Origins of the walk, which was mostly pagan people, at least originally, back in 99. Started out on an Eco Feminist board.
http://www.native-net.org/archive/nl/9507/0029.html"[This thread is beginning to threaten becoming a discussion, meaning that it risks becoming inappropriate for the NATIVE-L list, which is reserved for passing on information and asking questions. I will continue to relay information passed on on this subject, but if any-one wants to talk about the subject, please use the NATCHAT list for that purpose. --Gary (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ]
In response to some of the questions that have been posted regarding the Earth-Spirit list, first, I need to say that I am NOT an organizer of the list, merely a subscriber. I joined because of the general aims of the list, in my interpretation, an opportunity to foster discussion on the spiritual aspects of environmental activism. I joined for personal and "academic" reasons. After being on the list for a week or so, I discovered that most of the active participants are pagans/wiccans. There are a few of us who are part of more "orthodox" religious organizations, and probably several who don't subscribe to any particular belief system.
My reason for wanting to let Native-L subscribers know about the list was to broaden the diversity of the participants. I am getting a bit tired of being flooded with the jargon of the pagans and wiccas on a list that professes to cater to people of diverse spiritual/religious worldviews.
I've attempted, with little success, to broaden the discussion to encourage others to participate. The list is rather inactive at the moment and I will not again expend energy to revive a discussion that only one other person participates in; however, I will remain subscribed for the time being in hopes that there can be fostered a more diverse group. So, in answer to Lyn's very valid questions:
> Are there any "new age" connections with this group?
If pagan/wicca are "new age," the answer is yes, if only on an individual basis. As far as I can tell from what E-S participants say, these groups aren't organized on more than a local basis. They are trying to get a more national network going, but like many anarchic organizations (if that isn't an oxymoron), they've had little success.
> ... Is it mostly Native American or mostly "anglo"?
Since it's a brand new list (began May 1, 1995), I guess that depends on the diversity of the subscribers. At this point, it is probably better characterized as a diverse group that is currently overpopulated by
subscribers to a particular belief system. Apparently (I found this out when I did an archive search for my research), the list was created from a situation on ECOFEM in which those wishing to discuss matters spiritual were "silenced" by those on ECOFEM not wanting to have that kind of discussion on that list. Joy somebody took the initiative to start her own list and Earth-Spirit was born.
> My other question is if anyone knows about the elder > leading this "trek" ... William Commanda, "holder of the > Seven Fires Prophesy 'wampum belt'." What tribe is he?
This is one reason I forwarded the post. I figured if anyone can verify if
this organization is legit, NativeNetters can.
> My other reason for concern about the Earth Spirit "group" is the fact > that they chose the "HIDDEN" option, rather than showing up in > listings .... though that could go either way, I guess ... certainly
> if I were "starting" up a Native Spirituality "list", I wouldn't > want it listed at all, believing that unlisted is safer for> screening out the "insincere element".
Well, since it isn't a "native spirituality" list in an exclusive sense, I think any "hiddenness" in its presentation is merely due to the fact that it is only one month old. They are posting to usenet groups and I have encouraged them to try to attract as broad a diversity of participants as possible. I think the list is in desperate need of some "enlightenment."
If it doesn't start reflecting the vision of its stated mandate soon, I'll be bowing out. As I said, I'm getting a little tired of the jargon.
Thank you to Lyn for asking these questions and giving me an opportunity to explain this matter a little more fully. Even if you don't choose to subscribe, you can certainly browse the archives to get a sense of the conversations to date. If nothing else, you'll see why I'm trying to broaden the discussion to be more inclusive.
Peace and love to all,
Roxanne
[ I received a personal message from Jennifer Norris on this subject this morning which sheds a bit more light on the matter. In that message, Jennifer said that I have her permission to pass on all or part of the message, which I plan to do later today. I hope to be able to announce the availability of a file containing the information from the Sunbow 5 Web site which I mentioned in my article earlier today. --Gary ]"
http://www.native-net.org/archive/nl/9507/0035.html[ This article consists of a portion of a message originally sent by Jennifer as personal e-mail to me. Since she suggested the idea of passing on the information it contains about the origins and direction
of the "Eco-Spirit" mailing list, which has been the subject of recent articles on NATIVE-L, and gives a bit more detail along the lines of what Roxanne said in her article, I am passing it on. Again, if any-
one wants to discuss this subject, as opposed to simply offering more information about the "Eco-Spirit" list (there's probably not a lot more to be said on that subject, though) or (more importantly, I think)
on the "'Sunbow 5' Walk for the Earth," please do so via the NATCHAT mailing list ("natchat@gnosys.svle.ma.us"). Thanks. --Gary ]
...I am watching the postings on Native-L re EARTH_SPIRIT with interest. I have not actually joined the newsgroup yet ... I am concerned about a potential for "New Age-ism" on that list but at the same time I think it is important to clarify to some of those who may be ignorant that those who started the list do not intend it as a New Age - stealing-Native-culture list. It grew from eco-feminist list (ecofeminism is a philosophy which seeks to connect feminist views with a concern for the earth, seeing a natural connection between them). Many of us on that list were getting into a dilemma. For many, our primary sustaining and inspiring force in working to heal the Earth is our spirituality--however we personally define that.
We would discuss this in the list, and others would be annoyed and feel that we were bringing in spirituality/religon where it wasn't relevant or important. Or worse, we were saying you couldn't be an ecofeminist without having a non-patriarchal religious base and that we were preaching. They
wanted to talk about eco-feminism as a political and cultural philosophy, not about spirit. To others, this split was unnatural and counter to our own understanding of the connections between politics-sexism-racism-healing, etc. So the suggestion came up to start a new list that was explicitly open to discussing spirituality as it impacts our work to heal society's and the Earth's woes. The owner of the list is someone who is a member of the Church of All Worlds (CAW), which is one of the largest and most well-known Pagan churches in the world. It is an international organization. The listowner is a strong voice in that community, a contributer to _GreenEgg_, which is the CAW magazine that comes out quarterly and is pretty much *the* Pagan publication to read."