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Greater World “Community Garden” Newsletter ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
issue 16: Land of (re)EnchantmentIn this strange and beautiful “Land of Enchantment”, majesty and mystery surrounds us. We need only look up to appreciate an ever-unfolding cosmic drama playing out among ancient sky gods as they move across our celestial stage. We need only look around us and just below our feet to be reminded of those powerful earth forces that dramatically sculpted our physical landscape and social geography in a not-so-distant past. These primordial beings of our earth and sky may seem mostly at rest today though their influence is still present and active in subtler ways... Here be Dragons! We live among ancient giants. Here in the Greater World, we are literally surrounded by earth beasts of a bygone era. To the east we find the undulating spine of a great ‘dragon’ known as the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Sweep your gaze from north to west then south of our community and you’ll find the many remnants of dormant fire-breathers we know collectively as the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field. Take a stroll anywhere in the area and you’ll see their many gifts of gypsum and lichen-covered lava rocks, cobble and boulders of Servilleta Basalt generously dispersed throughout our landscape. But a stone’s throw from the Greater World is the gaping mouth of the Rio Grande Rift, a truly unique spectacle to behold and just two of its kind in the world (it’s comparable other being the East African Rift in case you want a sneak preview of what's possible here)! Beyond its dizzying depth and alluring beauty, the Rio Grande Rift offers a rare peek into a more distant and primordial past of this Earth as an ever-evolving being with a rich herstory of her own. Deep within The Rift flows the serpentine Rio Grande River, a powerful force in its own right and the lifeblood of diverse and interconnected ecosystems extending far beyond it banks. These awe-inspiring attributes of our local geography are not just features of the land, they are creatures of the land… Dragons of the Everywhen From descriptions of the primordial dragon of chaos Tiamat in the earliest known creation myth, the Enuma Elish, to the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl of the ancient Aztecs or the Mayan counterpart Kulkulkan, to the Rainbow Serpent of the Australian Aboriginals, Taniwha of the Māori and the water guardian dragon Avanyu of our local Pueblo peoples… among most if not all ancient and indigenous cultures—and within even our modern sciences—we find the archetypal symbol of the Dragon used to describe the primordial energies and original creative intelligences that shaped our material world from its very beginning. Among aboriginal Australians, dragon or serpent beings reside in the Tjukurrpa or “The Dreaming” that exists in the “Everywhen”. Tjukurrpa (The Dreaming) describes a non-physical, symbolic realm that exists between the purely material world and the purely spiritual world acting as a "holding" place for images, stories and archetypal reality. It represent a "living system" rather than mere mythology as it deeply influences, shapes and gives meaning to our physical world and human experience. Now Entering the Imagi-nation We find conceptual counterparts of the Tjukurrpa in other cultures and other parts of the world, partly informed no doubt by the land itself. The Mundus imaginalis (Latin for "imaginal world") is a term coined by philosopher Henry Corbin to describe an intermediate, autonomous and objective realm of reality that exists between the physical world of our basic five senses and the abstract intellectual world. As a scholar and translator of ancient Arab and Persian texts, Corbin derived the concept from the Sufi idea of the 'alam al-mithal (world of image/archetypes) accessible through the "active imagination" (khayal) or the "eye of the heart". Like the Tjukurrpa, this realm is not fantasy but an ontological framework for our perceived reality; it is a tangible, navigable and objective space where visions, symbols and dreams hold true spiritual meaning as well as practical applications in our material world. From this realm our greatest mystics, poets, artists, mathematicians, psychonauts, psychologists and scientists of many disciplines have derived transformative insights which set them on inspired paths leading to personal, cultural and often world-changing discoveries. The Imagi-nation is a place within the Everywhen, you could say—not Never Never Land but Always Everywhere Land—that we are most familiar with as children though tend to abandon over time out of a sense of obligation to “normalcy” and all its many trappings. Many become successfully adapted to the rigid confines of consensus reality solely out of a want to belong, to avoid alienation, to attain personal aims or to simply get by, though at what cost? The Great Nothing When we regard the imaginal realm as the vital substrate of this reality, the living and fertile soil from which the very aliveness of the material world emerges, we can better appreciate its necessity in our everyday lives. Losing touch with the most vital ground of our reality can make life feel flat, pointless and vapid as if we are mere personalities in meat suits compelled by instinct and endlessly unquenchable wants trudging through the realm of the half dead, looking for that next dopamine fix. Distracted by so many expectations and obligations we may miss the encroaching presence of an all-consuming void overtaking the landscape of Imagin-nation, like The Great Nothing overtaking Fantasia in The Neverending Story. It manifests as not only a lack of connection with the imaginal realm but a general sense of apathy, complacency and narrow self-focus of our thoughts and actions. The tragedy of losing touch with this living and fertile realm is not only that we become estranged from a basic sense of aliveness within ourselves and all things or that we lose access to creative epiphanies and outside-the-box solutions… we also become susceptible to the very destructive disease of ego fantasies which have the opposite effect. Rather than supporting the ever-renewing creation of life that bubbles up from the realms of the imaginal, ego-generated fantasy seeks to control and conquer the creative purity of imagination, ultimately destroying life while replacing it with poor approximations, mere facsimile of the real thing. Simply put, fantasy is the realm of delusion—particularly delusions of grandeur—it is an us vs. them clamoring for dominance, a mentality of conquest and competition. In contrast, the realm of the imaginal is the fecund soil of creation, accessible to all of us regardless of creed, class or clout; it is an ever-flowing wellspring of creativity through which we can experience all things interconnected and interdependent, even magical and alive. A call to (re)Enchantment Living one’s life with a steady awareness of this realm makes for a magical, inspired, often exciting if not unusual experience. It’s as if an entire populated world exists right alongside us (because it does), just waiting to see a shining glimmer of awareness peeking through the veil between the mundane and imaginal realms. When those of the imaginal realm see there is someone to play with or who is respectfully requesting their assistance, things can get very interesting and unpredictable, in a fun way. While those who dance between worlds are mostly considered outsiders on the fringe of society, they are also sought as creators, innovators and healers. What they bring as gifts to the mundane world are very often celebrated (or terribly criticized at first then later celebrated) as pivotal in shaping culture, advances in technology and the general consciousness of the human population. There were times when the sense of co-existing with all sorts of unusual beings of the land was more the norm, though systematic targeting of specific populations over the centuries and removal from ancestral lands has greatly changed the mental and spiritual landscape of humanity. What if, through (re)enchanting our mental landscape and spiritually reconnecting with our lands and vast skies above, this dance between worlds once again became more the norm? We are the music-makers and we are the dreamers of the dreams In fact, many inquisitive minds across multiple disciplines are looking to the imaginal and are actively calling for a "re-enchantment" of the human relationship with the much greater world beyond the mundane in order to find not only more depth and meaning in their own lives but more viable solutions to our ever-mounting and ever more dire global issues. From earth-based technologies to new models for small community governance to therapeutic approaches and even activism… re-enchanting our world seems and likely is our best if not last hope for maintaining the true essence of our humanity. In this "Land of (re)Enchantment" issue of The Community Garden, I introduce just a few of these adventurous change-seekers and their ideas while paying acknowledgement to the many Dragons ever-present and still allied with us today. We need not only look to the past but the present and future of the Everywhen to find their encouraging and supportive presence all around. In Truth, Beauty and Goodness, B. Monique ……………………………………………………………………………… ✺This newsletter is intended to be a collaborative project so if you would like to make a contribution to any upcoming newsletters, please don’t hesitate to reach out! All archived back issues of The Community Garden may be found here.
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LISTEN This excerpt is an improvisation on "The Song of the Golden Dragon" and "Revival," performed as part of the "Internal Flight sound journey." This video was captured during Estas Tonne's "Rhythms of Change" tour at "Circul Metropolitan" in Bucharest, Romania, on October 18, 2023. |
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EARTH OBSERVATION What if satellite cloud data could become music? Meet Hakuryu — a dragon born as the European Space Agency's EarthCARE satellite, singing a song of peace for our planet. EarthCARE is the European Space Agency’s most advanced Earth Explorer launched to date, equipped with instruments that help us understand clouds and aerosols in new and unprecedented ways. It is a collaboration between ESA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, who designed and developed the satellite’s Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) instrument. JAXA called EarthCARE Hakuryu, which is Japanese for White Dragon. The name ‘Hakuryu’ embodies the distinctive characteristics of the
satellite's appearance, with its white body and solar panel resembling a
long tail. In Japanese mythology, dragons are ancient and divine
creatures that govern water and fly in the sky: an appropriate metaphor
for a mission that will study clouds and aerosols. Additionally, the launch year of EarthCARE in 2024 coincides with the Japanese Year of the Dragon, known as ‘tatsu-doshi.’ |
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SUN SCIENCE Dance of the Red and Green dragonsIn mid-November, the Greater World was treated to a rare (though increasingly more common) display of Dragon Sun energy manifesting in our sky. In this short article entitled The Electric Dragon by Perry Pezzolanella of the Mohawk Astronomical Society, Perry provides some insight into the science behind such events. He also shares a bit of caution about the power and influence of such events being less benign than mere cosmic theater. |
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INDIGENOUS LORE The evil spirit of drought had come and stayed too long! All of the people, the animals, the birds and the plants were in abject misery! As the days came and passed, the birds sang only sad songs; the plants drooped lower and lower; the animals walked slower and the people were haunted with despair! The earth’s rhythm was out of step… |
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CAUTIONARY TALE …we unravel Bastian’s exile, Atreyu’s sacrifice, the Empress as the Divine Self, and Gmork as the voice of despair. This is not just a story - it’s a spiritual initiation. And the price of ignoring it? Your imagination. This analysis pulls from Jungian psychology, Gnostic philosophy, and mythic storytelling to expose the true warning hidden beneath the surface: when we stop believing, our world begins to die. |
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LOCAL ACTIVISM The Wild & Scenic Rio Grande River is the lifeblood of New Mexico. But for Tesuque Pueblo member Louie Hena and his family, the river is more than an office, more than a provider, it is home. In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, Louie urges us all to protect more wild rivers. |
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POETIC GEOLOGY Every volcano is like a living thing. They are born, live, die, and leave behind their remains, eventually returning to the Earth as fragmented rock and soil. Sometimes they live in the presence of entire communities of other volcanoes that we geologists call volcanic fields, and sometimes as isolated individuals. Volcanic eruptions have happened in the recent as well as the not-so-recent past in New Mexico, and they will happen again… |
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LOCAL ADVENTURE A most highly acclaimed trail for mountain bike enthusiasts. Find a virtual preview here. This trail is located about an hour north of Albuquerque, New Mexico within Sandoval County. Dragons Back is part of the White Mesa or White White Ridge BLM trail system. This trail is a blue with climbs and flowy downhills. Once you get to the Dragons Back Extension trail, it is considered a Black Diamond due to its steep descent. Consider riding this trail South to North. To get there, you will have to get off Highway 550 and drive on gravel road for about 4 miles until you reach the Parking lot named White Mesa BLM parking lot. |
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EARTH TECHNOLOGIES The quest is on to develop new technology that can tap the intense heat deep below the earth's surface and supply the whole world with electricity. “The dragon of the deep may help us open a real treasure trove.” “It isn’t a liquid, and nor is it steam. It occurs in a physical form incorporating both phases, and this means that it takes on entirely new properties. Supercritical water behaves like a powerful acid, and will attack anything — including electronics and drilling equipment. In a TV fantasy series, it would probably be called ‘dragon water’.”… |
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MYTHIC PSYCHOLOGY A beautiful introduction to Sharon Blackie and her work around cultivating the mythic imagination. Find her beautiful website here. and her TED talk here. How can myth and folk tales lead us to live more deeply and more authentically, and inspire us to fall in love with the world all over again? Dr. Sharon Blackie is an award-winning writer whose work sits at the interface of psychology, mythology and ecology. Her highly acclaimed books, articles, and workshops are focused on the development of the mythic imagination, and on the relevance of our native myths, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, social and environmental problems we face today. She is the author of the novel The Long Delirious Burning Blue, and two nonfiction books: If Women Rose Rooted, and The Enchanted Life. In 2017 she founded The Hedge School – both an online space and a physical location in Connemara, for teachings and explorations in building a new folk culture. |
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ENCHANTED TRASH ART A brief introduction to activist/artist of enchantment, Thomas Dambo… Thomas Dambo builds giant wooden trolls around the world and hides them in wilderness and forests. By doing this, he hopes to lure people away from concrete cities and computer screens, into the wild and reconnect them with the natural world. Thomas builds all his mythical creatures of repurposed wood to show the potential in this precious material, which is often discarded and becomes a threat to the natural world… You can find more of his earth-spanning work along with his Troll Map at thomasdambo.com. Should we be so adventurous, perhaps a small group could organize a commission for some local (happy) Trolls here in the high desert of New Mexico! Applications here. |
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GLOBAL HEALING Four scholars discuss the possibilities of spiritual ecology as a path toward reintegration in the face of a disintegrating world. “At its core, even our spirituality is Earth derived. The human and the Earth are totally implicated, each in the other…If there is no spirituality in the Earth, then there is no spirituality in ourselves.” —Thomas Berry, “The Spirituality of the Earth” |
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NATURAL WONDER The Dragon’s Eye Cave is shrouded in folklore and myth, with its name alone conjuring up images of ancient dragons guarding hidden treasures beneath the earth. Locals say that the cave earned its name because of a central geological formation inside that resembles the eye of a dragon—an oval-shaped cavity ringed by concentric patterns of mineral deposits that mimic the iris and pupil of a reptilian eye. This formation, illuminated by natural light filtering in through the cave’s openings, glows eerily, further enhancing its dragon-like appearance… |
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MAGIC & ECOLOGY Magic and ecology have a long and entangled history. Western magic historically has been concerned with discerning connections between the human (microcosm) and the world (macrocosm), and modern magic (in similarity with many types of folk magic) especially digs deeper into these efforts of discernment by encouraging practitioners to work with all sorts of objects: not only specially designed props or celestial talismans but ordinary everyday things. Some “Magic and Ecology” discussions you may enjoy: CRASSH Magic and Ecology - Isabelle Stengers CRASSH Magic and Ecology- Erik Davis CRASSH Magic and Ecology - Adam Bobette |
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LOCAL ART “Quetzal Noir”A magnificent recent piece (in progress) by our GW neighbor, Chris Tuger. Intricately detailed and very much alive with flames flickering from within… Find more of Chris Tuger’s diverse range of work including books, poetry, music, musings and more at https://vermillioncrush.com/. A caution to those who enter: “Welcome Dreamers, do watch your hands and feet as you board the site. Some of the inhabitants bite.“ |
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ENCHANTED ACTIVISM The world needs revolutionaries of the heart and soul: visionaries, healers, mentors, and leaders who can illuminate the darkness by lighting new lamps. An extension of the work established with Enchantivism: Transmutation through Inspiration Enchantivism happens when we inspire deep societal change, whether locally or more widely, through inspiration and vision. Whereas reform and activism tend to push and pressure, enchantivism pulls through alluring stories of the communities of our desire. Enchantivism is for non-activists who don’t protest or march but want to make a lasting positive difference as well as for activists seeking to regenerate their efforts by working with story, myth, dream, and the presence of place. Dr. Craig Chalquist explaining What is Enchantivism? |
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NEUROSCIENCE FOR A NEW EARTH Few of us stop to think about how we think – but for Dr Iain McGilchrist, this question has shaped his life’s work. An Oxford literary scholar turned psychiatrist and neuroscientist, he has spent decades arguing that modern society is dominated by the left hemisphere’s narrow, analytical focus, often at the expense of the broader, more relational perspective of the right. His landmark books, The Master and His Emissary and The Matter With Things, explore how this imbalance shapes our perception of reality – and whether we can train our minds to see beyond the limits of what we think we know. |
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MODEL COMMUNITY Dragon DreamingDragon Dreaming is a holistic project management method for manifesting collective dreams through four cyclical phases—Dreaming, Planning, Doing, Celebrating—balancing personal growth, community building, and service to the Earth, using tools like spiderweb diagrams (Karabirrdt) and honoring failures as learning opportunities for truly impactful, collaborative, and joyful projects. |
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