks there is one thread and that is - we don't have to accept this future.

These billionaires don't get to decide what the future is. We the people can build alternative narratives. It doesn't have to be this way. It's important not to feel defeated or like there is nothing we can do or be afraid to act.

We the people have a lot of power - we have a lot of agency. We see them already starting to fall apart - they can bleed. Don't forget how much power we have to define what our future is.

This is really complicated material and may be hard for a lot of people to recognize that it's out there. It's hard to find yet the intellectual development of this idea of network states and of the tech bros has captured many since it was initially revealed. It is important to understand how they think.

Thank you so much for being here for us Heather Cox Richardson and Gil Duran for keeping us informed and having our backs. We the people appreciate it and can sleep better for it.

loud & proud

2025-05-17T21:09:00.003-04:00

Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American are the daily dose that keeps my hope afloat.

Reading her thoroughly researched historical perspective on our current events anchors me to reality.

Listening to her steely determination is my constant battle hymn in our Trumpian flailing republic.

January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack by Trump followers

These are definitely transformative times we are all hoping we can transition and navigate through.

Never has it ever been more important to circle together to build better stability for the vast majority.

Call on and demand our institutions to step up and protect our country, its principles, and its people.

To uphold a government that works for everybody - of the people, by the people, for the people.

Being a woman today has been made tougher.

Scales tip against us as our rights are repressed - while burdened with more responsibilities.

Why must we be made to answer to these broken baby men - in the dysfunctional grip of their mommy-daddy issues.

the story behind the song

We are not their therapy. We will not be their whipping posts. We defy being their sacrificial lambs.

BAA! These bad bullies are not going to make us cower or grovel.

Their sins and trespasses are not ours to atone for.

Their failings and transgressions are not our burden.

We walk the path of our own making, our own healing - our own choice, always.

US Army Field Band performs the famous Civil War-era piece

We have the god given right to birth humanity.

We are born to mother our evolution.

We serve the human project - first and foremost.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of our Lord, the truth keeps marching on!

#resist #insist #persist

2025-04-25T22:03:00.006-04:00

Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it.

With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness - and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe.

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling - their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. ~ Arundhati Roy

addressing the colonized mindset - then & now

We must understand what we could lose if the actions of this Trump administration go unchecked. It's on all of us to save our country and world from the rampaging destruction of these nihilistic authoritarians and greedy kleptocrats.

Trump can be the first protofascist who turns out to be entirely economically illiterate. Completely incompetent and totally able to drive up prices in the United States, crash the stock market, destroy America's position as the world's reserve currency. It's felt by people. ~ Rory Stewart, Come Back, America

Trump was the logical outcome of the myth of cowboy individualism embraced by the Republicans since President Ronald Reagan rose to the White House by celebrating it.

#handsoff protests in all 50 states - shaking off the rust of inaction

Reagan "The Gipper" was at best a B grade actor and Trump a chronic failure until he hit it off as a reality TV host. Yet of all the ridiculous shit Trump is especially inept about - cowboy [myth or not] is the worst joke yet - on the American people and the rest of the world.

An Economist/YouGov poll found Trump’s approval rating was -13, with 54% of Americans disapproving of the way he is handling the presidency. We the People need to continue pushing forward and putting pressure on the GOP to step up and stand up against him.

The country is being torched by a madder and sadder man - than the sum of all of our elected officials in office today. In their absence this is our daily diet. In their presence this must stop.

Unless Trump’s power is checked, and soon, things will get much worse very quickly. Wake up! Walk your talk! Wipe this out!

Today America’s people are under threat by its own government as the Trump administration runs rampage - with massive firings to shut down good government, harsh immigrant and citizen harassment, illegal deportations that ignore human rights and the rule of law.

Today America's economy is collapsing as the Trump administration yoyos in a growing abyss of chaos created by the false claims and vengeful threats of a deranged delusional Trump barely hanging on to his health and wealth.

uphold & defend our rights & laws

Today America’s public lands face their greatest threats as the Trump administration expands the extractive economy, slashes agency workforces, seeks to shrink national monuments, and makes plans to sell off many of our natural assets - even as attendance at our national parks continues to soar to record levels.

I'm not sure what we should be doing beyond what the we that is civil society are doing. While organizing will lay the groundwork - something will spark an unanticipated uprising in response.

Everything we do to resist - including holding onto truth, fact, science, history - matters and strengthens our foundation. To stand up and speak out - be the voice and change we want in our world.

April fools

2025-03-31T21:45:00.004-04:00

2025 has been a barrage of April Fool's Days with absolutely no let up. If you've ever spent a day rolling around in the roiling waves of pounding surf - it's that sensation held in your blood and body - long after, as you drift off in the safety of dreamtime.

In a tropical ocean the water is body temperature warm - you can stay in it for hours quite enjoyably. Cocooned in the soothing saline broth and froth - as the sun bakes overhead and water washes away all soreness. Bobbing on the tide as bubbles prickle and pop all around.

Dulling sounds, lulling senses, floating thoughts, sloshing time. Catastrophe and chaos pushed off and pended.

I can pretend Trump has reached the apex of his imperialist fever dream. I can ignore Elon Musk and his sad man, bad boy gestapo blundering. I can imagine an ideal life unmarred by a slavishly compliant GOP monkeys and out of touch geriatric Dem donkeys.

I can pretend it's not election season where I live. I can ignore loyalists and their pathetic rallies. I can imagine our mother restored to her healthiest prime and not comatose in bed for the past agonizing months.

Some people think the idea of April Fools’ Day goes back to classical Roman times, when a joyful festival called Hilaria - originally probably an equinox celebration, came to be celebrated on March 25.

In Roman terms, March 25 was called the eighth of the Calends of April - April 1, the Calends of April. There’s no hard evidence to connect Hilaria with April Fools’ Day though this is just one of many guesses advanced by curious people.

Another common theory placing the origin of April Fools’ Day in the Roman Empire - dates it to the reign of Emperor Constantine. According to this story, a group of fools or jesters convinced Constantine to make one of them king for a day.

Constantine obliged, and one of the jesters, named Kugel, was appointed to the position. He decreed that it would be a day of jollity - creating what came to be called April Fools’ Day. The only problem with that story is that it’s a hoax.

A prank, pulled by Boston University professor Joseph Boskin on Associated Press reporter Fred Bayles in 1983. 2025 feels like Clockwork Orange level of pranksters have been unleashed into a clueless world of hapless victims.

Boom! Bang! Bizarro!

The novel is deals with the conflict between the individual and the state. More specifically, the punishment of young criminals, and the possibility or otherwise of redemption.

The word smithing originality of the book, and the moral questions it raises, are as relevant now as they ever were.

This fiction centers on a gang with a tribal fashion sense and a predilection for motiveless violence. Sound familiar? Too close to current reality - unfortunately.

This violence, so brutally rendered in the novel, could have been inspired by any number of incidents from our own experiences in today's shit show of a world.

worlds apart

2025-02-22T21:51:00.003-05:00

mania | maniac | maniacal

An all too accurate downward spiral blatantly exhibited by this second term of Trump in office. For him, his chosen, and the GOP - who are intent on the destruction of anything clear, good, and working in our American government today.

survival of the best

All self-centered, insecure, petty, and unloved - they are the smallest packages of humans, so wrapped up in only themselves. It does not take much to decipher their barren psyches and broken behavior.

There they stand in the glaring public gaze - frantically waving their freak flags in proud puerile penis envy.

misogynistic | megalomaniac | monsters

me & my shadow - who's that?

Daddy downtrodden, mommy abused they are broken impotent baby dolls playing at fanatic fascism. Break! Bang! Crash! Tantrum tyrants grabbing for power they will never possess.

Punching away at systems and structures that hold up decency and dignity in the American way of life. Creeps the American people have to endure while Trump remains in office and lets these thieves and goons run amok.

We the people are collateral damage in their demented vengefulness.

no one is above the law or exempt from it

Patriarchy is a social system that has historically bestowed primary power and privilege upon men in various aspects of society, including politics, economics, and culture. With this crop [crap] of questionable men running things to the ground - we are truly in deep doodoo.

Patriarchy’s influence extends across many aspects of modern life - contributing to disparities in education, employment opportunities, and income between genders. The gap will only widen and deepen under their reign of horror.

Patriarchy also plays a role in normalizing violence and control over other' rights. There is nothing normal about these sad and sorry mutants of botched childhoods. They are here to make us all sorry for their perceived personal traumas.

women doing what we do best

What they have no concept of is that we the people each and all possess a [not so] secret weapon, a superpower.

We are not like them. We are beloved and loving people. We glory in life and each other.

That is how we shall overcome them all. More power to us!

holy nights

2024-12-27T16:19:00.002-05:00

On December 24th the twelve holy nights begin - symbols for the twelve forces of the soul that live in us. This is vital and valid forever - beyond the twelve holy nights and this holiday season.

How does Spirit manifest at the midnight hour of the soul’s year? At noon on January 1 the Sun is closest to the Earth. Five and half days before and five and a half days later mark the holy nights.

the light of the holy spirit descends upon the twelve apostles - mosaic art

On these darkest nights of the year we are closest to the Sun’s Spirit. This means that the Spiritual Sun shining from inside the Earth illuminates everything from the inside - turning it translucent.

After the twelve days pass the Sun illuminates the Earth from above - externally.

This cosmic reality can only be experienced in the soul that is willing to be vulnerable and transparent as an innocent newborn. A newborn does not conform, a newborn wonders.

The Holy Nights are not a social time of social meaning - that comes at Pentecost. The Holy Nights are the time of deepest earthly solitude for the soul.

the 12 holy nights are an ancient tradition

Our experience is not found in relating to the other but in relating to the Self. They are the time when the individual spirit recollects the midnight sun and sees into its own birth of I - the Christ Consciousness.

Entering the twelve holy nights wide awake and very conscious is important. On the first night, December 24th, we only stay awake until one or two in the morning. On the following nights, try to go to bed regularly at the same time.

It is vital to set in a regular rhythm to live by at this time. If otherwise active, then try to do so intentionally, within. Those who cannot be silent in the external life should seek to be inwardly aware of the sanctity of the time.

It is important to perform daily duties without losing sight of this realization. Of the sacredness of the time - allowing nothing unhealthy, no ugly movement to enter the soul, remaining always attentive, and disciplined in this regard.

create your own building blocks

During Christmas and the twelve holy nights that follow sow the seeds for the coming year. What we do in these twelve days plants the seed in the coming months. Which will germinate within us - to our benefit or not, according to our actions in this period.

We must try to pass the twelve holy days appropriately because each year we are working towards our rebirth. What seeds we plant now will feed into the new year. Here's a ritual you can try - better yet, create one of your own.

Our intention needs to be clear and focused to manifest what serves rather what does not.

May a well prepped 2025 lie ahead for each of us.

rebel rules

2024-11-13T21:33:00.004-05:00

My lifelong belief is that children express and develop themselves in play. Those who learn to read and write early are formed by self-reflection before too many adults get into their soup. Thise who remain curious become aware and can self realize - going on to be fulfilled and successful on their own terms.

Who said this?

In 1986, Lucy Calkins published a book called The Art of Teaching Writing. Later, she expanded this to include reading instruction as well. At the time, the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of the era favored an approach known as “whole language.”

“If we make our children believe that reading has more to do with matching letters and sounds than with developing relationships with characters like Babar, Madeline, Charlotte, and Ramona, we do more harm than good.” ~ Lucy Calkins

This advocated independent reading of full books and suggested that children should identify words from context clues rather than arduously sounding them out. Progressives loved it, because it emphasized playfulness and agency. Although in practice, whole language had some obvious flaws. While some children do appear to pick up reading easily, many benefit from focused, direct instruction.

My daughter was raised and educated in an autocratic world deeply rooted in our pretentious and backward sugar bowl island. A Benedictine education in the local academy was her haven and sanctuary. Curious, enterprising, and innovative - her seditious soul always longed for more.

Largely self taught by hunting and pecking through books to feed her growing avaricious greed for knowledge not readily available to her. Her interior world and outer expression soon overflowed in overabundance - much of which may not have been age appropriate. Even today, she does love to read aloud to herself and whomever else she can ensnare.

She does us all royally proud.

interior castle

2024-09-15T01:01:00.002-04:00

A rich interior life is a deep well to draw on when things get chaotic or challenging. That's why it is of utmost value that we be surrounded by what sustains and nourishes us. Being under constant threat or barraged by externals wears on us and eventually takes a toll.

Two years without a home to call my own has been uncomfortable for a home body Cancerian crab of my nature. Moving clear across the globe and uprooting over fifteen years of my independent stake as a resident and citizen elsewhere is a total upheaval hard to prepare for - much less contend with.

Tintagel Castle, Cornwall, England - Peter Unger/Getty Images

As this tsunami of change swirled within - the outer world squeezed and closed in - tighter, smaller, meaner. Spots of sunshine and delight grew farther apart, dimmed significantly, needed more effort to come by or sustain.

How to feed that inner core, pour back into it some replenishment? Keep the big picture in focus, see it clearly, not let externals rub or rob it of its shine. Manage flow and progress so momentum is not impeded or halted, derailed or depleted.

So much more is expended under unfavorable conditions than when there is full, fresh, firm love all around. Soft, tender, allowing grace - not noise, obstacles, judgement. That makes all the difference in the world.

Although we clearly want one and not the other its isn't always the case. Going where the river flows has the ease and expansiveness that struggling against the current does not foster. Seeing oneself through the filter of loving kindness is vastly removed from harsh heavy horridness.

We love the most the one who loves us the most and we shrivel where love is withheld or absent. That's the truth.

when going home is murder

2024-08-13T02:51:00.002-04:00

Words of wisdom and sound advice for all citizens and residents - wherever in the world you find yourselves.

"Everyone in this town—this country—is so afraid of the other, whoever the ‘other’ is today. If there’s one thing fear can do, it’s make a beast out of a shadow. It turns us all into monsters. The enemy of the shadow isn’t light. It’s sight.”

In other words, if someone says, “Don’t look,” don’t listen.

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, reviews the debut novel “Jackal” by Erin E. Adams.

The places we know best are the ones that pose the greatest threat. When the main character in this novel returns to her hometown after a long absence, mysteries — past and present — collide.

In her breakthrough novel, Erin E. Adams transcends the typical hometown mystery with an effective blend of social and supernatural terrors that build in intensity and mystique throughout.

Liz’s first-person narration accentuates the emotional stakes of what’s happening in Johnstown, drawing readers in as they sympathize with her plight.

“Jackal” is a terrifying tale of the fears and hatreds generated by racism and class inequality - and of the monsters these fears and hatreds have created. The novel shares the sensibilities of Jordan Peele’s film “Get Out,” but Adams brings to it a depth possible only in books.

having our say

2024-07-30T22:59:00.256-04:00

Women are taking center stage once again. In politics. At the Olympics. Uppermost in the news of today. It's about time!

Female Last Supper #1 by Smetek

Long after the death of Leonardo da Vinci his art manages to still attract controversy. He left Italy, died and was buried in France - largely to escape prejudicial Italian politics, rumors of his homosexuality, and restrictions imposed by the Vatican on his art.

Dav Vinci's The Last Supper

In particular his famous Last Supper has been infamously appropriated by the same Catholic Church that condemned the man, his art, and his life choices.

Eclipsing its proper place in history as a renowned Renaissance masterpiece by a brilliant artist, philosopher, and inventor - instead it is much misunderstood and maligned by powerful bigots throughout history.

Plautilla Nelli, The Last Supper, c. 1568 - restored

His genius may never have been fully appreciated had he not relocated to a country with more progressive cultural values. The Last Supper was the last painting completed by Leonardo da Vinci in Italy before he left for France.

Mary Beth Edelson, Some Living American Women Artists/Last Supper, 1972

Ages later France takes proud credit - mounting an extravagant recreation in drag at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024. Making a globally publicized layered commentary of French cultural history, devotion to the arts, its strong secularism, and native-born laissez-faire attitudes toward sexuality and creative expression.

art by Anita Marie

Predictably many were still offended and outraged - loud and proud in their much publicized protestations. With the announcement of Kamala Harris as the democratic party nominee - more women last supper depictions are being posted in countless manifestations.

political satire art - no citation, too bad!

Hurray and halleluiah! We celebrate more than childless women and cat ladies. With many loud and proud community callouts. Shutting down the ignorant and bigoted - we will no longer take such abuse.

July offerings

2024-07-21T03:34:00.003-04:00

This July full moon has many different names across the world. It's called the Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, Hay Moon, Mead Moon and Ripe Corn Moon. For 2024 this second Capricorn full moon of July is also an astrological Blue Moon.

July’s full Buck Moon swings back around for a powerful second spin in Capricorn - the same zodiac sign as June’s Full Moon. We currently calculate time with a 12 month solar year, rather than a 13 month lunar year. Every few years, the lunar cycle is disrupted to fit that extra Moon in.

blue moon image by bhaktiCD.org

Instead of a cycle of New Moon then Full Moon on a sign and its complement (Cancer/Capricorn), we get a cycle of Full Moon then New Moon in the next sign. (Capricorn, Leo). That’s where we’ve been these past few years.

With this second Full Moon in Capricorn, we’re reverting to the original cycle - a Blue Moon. Not to be confused with a calendar Blue Moon - where there are five Full Moons in a season, occurring next month of August. The astrological Blue Moon is the important one to track.

Guru Purnima full moon, 21 July 2024

Our nature is meant to be wild and free. We are called to be alive in the mystery of this wilderness. We are called to come back to ourselves – our true, original being. We need to harness this nature of ours right now - amidst the chaos and confusion we choose life and love.

The first full moon after the summer solstice in the month of Ashadha (July-August) is also known as Guru Purnima. Buddhists, Hindus and Jains traditionally celebrate Guru Purnima as a day of grace and new possibilities dedicated to all spiritual and teaching guides.

my buffalo drum, strung in July 2006

Guru Purnima is a favorite festival celebration that pays homage to the full brilliance of a summer moon. The symbol of the fullness of a disciple's gratitude for their true teacher. As vast as the tides contained within the ocean - so too is the depth of gratitude for the awakened state of being this blessing brings.

same buffalo drum, restrung 21 July 2024

This day is dedicated to our gurus and true teachers - we offer prayers in thanks and gratitude for the knowledge and lessons provided.

tipping points

2024-06-10T22:17:00.138-04:00

Despite the fact that population numbers and our behavior are the major factor influencing the rapid environmental degradation and biodiversity loss too few environmentalists dare to address the issue of overpopulation head on.

Why can’t we co-create a thriving human civilization of almost nine billion people within the limits of planetary boundaries? The answer will shape the future of our species and life on Earth.

Graeme MacKay, editorial cartoonist

How do we enable the abundance of this living planet, share more fairly within the human family, and the Web of Life between those alive today and future generations?

Throughout evolution life has created conditions conducive to life. Our future depends on maintaining conditions on this planet favorable for all - human beings and the rest of the world around us.

A Journey of Design Inspired by Nature

The publication of Biomimicry by Janine Benyus might well be regarded as another watershed moment in our species’ re-awakening to the need for re-integration of human affairs with the life-sustaining cycles of nature.

Just as the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or the publication of Limits to Growth marked quantum leaps in understanding our ecological impact on Earth - we take up the call once more to create solutions to our most pressing human problems.

equitable & regenerative world for people & planet

By following life’s basic principles we re-learn how to see, as Benyus puts it, nature as a mentor, as a measure, and as model to emulate.

The list of biologically inspired product design innovations is almost inexhaustible. There are many more examples to illustrate the diversity of applications of biomimicry at the product scale.

health in a year of drought

2024-05-23T22:07:00.040-04:00

Tropical trauma - that's what this year in the Philippines feels like - for me personally. I was here the same time last year yet it feels like I landed in some foreign country I have never been - alien territory.

I've been harping about the fact that the weather in the Philippines is so extreme we only have El Niño or La Niña conditions and all its dire options.

high tide - Punta Bulata, Barangay Cauayan, Kabankalan

As an aging child of the seventies and proud boomer, I find myself particularly and personally challenged. Before May 24th's day long hard rain, we had not had anything like it since December. Too long a dry spell for our island home of Negros.

As the island swelters under this extended dry spell, I too find my former good health shriveling away and blowing up. No longer in tune with the temperatures, my temperament grows wacky on shaky ground. No relief from this heat which I now find myself allergic to.

low tide - Punta Bulata, Barangay Cauayan, Kabankalan

Exhausted from all of the things draining me of hope or out of control to repair. Exhaustion at the thought of another election year, caught in a geriatric circus loop of same old been there done that. Exasperated at the idea of having to do it (diet, exercise, sleep, therapy, parenting. . . .etc.) differently.

I look to other islands in envy. Bali, overcrowded with backpackers and touring yoga trekkers, manages to stay green and keep its cool canopy. Panay treasures and values its local history and culture, rebuilding its esplanades and replacing introduced plants with endemic growth.

floating in the healing ocean waters

But Negros Occidental seems hell bent on self-destruction. With only four percent of its forest cover remaining, the government and private sector insist on cementing over what's left in maniacal massive megastructures. To what end we are all left to wonder and ponder.

Encroachment and environment destruction is further ruining an ecosystem teetering on its edge. Surely progress can be made without all this mass mayhem. Help and support is critical to turning the tide on this fatal mindset.

hope against all odds

This is a desperate cry for all to hear as the tipping point of no return fast approaches. Save our island home and do whatever is humanly possible at your personal best now. Before Negros Island is consumed and eradicated.

Love our land so it can love us back.