Charlotte Perkins Gilman

A noted writer and women's rights activist from the period around the 1900s, Gilman is best known for her women's studies classic short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, which fictionalizes her experience of post partum depression. As with many other prominent thinkers from history, her animal rights work has been largely scrubbed from history by our conflicted, defensive culture. In her utopian and satirical work, Herland, Gilman's land of women kept no animals for agriculture because agricultural animals took up land that was needed for plant crops. When asked what they did for milk, one of the women basically said, "we have plenty of milk...our own."

Gilman was an activist at a time when many feminists recognized the overlapping oppressions that also face animals of other species. In 1903 the American Suffrage women had a conference where animal rights were a special topic of discussion. Yet again, this heritage has been "disappeared" from mainstream feminist consciousness. In the modern era where contemplating our choices in behavior toward other animals, and the impact these have on our own ecosystem and personal health, hopefully we can resurrect some of this herstory.  Here is one of many poems that Charlotte wrote about her observations on human treatment of other animals. I also recommend Herland and this brilliant ancestor's other works.

THE CATTLE TRAIN

Below my window goes the cattle train,
And stands for hours along the river park,
Fear, Cold, Exhaustion, Hunger, Thirst and
Pain;
Dumb brutes we call them - Hark!
The bleat of frightened mother -calling young,
Deep-throated agony, shrill frantic cries,
Hoarse murmur of the thirst-distended tongue
Up to my window rise.
Bleak lies the shore to northern wind and sleet,
In open-slatted cars they stand and freeeze
Beside the broad blue river in the heat
All waterless go these.
Hot, fevered, frightened, trampled, bruised
and torn;
Frozen to death before the ax descends;
We kill these weary creatures; sore and worn,
And eat them-- with our friends.


-Charlotte Perkins Gilman-

Lughnasadh and the Sacrifice of the Corn King

As Lammas, or Lughnasadh, bears down on us (where does time go?!?) I find myself thinking about the metaphor of the God as a plant. Known as the Corn King, or John Barleycorn, in British tradition, the Sun God or "Son" God (child of the Goddess) dies a sacrificial death in order to feed all of us in the web of creation. He "dies," but it is not true death, for he has already re-seeded himself in the womb of the Goddess. As he returns to the Underworld, he is already in the process of being reborn.

It is compelling to think of the God as a plant. Like the corn he is represented by, he releases his seed naturally in the course of his life-cycle. The new corn seeds are already germinating when the parent plant dies off. Yet the corn seed is, literally, a living part of that plant. So the corn is "resurrected" in the next season of growth.

Our culture tends to see the God as warlike, or at least paternalistic and "in charge." Many stereotypes placed upon him are unfair to masculinity, in general. I think it is very healing to see the God as a nurturer and a care-giver. For that is what he does when he surrenders his life to the cycles of nature and allows all other living things to eat of his body. There is enough of him to go around, and still to reseed him in the underworld of the Goddess. This system is perfectly designed to allow for life without the cost of cruelty.

As a vegan pagan, I enjoy the metaphor of the corn because it is not species-specific. The God did not sacrifice himself only for the souls of humans. He died to "feed" (physically and spiritually) all the children of the Goddess. And even in that moment, his death had no sting. He and his adepts knew the secret...his life went on, just under the mother's soil and skin.

art by Charles Vess

 

fresh garlic scape pesto

I don't check in on this as often as I would like to, but I have been experimenting more with gardening. I am learning a lot from my mom and from websites. I am trying to keep it as organic as possible and veganic (vegan organic) when I can. I hope eventually to be all veganic. Organic gardening normally still relies on a lot of animal products...especially manure and even composted body parts of animals from factory farms. So veganic means getting away from all those products as much as possible.

The vegan zombie guys are also experimenting with veganic gardening so if you look around their UTube channel you should find some good stuff:
http://www.videorecipetv.com/video/zombiegate/4vEkAz09GJs

Anyway, a garlic scape is the curly little top that comes up on the plant about this time of year. Gardeners cut it off so that the energy of the plant stays in the bulb and not up top. Scapes taste like a combination between garlic and chives, I think. You can use them in a stirfry or soup to up the garlic flavor. But a friend of mine turned me on to making pesto with scapes and I've never looked back. I don't have a particular pesto recipe to recommend but maybe later I will blog my own. For now just experiment if you feel like it. Scapes are popping up in the farmer's markets now!  I would say use a half handful of scapes to two handfuls of basil so the scapes don't overpower the taste. Also I use walnuts and an equal amount of nutritional yeast instead of whatever nuts or parmesan cheese a recipe asks for. The walnuts and "nooch" together make a parmesan flavor profile.

fresh garlic scapes and basil from my garden

...a closer view

and the pesto! there is some in the freezer for this winter

Fourth of July Cookout Vegan Style

We celebrated the holiday and Gwen's son's birthday with a lovely cookout at a lake. I will let the food pics  speak for themselves...vegans don't miss out on anything, except the regret of consuming unhealthy foods that cause environmental destruction and animal suffering. So we had a happy holiday, for sure! There is plenty more Summer ahead for grilling in our neck of the woods, so hopefully you will have time to give it a try. Oh, one more note. If you are intrigued by the bbq seitan pictured below and have never made "wheat meat," here is a good recipe link: http://www.theppk.com/2009/11/homemade-seitan/

seitan, veg-kabobs, and grilled corn

The finished product: beautiful, bbq seitan or "wheat meat"

lovely corn. soak for an hour in cold water to help it steam on the grill.

grilled red pepper, eggplant, and red onion. the red pepper is blanched (quick boil) first to make it easier to grill

the other stars of the grill...

tofurkey dogs and brats plus some gimme lean patties

a big bowl of rice and quinoa for putting under the other goodies, if desired

                                                my plate...yum!

raw, vegan key lime pie

Sharing an article: "Spiritual and Metaphysical Perspectives on Meat" from Astrarium - and world prayer circle for animals

Blessed be! I hope everyone had a great Litha. We had a nice little ritual out in the field behind my home, next to the beaver pond. We used the growth energy of the season to call in the things that we wished for (for ourselves and others) in the coming season. We did abundance magicks for ourselves and also called out for the growth of compassion and kindness toward all non-human creation...especially non-human animals who are so horribly impacted by our species' practices.

Thinking about the manifestation of this goal, I think of two steps that should help. One is continued self-education and reflection. Gwen and I are both about to take the "mastery/facilitator" classes for Dr. Will Tuttle's wonderful book, "The World Peace Diet." I can't recommend that book enough. A facebook friend that I was lucky to meet, Mat Walker, put a great article on his website, Astrarium, that is influenced by Dr. Tuttle's work. Mat does a lot of the hard work and research for us on how many different spiritual traditions have interacted with the issue of animals in our diet. His article can be found here and I highly, highly recommend it:  http://theastrarium.com/metaphysics-meat/



Then, step two. I think this is a committed spiritual practice in which we put forth our intentions for the kind of world and society we would like to see. Will Tuttle and his peers have thought of this, too. They have a daily prayer for the animals at noon, and everyone who cares to is encouraged to participate. There are more details here:  http://www.circleofcompassion.org/

If folks have other ideas for manifesting a kinder world for non-human animals, and a world that is more sustainable environmentally, please feel free to share in the comments section. Peace and Blessed Summer season to you.

I often forget that not all Pagans are Vegan, and not all Vegans are Pagan. For me, the two fit together so naturally that part of me is always shocked to be reminded of this fact. Veganism fits so closely in with the basic beliefs of most if not all of the different traditions of Paganism because we are taught to do what we want as long as we harm none.

 Leslie and I recently went to Salem, Mass for a long weekend with a detour back to Maine on Saturday. It was a fun way to celebrate my Birthday and the annual Maine Vegetarian Festival as well. As we browsed the many shops, I was saddened by the amount of leather, feathers and other animal parts on magical tools that we saw in these shops. As part of our weekend, we took a tour through the Witch Village Museum. The tour guide stated that this number one belief that we we are ok as long as we harm none, and she even said that she participates in a little bit of dog and cat rescue in her spare time.  What struck me is that how she like most people clearly only considered not harming  pets, and did not include animals that are commonly exploited for "food" in with those animals that we should not harm.

This made me really wonder why Pagans don't see the connection between "Harm None"  and eating animal products. Harm none means harm nothing, not just don't harm the cute and cuddly pets but continue to take part in the meat and dairy industry that exploits, harms and kills animals because they "taste good". To me, Harm none means simply that. I believe in living a lifestyle that truly does not harm animals or humans. The feathers that I do have were gifted (shed) by birds and were not killed to obtain them. And I believe there are more beautiful ways to decorate my magical tools than to cover them with materials that were obtained by harming a living being.

Vegan Earth Day

Now both Ostara and Easter are behind us, and Beltane is just around the corner! I am very excited to see my baby garlic peeping cautiously (yet with increasing optimism) out of the garden beds. It was preceded by the brash chocolate mint, which was clawing it's way through last year's dead tangle. And in the front yard the chives are at least three inches tall...leading the way for everyone (along with the dandelions and crocuses). Yay! Spring! The beaver-built pond in our back field is now populous with birds, including a lovely pair of geese. It is so good to see them all again!

I think earth day and the activities that go with it are a great way to head into Beltane. Beltane is full of spring energy and passion. For those of us who want to turn this metaphor toward activism, earth day is a great avenue.

Never forget that veganism is great for the environment. It always makes me a little sad to watch environmental education type movies that totally miss animal agriculture as a major part of the problem. But environmental groups are catching on. Just recently, the Center for Biological Diversity put up a new campaign urging people toward a vegan diet due to environmental impact of animal foods. For instance, they give this sobering piece of info:

"Every minute, seven football fields’ worth of land is bulldozed to create room for more livestock and feed crops — land that was once habitat for wild animals and biologically diverse ecosystems that play a key role in absorbing carbon dioxide and filtering water sources."  (Smithsonian Institution, 2002)


They don't start people off as full-bore vegan, but suggest reduction. And their campaign slogan is great: "You have at least three chances a day to save the planet."

Their campaign is called "take extinction off your plate" and I love this message, as well. We need to remember that it isn't only the slaughtered animals who are killed when we consume meat. Other species are going extinct because animal agriculture is taking away their habitats and their water. It is such an important set of facts for vegans to know. To get some great info and talking points from their site, check it out at: http://www.takeextinctionoffyourplate.com/ 

Also FARM (farmed animal rights movement) has a great earth day campaign with tons of environmental info. And their beginner's' veg pledge is going on right now! Check them out at: http://www.greenyourdiet.org/

and I hope you had a lovely earth day!