Category: Lightwork

Change Agents

Change Agents

By |

On September 23rd I was in a small jet flying to Atlanta from Asheville. We flew over Lake Julian and the coal-fired power plant. Horrendous, black piles of death lay below. Earth raped as a commodity. I was glad to be headed for Rowe, Massachusetts where I would be spending a week with Joanna Macy and many other activists and lovers of our planet.

The first night, 68 of us met with Joanna. We listened as this wise woman shared about the history of humanity’s relationship with Earth. Most humans have used Earth as a supply house and a sewer. Finally, many are beginning to see the Earth as alive, as living. After she shared this and more, each of us stated our name and something of Earth we would protect. After feeling so isolated and alone documenting the Gulf Oil Spill, it was balm to my soul to witness so many people standing up to protect a place, animal, plant…body of water, mountain, meadow.

I left that first night’s gathering feeling the sweetness and power of people uniting for the common good. And with this happy feeling I had to negotiate walking on a small, wooded roadway at night with no light. I had to use my spider-sense, my bear and cougar sense–my wild woman sense that is connected with the wet, deep darkness and rich, loamy Earth. The part of me that sees without eyes and knows from the sound of gravel or grass underfoot where I am. I later wrote, “Amidst the inky blackness, rich and deep, silver drops from dark green leaves splatter and fall to the ground. I walk between two worlds, caught in the middle between lies and truth. May I stand with an open heart and bear witness.”

There was so much I learned and experienced that week at Rowe Camp and Conference Center and there are many nuggets of wisdom that will be with me as my work at the Gulf continues. However, one particular concept stands out. John Seed, an activist who worked to protect trees in the forests of Australia, had the idea that when we stand up to protect something on Earth, it’s really that place or thing protecting itself through us. In example, “I am not Simone protecting the Gulf of Mexico, I am the Gulf of Mexico protecting itself through this piece of humanity.”

And so to all those working on the Gulf, we are united in our efforts by the Gulf of Mexico. And for all environmental efforts, it is the same. Reframing activism, in this way, shifted my thinking and helped me feel the whole of all involved in working to protect and heal our planet.

Whatever you love about Earth and are willing to stand up for, say it out loud in the context written above by John Seed. What do you notice?

Some ideas shared by Joanna: Healing the planet comes from seeing the relationships and interrelationships. Action is something I am! (Not something I do). Don’t wait for the blueprint or plan as an activist. You cannot predict the synergy that occurs when you take steps and risks. Have the courage to move out with ideas. Power is an organic outcome of synergy. Evolutionary forces are wanting to work through us.

After lunch one day I climbed a steep trail and sat on a rock at the top of a mountain and heard this: “When you are called to witness a devastation to Earth, you serve as one of a council who then reports to the whole. Tell the truth of what you see. See with your heart.” And so my work continues whether I’m reading articles on the Gulf Oil Spill and passing them on to others or on the beaches documenting the huge chunks of tar washing up or speaking with school kids.

Many times I have struggled with my reason for doing the work at the Gulf and have asked myself questions like: “Is anybody really paying attention?” “All this time and energy here and is it making a difference?” Joanna reminded us to release the need for our work to make a difference or reach people or be successful. The most important thing to do is to keep doing the work, allowing the creativity to continue to move through us. The key is simply to keep doing it.

“We are so much more than we see right now. The powers that brought us here are so powerful we cannot even imagine.” Joanna reminded us that we have help and we’re not alone. What an important message for all who are working as change agents for Earth.

What are you willing to stand up and protect?

To learn more about my work, please visit my website Turtle Island Adventures.

Moving from Apathy to Action

Moving from Apathy to Action

By |

As I was enjoying a quiet breakfast I picked up my latest copy of Dive Training magazine and started reading a story about marine species that are headed for extinction and how they got that way. Not light reading, especially while attempting digestion.

It’s much easier to set aside articles such as this and watch squirrels frolic on the deck or watch my ginger cat friend play. However, when the Deepwater Horizon exploded I knew I could no longer be an armchair activist and so for the last year and a half I have forced myself to pay attention to articles and other information that helps me understand what is happening on our water planet and why.

Meet the Goliath grouper. This amazing fish can reach 800 pounds and grow to eight feet in length. They were found along Atlantic and Gulf coasts of Florida, the Caribbean and down the coast of Brazil. Their population decreased 80% in ten years. Two reasons are cited for their decline. First, channelization of the Everglades. Baby Goliath’s live in mangroves and when channels are created to drain the swamps and wetlands, the home for juveniles disappear. The second reason has to do with reproduction habits. During their annual spawning more than 100 would gather in key places. Since they are so big they were easy to see and catch. Dive Training writes that over one quarter of their spawning sites have been fished out and many have fewer than 10 fish left to gather.

When I read this my bowl of yogurt, cashews and apples almost became a projectile. I am so angry and saddened by continued reports of countless issues where humans take and take and take resources and repayment comes in the form of toxic wastes and by-products of a consumer-based society where human selfishness is elevated to new heights on a daily basis it seems. I took a few breaths and continued reading. Thanks to wildlife biologists and laws, change is occurring. Some aggregations have doubled in size. Recovery will be slow but it is beginning.

There are humans that give back and have love and compassion for our planet and all of it’s inhabitants.

I have had amazing underwater experiences as a diver and one was with a Goliath grouper I met in Key Largo, Florida. Here’s what I wrote about him in my photography book, Place of Spirit. “Goliath in size, the grouper is strangely engaging. He approaches me, flares his gills, and rattles his gill plates. I am not certain if it is a sign of affection or a prelude to aggression. His spirit and energy match his physical size and dwarf me in comparison. His small, beady eyes intimidate me as I swim to another part of the wreck. How could this reef-dweller find me worth of investigation? When his attention turns to another diver, there is no sorrow for I feel exposed, as if he sees beyond my mask to a place where spirit dwells. Even with my discomfort, I am grateful this deacon of the deep makes contact.”

Part of my personal commitment to taking action is to educate and immerse myself in saltwater environments to learn and commune with these sacred places and the animals that live there. And then to share what I learn with others in order to stir people to appreciate and love our natural world. If love and respect for the planet can be cultivated within humanity, we can make a positive difference.

What are you willing to do to help create love, appreciation and respect for Earth and all beings that live here?

To order my book, Place of Spirit, or other books I have written, please visit my website Turtle Island Adventures.

Dream or Prophecy?

Dream or Prophecy?

By |

I awakened at 5am with the strangest dream of my life. This blog is about the relationship of humans and nature and ultimately, the dream is about that. I feel strongly compelled to share it as is recorded verbatim from my journal….here goes.

In the dream….“I went to a bank with my husband and three employees were very forceful about taking my money and putting it into a retirement account they recommended. I refused and two men, on the way out of the bank, grabbed us and tried to inject us with syringes filled with some white-pink thick substance. They got my husband on the first try. I escaped twice but on the third try they got me as well. The substance in the syringe made us helpless to refuse whatever they wanted. They separated us so we would fight less. They took us to some sort of facility where they regularly injected us until we were totally under their control. Over time I realized what was happening and became aware but pretended to still be brainwashed. Secretly I was planning to help release everyone from their bondage. The bank was keeping people brainwashed and hostage and taking all their money, having it diverted from personal accounts to these ‘retirement’ accounts. They had power over us because they kept us separate from those we loved on the inside and outside.”

Dream continued, “As time went by I saw others, just a few, who worked there, keeping us in this brainwashed bondage. I would look into their eyes and know if I could trust them. If their heart was evident in their gaze it was easy to see. If not, I’d quickly glance away so they wouldn’t suspect I was aware, awake and trying to start an internal revolution to free us all. For the ones who were awake and had hearts of compassion, I would whisper things like–‘you know this is wrong’ and ‘help us end this madness.’

And more dream….One day, enough of us decided to overthrow the system. Outside authorities came, knights of honor in present day time. Inside we fought back until all the gates were opened. Those still confused and ‘asleep’ and unaware were being helped. I was working to find records of what they did to people. Each person had a card with their photo, assets and how they’d been brainwashed. I grabbed handfuls as evidence and also to help deprogram those still under the bank’s sick spell.

Dream continues….I saw a line of people being shuffled out and my husband was there. They had been using him for physical labor, working him to death. He didn’t recognize me or know me but followed me when I approached him. He, like so many others, was completely under their spell.

During the chaos of breaking free and simultaneously being rescued, I awakened (physically) and got out my journal to write all of this exactly as it happened in the dream. My commentary follows.

I think this is what is happening to us in the world. We are brainwashed by banks and corporations to give them our money which they use for their own gain–to get richer and richer at any cost. Our financial system, our economy is the root cause of inequality, injustice, pollution, war, famine…..our economy and the ‘gain as much as possible at any cost’ mentality threatens to annihilate all life on our planet. Until we become aware and stop blindly accepting doses of the poison they feed our minds, we are slaves to a system that ultimately is failing everyone, everything.

After this dream, I feel inspired to call for an internal revolution of awareness and awakening so that we become the masters of our own lives and our economy can shift from one that takes and takes and leaves only poison for us and the planet, to an economy that operates on the principles of life-sustaining practices. Joanna Macy says this, “Dire predictions notwithstanding, we can still act to ensure a livable world. It is crucial that we know this: we can meet our needs without destroying our life-support system….To choose life means to build a life-sustaining society. ‘A sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without jeopardizing the prospects of future generations.'” (Last quote by Lester Brown). A life-sustaining society operates within the carrying capacity of its life-support system, regional and planetary, both in the resources it consumes and the wastes it produces.”

What kind of world do you want? It is a choice each of us makes every day by the choices we make.

This is what it looks like when profit-at-any-cost rules our world. I believe we can do better. What about you?

To order my books on nature including adventures in nature, photography and children’s books, please visit my website, Turtle Island Adventures.

Hope for the Earth…The “Untouchables” Start to Crumble

Hope for the Earth…The “Untouchables” Start to Crumble

By |

The past three mornings, while paddling my SUP board, I’ve had thoughts of hope for the Earth. A shift is occurring. Can you feel it? Excitement and joy filled me each morning as I thought of the old paradigm breaking apart to birth the new. Read on to find out why I’m feeling especially hopeful.

Mega-corporate entities seem to run our nation….maybe even the world. They dictate environmental policies, avoid paying taxes on things such as corporate jets, donate unlimited amounts of money to political candidates who will vote in their favor, tap private phones of unsuspecting citizens to get scoops, tell the USA government how many barrels of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico (not the other way around), determine which mountain top to remove for coal, ignore safety of communities…I could be here a while listing the ‘sins’ of some corporations. The point is this–corporations, with their profit-at-any-cost mind-set, are destroying the planet and anyone or anything that happens to get in their way. I’ve wondered how we move from this model of destruction and exploitation (Earth as commodity–Joanna Macy) to one of creative synergy.

I recognize the truth that what we hold in our minds, we bring into being. I was puzzled over how we could hold a collective vision of creating a better world when some of these mega corporations seem to have us all in a strangle-hold.

Enter the Rupert Murdoch empire’s struggle to stay afloat amid allegations of corruption that could destroy Mr. Murdoch’s castle, one newspaper at a time. Estimated to be worth over $7.6 BILLION, he was listed as the 13th most powerful person in the world in 2010. Owner of FOX News, the conservative television news channel that routinely (and outright) stretches the truth to undermine their liberal brothers and sisters, Mr. Murdoch is watching as CEO’s under him resign, get arrested, or worse. Illegal activities do not always go unnoticed and even corporations like Mr. Murdoch’s must abide by a moral, legal and ethical code…at some point. The breaking point seems to be when enough people say NO MORE!!

Both sides of the media report stories with their own bias. We tune in and swallow the hook. We collectively create our world based on what we see and hear and then….what we believe. Maybe this is a signal, a sign….a blazing star hovering over the planet…saying, “THINK FOR YOURSELVES!! Don’t believe everything you see just because it is on the news!”

Joanna Macy calls this time the Great Unraveling or the Great Turning. We are undergoing a shift from seeing the Earth as a commodity to understanding the Earth as a dynamic, living system–of which we are a part.

I’m not celebrating the crumbling of a mega-corporation; however, I am celebrating the absolute fact that even the wealthiest among us are not exempt from moral, ethical and legal codes (if enough of us say, no more!). For all the other reckless corporations…I’m sure we can think of many oil and gas companies, financial institutions and more…it’s a message: Shape up! And for those of us trying to envision a better world, we can use what Joanna Macy calls our moral imagination to see what isn’t here yet–the harmonious world we wish to create– as well as what is here–oil spills, violence, nuclear melt-downs, poisoned humans, wildlife, lands.

We CAN create a better world and it begins with our ability to use our imaginations to see this world of love, light, environmental balance, harmony, peace. We simply have to be able to envision this and recognize that the old choke-hold on our planet by mega-corporations is starting to crumble. It’s okay for the old, destructive ways to unravel. They have to go: greed, power, wealth at any cost. We can create something better. “Allow yourself to be surprised by what you can actually build within the shell of the old,” says Joanna.

This is a time of empowerment for the collective, a time of awakening and realizing that we really can develop our capacity to love life. This is not a time to remain quiet or sit in the background but rather a time to allow our voices to rattle the heavens with love for the planet, each other and all life on Mother Earth. As we build a unified vision of the positive, we will experience first-hand the shifting of paradigms. This is a wondrous time to be alive.

Waltzing with Fog

Waltzing with Fog

By |

My paddle sliced through the quiet, sweet water of the lake. Mountains in the distance were partially hidden by a blanket of soft, white fog. As I glided through the stillness, warm tendrils of moisture wrapped around my legs. Oh, yes. This is medicine–the healing I needed after a stressful week.

As I paddled, I reflected back through the week but the whirling fog, lifting in columns of gypsy-inspired abandon, caused me to stop the mental chatter and be present. I wanted to paddle into the middle of these phenomena and find my center while watching the walls of clouds dance around me. Yet each time I shifted course to enter the vortex, it eluded me.

Occasionally I find myself in a fog of mental and emotional debris. The past week had been one of those times and I don’t like it. Who does? Each time I paddled this week, the lake has had these amazing currents of clouds moving across the surface. It has appeared as if the entire cloud blanket was a living, breathing being moving on the lake.

My paddling meditations were not the only place I found fog. Sunrise at Clingman’s Dome in the Smoky Mountain National Park presented a most unique golden fog. My friend Jen and I left our neighborhood in Asheville at 4am to seek fog and we were gifted with a display of light and moisture-laden air that was spectacular. As I was standing on the mountain, photographing the beautiful momentary occurrence, I realized that I had been fighting the personal fog I’d been in and thus not appreciating the gift it could bring. Like the golden fog, my personal haze would pass so why stress about the experience?

This morning as I paddled into dancing cloud-beings, I chose to embrace my personal fog and appreciate the place in which I find myself rather than curse it. I like to see my path clearly, to be sure of vision and the forward motion of life but there’s nothing wrong with being in the place of inner waiting, the place of not knowing what comes next.

An hour into my paddle this morning, I looked down at the smooth surface of the water. Bits of fog were moving over the water, across my board and feet. Reflected in the mirror-like water were puffy, white clouds and blue sky. For a moment it felt as if I was riding my board in the spaciousness of the heavens. In that instant I felt something break open inside me and I felt peaceful, content to be exactly where I am in my life.

When life crowds me with choices and confusion sets in, I now know that waltzing with my fog, rather than cursing it, is the way to freedom.

(For more information on SUP Boarding check out Three Brother’s Boards–Handcrafted, American-made and bringers of fun and adventure).

© Simone Lipscomb 2024