Rainforest Commons

Happy birthday to me.

The last of the Amazon Rainforest is being torn down and scorched to ashes. I can feel it. It is a horrible. It is a classic example of the Tragedy of the Commons. The Rainforest has no physical owners… That anyone with power RESPECTS anyway. They are too wise for their own good in this small-minded modern world, and instead call themselves “Guardians of the Forest”. Also, they have no money, and in this story, people with money are greedy assholes who want more. So with guns, bulldozers, and flamethrowers, they take it. It’s not hard. Because to be a guardian is to understand that nothing in the world is yours. Not your children or your spouse. Nor your pet or your house. Philosophically speaking, we own nothing. We are born with nothing, and we die with nothing. Ownership is an illusion formed by society so that we can create rules and systems… But the rainforest does not work inside our little boxes.

The sad thing is that, we are so obsessed with what we have and what we want, that we have forgotten that what is shared is our greatest treasure. Our greatest moments of humanity are spent when we are together in some way, sharing an experience. A concert, an exhibit, an awestriking view, a traditional family dinner, an anniversary, a trip to the park. It is when we give to each other. When we forget “this person is MINE” and instead stare in wonder at the person we love after they have done something that strikes us at the depths of our souls… The sad thing is, the Rainforest and its Indigenous inhabitants are a gift to us all. Like the artists at an exhibit, or the band at the concert, or our loved-one who is not ours but is there for us out of simply being there. We could have sat at dinner with the Rainforest and enjoyed her wonders, and instead we rape her and steal and burn. So that we can have a steak dinner with our loved ones who we know so much better. We don’t need the steak dinner… because just like too much sugar, the loss of the forest is going to kill us. Because we are so small, in our little societal boxes, we fail to see that this is going to be our undoing. Our individual greed translates to a colossal demon that is ripping the forests out, vomiting on the oceans, and creating agricultural deserts of nothing but “green”, because it is something inedible that does not contribute to the global ecosystem — meaning no one else can use it except for us. At the same time we increasingly commit atrocities within the social system, underneath our own noses and behind closed doors in the name of “science” for the next LD50 or to test the physical testicular load on rats so that we can see the best supplement for testosterone production. Ridiculous!!! What a joke. The Tragedy of the Commons is no less ridiculous than it was when first coined, and no less deadly. Because whatever is not owned by someone more powerful than anyone else, is going to be abused and destroyed in the name of…. Whatever anyone feels like saying!! “We are going to test on all sorts of little animals, because, well, they aren’t human.” So WHAT?! “We need more cows, so uh, we’re just going to build this farm right here where thousands of species are living now but will disappear.” What if it were OUR SPECIES?!

What.If.It.Were.Our.Family?

The Indigenous people’s religions in the USA and Mexico were misconstrued 450 years ago. They did not believe in this Father Sun God or that Mother Rain God. They believe that actually, the rain is their family member, the plants are their family members also. Because they are. Even in the Bible it says that man is to be steward; that means a guardian, not an abusive owner.

And if humanity is able to survive the next hundred and fifty years, it will be because we were somehow able to move past our little boxes, into a wider philosophy that protects the Commons, we found some sort of protection for the Commons, or we lost everything we had and somehow from the garbage left over from our ancestors, we built a new philosophy. One about being sisters and brothers with everything around us, because in the end, that is the only way we can maintain the world “for seven generations” after our own. And the land we stole, we took from the wise who had lived here 20,000 years already, and would live indefinitely, in their family of man and sky and land, enjoying concerts, exhibits, traditional family dinners, and trips to the park, had we not come.

Indigenous Lives are at stake… by our own hands. Please be conscious of your purchases, buy reused goods, eat more vegetables and fruit, and breathe in the moment. “This is OUR Earth, most friendly Earth and fair, daily her sea and shore, through sun and shadow, faithful she turns robed in her azure air…”

The Tower

I found this postcard lying on the floor today… it became today’s esoteric reading. In this painting by the surrealist Spanish painter Remedios Varo, she captured part of the essence of what I believe is appropriate to the moment.

I think this painting was a twist on the tarot card “The Tower.” In the original image, people jump from a burning tower in terror as their world crumbles around them. It is one of the more dreaded cards in the deck, with a meaning of the death of something or extreme changes. A falling apart of what is known.

This painting is done with he same perspective, but with the tower having crumbled, its pieces strewn upon the earth. A flutist is, with music, magically encouraging their piecing back into place in the tower, pulling the world back together.

The Coronavirus pulled many people out of their towers, where they thought they were safe and had their lives. They suddenly tumbled down, their known existence in shambles, the tower of their lives ruined. But I see many creative people pulling themselves up with a musical force from the heart, communicating about the true necessities of the world and our own lives.

The Tower card of the tarot also symbolizes new beginnings. With the end of something comes the beginning of something new. Thus, in my readings I always bring this point up. The Tower card need not be feared, more it is a call to courage and determination in the face of great change.

This painting by Varo also says that what is needed is creativity and listening to the heart. We can all heal but we need to get creative and listen to what is needed calling from the dark recesses of our silent souls and the silent voice of this beautiful Earth that we live upon. True healing will come when we can face what we truly need to heal: ourselves and our home.

SARS and Corinavirus: looking to history and enthnobotany for a cure

Here are the herbal combinations that the Chinese government finally turned to during the SARS epidemic. I first heard about them during my research about Houttuynia cordata as an ethnobotanical in Japan. During the SARS epidemic, modern medicine wasn’t enough. It seems, looking at the numbers, that SARS was far more virulent than the current 2019 Corinavirus, however, it is good to know some remedies that we might be able to turn to in case modern medicine fails again. This case demonstrates the power of looking back into historical events and finding clues for how to deal with life in the moment.
The following table is easier to read inside the text. It is towards the end. The therapeutic functions are listed in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) lingo; just understand that these formulas worked and that is why they were used by thousands of people. Look up the meanings online if you want to learn about them. The methods for making the medicines are in the linked document. Basically, you make a tea and drink it three or more times a day, depending.

Ingredients Lists:

Formula 1
Astragalus (huangqi) A. propinquus
Patrinia (baijiangcao) Valerianaceae – species Thlaspi arvense or Patrinia scabiosaefolia
Coix (yiyiren) Poaceae – Coix lacryma-jobi (also known as Job’s Tears, the seeds)
Platycodon (jiegeng) – P. grandiflorus
Licorice (gancao) – Glycyrrhiza uralensis (the root)
Therapeutic Functions
benefit qi, remove moisture, clear heat, clean toxin

Formula 2
Houttuynia (yuxingcao) H. cordata
Chrysanthemum (yejuhua) C. indicum
Capillaris (yinchenhao) Artemisia capillaris
Eupatorium (peilan) E. fortunei
Tsao-ko (caoguo) Lanxangia tsaoko
Therapeutic Functions
clear heat, clean toxins, resolve turbidity

Formula 3
Taraxacum (pugongying) dandelion
Trollius (jinlianhua) T. chinensis (globeflower)
Isatis leaf (daqingye) I. indigotica
Pueraria (gegen) P. lobata (Kudzu)
Perilla leaf (zisuye) Shiso
Therapeutic Functions
clear heat, clean toxin, dispel wind, expel pathogens

Formula 4
Phragmites (lugen) P. australis (Reed Root)
Lonicera (jinyinhua) Flo’s Lonicerae japonicae (Japanese Honeysuckle flower)
Forsythia (lianqiao) Forsythiae fructus (ripened fruit of the plant)
Mentha (bohe) Mentha haplocalyx (peppermint)
Licorice (gancao) Glycyrrhiza uralensis (the root)
Therapeutic Functions
clear heat, dispel wind-chill, expel pathogens

Formula 5
Astragalus (huangqi) A. propinquus
Atractylodes (baizhu) Atractylodes macrocephala
Red Atractylodes (cangzhu) A. lancea, A. chinensis, and A. japonica all function similarly.
Pogostemon (huoxiang) (Patchouli)
Adenophora (nanshashen) A. triphylla
Lonicera (jinyinhua) Flo’s Lonicerae japonicae (Japanese Honeysuckle flower)
Dryopteris (guanzhong) Dryopteris crassirhizoma (Wood Fern root. There are other Dryopteris that can be used)
Therapeutic Functions
strengthen spleen, benefit qi, resolve damp, clean toxins

Formula 6
Pseudostellaria (taizishen) Pseudostellaria heterophylla, ginseng of the lung. Gentler than Panax Ginseng. Cures lungs.
Dryopteris (guanzhong) (referring in particular to Dryopteris filix-mas), or buckler ferns, is a genus of 300-350 (or possibly 400) species.
Lonicera (jinyinhua) Flo’s Lonicerae japonicae (Japanese Honeysuckle flower)
Isatis leaf (daqingye) I. indigotica
Pueraria (gegen) P. lobata (Kudzu)
Perilla leaf (zisuye) Shiso
Pogostemon (huoxiang) Patchouli, in the mint family. Not specified whether leaves or stems.
Red Atractylodes (cangzhu) A. lancea, A. chinensis, and A. japonica all function similarly.
Eupatorium (peilan) E. fortunei
Therapeutic Functions
benefit qi, disperse pathogens, clean toxins, remove moisture

http://www.itmonline.org/arts/sars.htm