Chile Derails ‘Monsanto Law’ That Would Privatize Seeds

Reposted from:  http://newamericamedia.org/2014/03/chile-derails-monsanto-law-that-would-privatize-seeds.php

New America Media, News Report, Asha DuMonthier, Posted: Mar 28, 2014

Left: One of the delegations of social and environmental justice organizations that went to the Chilean parliament to lobby against the "Monsanto Law." / photo: Viviana Catrileo

SANTIAGO, Chile -- This month, rural women, indigenous communities, and farmers in Chile found themselves on the winning end of a long-fought battle against a bill that had come to be known by many in this country as simply, the “Monsanto Law.”

The bill, which would have given multinational agribusiness corporations the right to patent seeds they discover, develop or modify, was withdrawn by the Chilean government now controlled by newly elected members of the center-left coalition known as the New Majority, amid concerns that the law would bring harm to the country’s small and mid-sized farmers.

In making the announcement on March 17, new Secretary General Ximena Rincón pledged that the Chilean government will “analyze all that is known in our country and internationally about this issue in order to protect the rights of agricultural communities, small and medium-sized farmers, and the heritage of seeds in our country.”

Rincón has been a leading voice of opposition to the bill in the Chilean government, and part of a larger alliance of approximately fifteen organizations and elected officials across the country who have been lobbying and protesting its passage since the introduction of the bill four years ago.

“We reject this law because it is a threat to family farms and to biodiversity,” said Lucía Sepúlveda from the Alliance for a Better Quality of Life/Pesticide Action Network of Chile (RAP-AL Chile). Last August, her organization and thousands of other Chileans took to the streets of cities across the country in mass protests against the law.

Celebrating Vernal Equinox/Ostara!

Our current newsletter:

Celebrating Vernal Equinox/Ostara!

Welcome to our seasonal newsletter! 

"...  to me, a tree is more beautiful than a cathedral.
The tree is the kingdom of god on earth.  A tree is the pure land."
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

March:  Awakening, Beginning, Emergence...   Thawing from the bitter winter and unearthing ourselves from record snowfalls.  We watch expectantly as the snow slowly melts into the earth in a slow-motion disappearance:  tiny islands of snow surrounded by spreading patches of brown, winter-beaten grass.  Rich with water, soft muddy earth yields perceptibly beneath each tentative footstep.  The chirp and cadence of birds is noticeably louder, stronger, and more inviting - enticing us, teasing us, exerting that inner 'pull', that yearning to be outside again following one of the snowiest winters in recent memory. 

In this issue, we re-introduce the earth holiday of Ostara, also called Eostara or Eostre from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess of the same name.  The word for the Christian festival of Easter really refers back to this ancient goddess, and the eggs, bunnies and baby chicks that are featured so prominently in our culture's Easter celebrations are all Ostara fertility images.

However you choose to celebrate this holiday remember to be gentle with the earth and mindful of her limited resources.

Green Blessings!
Donna at Willow Moon Herbals

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In this issue:

• Celebrating Vernal Equinox/Ostara!
• The Red Tent Movie
• Numen:  The Healing Power of Plants"
• Holistic Consciousness of One!
• Currently Scheduled Classes

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Celebrating Vernal Equinox/Ostara!

from www.magicalgraphics.com

The vernal equinox celebrates the balance of light and dark, and is one of two days in the year when night and day are of equal length.  At this equinox, there is a shift that takes place as the 'earth' energy of winter gives way to the 'air' energy of Spring.  From the cold darkness of a thawing earth, sap begins to rise from the roots of trees, the winds begin to warm, and the sky is more full of our returning winged friends with their whirring and chirping filling our ears:  Air is spring's element, and links birds to our collective unconscious. 

Often, we don't realize how much we've missed the sound of birds all winter, until Spring brings their warbling back to us.  To honor the birds and the air element of spring, this would be a good time to clean the hair out of all the family's hairbrushes, and put it out for the birds to use for building their spring nests.   When you do this, send loving thoughts to the birds who are using your hair in the creation of their homes.

Global Food Toxicity: Myth or Fact?

I received this disturbing email today, and while I don't agree with everything that is stated, what bothers me the most is that many people will just shrug it off:


http://www.naturalnews.com/043995_human_civilization_processed_food_stealth_war.html#ixzz2tsYXOPWl

Health-conscious people have known for a long time that fast-food, prepared-food and processed foods are neither nutritious nor health-giving.  Monsanto and Big AG are NOT your friends, and round-up ready 'anything' doesn't belong anywhere near your plate, let alone your yard for your pets and kids to play on.

This blog post is not meant to instill fear, but to create anger - healthy anger - so that people wake up and take responsibility for their own health.  Medicinal botanicals, local wild edibles and growing our own fresh fruit and vegetables is one place to start.  The 'medicine of the people' is a vanishing reality:  100 years ago, most families knew at least 300-400 herbs, weeds, leaves, roots, seeds, shrubs and trees    ...and their medicinal and food uses in order to stay healthy.

Even in spite of 24"+ of chemical snow (also myth or fact?) on the ground, I INTEND to plant a garden again this year, and make it larger, if possible.  Use heirloom, heritage and organic seeds and plants ONLY!  Spring will be here in 4-1/2 weeks to northwest NJ, and wild edible greens begin appearing by early April. 

In April/May, we begin our outdoor Wild Edibles workshops.  Check our website and blog for a program near you in NJ/Northeast PA, or contact us directly for a personal or private weed-walk/herb-walk on your property or for your group, organization or club.  Email:  donna@willowmoonherbals.com.

Knowledge is power, my friends.  And applied Knowledge is FREEDOM!
KNOW your wild edibles from their toxic look-alikes.

Namaste and Green Blessings!

Celebrating Imbolc!

Celebrating Imbolc/Candlemas!

Welcome to our seasonal newsletter! 

The northeast is again experiencing a rather snowy winter:  we are digging out from winter storm Maximus and the next one, Nika, is expected to arrive within 24 hours potentially adding an additional 6-8" to the 8.5" that we received Monday.   (I don't even want to mention the 24-30"+ that is forecast for this coming Sunday/Monday...)  As I put the finishing touches on this issue, the gorgeous new crescent moon is hovering in the western sky after a truly beautiful snowy day! 

Since October, we have been regularly visiting with our stone medicine wheel which is nestled at the entrance to one of the teaching gardens.  Our winter goal is to build a stronger relationship with the elemental realms.  At the end of October, it was the suggestion of Ilona Hress of Growing Consciousness that earth stewards created a stone medicine wheel outside in our yards to lend an air of calm since the last two October's each brought a severe, violent storm to the northeast.    At the request of the crystal realm, we left it in place for the winter months and now understand the needed support having just come through two of the most bitter cold spells in recent memory.    When we remember that we are all connected, and that what effects one aspect of nature impacts the whole fabric of our collective Oneness, we begin to see and understand our interrelatedness with new eyes.  

In this issue, we re-introduce the earth holiday of Imbolc/Candlemas:  (pronounced im-bolk) or Candlemas, Imbolg, Bride's day, Oimelc, and Brid's day is the second holiday on the wheel of the year occurring around February 1st or 2nd -- in the deepest, coldest heart of the winter.  It is not a coincidence that Groundhog Day is placed over the top of this ancient Celtic feast, which is also known in the modern christian world at St. Brigid's Day.

The Feast of Brigid, a goddess associated with the fruit of the earth and the fire of the hearth.  A shrine to her was located in Kildare, where a holy well and eternal healing fire was kept by priestesses of this goddess.  Because country folk were slow to change their customs of worship, the Celtic Brigid was slowly subsumed into the church's canon of saints as Christianity spread throughout Europe.  Additionally, the life of a human Bridget was entwined with the mythos of the mother goddess, Brigit.  The mortal Bridget lived in the 5th century and consecrated her life to religion.  Bridget's emphasis on education, teaching, charity, creativity, poetry, smithcraft and healing were also the hallmarks of the mother goddess worshipped by the earlier Celts, thereby making the local country peasants more receptive to Christianity.

However you choose to celebrate this holiday remember to be gentle with the earth and mindful of her limited resources.

Green Blessings!
Donna at Willow Moon Herbals

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In this issue:

• Celebrating Imbolc/Candlemas!
• The Red Tent Movie
• Numen:  The Healing Power of Plants"
• Holistic Consciousness of One!
• Currently Scheduled Classes

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Celebrating Imbolc/Candlemas!

"In a season of dark and cold, let the Imbolg candles glow
Spark our hopes and warm the hearth,
and welcome light's return to Earth.

Beyond the darkness of winter, there is an oasis of light and warmth on the journey from solstice to spring.  Known as Candlemas, Imbolg, Brigantia, or Lupercalia, it is a hope-filled celebration held in early February to welcome the returning light and the promise of spring.  Candlemas sheds light on the origins, lore, and customs of this ancient holy day."  (from the back cover)

This is a wonderful book that can introduce you to the Feast of Flames.  By February 1st, the daylight has increased noticeably from the Winter Solstice which was only six weeks prior.   No matter what the groundhog says, Spring is only a mere six weeks from now.  Even though the festivities, lights and pagentry of the Yule Holidays is past, the winter doesn't have to look so bleak because the sun is strengthening, the days are lengthening and it is even a little easier to withstand the snowy-ness of February knowing that fairer weather IS only six weeks away.

Celebrating Samhain!

Our current newsletter:

Celebrating Samhain!

Welcome to our seasonal newsletter! 

The northeast is decidedly breathing a sigh of relief that another massive storm did not visit our region yet again this year at the end of October.  In the weeks before October 29, we wanted to support the elemental realms - including the trees and shrubs - so at the suggestion of Ilona Hress of Growing Consciousness, we created a stone medicine wheel outside one of the gardens to lend an air of calm.  At the request of the crystal realm, we included tree agates at the cardinal points of the four directions, and placed a heart-shaped agate at the center.  When we remember that we are all connected, and that what effects one aspect of nature impacts the whole fabric of our collective Oneness, we begin to see and understand our interrelatedness with new eyes.

In this issue, we re-introduce the earth holiday of Samhain:

Autumn has arrived, and with it comes the advent of Samhain, a Gaelic holiday celebrated by Pagans and Wiccans, which is the year's third and final harvest festival. Unfamiliar with Samhain?  Brush up with these common facts:

1.  Samhain is celebrated from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1, halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.
2.  Samhain is pronounced "sah-win" or "sow-in."
3.  It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh.
4.  Rituals surrounding Samhain include bonfires, healing, dancing, thanksgiving, and honoring of the dead.
5.  It's considered a liminal time, when the veil between life and death grows thin. Food is set aside for ancestors and protective spirits, and rituals honoring the dead take place.
6.  Some celebrate Samhain with a ritual to guide the dead home by opening a western-facing door or window and placing a candle by the opening.
7.  Samhain is one of the original festivals behind the holiday we know as Halloween.
8.  Some of Halloween's most common traditions are rooted in Samhain's harvest festival roots, such as the carving of pumpkins and bobbing for apples. Later on, people began dressing up as these creatures and claiming the goodies for themselves, sometimes performing antics or tricks in exchange for food and drink. This practice evolved into trick-or-treating.
9.  As it was believed that faeries, witches, and demons roamed the earth on Samhain, food and drink were customarily set out to placate them.
10.  According to Kelley Harrell, author of Gift of the Dreamtime, some modern Pagans consider it the "witch's new year," though other traditions simply recognize Samhain as the end of the (Celtic) year.

However you choose to celebrate this holiday remember to be gentle with the earth and mindful of her limited resources.

Green Blessings!
Donna at Willow Moon Herbals

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In this issue:

• Celebrating Samhain!
• The Red Tent Movie
• Numen:  The Healing Power of Plants"
• Holistic Consciousness of One!
• Currently Scheduled Classes

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Celebrating Samhain!

In addition to the Samhain basics listed above, in the agricultural cycles, this festival or time of year was the time when people gave a long hard look at what they had to last them through theh ocld days of winter.  They would slaughter and salt down any animals that they felt either wouldn't make it through the winter or which they couldn't afford to suort on the stocks from the harvest.  So Samhain was a major feast and often the last time some fresh foods, especially meat, would be eaten until new life started again in spring.

The themes of this festival are:  the end of the old year, and the start of the new; ;a ime when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is at its thinnest and spirits can roam; a time of remembering those who have gone before by setting a lace for them at our feast; a time of looking forward and trying to see what will come.

In traditional earth-based lore, the Goddess takes on her robes of Crone and the God becomes the Hunter who will lead the Wild Hunt throughout the Winter.

As Samhain has become more commercial through its modern counterpart of Halloween, we find newer ideas which also give us themes for the festival:  jack o'lanterns - which were traditionally carved from turnips - are now carved from pumpkins, and food is prepared to mimic all things ghoulish, ghostly or just plain scary.  The old colors of this festival were dark red, purple and black for the Crone and dark green and black for the Hunter, to which the orange of autumn and pumpkins has been added more recently.

Learn about Elder!

As we head into the Fall and Winter months with colds, flu and viruses lurking about, take some time and get acquainted with Elder.  She is a powerful ally, and a worthy adversary to almost anything the fall and winter months can dish out.

Description:  Elder is a shrub to small tree with masses of creamy–yellow,

umbrella-shaped, flowering parts and dark purple edible berries. Elder is considered a magical and holy tree by various cultures of western and northern Europe. She is truly ancient, and vestiges of her existence have been found at Stone Age sites. Celtic lore regards elder as the tree of regeneration, representing “death in life and life in death.” She is considered the tree of transformation, guardian of the thirteenth month of the Celtic tree calendar, which contains the end of the year, Samhain (Halloween) and the beginning of the New Year (All Soul’s Day).

There is so very much more to be said of Elder than space permits, and it would behoove anyone interested to learn more about her magical and healing properties through humble respect and gentle openness to develop a working relationship with her.

Tree Spirit Medicine... my 'book' in progress

As many of you may know, trees are one of my greatest passions.  So, back in 2006 when I was studying with David Winston in his 2-year Herbal Studies Program, we had to complete a medicinal botanical-related project - one for each year.  Of course I chose to do mine about my tree friends:  their medicine, their contributions to humanity, their mystery, magick and use in traditional ceremony and ritual, etc.  I dove into my research with wild abandon, gathering as much information as I could.  I used books of course, and I also used my connection with the trees to help guide me about what information they wanted to share.

As the months rolled on, I found that I could not limit my project-turned-'book' to just one year, so I was approved to expand it into a two-year project.  I had so much fun with my botanical buddies, that I finally realized that I would have to force my Self to stop writing so that I could turn it in!  With that said, I would like to quote from the Epilogue:

"First and foremost:  My love and gratitude to all the trees who unselfishly lent their physical and spiritual support to my discussion ~ and especially to those trees who graciously stepped back and agreed to wait for volume II ~ or a book ~ whichever comes next. 

Secondly, it is my hope that you have enjoyed reading this paper as much as I have enjoyed writing it.  Some of the lighthearted comments contained within are mine, and some reflect the humor and good-natured-ness of the tree spirit I was working with ~ whether sitting together with them or researching in books ~ their chatter, input and friendship was unwavering. 

I hope that I have conveyed some of my passion and appreciation for these silent, giving beings:  from oxygen to food to shelter to shade…  …and still they keep giving.  Even though the majority of humanity has been so destructive with them, they still choose to be among us, and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn…  ...to listen……and, when they decide, …sometimes even to speak for them."

In wanting to share an excerpt, it seemed only fitting to start with the chapter on Willows.  I hope it brings new understanding and helps strengthen your relationships with the trees in your yards and neighborhoods.

Lessons Learned the Hard Way...

In addition to the various flu permutations, there is a nasty upper respiratory illness going around this winter.  Many friends and family members have experienced it over the holidays in November and December.  Luckily, I’ve kept the flu at bay AND missed all the sinus hoopla with my regular herbal regimen keeping me healthy through all the germ-sharing, cousin-kissing and close-proximity hugging events of the season.  Then we had a warm week at the end of January here in northwest NJ, and I let my usual herbal protocols slide…  big mistake!  That gave this sinus/upper respiratory ‘bug’ a chance to get stronger – so by the time it caught me in mid-February, it was not to be contained.  I first thought it was allergies because the cough started after two particularly blustery days – when all the wet leaves, mold and debris left from Super-storm Sandy was airborne again. 

Apparently, I was quite mistaken!  After seven days of medicinal botanicals, including herbal steams, essential oil steams, elderberry elixir, yin qiao formula, a proprietary medicinal mushroom/fu zheng formula, chuan xin lian formula, Vitamin D3 supplementation, onion honey, using a neti-pot, and even Dr. Gwen Scott’s ‘vinegar-cayenne-lemon-garlic-star anise’ tea – I went to the Dr because the coughing was just too forceful having broken a blood vessel in my eye and my ribs / intercostal muscles were just too painful to touch.  A 5-day round of Zythromax, bolstered with the above listed herbal regimen finally knocked out the sinus condition and reduced the post-nasal drip to tolerable levels.  I haven’t been this sick since November 2010, and hadn't needed a Dr. for winter-related ills since 2006.  A lingering cough still taunts me, and I am told it could last for several more weeks.

Why mention all this?  Because – as the Universe would have it – I missed the “Master Tonic Party” with one of my herbal FB groups back in December, and now fresh from experiencing the worst sinus condition in many, many years, I just created my Master Tonic today, on the New Moon, and it will steep until the Full Moon on March 27.  

And I wanted to share this with all of you so that you don’t get this sick either.  Ever!

So what is a “Master Tonic”?   

Help our Trees as nor'easter Nemo visits NJ!

There is another  winter storm heading our way:  Watch out for Nemo!  They are calling for 6"-8"+ in northwest NJ with dangerous sustained wind gusts.  Dr. Jim and Basia have tweaked the Storm Whispers that we used for previous storms, especially Superstorm Sandy last fall.  No matter where you are, you can send these Storm Whispers to our Tree friends in the storm's path.  Please help us to help them!

Celebrating Imbolc/Candlemas!

On February 1, Imbolc, also known as St. Brigid's day, is the first chilly harbinger of the season.   The Irish climate is more mild than ours, so for the ancient Celts, February 1 was their first day of spring.  Calling it "Imbolc" (from the words for 'ewe's milk' or 'in the belly', depending on your source) because pregnant sheep and cows began to lactate at this time.  In the US, our Groundhog Day (Feb 2) celebrations with the anticipation of spring is a leftover from the Celtic belief that magical animals come out of hibernation at this time.

Even in the cold northeast,  Imbolc begins to show the early signs of approaching spring:  the daylight is noticeably longer and there is a new, vibrant energy in the air.  Have you noticed that more birds are singing in the early morning?  And even a few hardy plants sometimes begin to show their first shoots.  However, most of the activity is still underground.  Imbolc celebrates the strengthening sun and also the waking of seeds that are beginning to stir in their cold winter beds.  

Green Blessings!  -Donna
 

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Celebrating Imbolc!  
In addition to the celebrations and definitions I mentioned above, Imbolc is also devoted to Brigid, a fiery, independent ancient Celtic goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing.  Brigid is all about the transformative power of fire, which we need right now as an antidote or balm for the drudgery of endless gray days, seemingly endless cold, ice and dirty snow.  Fire's transformative power is also about fire in the forge/hearth, fire in the poet's mind, and of course, fire in the healer's hands.  The Celebration of Imbolc is the perfect time to reflect and write a poem, or to take the time to make a special craft (weaving of Brigid's Crosses out of wheat or rushes is traditional, as is candle-making) or to perform hands-on healing for someone you love!