We've been waiting for this for a long time!!!!

Permaculture Goddess Temples

As I worried about whether catastrophic Earth changes be near
Through visions she showed me how I can dissolve my fears
By building Permaculture goddess temples to last thousands of years

Some may be shaken to rubble, some burned, and some submerged
But not all would be lost if they were globally dispersed

Malta still stands, 7000 years strong
Proof of a civilization where women and men got along
Worshipping the Earth Mother Goddess, you can’t go wrong

Reverence for the sacred feminine divine
Carved out of stone to last for all time

Though gardens no longer remain
It’s never too late for the legacy to be reclaimed

Now we know how to design and build
Edible landscapes filled with perennial guilds

Co-operation not competition makes ecosystems last
Partnership not domination, how our ancestors lived in the past

In Vietnam a 300 year old food forest still thrives
In Morocco a 2000 year old one is the oldest known to be alive

Permaculture before it had a name
Ever-lasting gardens still remain

Hydrating, fertilizing, and re-seeding themselves
Humans just gave them a little initial help

A final protest to the warrior cult
May be our planting of trees around monuments of Earth and stone

Silbury Hill mound, Mother Earth’s Breast, built over 400 years with antlers and bone
In months we could establish seven layer systems and plan out the zones
And with thousands of techo-pagans, the permies wouldn’t be alone

Trance dancing to mix the cob
Guided by Tantrikas’ drums and songs

Evoking Shakti to empower the crews
170 beats per minute keep us all in a groove
Entrained by the rhythm, the workflow is smooth

What it once took generations to achieve
With the last drops of oil we could drive Earth surgeon machines

Swales, dams, ponds, and mounds
Wrap around the contours on the ground

Like the curves on the 1000s of goddess figurines that archeologists have found
Goddess food forests to be seen from space

Crop circles of bananas, spirals of herbs, dome trellised grapes
Hugelkultur keyhole beds to unlock the shackles of witches burned

In these temples the lessons of her-story will be re-learned
Modern medicine women like Julie James

Restoring traditions that were cast into flames
Fortified by thorned berry bushes and bamboo stakes
Motes of chinampas and aquacultured lakes
Marauders fought off with sharpened sugar canes
Edible weapons like cayenne pepper mace

Peace is not the absence of war
It’s the balance of masculine and feminine energy at a society’s core

Earth’s affliction is a testosterone addiction
Man’s dominion a perverted fiction

Women, animals, and nature suppressed by 5,000 years of the Blade
With a return to the Chalice our souls may have a chance to be saved
Once patriarchy is buried in a composting grave

We no longer think seven generations ahead
Modernity expects the future to be dead

Mollison warned our cosmic neighbors will scorn
If we lay waste to Earth, our galactic welcome will not be warm

Those of us who choose to stay home
While the male ego goes boldly goes where it doesn’t belong
Will discover old life and old civilizations
That held Gaia above all

If there is to be a great collapse
The next Dark Ages need not be so drab

The goddess altar candles will illuminate sacred texts
That teach of old ways suppressed by religious sects

Eco-feminist anthropologists to thank
For exposing false assumptions of cave men's clubbing and rape

Myth of savagery a lie, our ancestors did not deny
The power of the female to give and nurture life

For 99% of human time, we lived hand in hand, not hand on throat
Women in prehistory were not enslaved as we’ve been told

Before agriculture, cities, churches, and states
The cross-cultural paradigm of goddess worship was in place
Where it was kept safe it progressed into civilization with grace

The human creative urge cannot be reversed
But it’s focus can be reworked

Rather than building phallic missiles and bombs
The male can be heroic for his devotion at home

Tools no longer wielded to cut and control
But to heal, liberate, sew and grow

It’s not that we men are bad
Just our education that is so sad

Taught to fear and hate
The wombs that create

Envious of her power
He toppled her glorious towers

Few still stand, but enough have survived
We have but to with Permaculture revive

The sacred spaces of old
And begin to value fertility above gold

Precious soil and seed stock exchanged
Yields returned for true wealth and fame

Megalithic living heroine statues standing tall
Paths not streets, groves not walls
In Permaculture goddess temples to replace the shopping malls

Guide Stone commandments built to preach across time
But edible art would be a more compelling gift to leave behind
No paternalistic laws and rules, just living temples depicting the feminine divine

What is the feminine divine you ask?
She's what's surging behind your social mask

Tantrikas Rhoda Jordan and Reena Desai
Can gently guide you to your knees and breathe open your 3rd eye

When you surrender to shamanic beats
Boundries will dissolve that limit how you think

You decide how much to let in
Gaia will fill you up and radiant out through your skin

She'll whisper to your inner ear
Or sing loudly if you let go of your fear

Men afraid of losing control
Who'd rather die then find another man beautiful

Can bath in the warm bliss of her love
And drop the act of being macho and tough

The masculine divine has a place and time
Equal in fact when properly refined

If you dare to percieve the feminine divine
You'll see her spanning more dimensions than stars in the sky

For a 3d glimpse, see the art of Amanda Sage
She's downloaded her visions into physical space

With permies, architects, and enginneers
Her futuristic permaculture goddess temple realms, could soon be built right here
 

The Joy of Survival Sprouting
A Workshop by Gaian Mind Institute

Saturday February 4th at the Urban Permaculture House

3983 East Blvd. Mar Vista, CA 90066

1pm-3pm Program Includes:

“Survival Sprouting” demonstration

"The Prepping Pyramid"
A presentation by Ben Lawson on some of the nuts and bolts
of survivalism and disaster preparedness and how techniques and strategies from these fields can easily be fastened to permaculture conceptual frameworks and designs.

Group discussion to share the ways we’re working as communities to become self-reliant as we move towards self-sufficiency.

$5-$15 Sliding Scale Donation
Proceeds go to Gaian Mind Institute and the Urban Permaculture House Food Forest!

www.Gaian-Mind.org
info@gaian-mind.org
818-275-1094

Gaian Mind Institute is a project of
International Humanities Center a 501(c)(3) Charitable Trust

During the recent Starhawk "Magic of Co-Creation" event, I was encouraged to make a workshop out of my research and development of survival sprouting systems. Final details will be posted next week. Thanks to Norma Bonilla for organizing this for me!

Click here to read the article The Joy of Survival Sprouting at PermaculturePodcast.org

The old 2006 Gaian Mind Institute Video Brochure is now on YouTube.

PermaSearch is a search engine that allows you to submit and search for local permaculture resources. Share and find everything that's needed for permaculture design and implementation including designers, instructors, courses, workshops, plant stock, livestock, mulch, manure, compost, building materials, tools, equipment, and more. GMI has developed this web tool to support permaculture designers, instructors, site-owners, etc. in their efforts to source system elements and each other within on a user defined mile radius of their zip code. The search results can be sorted by distance, price, and other parameters. As we continue to discover more resources we'll be uploading them to the database and encourage any and everyone to help populate the database with their favorite local resources!

Please contact us to join our weekly Permaculture Work Party!

The Gaian Mind Institute is now back in Long Beach with a focus on partnership building with the Long Beach Permaculture Guild and the Long Beach Time Exchange. Several sites are in development, some of which are experimenting with merging the time banking phenomenon with the traditional permaculture potluck workshop/party model for getting the heavy lifting, face-to-face social networking, and learning to take place out in the community. We gather weekly on Sundays and welcome folks to come help and learn. For those who live and/or work in the Long Beach, CA area. You can apply to join the Long Beach Time Exchange and earn "time-dollars" for your volunteer work! Please contact us for more info.

The Gaian Mind Institute and Evolver LA present a collaborative weekly Saturday vegan potluck and Resilience Study Group from 2pm-5pm to hold space for the community to work on research, planning, and practical survival skill building projects. From 5pm to 7pm we'll be drumming and psytrance dancing to heal and restore the balance of masculine and feminine energies on Earth and free the spirit from ego by burning away apocalyptic anxieties in the fire of transcendental bliss!

This week we'll be sharing and implementing various emergency information applications to ensure we have early warnings and status updates for localized threats.

Gaian Mind Institute
3201 Maple Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90011
www.Gaian-Mind.org
info@gaian-mind.org
818-275-1094

Evolver Los Angeles
Supporting Creative Community Building in Los Angeles
http://www.evolver.net/los_angeles
evolverlosangeles@gmail.com
PO Box 461431
West Hollywood, CA
90046

The Gaian Mind Institute and Evolver LA present a collaborative weekly Saturday vegan potluck and Resilience Study Group from 2pm-5pm to hold space for the community to work on research, planning, and practical survival skill building projects. From 5pm to 7pm we'll be drumming and psytrance dancing to heal and restore the balance of masculine and feminine energies on Earth and free the spirit from ego by burning away apocalyptic anxieties in the fire of transcendental bliss!

In this study group we’ll be learning about and discussing the adrenal stress response and it’s effects on self-defense situations.

We will be listening to and taking notes on a podcast interview with ground-breaking self-defense industry instructor/author Matt Thomas on the Self Defense Show:

http://web.mac.com/yalskey/iWeb/Self-Defense%20Show/Podcast/B6D48D02-8B8...

The Gaian Mind Institute and Evolver LA present a collaborative weekly Saturday vegan potluck and Resilience Study Group from 2pm-5pm to hold space for the community to work on research, planning, and practical survival skill building projects. From 5pm to 7pm we'll be drumming and psytrance dancing to heal and restore the balance of masculine and feminine energies on Earth and free the spirit from ego by burning away apocalyptic anxieties in the fire of transcendental bliss!

This week we'll be listing and discussing prepping for localized disaster threats.

The Gaian Mind Institute and Evolver LA present a collaborative weekly Saturday vegan potluck and Resilience Study Group from 2pm-5pm to hold space for the community to work on research, planning, and practical survival skill building projects. From 5pm to 7pm we'll be drumming and psytrance dancing to heal and restore the balance of masculine and feminine energies on Earth and free the spirit from ego by burning away apocalyptic anxieties in the fire of transcendental bliss!

This week we'll be developing a template for purse/wallet sized emergency medical information cards.

Gaian Mind Institute and Evolver LA Present:
Weekly Saturday Resilience Study Group starting February 12th

The Gaian Mind Institute (located at 3201 Maple Ave. LA 90011) will be hosting a collaborative weekly Saturday vegan potluck and Resilience Study Group with Evolver LA from 2pm-5pm to hold space for the community to work on research, planning, and practical survival skill building projects. From 5pm to 7pm we'll be drumming and psytrance dancing to heal
and restore the balance of masculine and feminine energies
on Earth and free the spirit from ego by burning away
apocalyptic anxieties in the fire of transcedental bliss!

During the first group session Gaian Mind Institute (GMI) founder/director Ben Lawson will give a brief presentation to introduce the Modern Survivalism movement and provide an overview of the Disaster Preparedness Workbook that GMI has developed to assist individuals, families, and groups in their efforts to become more resilient in response to disaster/emergency situations of all types and scales.

Baza Novic of Evolver LA will give a intro presentation on how the Evolver Social Movement is one of many groups co-creating an inclusive, regenerative and supportive new story for those members of humanity who recognize we share this planet, by generating conditions for resilient social and personal ecosystem to emerge, converge, share and act.

He will also be facilitating grounding/centering meditations to open and close the session in effort to help the group cultivate inner peace, awareness, connectedness, and mental preparedness.

Following the presentations we'll open up a group discussion with the goal of listing topics of interest that we'll then have on queue as study topics for future sessions. Ongoing the study group will be a loosely formatted so that those with passion for a topic can feel free to facilitate building a session around it, recommend homework, etc. Attendance is often in flux, so rather than plan out months of preset topics, we'll dynamically create/announce the upcoming week's topic on a weekly basis as determined by the interest/energy of the given group. This flexibility will also allow for the scheduling of workshops and presentations by various masters/practicianers/instructors in our community at their convenience. In other words, the default study group topic list will be able to pause and resume to accommodate guest presenters. A few professional presentations we have commitments on are: Herbal First Aid, DIY Natural Womens' Sexual and Reproductive Health, Womens’ Self-Defense, Intro to Permaculture, and Knitting.

Attendees will be invited to join in optional session closing summary/debriefing discussions on what was learned which will be recorded and published as regular segments on www.PermaculturePodcast.org. Evolver LA will also invite presenters/attendees to be interviewed for blogs, and other social media outlets to expand the reach and increase the social value of the study group.

For more info contact:

Gaian Mind Institute
www.Gaian-Mind.org
info@gaian-mind.org
818-275-1094

Evolver Los Angeles
Supporting Creative Community Building in Los Angeles
http://www.evolver.net/group/los_angeles_evolvers
evolverlosangeles@gmail.com
PO Box 461431
West Hollywood, CA
90046

Here's a slide show of pics taken over the last 3 months of work on the Edible Visionary Art Park at the new Gaian Mind Institute headquarters.



Click here to view the individual pics

Click here to view and download the DPW		GMI has just released the version 1.0 of the Disaster Preparedness Workbook. It's based on our study of the Modern Survivalism movement. It's free to download and fill out directly in your browser and save to your desktop and/or print out and fill out by hand.and contains the following worksheets: 72 Hour Backpack Emergency Kit Inventory Emergency Contacts Emergency Services Evacuation Location Plan Evacuation Packing Checklist Evacuation Procedure Checklist Family Caloric Needs Worksheet Family Medical Worksheet Family Storable Food Preferences Home Emergency Kit Items Inventory Neighborhood Networking Prepping Goals Checklist Threat Assessment Vehicle Preps Inventory Water Sourcing/Purification/Storage
	Your donations would be greatly appreciated to help fund revisions, expansions, and future free prepping resources.

www.PermaculturePodcast.org

We're pleased to announced that Permaculture Podcast is now officially operating as a non-profit program of the Gaian Mind Institute. Ryan Unmack, GMI's main permaculture designer/consultant, has been bartering services since he found GMI online over a year ago. In trade for his permaculture expertise, GMI built his podcasting drupal website and we recently officiated him as a program manager within the Gaian Mind Institute. Please check out the site and support Permaculture Podcast!

We're celebrating the Gaian Mind Institute's grand re-opening party at the new edible visionary art park/survival garden/goddess temple recently installed in the back of Awarehouse, a 13,000 square foot art/music/performance center near downtown Los Angeles.

After 5 years since GMI's Long Beach community center, it's back with a focus on urban permaculture, modern survivalism, and awakening/balancing feminine energy within us all in effort to restore balance with Mother Earth.

Starting in January the Gaian Mind Institute free school will resume and a schedule of classes will be available on Jan 22nd.

The event program is as follows:

3pm: Tantric Earth Energy Workshop by Rhoda of www.TantraGlow.com

Rhoda Shapiro teaches Tantra/Meditation sessions and workshops in Los Angeles, CA. She is also trained in Chakra Toning and Tantric
Counseling.

She will be leading a Tantric meditation workshop to help participants learn ways to access and integrate Earth energy into their bodies and lives. By relaxing the body, calming the mind, and focusing our attention we can begin to feel and draw into ourselves powerful energy from the Earth. This energy can be used to cultivate a sense of inner peace and well being, to magnetize our goals and desires, to heal physical and emotional diseases and wounds, to connect us with nature, to heal the planet, and much more.

5:00pm Vegan Potluck

6:00pm Film: In Grave Danger of Falling Food

This film documents the holistic human settlement design science called permaculture, narrated by co-founder Bill Mollison.

7:00pm Film: The Goddess Remembered

This film documents the modern goddess spirituality movement from an eco-feminist perspective and sheds light on the rise of patriarchy several thousand years ago and it's violent suppression of traditional goddess centered cultures worldwide.

8:00 Goddess Embodiment Meditation by Lucy

Lucy Guanuna is an L.A. feminist journalist who writes for www.laactivist.com and teaches kundalini and pre-natal yoga.

She'll be guiding us through meditation to a place within ourselves where we can develop an awareness and embodiment of divine feminine energy.

8:30-12:00 Psytrance Garden Party

Progressive psytrance music to get everyone dancing and opening their hearts to each other, the earth, and the garden crops/beings.

No Drugs
No Alcohol
Dress Warm
Free Parking

$5-10 Sliding Scale Donation
No one turned away for lack of funds

Proceeds go to Gaian Mind Institute's edible visionary art park/survival garden/goddess temple. All donations of funds, materials, equipment, etc. are tax deductible.

The Gaian Mind Institute is a project of the International Humanities Center, a 501(c)(3) charitable trust.

Event Homepage:
http://gaian-mind.org/community/?q=grand-reopening-fundraiser

Facebook Event Page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118864938181374

Gaian Mind Institute
3201 Maple Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
www.Gaian-Mind.org
818-275-1094

After years without a space, the Gaian Mind Institute has returned in the form of an "Edible Visionary Art Park" in south central Los Angeles. It's being hosted by Awarehouse, a 13,000 square foot art, music, and performance center. They had a vision for a garden in the back corner of their parking lot for some time and through synchronicity, over the two and a half week period from November 1-18, 2010 this project was born.

It's a demonstration of low-tech, high design permaculture and modern survivalist infrastructure as well as an outdoor arts, education, and entertainment space.

Awarehouse is in the process of working to expand their operation into a large empty lot behind the parking lot fence and with luck get the space and be collaborating with other organizations to establish the "South Central Food Forest" of which the Edible Visionary Art Park (EVAP) will be considered "Zone 1" in permaculture speak.

We're currently seeking charitable donations of seeds, starts, edible yielding trees, solar panels, batteries, pumps, water catchment systems, water storage barrels, 5 gallon buckets, aquaponics crops and equipment, visionary art pieces, and anything you think would help us move towards our 100% self sufficiency goal.

We're also collecting donations of eco-feminist/goddess spirituality art and educational materials for creating a sacred space/goddess temple to help evoke and awaken the divine feminine.

We're inviting folks to come perform, have art shows, classes, gatherings, conferences, etc. to expand and enrich the existing creative community and work on ideas for the future.

Please contact us to offer support, visit, or learn more.

Click here to view a photo gallery of the project so far.

Peace and Love,
-The Gaian Mind Institute

Watch our 5 year old video brochure below:

This first meet-up will be at the beautiful wild section of coastline in Palos Verdes called Abalone Cove.

5970 Palos Verdes Drive South
Rancho Palos Verdes

Rain or shine, vegan potluck picnic!

Let's meet and introduce ourselves. I'll be sending a pdf to the group with basic eco-feminist concepts/ideas/analysis that hopefully we'll have all read and can discuss.

You'll want to wear outdoor clothing, hiking shoes, bring water, and something and a blanket to sit on.

I've been gathering old and new audio content and piping it into iTunes as a podcast. Hopefully as time/resources allow we'll be able to continue adding fresh content in the form of spoken word, interviews, tips, lectures, etc.

Check out the archive here:
Eco Punk Podcast

I've been editing and posting archived footage from the old Gaian Mind community center in Long Beach as well as posting more recent educational videos shot at various locations.

Check out this video on the DIY post-industrial sprout jar innovation:

Check out Sarah and Ben's Evac Drill video where they "bug out" in a simulated emergency situation.

Their procedure is followed from morning to afternoon. They discover a threat, discuss their plan of action, consult their evacuation procedure documentation, go through a routine of packing up their bug out bags and vehicle, close down the facility, prepare food, harvest from the bucket garden, empty food scraps into the compost, select their route and destination, and hike to a point of safety and security.

Call for details 562 552 9074

Call for details 562 552 9074

Call for details 562 552 9074

Call for details 562 552 9074

Call for details 562 555 9074

Call for details 562 555 9074

Call for details 562 555 9074

Call for details 562 555 9074