Bioregional Animism: Salmon Nation

What is bioregional animism?

Bioregional animism is by definition relating to the land/bioregion as the source of ones religion and culture. It is a form of Personalism where other then human persons including the whole bioregion itself is related to and communicated with as a person, not as if it was a person but as a person. Animism does not personify other then human persons, animals forces of nature, plants, the land and sky, it gives up human dominion over the designation of who and what a person is. Bioregional Animism does not treat animals, plants, forces of nature, or the land and sky as tools, or symbols, for humans to use but instead views these other then human persons as just that… persons who can be communicated with, who relationships and partnerships and allegiances can be formed with for living in mutually beneficial and reciprocal ways; In both the physical and spiritual world. Bioregional Animism sees that ones larger self is the eco-region one lives within and that animist spiritual practice, cosmology, ontology, culture, and life practices are all expression of that larger ecological and transpersonal self. In a way Bioregional animism is a response to the need for the rediscovery and rebirth or earth embracing traditions, and attempts to embody the ideal slogan of thinking globally but acting locally. Many people are drawn to shamanism in an attempt to find this way of relating to self and earth just to find that there is no shamanism in reality, shamans are healers and spiritual leaders designated by an animist tradition or culture, in other words all shamans of the world are animists not shamanists. Bioregional animism attempts to assist others in discovering the spiritual tradition which is an expression of the land under their feet and the sky over their head which fills their lungs and moves through ones heart. Bioregional animism attempts to show us that the spirit of the shaman as well as the animist is derived from and is an expression of the bioregion, of the land itself and forms from deeply intimate relationships with the life and spirit of those around us. Bioregional animism works with a base inspiration from the work of Graham Harvey’s New Animism www.animism.org.uk/. As well as with modern concepts of bioregionalism by such authors on the subject as Kirkpatrick Sales, www.schumachersociety.org/publi...3.htmlPlease read His book Dwellers in the Land: A Bioregional Vision. As well as Harvey’s revolutionary work on new animism titled, Animism: Respecting the Living World. For more information on bioregional animism please read our blog. bioregionalanimism.blogspot.com/ If you would like to meet other bioregional animists as well as discuss bioregional animism with Little lightening bolt and other bioregional animist our online forum can be found at tribes… tribes.tribe.net/bioregionalanimism Bioregional animism is the Life vision of Little Lightening Bolt of the Cascadia bioregion and the Tumwawa eco-region. It is not an idea or concept or philosophy it’s a vision that he carries and offers as a gift to all who may need to carry such a vision themselves. Little Lightening Bolt can be contacted via the tribe’s bioregional animism forum. He is currently writing a book entitled Bioregional Animism: Finding the spirit of the shaman in your back yard... with out haveing to culturaly appropriate....

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Salmon Nation

Salmon Nation is a bioregional project established by the organization called ecotrust.

It is a way of looking at the bioregion based upon is primary relationship with its most important food source, the other-than-human-person we have come to know as Salmon people.

Salmon Nation reminds us of the primary importance of this other-than-human-person to the great bioregion of Cascadia and beyond, through this work being done by Salmon Nation we begin to understand that making the world safe and healthy for salmon makes the world safe and healthy for human-people.

Please take a look at their web page and become an ambassador of Salmon Nation.

Become an Ambassador of Salmon Nation
Through the Salmon Nation Ambassadors project, we seek to jumpstart and support the creativity of citizens throughout the region on behalf of a civic society. A Salmon Nation Ambassador is any individual who is inspired by Salmon Nation and acts as a spokesperson to reach citizens beyond the typical avenues of environmental or social activism.
What do Ambassadors do?
They use Salmon Nation to help connect people to place and foster a new type of economic relationship with the landscape and community.
They are involved in work that enhances the vitality of the bioregion.
They work to bridge urban-rural divides.
They act as a conduit for information from the citizenry that helps inform Ecotrust's Citizenship program.
They are financially independent from Ecotrust, although they occasionally engage in a fiscal sponsor relationship with Ecotrust if foundation grants are available.
Ambassadors often resell Salmon Nation merchandise or distribute other materials to their communities. Discounted pricing on merchandise is available, and most other content is available for free.
To learn more, please contact Howard Silverman, either by phone at 503.227.6225 or
hide_email('by email','howard','ecotrust.org')
by email.

1 comments:

Glen said...: This is really cool -- Fishbowl; 12:13 PM

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Wisdom of the people

"We continue to be people of the water. We are of the bays, inlets, and streams. Our lives depend on the stewardship we extend to all the earth, and the resources given to us from the creator."

"Our old ways are mostly memories, but our ideas march to their beat."
-Squaxin tribal elders.

"Hishuk ish ts'awalk, everything is one."
-Nuu-Chah-Nulth People Vancouver Island

“If all wisdom was acquired without, it might be politic to make our culture cosmopolitan. But I believe our best wisdom does not come from without, but arises in the soul and is an emanation of the earth-spirit, a voice speaking directly to us as dwellers in the land.” [The Interpreters, By Irish author, AE.]

Post Paganism tribe and blog

I'm starting a new project exploring bioregionalism and its pre-existing relationship with polytheism and animist paganism. should be really fun and really exciting... a lot of pagans are attracted to bioregional paganism and I am excited to be starting this project. I never really considered my self a pagan until recently, there is a lot of amazing beauty in the European traditions and its part of my ancestry I am happy to be exploring...
The tribe and blog have gone through some transformations and are now being worked on by Glen "fishbowl" who has transformed the bioregional animist paganism blogs and tribe forum into post paganism, helping to find ways for people within the pagan diaspora to adapt to the lands they live within.
So here is the Blog & here is the Post Paganism tribe!

Other-Than-Human-Persons

Other-than-human-persons:
"A phrase coined by Irving Hallowel, Influenced by the Ojibwe of southern-central Canada. It refers to the widest possible community of living beings. For example, in the Ojibwe Language not only are humans, animals, fish, birds, and plants living, relational beings, but so too are objects-persons such as rocks and certain weather systems (the thunder-beings). The word spirits is sometimes attached to other words, as in rock spirit or tree spirit, to suggest that some rocks or trees are different from others. Hallowell's phrase has gained currency because it does not misrepresent the indigenous thought and experience that some rocks, trees, and storms, act as persons: that is, as relational, intentional, conscious, and communicative beings. This worldview and lifeway is now being called animism, which makes shamans both possible and necessary.
The phrase should not be misunderstood to imply that humans are the standard against which other "persons" might be compared. Rather, the phrase arises among humans trying to talk with other humans. It is implicit that eagles might speak of eagle-persons and other then eagle persons, and so on. The understanding that humans are not the only persons also involves the notion that not all shamans are human. In Amazonia, for example, it is common knowledge that the most powerful shamans (or persons with shamanistic abilities, pay'e) are anacondas. Ambiguity and uncertainty about the way in which an other-than-human-person relates or acts toward humans may require human shamans to seek to alter their perspective to see what others see and deal appropriately with the resulting knowledge."

from:Graham Harvey and Robert J Wallis : Historical Dictionary of Shamanism

New Animism defined

New Animism:

"Arguably the proper label for the type of religion practiced among traditional indigenous people who employ shamans. Rather then being "shamanists" or adherents of "shamanism," these people may be usefully named "animists." While the term was coined by Edward Tylor ( a founder of the discipline of anthropology) to define the essence of religion as 'the belief in spirits" and has played a significant role in theories about the origins of religion, it is used here in a new way. The old theory of animism alleged that indigenous people and the earliest human ancestors had made a mistake in believing in spirits. The new theory, associated with Nurit Bird-David, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Signe Howell, and others, sees animism as a relational ontology- the recognition that the world is full of persons, only some of whom are human. In Irving Hallowell's terms, there are human persons and other-then-human-persons, including rock persons, tree persons, cloud persons, and perhaps "spirit persons."
Animist worldviews and lifeways make it necessary for there to be shamans because (1) humans are relatively weak and need to seek help ( in the form of knowledge, healing, or defense) from more powerful other-then-human-persons and (2) humans often offend other-then-human-persons and need mediators in order to restore respectful relationships. In this context, shamans may be defined as those persons trained and skilled at working for their community when it is necessary to seek help from or reconciliation with the wider community of life. In turn, as Graham Harvey has argued, animism makes shamans both possible and necessary because their roles are about dealing with the problems of the living world."

from:Graham Harvey and Robert J Wallis : Historical Dictionary of Shamanism