ECOMAGIC
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The following is excerpted from an article, Making Magic For Planet Earth, written by Selena Fox for Circle Network News (Box 219, Mt. Horeb, WI 53572 ) and presented here as being of public interest to the pagan community at large. Selena, I didn't have time to ask your permission, I presume that by the very nature of your writings you want them to be shared with as many people as possible, and so they are presented here. This is submitted with this statement and not to be edited, by Shadowstar of Boston MA.
"There are many things that can be done in spiritual realms to help bring about solutions to the world's problems:
* We can kindle spiritual friendships with other lifeforms through communication with Nature Spirits, who can be teachers for us and allies in bringing about planetary healing.
* We can do daily meditations in which we creatively visualize the spiritual body of the planet glowing with radiant healing light.
* We can organize and/or take part in ecumenical planetary prayer services and rituals with practitioners of other spiritual paths and cultures.
* We can honor Mother Earth as an aspect of the divine in our solo and group rituals.
* We can send Mother Earth our love and pray for planetary health each time we visit a stone circle, sacred grove, place of power, temple, shrine or other sacred site.
* We can do spiritual healing magic for the planet in our circles.
It is important to reinforce whatever spiritual work we do with physical action. There are a variety of ways to do this and you should decide on at least one approach and then carry it out. Here are a few examples:
* Recycle trash from your household, take paper, plastics, glass, aluminum cans, and other recyclables to recycling centers.
* Recycle clothes and no longer needed household items by donating them to charities to distribute to the needy.
* Join and actively participate in environmental action groups.
* Write government officials and urge them to take specific actions on specific environmental issues, such as stopping all ocean dumping.
* Write letters and articles for publications about the need for environmental preservation.
* Plant trees as part of reforestation efforts.
* Compost food scraps.
* Stop buying and using non-bio-degradable detergents.
* Boycott products from companies that are destroying the Amazon rainforest.
* Pick up cigarette butts and other non-biodegradable litter from parks and other wilderness areas.
* Donate money to nature preserves.
* Give talks at schools, civic groups, churches and in other places in your area about ecological issues.
* Read publications, view films, and attend presentations in order to keep informed about ecological conditions and to learn about additional ways you can work for planetary healing.
* Conserve electricity, water and other resources on a daily basis.
* Network with others.
The Fundamental Laws of Human Ecology
1. We're all in it together. Everything is connected to everything else. You can't do just one thing. <Law of Interrelatedness>
2. The Earth and its resources are finite. or You can't get something for nothing. <Law of Conservation of Energy>
3. As energy and other resources are used, there is an overall decrease in the amount of usefulness. (Second Law of Thermodynamics>
4. Everything must go somewhere-there is now away. <Law of Conservation of Matter>
5. Up to a point, the bigger the better; beyond that point, the bigger the worse. or To everything there is an optimum size. <Brontosaurus Principle>
6. Everything is becoming something else. <Law of Continuous Creation>
7. In most cases, the greater the diversity of a system, the greater its stability. <The Diversity Principle>
8. Nature frequently but not always "knows" best. Note: People use antibiotics to counter nature. <Nature knows best>
9. We shape our buildings <environment> and afterwards our buildings
<environment> shape us. - Winston Churchhill <Your Environment is You>
10. As human beings, one of our inalienable rights is the right to live in a clean environment. <The Environmental Bill of Rights>
11. Our environment does not belong to us alone. It was used by our forefathers, passed on to us, and we are charged with the responsibility of passing it undamaged to all future generations. <the Rights of the Unborn>
12. All persons must be held responsible for their own pollution. <the Responsibility of the Born>
13. All persons are created with an equal right to live in dignity and peace and to work out a meaningful existence. Everyone is entitled to a fair share of the world's resources-provided one is carrying one's own share of the responsibilities for maintaining an orderly world. <The Law of Equity>
14. Comfortable living, in harmony with nature, should be each society's goal. <the Goal of Society>
15. Our dependence on technology is, today, so strong and widespread, that we are compelled to use technology as a means for getting out of our environmental dilemma. <Technology-Part of the Problem, Part of the Solution>
16. No national purpose however urgent, no political or economic necessity however pressing can possibly justify the risk of bringing all human history to an end. <Give Earth a Chance>