My journey as a gardener began as a spiritual seeker at twenty-four years of age in Germany, which eventually led me to many indigenous communities in Canada, the USA, Mexico, and Guatemala. I became an activist for “Kanto de la Tierra,” an intertribal circle of elders from all four corners of the Americas, whose main focus was to come together and pray for the planet, educate each other, and better understand the instructions and prophecies of their ancestors and visionaries. They proceeded to have ceremonies every year at various sacred sites (identified by the Elders) and share their message and truth with visits to Europe, including the European Parliament in Brussels, the Queen of Spain, and many schools and universities, with the hope that some of the books and distorted stories of the Native Americans and other indigenous peoples would be changed to teach the message of the Creator and the sacredness of all life. I listened to many honored elders sharing the oral history of their creation and migrations. What fascinated me was that all of their journeys had a commonality in time and in spiritual symbolism.
The elders taught that the ancient peoples did not just migrate because of physical circumstances, like so many anthropologists and archeologists have suggested. I wondered why so many indigenous people, many of higher cultures and civilizations, would give up their cherished homelands to go into an unknown territory, especially those whose lives were not threatened by outside circumstances that would necessitate a mass migration. I learned that the “old ones” listened to the messages that told them of a safer and better place to live and guided them there. Often there were messages that indicated the purpose of the migration was to reunite with their lost and scattered brothers and sisters from all four directions, what some refer to as “the gathering of the bird tribes.”
Prophecies and visions were also shared by the elders. Ceremonies were practiced that evoked and called upon ancestors and spirit guides to confirm the people’s understanding of those messages. And each time I prayed, danced, and sang with them, I felt a spirit of unity that is timeless. All of their prophecies had one message in common, that a new world is coming but that we have to traverse a serious time of purification. The stories and prophecies agreed that the human race is traveling the wrong road of selfishness, ignoring all of the ancient, original instruction of how to take care of this planet and its people. Today’s elders, who are the keepers and teachers of these prophecies, also recognized the signs in the sky and agreed that humankind is in the last stages of the great purification. Within these contemporary elders’ instruction was a clear message that we should practice the original “Way” to the best of our ability and that new messengers will come so we would know what to do next.
In his book The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, TV/radio show host, author, and political commentator Thom Hartmann’s warnings of the fate of our world if we do not make immediate and drastic changes coincide with the prophecies and messages of the indigenous elders and the call to return to the “Way”—the way of a more sustainable culture that uses some of the practices of the indigenous peoples, before their lives were shattered by colonialism and industrialization. Hartmann points out: The indigenous tribes of South America, North America, Africa, Australia, and early Asia . . . lived a sustainable way of life, seeing the sacredness of the world and the presence of the Creator and divinity in all things. . . . In my experiences with the indigenous elders, I saw many souls like myself, who were struggling to find an identity and purpose in a destructive world, literally transformed by encountering these elders and their teachings of a better “Way,” which always brings in the laws of the Creator.
In my own spiritual journey, I tried to apply these teachings and started by leaving (in Germany) my unsafe city life that was polluted and chaotic—physically and psychologically. I listened to the voices, signs, and symbols along the way, hearing the clear calling to leave behind everything. In northern California I became a resident student at the “School of Natural Living,” eventually becoming one of the staff members of this intentional school and alternative, self-sufficient community. In order to best prepare and survive these times of purification, I became a gardener.
"The Sun, the hearth of affection and life, pours burning love on the delighted earth."
–Arthur Rimbaud
In the middle of this journey I heard a calling that it was time to move on, to find a visionary that could teach not just a few, or solely indigenous people, but the whole human race. When I found Van of Urantia and Niánn Emerson Chase, I listened to the instructions they had been given for living a life of sacredness. For almost three decades I have been an integral part of establishing the Divine New Order community of Global Community Communications Alliance, which is the parent organization for The University of Ascension Science and The Physics of Rebellion and its campus of Avalon Gardens & EcoVillage, which serves as a model of how to become knowledgeable and in tune spiritually in growing the food that nourishes our body, mind, and soul.
As a community/tribe/cosmic family, we human-rights advocates of Global Community Communications Alliance living at Avalon Gardens began a migration in spring of 2007 from northern Arizona to the borderlands of southern Arizona near Mexico. It took us two years to move more than 80 adults and 20 children (as well as horses, goats, chickens, trees, and composted soil) to set up a new EcoVillage with new gardens, new homes, and a new environment. We had to give up everything we had established for twenty years in northern Arizona to start over.
Why did we do this? Because we understood that the place where we lived had lost its destiny as a sacred and protected area (due to several factors, including the consciousness of the mass population of the area) and that a new spiritual headquarters had to be established. This is how all true tribes migrated, when the divine leading is heard in the minds of all of the people, which coincides with the direction of their humble leaders.
Our migration happened during the economic crash and ensuing recession, and we were led to move to one of the poorest counties in the state, with one of the highest unemployment rates. Also in these borderlands is an ongoing battle of our government to prevent people from crossing “illegally” into the USA—people whose ancestors (of long ago and more recent times) have, for centuries, crossed rivers, mountains, forests, and deserts to migrate northward, seeking opportunities for a better life for them and their families. Until very recent times, these migrants were welcomed and given jobs that most U.S. citizens were not interested in working. Suddenly they are not wanted in the USA anymore, but there are few to replace them in specific jobs, especially in agriculture.
What many people don’t realize about these migrants is that they have been humbled as a result of their suffering and have developed a faith and hope that surpasses many U.S. citizens who are comfortable in their more affluent lives. The majority of these humble people have a “servant’s heart”, meaning that they care for others and want to help them (including their employers), and their intentions are honorable—to create a better life for their families through hard work in a safe environment.
Now, many of those “undocumented” people, who have been in this country for many years, have been migrating back to their old homes south of the border to find solace with their relatives since the U.S. is no longer safe for them. Many of these people are experienced agriculturalists who know how to make adjustments in gardening in the desert and other types of regions and have much to offer struggling farmers and gardeners in this country.
Since the majority of “documented” people living in this area come from several generations of migrating families, we of Global Community Communications Alliance (GCCA) were welcomed by those particular neighbors when we migrated here, for they understand that change is needed in order to survive and adapt to life’s many challenges. Also we shared with them the love of community and family—big, extended families. We of GCCA agreed that our own migration to this newfound neighborhood was empowering us to relate more to marginalized people, developing even deeper compassion. And my personal love for the indigenous people only increased.
So now my fellow community members and I live in a region of migration—with desperate people attempting to migrate north or return south to their native country, beautiful birds migrating north or south (depending upon the season), and various ideas—seeds of change—migrating with the winds that blow from all directions.
We human-rights advocates of GCCA, who have finished our migration to our place here, are planters of seeds in a time of great transition and upheaval. Our seeds are seeds of transformation to assist in this time of purification and the divine new order of light and life that will follow. We plant in minds and souls the seeds of spiritual revelation, in hearts the seeds of hope, and in the gardens seeds that can withstand the extreme climate changes and other factors in order to grow into healthy, whole food in a world of diminishing food and water security.
"After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on—have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear—what remains? Nature remains."
–Walt Whitman
There is no doubt in my and other gardeners’ minds that a climate change is upon us worldwide. Erratic weather began several years ago and seems to be progressively intensifying. No longer can we growers-of-food rely on a pattern of regularity for first and last frost dates, highest and lowest temperatures, average wind speeds, and predictable rainfalls. We gardeners and farmers face the challenges of increasing drought in some areas, overly saturating rains in other places, and even change in the nature of the sun’s rays.
In walking throughout our gardens in southern Arizona the last few years, I have observed plants that used to thrive in the warming rays of the sun now struggling in full sunlight, needing to be shaded more. I, as well as many others, think that the thinning and depletion of the ozone layer that protects life from the radiation of the sun is the main cause of this situation.
The sun was sacred to indigenous people all over the world because, in their close connection to and understanding of the natural world’s rhythms, they knew that the sun is the source of life. Thom Hartmann explains: We (and all other living things) are made up of the food we eat, and the food has sunlight as its sole source of energy. No sun means no living things; abundant sunlight and ample water mean abundant life-forms. We are made of sunlight. How we marshal this most fundamental resource is a reflection of how we see ourselves in relationship to the rest of the natural world.[i]
There are many signs in the sky that are due to human disorder—the sunlight becoming dangerous for all of life as well as health-destroying toxins in the air from chemtrails, industrial practices, gas-guzzling vehicles, smoke from burning forests due to drought and clearing, and other air-polluting causes. And the earth is full of signs too—increasing depletion of aquifers and water tables that lessen the availability of usable water for drinking, agriculture, and industry; tainted water and soil from industrial pollutants, fertilizers, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals; loss of topsoil due to dry strong winds and flooding; desertification from unsustainable industrial practices; and the expanding mental and physical health problems due to a culture that encourages materialistic and unhealthy lifestyles that deviate from the “Way” of the Creator.
The disorder is visible in how we feed ourselves. Obesity and other eating-related diseases are on the rise, and people have been indoctrinated to eat “non-foods” in large amounts, which increase the vicious cycle of desperation in these crucial times. So, it is crucial that agriculturalists who feed the world get back to the more pure and natural way of growing food, using the laws and patterns of nature, but having to adjust to global warming trends or, what some refer to as, “global weirding.”
What I have observed at Avalon Gardens is that many vegetables that have traditionally been considered cool-weather plants are now not doing as well because the sun seems even harmful in the cooler months. To solve this problem, we started to experiment with shade covers even in the cool season to protect from the full sun’s rays, and it seems to be working so far. With less rain and extended dry seasons, we keep our greens in the baby stage where the moisture of the soil still creates a microclimate. We harvest these baby greens, which are delicious, and the baby plants just continue producing more young leaves for harvest.
"The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself."
–Franklin D. Roosevelt
Most importantly in these times of GMO companies wanting to completely control the seed market, we save seeds from naturally-grown and heirloom plants that have adapted to the changing environment. There is an evolutionary time adjustment of seeds to adapt to their environment. In this global crisis of so many weather changes, even the seeds can barely keep up to adjust.
In recent years, gardeners in this area have had several major outbreaks of pests like grasshoppers and cucumber and bean beetles. With the diligence of faith and knowledge, we have established good soil and a healthy environment for the plants, which strengthens their immune systems to fight off these pests. We understand that insects will respond to beauty and balance, and each year we have fewer problems with insects and diseases.
How have we human-rights advocates of this prototype spiritualized culture so far adapted to living in this new region and in this time of purification?
- We continue to purify ourselves (with the help of our Elders) by being accountable for our actions, feelings, and thoughts, and by adhering to the Creator’s will and laws, which are written in our hearts and minds of our higher selves and super-consciousness.
- We practice the fruits of the spirit, in the hopes of inspiring the next generation of children and young adults to become pure themselves.
- We continually “increase” in our faith walk, which has strengthened our relationships with each other as human beings with a spiritual destiny.
- We pay close attention to the world and to our neighbors as to how this time of purification/earth changes is affecting all of us.
- We have made alliances with many sustainable groups that apply old and new models to adjust to the ever-increasing needs to make this food desert again a thriving, healthy, neighborly community that knows no borders.
- We have a spiritual foundation that continually guides us how to live better and more thoughtfully, according to divine design and instruction, including and regenerative gardening.
- We recognize the calling to find and regather the cosmic family that has within it all the genetics and experiences from all races and faiths throughout history.
- We have grown in our compassion and how to apply it through education with music, teachings, and life skills by building an EcoVillage as a sustainable model for others to learn or participate in.
- We believe in the return of the “Promised One,” which all faiths are waiting for, to bring peace and justice to all the peoples of the planet. All peoples have been foretold of this time—that a new world is coming and that He will return to rebuild this planet in divine pattern.
As our world continues to plummet into the consequences of centuries of wrong living by the masses fueled by the sinister fires of the ill-intended power-elite throughout history, we find hope and faith in the now growing and uniting global community who are reaching out to one another to create of chain of hands to circle the world one day soon, and in doing so to lift one another out of the darkness and despair into light, love, and life abundant—what the Hopis refer to as the Fifth World—a coming new day to celebrate for us all as planetary brothers and sisters.
[i] The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, Thom Hartmann (New York: Three Rivers Press)