2.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

3.

All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood,
the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions
of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star stuff.

THE
COSMIC
CONNECTION
Words by Carl Sagan

rom earliest times, human beings have

pondered their place in the universe. They
have wondered whether they are in some
sense connected with the awesome and immense
cosmos in which the Earth is imbedded.
Many thousands of years ago a pseudoscience
called astrology was invented. The positions of the
planets at the birth of a child were supposed to play
a major role in determining his or her future. The
planets, moving points of light, were thought, in
some mysterious sense, to be gods. In his vanity,
Man imagined the universe designed for his benefit
and organized for his use.
Perhaps the planets were identified with gods
because their motions seemed irregular. The word
planetis Greek for wanderer. The unpredictable
behavior of the gods in many legends may have
corresponded well with the apparently unpredictable
motions of the planets. The argument may have
been: Gods dont follow rules; planets dont follow
rules; planets are gods.
When the ancient priestly astrological caste discovered
that the motions of the planets were not irregular
but predictable, they seem to have kept this
information to themselves. No use unnecessarily
worrying the populace, undermining religious
belief, and eroding the supports of political power.
Moreover, the Sun was the source of life. The Moon,
through the tides, dominated agriculture-especially
in river basins like the Indus, the Nile the Yangtze,
and the Tigris-Euphrates. How reasonable that
these lesser lights, the planets, should have subtler
but no less definite influence on human life!
The search for a connection, a hooking-up between
people and the universe, has not diminished since
the dawn of astrology. The same human needs exist
despite the advances of science.
We now know that the planets are worlds more or
less like our own. We know that their light and gravity
have negligible influence on a newborn babe. We
know that there are enormous numbers of other
objects-asteroids, comets, pulsars, quasars, exploding
galaxies, black holes, and the rest-objects not known
to the ancient speculators who invented astrology.
The universe is immensely grander than they could
have imagined.
Astrology has not attempted to keep pace with the
times. Even the calculations of planetary motions

and positions performed by most astrologers are

usually inaccurate.
No study shows a statistically significant success rate
in predicting through their horoscopes the future
or the personality traits of newborn children. There
is no field of radioastrology or X-ray astrology or
gamma-ray astrology, taking account of the energetic
new astronomical sources discovered in recent
years.
Nevertheless, astrology remains immensely popular
everywhere. There are at least ten times more
astrologers than astronomers. A large number,
perhaps a majority, of newspapers in the United
States have daily columns on astrology.
Many bright and socially committed young people
have more than a passing interest in astrology. It
satisfies an almost unspoken need to feel a significance
for human beings in a vast and awesome cosmos, to
believe that we are in some way hooked up with the
universean ideal of many drug and religious
experiences, the Samadhi of some Eastern religions.
The great insights of modern astronomy have
shown that, in some senses quite different from
those imagined by the earlier astrologers, we are
connected up with the universe.
The first scientists and philosophersAristotle, for
exampleimagined that the heavens were made
of a different sort of material then the Earth, a
special kind of celestial stuff, pure and undefiled.
We now know that this is not the case. Pieces
of the asteroid belt called meteorites; samples
of the Moon returned by Apollo astronauts and
Soviet unmanned spacecraft; the solar wind,
which expands outward past our planet from the
Sun; and the cosmic rays, which are probably
generated from exploding stars and their
remnantsall show the presence of the same atoms
we know here on Earth. Astronomical spectroscopy
is able to determine the chemical composition of
collections of stars billions of light-years away. The
entire universe is made of familiar stuff. The same
atoms and molecules occur at enormous distances
from Earth as occur here within our Solar System.
These studies have yielded a remarkable conclusion.
Not only is the universe made everywhere of the
same atoms, but the atoms, roughly speaking, are
present everywhere in approximately the same
proportions.

Almost all the stuff of the stars and the

interstellar matter between the stars is hydrogen
and helium, the two simplest atoms. All other atoms
are impurities, trace constituents. This is also true
for the massive outer planets of our Solar System,
like Jupiter. But it is not true for the comparatively
tiny hunks of rock and metal in the inner part of the
Solar System, like our planet Earth. This is because
the small terrestrial planets have gravities too
weak to hold their original hydrogen and helium
atmospheres, which have slowly leaked away
to space.
The next most abundant atoms in the universe
turn out to be oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and neon.
These are atoms everyone has heard of. Why are the
cosmically most abundant elements those that are
reasonably common on Earth rather than, say, yttrium
or praseodymium?
The theory of the evolution of stars is
sufficiently advanced that astronomers are able to
understand the various kinds of stars and
their relationshow a star is born from the
interstellar gas and dust, how it shines and evolves
by thermonuclear reactions in its hot interior, and
how it dies. These thermonuclear reactions are
of the same sort as the reactions that underlie
thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs): The
conversion of four atoms of hydrogen into one
of helium.
But in the later stages of stellar evolution, higher
temperatures are reached in the insides of stars, and
elements heavier than helium are generated by
thermonuclear processes. Nuclear astrophysics
indicates that the most abundant atoms produced
in such hot red giant stars are precisely the most
abundant atoms on Earth and elsewhere in the
universe. The heavy atoms generated in the
insides of red giants are spewed out into the
interstellar medium, by slow leakage from the
stars atmosphere like our own solar wind, or
by mighty stellar explosions, some of which can
make a star a billion times brighter than our Sun.
Recent infrared spectroscopy of hot stars has
discovered that they are blowing off silicates into
space-rock powder spewed out into the interstellar
medium. Carbon stars probably expel graphite
particles into surrounding cosmic space. Other
stars shed ice. In their early histories, stars like the
Sun probably propelled large quantities of organic
compounds into interstellar space; indeed, simple

organic molecules are found by radio astronomical

methods to be filling the space between the stars.
The brightest planetary nebula known (a planetary
nebula is an expanding cloud usually surrounding
an exploding star called a nova) seems to contain
particles of magnesium carbonate: Dolomite, the
stuff of the European mountains of the same name,
expelled by a star into interstellar space.
These heavy atoms-carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, and the rest-then float about in the
interstellar medium until, at some later time, a
local gravitational condensation occurs and a
new sun and new planets are formed. This
second-generation solar system is enriched in heavy
elements.
The fate of individual human beings may not
now be connected in a deep way with the rest of
the universe, but the matter out of which each
of us is made is intimately tied to processes that
occurred immense intervals of time and enormous
distances in space a way from us. Our Sun is a
second or third-generation star. All of the rocky
and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our
blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our
genes were produced billions of years ago in the
interior of a red giant star. We are made of star stuff.
Our atomic and molecular connection with the rest
of the universe is a real and unfanciful cosmic hookup.
As we explore our surroundings by telescope and
space vehicle, other hookups may emerge. There may
be a network of intercommunicating extraterrestrial
civilizations to which we may link up tomorrow, for
all we know. The undelivered promise of astrology
that the stars impel our individual characterswill
not be satisfied by modern astronomy. But the deep
human need to seek and understand our connection
with the universe is a goal well within our grasp.

For more on Carl Sagan and the universe, visit

www.carlsagan.com

4.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

5.

I am fascinated by beauty, structure

and mystery in the natural world

THE NATURAL
WORLD

Toronto-based artist, Carly Waito was born

in Manitouwadge, Ontario in 1981 and raised
in Thunder Bay. A graduate of the Ontario
College of Art and Design, Waito co-founded
the ceramic art and design studio coe&waito
with Alissa Coe in 2005. The partnership is
known for its elegant products and sculptural
installations inspired by the natural world.
As a painter, Waito has continued to pursue this
inspiration, with a focus towards geology, geometry
and ideas of wonder and curiosity. She has shown
in a number of exhibitions, including Little Crowns
(2009), The Dazzle (2010) and Specimens (2011),
a solo exhibition at Narwhal Art Projects in Toronto,
and Plus 1 (2011) at Sloan Fine Art in New York.
EARTH caught up with Carly to talk about her
work, the source of creativity, and understanding
the world around her.
EARTH QUARTERLY: Carly, what do you think
is the source of creativity?
CARLY WAITO: For me, creativity comes out of
curiosity. Its a means of trying to understand the
world and myself. And creativity is also part of
an identity building process: my ideas and what
I make are a part of who I am.
EQ: Thats interesting what you saidhow
art and creativity help to form your personal
identity... Do you think art and artists play a role
in shaping the identities of others? And do
you think they play a role in shaping our
collective consciousness?
CW: Yes - maybe even more so now that people
are exposed to so much visual culture through
digital media. I think that even the most
commercialized content has filtered down from
more personal ideas and expressions.
EQ: Do you feel you are making a contribution to
our collective consciousness?

method of working that comes most naturally to

me. Its the best way Ive found so far to address
the subjects Im inspired by.
EQ: The art world has notoriously been
male-dominated. Can you talk about your
experience navigating the art world as a woman?
CW: Ive personally never had any problems
I would attribute to my gender. Im sure
situations could be very different outside of
my little world. Ive been very fortunate to
be surrounded by supportive and genuine
people, so I can just be myself and I dont feel
like I have to play a particular role or deny any
part of my femininity to be taken seriously.
EQ: You seem to have had a lot of art gallery
experience and exposure. Are you able to make
a living off of your art? Or do you need to find
alternate means of employment to make ends
meet? How do you feel about this?
CW: These days I split my time pretty evenly
between painting and a part-time art-related
job. I find it very comforting to have a regular
pay cheque and not have to rely on my art for
100% of my income. I think Ill need a little
more experience and a little more courage
before Ill be ready to try committing full-time.
EQ: Well so far youre off to a great start. Where
do you wish to go from here?
CW: The work Ive done in the last few years has
been very specifically focused and Im ready to
explore ways of breaking out of that formula.
My inspirations have been broadening, and now
I just need to figure out how to deal with these
new ideas. Im hoping to do a residency this year,
which will be a big step outside of my comfort
zone and will provide a change of perspective.

CW: Im not sure how much of a contribution

I personally make. Im a very tiny piece of an
enormous whole, but maybe its combinations of
many tiny pieces that make most of the impact?
Even seemingly isolated big ideas come from a
multitude of influences.
EQ: Your work is centered around gems and
minerals. What draws you to investigate these
forms?
CW: I find that they are ideal examples of the
qualities I find curious and captivating about
nature in general. Im in awe of their diversity,
geometry, and the seemingly magical science
of their origins. And aside from any intellectual
or emotional appeal, they are beautiful and
interesting objects to paint; the uncanny
precision of their forms, the ways they interact
with light, their colours, textures, transparency.
EQ: How long have you been pursuing painting?
CW: Ive been painting for as long as I have been
capable of holding a brush, but its only in the last
few years that it has been my main creative focus.
EQ: What do you think draws you to continue
with it?
This page: Smoky Quartz, 11 x 10, 2012, oil on masonite. By Carly Waito.

CW: I enjoy the process, and it seems to be the

To view more work from Carly Waito, visit

www.carlywaito.com

6.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

7.

Top Left: Smoky Quartz with Inclusions, 9 x 11, 2011, oil on masonite. By Carly Waito.
Top: Amethyst 6, 8 x 9, 2011, oil on masonite. By Carly Waito.
Bottom: Bornite Coated Chalcocite, 11 x 9, 2011, oil on masonite. By Carly Waito.

Top Right: Sphalerite, 8 x 9, 2010, oil on masonite. By Carly Waito.

Bottom Left: Vesuvianite, 8 x 11, 2011, oil on masonite. By Carly Waito.
Bottom Right: Watermelon Tourmaline, 8 x 10, 2011, oil on masonite. By Carly Waito.

8.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

9.

WE ARE
ALL
CONNECTED

he Gaia hypothesis argues that planet Earth, and everything that makes up the planet, is a
single unified being. It was discovered in the 1960s by James Lovelock, after being asked
by NASA to help in the search for life on Mars. NASA wanted to send The Viking lander to
gather and test Martian soil, but Lovelock new it was a hopeless endeavor before the project began.
Predicting that soil samples were an unnecessary step, he argued that all one had to do was analyze
the atmosphere of the planet to determine that it was in a dead equilibrium state. It was obvious.
By contrast, if one was to look at the Earth from space, a witness would recognize instantly that
the planet was alive. He looked at it from the viewpoint of an alien looking at our planet for the first
time, and argued that the atmosphere provided a number of hints that something complex was
happening on the planet. What he was seeing was a self-regulating living system that could qualify
as a living being, and he named that being Gaia after the greek goddessthe great mother of all.
In his book, The Ages of Gaia (1988) Lovelock explained, The name of the living planet,
Gaia, is not a synonym for the biospherethat part of the Earth where living things are seen
normally to exist. Still less is Gaia the same as the biota, which is simply the collection of
all individual living organisms. The biota and the biosphere taken together form a part
but not all of Gaia. Just as the shell is part of the snail, so the rocks, the air, and the oceans
are part of Gaia. Gaia, as we shall see, has continuity with the past back to the origins of life,
and in the future as long as life persists. Gaia, as a total planetary being, has properties that are
not necessarily discernible by just knowing individual species or populations of organisms living
together...Specifically, the Gaia hypothesis says that the temperature,oxidation, state, acidity,
and certain aspects of the rocks and waters are kept constant, and that this homeostasis is
maintained by active feedback processes operated automatically and unconsciously by the biota.
Lovelocks approach was not popular with NASA, and its still faces much controversy today.
You may find it hard to swallow the notion that anything as large and apparently
inanimate as the Earth is alive. Surely, you may say, the Earth is almost wholly rock, and nearly all
incandescent with heat. The difficulty can be lessened if you let the image of a giant redwood tree
enter your mind. The tree undoubtedly is alive, yet 99% of it is dead. The great tree is an ancient
spire of dead wood, made of lignin and cellulose by the ancestors of the thin layer of living cells
which constitute its bark. How like the Earth, and more so when we realize that many of the
atoms of the rocks far down into the magma were once part of the ancestral life of which we all
have come.
Looking at the work of New York-based photographer, Laina Briedis, we couldnt help but
think of the Gaia hypothesis. Briedis ongoing series of photographs (2009-2011) is a beautiful
reminder that there is no separation between us and Mother Nature. We are all one. We are all
part of Gaia. And Gaia is alive.

To view more work from Laina Briedis, visit www.flickr.com/lainabriedis

For more information on the Gaia hypothesis, visit www.jameslovelock.org

10.

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Vernal Equinox

11.

14.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

15.

Life has an unlimited and infinite source of possibilities, as long as you dont box yourself
into playing only one role

BEING
NOTHING
AND
EVERYTHING

yan Anzures is a Baltimore-based artist,

musician, and modern mystic. We recently
caught up with him to talk about identity,
getting rid of material possessions, and his adventure
into nothingness.

where you ended up?

EARTH QUARTERLY: Ryan, youve been working on

finding your true nature for some time now. Can you
talk about the experience you had that led you on
this path of discovery? I believe you called it Satori?

When I got back I just decided that selling the stuff

would take too long, so I just gave all my furniture
out to my friends. This was around Christmas time,
so I decided to also just leave things in different
places, almost like Christmas presents.

RYAN ANZURES: Yeah, I would liken it to Satori...

like a moment of insight and clarity. The Japanese
call it Satori, the early Puritans experienced the
same moment of enlightenment, and shamans
are said to be able to evoke the experience. When
I was admitted into a mental hospital, they called
it a schizophrenic episode, but Joseph Campbell
speaks about the idea of schizophrenia in the same
breath as enlightened beings detatched of their
egos, similar to the shaman experience. I have never
been the one to prescribe to certain ideologies of
the mainstream, so I try to detach myself from any
negative ideas on the subject.
EQ: Detachment as enlightenment... What do you
think led you to this?
RA: Prior to this I had hit a depression, I had lost
my girlfriend, I was fired from my job, I was smoking a
lot of weed, and just bummed out on life.
EQ: But at the same time, you were freed from
every thing, right? From every commitment?
RA: Exactly. Thats where the detachment from the
world began.
EQ: What did you do with this detachment?
RA: I had an idea to just move into a van and
travel across America really just trying to
figure out something I could do now that I
really didnt have anything tying me down. And
I decided to get rid of all my things. That process
took about a year; its hard to let go of things that
create the identity that you assume yourself to be.
EQ: Can you talk more about your travels and

RA: Well I decided to go out to the west coast for a

little bit. I went to LA and SF, so in the meantime I
put all my stuff in a storage unit.

I was living in Queens, NY at the time. I just felt I

had to move on and it made sense to do it that way.
By the end of it I was still living in my apartment,
emptied out of everything. I was sleeping on the
floor and kind of had time to just meditate and
reflect on life with nothing to really get in my way.
EQ: Did you give up your art and music practices
as well?
RA: Yeah, that was part of the letting go
process too. I was traveling around a lot and
carrying around a guitar with me just became
more of a burden than a help. Song writing is
a torturous process within itself, so I also felt
more free after not playing music for a bit. But
separation only makes the heart grow fonder. I
feel it helps the musical process along to take a
break from it every now and then. My art had just
gotten too commercial and was part of the
commerce game, that I was more than happy to give
that up.
EQ: It seems like our generation is moving away
from everythingleaving behind the need for
material posessions, quitting our jobs and the
pursuit of money... Seaching for new ways of being.
What do you think is causing this shift?

RA: I feel identity is limiting, as far as it defines

who you are too rigidly. It puts you into a box of
circumstances. If youre a musician... youre going
to follow that path in life, if youre an artist, youre
going to do only artist things.. so on and so on.
Life has an unlimited and infinite source of
possibilities, as long as you dont box yourself into
playing only one role... one identity. Its kind of like
Siddartha, he seemed to have been every man at one
point in his life. I feel to live a full and complete life,
you have to experience every facet of it... from the
good to the bad and to try and enjoy everything. This
also allows one to have many different perspectives
and to see the world from everyones view point,
which i feel is the true meaning of Compassion.
I found this out while trying to figure out my own
identity. Thats how I figured out I wanted to be
nothingbeing nothing allows the possibility for
you to be anything and everything.
EQ: It seems to me that you are a part of a collective
awakening thats happening right now... I guess Im
curious, and a little bit confused, about how this
profound clarity got you placed into a mental hospital?
RA: Its hard to explain, but I get feelings about
things, gut feelings and they say to trust your
feelings and thats what I always try to do... its all
about emptying your mind and journeying within.
I dont know how in depth about that experience I
want to go into... I can say that I had an out of body
experience where I started speaking of knowledge
that I had no way of knowing about... on some
universal all knowing type shit. Kind of freaky. I
felt like i was a conduit for some other thing, I was
speaking but without knowing, without thinking.

RA: I think its the capitalistic system crumbling,

the depression, people disenchanted by a system
we put faith into. I didnt want to be owned by my
things anymore... they were creating this false
sense of who I was... Identity is comforting but it
is also limiting.

At some point during the whole process of letting

go, I began to see the number 222 everywhere,
numerous times a day. I would wake up in the
middle of the night at exactly 2:22, it would be on
receipts, license plates, building numbers, etc... the
probability of seeing this same sequence of numbers
multiple times a day was improbable in terms of
ratio.

EQ: What do you mean by limiting?

It was what first made me realize that there was

more to the world than we rationally know about.

Its hard to explain to someone who hasnt experienced
it. Most people just told me it was just coincidence,
but I feel there is much meaning to the numbers.
I looked into the number and it has spiritual and
occult ideas attached to it. There is even a website
dedicated to the phenomena: www.222mystery.com
EQ: Its amazing, in another time or place, you may
have been considered a shaman for an experience
like that. But in America, they throw you into a
hospital!
RA: Yeah... I should be on Native American reservation
somewhere...
EQ: Well maybe were all connecting with some
ancient spirit at work here, just in different ways.
Or maybe were all just tapping into the universe in
different ways?
Looking back on your journey to here, Im curious
what you have learned and taken from this
process of letting go...
RA : The thing that I found out is that man is nature,
we are all just animals trying to survive... I am nothing,
but that also allows me to be everything. Life is a
contradiction like that. I feel letting go allowed
me to get rid of all the distractions that blinded me
from seeing that.

To see and hear more from Ryan Anzures, visit

www.ryananzures.com

LUNAR PHASE

01 - First Quarter

08 - Full Moon

15 - Last Quarter

22 - New Moon

30 - First Quarter

Illustration of the March 2012 lunar phase by Jesse Draxler, www.JesseDraxler.com

18.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

19.

MEDICINE WHEEL
Words by Kate and Brad Silberberg

What is a Medicine Wheel?

Forms of ceremonial circles exist all around the
world, from the great stone circles of Europe to
Hindu mandalas. A Medicine Wheel is an
ancient form of ceremonial circle used by Native
Americans for teaching, meditation, prayer, healing,
and celebration. Just as stained glass windows and
mosaics in ancient Christian cathedrals were used
to teach Bible stories to people who could not read,
so too were Medicine Wheels used to instruct The
People. From stories and oral history associated
with the quadrants and individual stones of The
Wheel, they learned about their relationship with
Nature and the Spirit World, the cycles of life,
connection to their past, and the interconnectedness
of all things. They were also used as gathering places
for ceremony and celebration and acted as
connection points to contact the unseen world of the
Grandfathers or Spirit Beings. In that respect, a
Medicine Wheel also functions as an altar. In her
book about altars, Beautiful Necessities, author
Kay Turner writes, Altars mark the potential for
communication and exchange between different
but necessarily connected worlds, the Human and
the Divine. They make visible that which is invisible
and bring near that which is far away. Wheels were
designed to meet the needs and beliefs of those who
created them and are still used today.
At the heart or center of our Mesa Creative Arts
Center Medicine Wheel (Burgettstown, PA. USA) is
the granite Creator Stone, representing The Great
Mystery or Creator from which all life originates,
continuously creating without beginning or end.
Arising from this center is the energy that creates
all the rest of the wheel. Surrounding the Creator
Stone is an inner circle made up of seven stones
that represent the foundation of all life. The four
anchor stones for the large circle represent the Spirit
Keepers of the cardinal directions, North, East,
South, and West. Between each of them lie three
stones that together represent the twelve moons
of the yearly cycle represented by animal clans.
Radiating from the four Spirit Keepers to the inner
circle are four spokes or Spirit Paths made up of
three stones each, which represent qualities that take
us from daily life into the sacred space of the Creator.

Each quadrant of The Wheel holds a different

energy and represents a season of the year, stage
of life, area of our Being (Physical, emotional,
mental, and Spiritual) and a different kind of
healing. Together they create a balanced whole in a
specific relationship to one another. The teachings
of the Medicine Wheel are multi-faceted and many
layered. They instruct us about all aspects of life,
ourselves, and the world around us. They teach us
about the cycles of life, death, and rebirth and how
they relate to Nature, the seasons, and the Universe.
Why build a Medicine Wheel?
We do not see ourselves as the owners or creators
of The Wheel. We see ourselves as its caretakers,
students, and interpreters. We created The Mesas
Medicine Wheel to be used by ourselves and our
visitors for meditation, introspection, prayer,
healing and, enlightenment. We continue to
use it for public ceremonies, like celebrations
of the changing seasons, drumming circles, and
special occasions as well as for private use. We
built it to assist in teaching about life, healing, and
finding our true selves. It is a monument to the
family of Humanity, and holds the answers to keeping
ourselves and our planet healthy, balanced, and safe
for future generations. It is a wheel of love, a wheel
of light, a wheel of peace, a wheel of wisdom, and a
wheel of harmony between all things. The Wheel is a
gift and a blessing to all who experience it.
We believe that the Medicine Wheel creates a
vortex of healing energy that comes out of the
ground and spirals out into the surrounding area,
thus benefiting all living things. It is mirrored by
another Wheel in the Spirit World. Heaven and
Earth are joined together by a tube of energy that
flows between the two Wheels and to stand in The
Wheel is to be part of that joining. The more we do
ceremony in the Wheel, the stronger its energy and
connection become. It is a beacon of Light shining
out to illuminate the darkness and radiate healing
and understanding into our community and to all
the Earth. We have chosen to share the photos of
this sacred circle and its construction so that others
may share in its gifts without needing to be nearby.

The Mesa Medicine Wheel

Since traditional Medicine Wheels were built on
bare ground, our Medicine Wheel is actually a wheel
on top of a wheel. The brown gravel path around
and through it represents the symbol or pictogram
of a Medicine Wheela circle with a cross through
it. To this we added colored gravel in the four
quadrants representing one of the traditional
Lakota color schemes of the four cardinal directions.
We then built the ceremonial circle of 36 stones on
top of the symbol. Our Medicine Wheel installation
is twenty five feet in diameter, not including the four
directions poles, and was built in late June of 2004.
The Energy of The Mesa Medicine Wheel
The Spiritual and life energy coming from The Mesa
Medicine Wheel is a miracle and a mystery. There
are many aspects to its great power:
1. The spiritual energy of its connection to Great
Mystery and of its archetype in the collective
unconsciousthe sum total of all Medicine Wheels
and all prayer and ceremonies that have been offered
in them from the beginning of time.
2. The Earth energy of the site and the Grandfathers
(Spirit Beings) of the area who energize and protect
The Wheel.
3. The energy of the Sacred Geometry of its cross
within a circle configuration and alignment with the
magnetic compass. We set up our Wheel in the same
manner as an ancient healing temple or Sacred Site.
The pathways through The Wheel also make it part
labyrinth, as we can walk its representation of our
sacred path in life.
4. The energy of the different stones making up the
physical Wheel. All grouped together, the Belgian
blocks, gravel and 36 stones of the ceremonial wheel
constitute a large crystal arraya powerful energy
generator in an of itself. There is also the sum of the
balancing energies of the different minerals used to
build The Wheel:

The Belgian blocks are made of granite, an

igneous rock made up of quartz and feldspar
coming from fire energy and representing the male
aspect. Granite energy helps us to see the big
picture and defeats negativity with ease. It also
helps in maintaining balance in relationships
and provides stability and the ability to center
oneself (gentle grounding). These blocks were
originally paving stones salvaged from the streets
of old Pittsburgh that may have been brought to the
Colonies as ballast on sailing ships.
The stones in the North quadrant are white
marble chips. Marble is a water stone, coming from
metamorphosed limestone that came from the
shells of ancient sea creatures and carries female
energy. Marble energy promotes peak states
of meditation and helps activate the unused
portions of the mind, aiding in mastery of thought.
It brings serenity and control of thoughts, and is
very calming. Its white color resonates with our
Crown chakra (subtle energy center) just above the
top of the head, which connects us with our Creator.
In the East quadrant are yellow beach pebbles. They
are made from quartz, an igneous rock from volcanic
activity that was polished round by the action of water
over time, uniting male and female energies. Quartz
greatly amplifies energy and thought. The yellow
color resonates with our solar plexus chakra energy.
In the South quadrant are red lava stones. Lava
is also stone of firea direct result of volcanic
eruptions. The iron in this lava was exposed to hot
sulfuric acid gas, turning it rusty red. Lava energy is
good for our Root or base chakra, and contains
the fire of the Kundalini. The red color also energizes
this chakra.
In the West quadrant are black lava stones. Black
lava strengthens our connection to Mother Earth
through the chakra below our feet that connects us
to her sustaining energy.
The pathways are made of Pennsylvania Red
sandstone. This is another stone from water energy
that came from iron bearing sands. Sandstone is a
stone of creativity and promotes clarity in thought

Medicine Wheel of the Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming, USA.

20.

Earth Quarterly

Mesa Medicine Wheel Map

and sight. Its energy can help facilitate movement

and change with ease. It helps varied peoples to
get along, bringing an energy of unity to The Mesa
Wheel.

The 36 stones in the ceremonial wheel are made up

of a variety of minerals, all with different metaphysical
and healing properties.

9
13

24

25

23

14

26
27

22

15

6
12

34

35

36

30

29

21

16

33
17

32
19

10

20

28

31

18

11

S
KEY
1. Creator
2. Earth Mother
3. Father Sun
4. Grandmother Moon
5. Turtle Clan (earth element)
6. Frog Clan (water element)
7. Thunderbird Clan (fire element)
8. Butterfly Clan (air element)
9. Waboose (White Buffalo, Spirit Keeper of the North)
10. Wabun (Golden Eagle, Spirit Keeper of the East)
11. Shawnodese (Coyote, Spirit Keeper of the South)
12. Mudjekeewis (Grizzly Bear, Spirit Keeper of the West)
13. Snow Goose Clan
Earth Renewal Moon (Dec 22-Jan 19)
Clan Mother of the 1st moon, Talks with Relations
14. Otter Clan
Rest and Cleansing Moon (Jan 20-Feb 18)
Clan Mother of the 2nd moon, Wisdom Keeper
15. Cougar Clan
Big Winds Moon (Feb 19-Mar 20)
Clan Mother of the 3rd moon, Weighs the Truth
16. Red Hawk Clan
Budding Trees Moon (Mar 21-April 19)
Clan Mother of the 4th moon, Looks Far Woman
17. Beaver Clan
Frogs Return Moon (April 20-May 20)
Clan Mother of the 5th moon, Listening Woman
18. Deer Clan
Cornplanting Moon (May 21-June 20)
Clan Mother of the 6th moon, Storyteller
19. Flicker Clan
Strong Sun Moon (June 21-July 22)
Clan Mother of the 7th moon, Loves All Things

20. Sturgeon Clan

Ripe Berries Moon (July 23-Aug 22)
Clan Mother of the 8th moon, She Who Heals
21. Brown Bear Clan
Harvest Moon (Aug 23-Sept 22)
Clan Mother of the 9th moon, Setting Sun Woman
22. Raven Clan
Ducks Fly Moon (Sept 23-Oct 23)
Clan Mother of the 10th moon, Weaves the Web
23. Snake Clan
Freeze Up Moon (Oct 24-Nov 21)
Clan Mother of the 11th moon, Walks Tall Woman
24. Elk Clan
Long Snows Moon (Nov 22-Dec 21)
Clan Mother of the 12th moon, Gives Praise
Clan Mother of the 13th moon, Becomes Her Vision. (Located
behind stone no. 9, where the letter N appears) While not in The
Wheel enclosure, we honor the occasional Blue Moon and the
Clan Mother who represents the transition between one cycle
and the next, the process of transformation
25. Cleansing
26. Renewal
27. Purity
28. Clarity
29. Wisdom
30. Illumination
31. Growth
32. Trust
33. Love
34. Experience
35. Introspection
36. Strength

Attributes and Associations of Mesa Medicine Wheel Quadrants

S
White Quadrant:
Intellectual
Receive with the Mind
Air element
The Warrior
Winter

Yellow Quadrant:
Spiritual
Determine with the Spirit
Fire element
The Visionary
Spring

Red Quadrant:
Emotions
Give with the Emotions
Water element
The Teacher
Summer

6. The Four Directions Poles act as antennas

for spiritual energy from Father Sky and the
Heavens, connecting The Wheel from sky to ground.
Each has attached feathers, (turkey in the North,
Canada goose in the East, Sea Gull in the South, and
Crow in the Westall naturally shed) which are
spiritual antennas in themselves since birds fly
closest to the Creator and bring messages to
Humans. Also attached are colored streamers to
gather wind energy and semi precious stones that
correspond to the colors of the directions: white
Howellite in the North, yellow Jasper in the East,
red Jasper in the South, and black Tourmaline in the
West.
7. Under the center of The Wheel is a 3x3 (nine
stones total) quartz crystal grid, offerings of sacred
herbs and cornmeal, and place rocks from around
the world. These place rocks connect The Mesa
Medicine Wheel to the energy of the places from
which they were gathered in grateful ceremony.
8. The 13 Original Clan Mothers and The Medicine
Wheel: When we first built The Mesa Medicine
Wheel, several people who see or hear Spirit Beings
told us that there were 13 Native American Spirits
watching over it. Later, when this information was
told to a new friend from the Seneca Nation, she
excitedly told us about the 13 Clan Mothers who
are associated with The Medicine Wheel. These
archetypal Spirit teachers are associated with the
12 moons of the yearly cycle and the 13th or Blue
Moon that only occurs in some calendar years. In the
beginning they had taught the two-leggeds the
lessons of how to be Human. Our new friend
recommended reading the book The 13 Original
Clan Mothers, by Jamie Sams to understand their
teachings.
After finding the book already in Kates collection, we
read about the significance of the 13th moon and the
associated Clan Mother. According to Sams, she is
the Guardian of All Cycles of Transformation and
is the Mother of Change, who teaches us how to go
through every lesson and cycle of transformation in
order to spiritually evolve. She helps us to make the
transition from the end of one cycle to the beginning
of the next and we had nearly omitted her.

5. The numerology of The Wheel: In numerology, the

sequence of 3,6,9 is extremely powerful. Nine is also
the number of completion. The ceremonial wheel
is made up of 36 stones3 and 6. When you use
numerological reduction, 36=3+6=9! The outer
circle of The Wheel installation is made up of 81
Belgian block. 81 is 9x9 and reduces: 8+1=9. There
are also nine blocks lining each side of the spokes
or Spirit Paths of The Wheel. The total number of
Belgian blocks, 229 reduces: 2+2+9=13, 1+3=4, the
number of compass directions. If you add in the
number of stones in the ceremonial wheel, it still
reduces to 4!

Black Quadrant:
Physical
Hold with the Body
Earth element
The Healer
Autumn

Vernal Equinox

of these special places around the world, we had

omitted three. While we had included the elements of
sacred measure, alignment with the compass
points, sacred geometry, and anchoring with the
energetically preferred male and female stones,
we had not thought to call in water energy, Earth
magnetism, or create a gateway or portal for
natural energies to enter The Wheel. Upon
recognizing this, we did a ceremony to invite in
underground water and lines of Earth magnetism
and could feel them align with the major axiss of
The Wheel. We added two lines of three stones each
on either side of one of the Four Directions poles to
demark our gateway. We move this gateway at the
Solstices and Equinoxes to the corresponding direction
for the time of the year. Doing so has greatly added
to the energy and activity not only in The Wheel, but
inside our Mesa Creative Arts Center and Healing
Center.
Taken together, all of these aspects create an
energy that is multi-leveled, multi-dimensional,
and greatly more than the sum of its parts. How it
all works together is a great mystery, and, as the
Lakota say, Everything that is sacred is a mystery and
everything that is a mystery is sacred. We say, Aho!
Constructing a Medicine Wheel
Theres no right way to build a Medicine Wheel.
Every group that built or builds them does it
differently. Anthropologists say the main
requirements are that it be a circle (usually made
of stones) with a marked center. Some Wheels have
radiating spokes, or cairns (plies of stones) marking
the Four Directions. Some have as few as 13 stones
spaced along the circumference and others have
many placed end to end. You can mark your circle
with stones, seashells, pieces of wood, or anything
important to you that will hold the energy of the
enclosure. You can make yours small enough for a
table top altar or big enough to fill your back yard.
You can even build your Medicine Wheel as a garden,
filling the quadrants with different plants planted
in circular rows. You can build a Medicine Wheel in
a ceremony by yourself, or create one with a group,
each person placing a stone during the building
ceremony.
Different tribal groups have different colors for
the Four Directions, different totem animals
associated with them, and different teachings for
each quadrant and stone of the Medicine Wheel.
The more conscious of and grateful to your Spirit
World partners you are in the construction of your
Wheel, the more guidance you will receive about
its design. We suggest that you create a ceremony
for the assembly and birthing (activation) of your
sacred circle of stones and not just set stones in a
ring. Focusing your intention and attention will
strengthen its connection to the Great Mystery
and make your Wheel a sacred space. The more
you work with the Wheel and its teachings, the
more energy it will accumulate. Build it for the
highest good for all and in any way that your heart
tells you to and it will surely be blessed. Aho!
Construction of The Mesa Medicine Wheel

When The Mesa Medicine Wheel was built, we were

aware of the occasional 13th moon and placed a
stone to represent it near the Wheel site, but did not
include it in the Wheel installation nor dedicate it in
the same manner as the other stones. After receiving
this new information, we immediately performed a
ceremony and placed the stone representing the 13th
moon between The Wheels rim and the directional
pole for the North; its position between the stones
representing the transition between the 12th moon
of one year and the 1st moon of the next cycle. There
was immediately a great shift and increase in the
energy of The Wheel. We dedicated this stone to the
13th Clan Mother. We welcome her! Aho! (Amen)

We started to build our Wheel with a ceremony

to purify the area, give thanks to The Creator, and
to ask permission from Mother Earth and the
Grandfathers (spirits) of The Mesa to build there.
We held ceremony over the site for one month
before starting construction, offering prayers,
sacred smoke and tobacco every day. In between
we collected about 40 stones, (to have a few extras)
some from The Mesa grounds and some from other
places. We left tobacco offerings for each one and
anyone whose homes we disturbed in moving them.
Then, the circle was laid out and the sod removed by
hand. Next, landscape fabric was installed to keep
the gravel from sinking into the ground and to keep
grass from growing in the ceremonial circle.

9. The Gateway: We had been using The Mesa Wheel

for several years when we came across information
about the structural and metaphysical similarities
between all sacred sites and healing temples. After
meeting sacred site and crop circle expert Freddie
Silva and watching his 2 DVD set about building
a healing temple in ones own home, we realized
that The Mesa Medicine Wheel is a healing temple
and sacred site. We also came to understand that
while we had intuitively included many aspects

Two hundred and twenty nine Belgian block

pavers (the granite stones lining the pathways)
were laid as borders for the pathways (81 stones
in the outer circle alone!) and the quadrants filled
in with colored stones: white marble in the North;
yellow quartz beach pebbles in the East; red lava
stones in the South; and black lava stones in the
West. The pathways were filled in last with roughly
three tons of Pennsylvania Red sandstone. We next
buried our rocks, crystals, and other sacred objects

from all over the world under the center of the

Wheel to connect it with All Our Relations. We lit
a small fire on top of the ground with the intention
of activating the energy coming up from Mother
Earth.
Now we were set to construct the Ceremonial
Wheel itself. The 36 larger stones we had selected for
inclusion were then smudged and brought into
the circle one by one. As each stone was brought
in, it was offered to the Directions and asked to be
activated by the Grandfathers so that it might be
dedicated to the Spirit Powers and high concepts
it represented. A tobacco offering was made to
each of the Stone People as it was set in place to
welcome it and thank it for helping us. As each
step was carried out with reverence and care we
could feel the energy of the new Wheel growing and
expanding. When the last stone was laid, the Wheel
seemed to snap to life.
The four directions poles were installed last,
connecting The Mesa Medicine Wheel on Mother
Earth with its mirror image in the Spirit World
up in Father Sky and completing the site. All
materials for The Wheel installation had been
smudged with white sage smoke, thanked,
blessed, given an offering of tobacco or corn meal,
offered to the seven directions (E, S, W, N, Above,
Below, Within or All My Relations) and dedicated
before installation. Construction took about eight
days to complete, (See photos to the right) including
assembly of the 36 stone ceremonial Wheel and
erection of the Four Directions poles.
Over time, we have swapped out many of the
original stones in The Wheel for more energetic
ones, retiring the old ones to positions of honor
at the base of the Four Directions poles. The
Mesa Medicine Wheel now contains quite a few
semi-precious stones including; blue and green
aventurine, calcite, fluorite, snowflake obsidian,
bloodstone, actinolite, unakite, tiger eye, yellow
jasper, rose, white, and clear quartz, epidote, crazy
lace agate, howellite, picture jasper, and pipestone.

Medicine Wheel Ceremonies at The Mesa

Creative Arts Center
Medicine Wheels are ceremonial circles of
stones that have been used by tribal peoples for
centuries as places of meditation, celebration,
healing, and prayer. The Native Americans also
used Medicine Wheels as a teaching device to
pass along their oral traditions. Each stone in The
Wheel represented different animal, vegetable, and
mineral totemic spirit helpers and teachers.
Medicine Wheels were used as calendars as well, to
track the passing of the seasons and to plan annual
celebrations.
Medicine Wheels are also a place where primal
life force energy comes out of the Earth. This
energy is palpable to people who are sensitive to
the subtle life force energies present in people,
rocks and crystals, plants, and places like Stone
Henge and Machu Pichu. In the Native American
tradition, there is a mirror image of the Medicine
Wheel in the Spirit World in the sky, and the two are
connected by a tube of energy. To stand in this tube
is to be bathed in the energy of Heaven and Earth.
We built the Mesa Creative Arts Center Medicine
Wheel to be a place for meditation, prayer, healing,
and celebration for our local community and the
Pittsburgh Metro area. It was also constructed
to bring healing energy into the site and radiate
it out to the surrounding community. We hold
ceremonies there on the Solstices, Equinoxes,
Earth Day, some full moon nights, and other
occasions. Adults and children are welcome and
they need no prior experience to take part in,
or appreciate the proceedings. (We even hold
weddings in The Wheel.) While we are not Native
Americans by blood, we have deep respect and
admiration for Native American life ways, customs,
and traditions. We have learned their spiritual
practices, crafts, and point of view and incorporate
them into their own art and healing work at The
Mesa.
The Solstice and Equinox ceremonies are held
to bring together like-minded people to remember
and celebrate the changing of the seasons and the
natural energies that accompany them. We do

this to renew our connection to the Earth, other

human beings, and our Creator. We find these
things severely lacking in our increasingly
impersonal, technological world. As more and
more people are discovering their need for
meaning and connection in their lives, they are
starving for real contact with other people and
non-religious ways to explore their own
relationship with the unseen world of Spirit that
is right there alongside our physical reality. To
date, our largest gathering for a Wheel ceremony
(besides weddings) was forty-one people attending
the Summer Solstice Ceremony at The Mesa in June
of 2006.
Our Wheel ceremonies dont follow a specific
Native American formatfor there really isnt
any. Each tribal band or group built their Wheels
in a different manner and had different beliefs and
customs about them. They did what felt right to
them and in accordance with the guidance of their
spirit helpers, instead of holding to hard and fast
rules.
The Mesa Creative Arts Center Medicine Wheel
was built following the vision of Sun Bear, a
Chippewa (Ojibwe), who shared this wisdom in his
book, Dancing with the Wheel. Our ceremonies
are largely based on Native American traditions, but
also may include elements of modern metaphysics,
teachings or rituals from other indigenous peoples,
and cultural traditions from around the world.
They are spiritual in nature, rather than adhering to
the rules of any religion, and like Native American
ceremonies often do, vary in accordance with what is
needed at the time. People of all faiths are welcome
to participate and we seek to involve them in the
proceedings instead of looking on as mere
spectators.
A typical Wheel ceremony lasts between 45-60
minutes and contains the following elements:
1. Smudging of all participants and ceremonial
objects with white sage smoke outside of The
Mesa for ritual and energetic cleansing before
proceeding to The Wheel. (Smudging is a bit like
bathing in smoke pulling it over ones head and
swirling it around the body.) This is done to clear
our bodies auras, sanctify everything that goes
into The Wheel, remove unbalanced energy and
influences from the day-to-day world, and shift
people into a prayerful and introspective mode.
(This custom is not unlike the use of incense in
Churches.)
2. After smudging, those gathered then proceed to
The Wheel in a line. We enter through the gateway
at one of the cardinal directionsusually honoring
the direction related to the season of the year. Before
stepping into The Wheel, each person stops, raises
one hand, turns in a sun-wise (clockwise) circle and
says, All my relations (or the Lakota Mitakuye
Oyasin, often contracted and pronounced like: Mittoc-kwee-yossin) This is done to honor all things
as our brothers and sisters. Each person then steps
into The Wheel and proceeds all the way around
one time to honor the cycle of life and the unity of
all things.
3. We start with a welcoming song, not only to
welcome all of the participants, but also those from
the Spirit World who are coming to help with our
ceremony.
4. Calling in the Spirit Powers of the 7 directions.
Each direction (N,S,E,W, above, below , within or
All My Relations) is a living Spirit energy that
embodies the powers and qualities of that direction.
We ceremonially call them to bring their energy
and help. An offering of sacred tobacco is made to
each one as thanks-in-advance for their help for the
ceremony.
5. Sometimes objects are blessed and energized,
as when food, water, flower and vegetable seeds,
or other objects are placed in the Wheels center
during the ceremony and taken out again at its end.
6. Prayers are said (Prayers of thanks and
requests for healing for the Earth, our children,
our loved ones, all of Creation, etc.), songs are sung
(some in Lakota) accompanied by drums, rattles,
or other instruments, poems are readas fitting
for the occasion. Attendees are asked to join in
or add what they have to offer. Each participant

21.

is given the opportunity to make an offering of

sacred tobacco with a private, silent prayer request.
7. Strings of tobacco ties are hung on the Four
Directions poles at each compass direction.
These little bundles of sacred tobacco wrapped in
colored cloth are each infused with a prayer as they
are being made before the ceremony takes place.
The prayer energy stays in them for about one year.
At the Winter Solstice, they are all removed and
burned, sending those prayers up to the Creator
and the yearly cycle repeated.
8. Participants move to the center of The Wheel to
join hands in a prayer and community or for a group
hug. Participants move back to the perimeter of The
Wheel.

After prayers and ceremonies, the circle was laid out and removal of
sod began. Brad removed all of the sod by hand. No machinery was
used on the site.

9. Thank you song, sung to the Great Mystery and the

Grandfathers (spirits).
10. Closing of the ceremony: We thank the
Grandfathers and Spiritual energies of The Wheel
for their help and release them.
11. Participants make one more circumnavigation
of The Wheel before exiting at the gateway. Once
again, each stops before exiting, turns in a sun-wise
circle with hand raised and says, All my relations.
Or Mitakuye Oyasin.
12. After a Solstice, Equinox, or Earth Day
ceremony, participants adjourn to inside The Mesa
Creative Arts Center for a pot luck covered dish
dinner, as no Native American ceremony is truly
complete until a meal is shared by all.

The ground was covered with landscape fabric and the layout was
marked with chalk.

What can people expect to experience from a

Wheel Ceremony?
People experience different things in The Wheel,
depending on how open and relaxed they are. To
newcomers, it may seem like attending a church
of a different faith, as they may feel a little self
conscious and tentative about what to do. We
suggest that its just like when you learned to play
a new game as a childjust watch what everyone
else does and sooner or later youll understand the
protocol.
People often ask, What am I SUPPOSED to
feel (or what am I going to feel) during the
ceremony. We reply that there is no supposed
to and the experience is personal and individual.
Some people hear, see, or feel the presence of
Spiritual Beings. Others may just feel the joy and
upliftment of the gathered spiritual community.
Sometimes, miraculous things happen in The
Wheel and people have spontaneous healing or an
opening on the physical, emotional, intellectual,
or spiritual levels. Allow yourself to be OK with
whatever you experience and let it be real for you.

The Pathway borders took shape as individual granite Belgian blocks

were chosen and set in place.

Kate celebrating the completion of the granite borders of the Wheel.

Some people feel energy coming from the ground

inside The Wheel. Some feel a building, palpable
energy of love and sharing from those gathered
in this Sacred Circle. Those who are shy, uptight,
or closed minded may not feel anything in particular.
Our experience has been that some people who
had been previously unable to feel energy open
within somehow during a Wheel Ceremony.
Some have reported that participating in a Wheel
Ceremony changed their life.
Spirits in The Mesa Medicine Wheel
Many of us who come to The Mesa feel the
loving presence of the Ancestors, Animal Clan
Spirits, and other Spirit Beings in and around
The Mesa Medicine Wheel. We know that they
come to help us during ceremonies. Some
people have seen or heard them during our
ceremonies or while praying or meditating privately
in the sacred circle. Their essence shows up as
Spirit Orbs in flash photographs. We thank them
for watching over us. Aho! Mitakuye Oyasin!

For more information about The Mesa Medicine

wheel and the Mesa Creative Arts Center, visit
www.mesacreativearts.com

The quadrants were filled with stones matching the Four Directions
colors. After all the quadrants were completed, the pathways were
filled with Pennsylvania red sandstone

A ceremony was done and the sacred circle of stones was created.
The Four Directions poles were made and installed after the Wheel
was complete.

22.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

23.

The great
mystery of the
universe

ho are we? Why are we here? What is the universe? The work of Beth Hoeckel seems
to evoke these age-old questions that have always weighed heavy on us. Her work is
thematicsubjects staring in awe, turned away in wonder, witnessing this great mystery
unfold. Primarily working with mixed-media collages, she effortlessly taps into something
primalthis need of ours to know and make sense of it all. For a moment its as if we almost have
the answer, but in the end, Hoeckel leaves us where we have always been: questioning and on the
cusp of understanding.
The great mystery of the universe is that the great mystery of the universe is the great mystery
of the universe. Thats how the Baltimore-based artist explained it to us. Im not consciously
trying to communicate anything, but I think the mysteriousness of my work speaks to people.
Hoeckel was born and raised in Baltimore USA. She attended Carver Center for Arts magnet high
school, and earned a merit scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. At SAIC she
studied Painting, Photography, and Printmaking and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. A
whirlwind decade was subsequently spent abroad including studies in Japan and Greece followed
by two years living in New York and four in Los Angeles. Beth can currently be found working on
Collage, Mixed Media works, and Photography in Baltimore City.

To see more of Beth Hoeckels work, visit: www.bethhoeckel.com

24.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

25.

Indian Summer, found paper, paste, and acrylic on wood panel. By Beth Hoeckel.

This page: Glacial, found paper, paste, and acrylic on wood panel. By Beth Hoeckel.
Previous page: Moonrise, found paper, paste, and acrylic on wood panel. By Beth Hoeckel.

Relentless Corridors, found paper, paste, and acrylic on wood panel. By Beth Hoeckel.

THE COLORS

Illustration of the color spectrum by Anthony Zinonos, www.AnthonyZinonos.com

28.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

29.

Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet

has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years

FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
Answered by NASA

Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without

much of a whimper because of adequate planning
and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie
special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, wont be the end
of the world as we know. It will, however, be another
winter solstice.
Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the
science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied.
Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there,
the science behind the end of the world quickly
unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline.
Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions
that were frequently asked regarding 2012.
QUESTION: Are there any threats to the Earth
in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will
end in December 2012.
ANSWER: Nothing bad will happen to the Earth
in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for
more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists
worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.
Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the
world will end in 2012?
A: The story started with claims that Nibiru,a
supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians,
is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was
initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing
happened the doomsday date was moved forward to
December 2012. Then these two fables were linked
to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan
calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 hence the
predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.
Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen
wall does not cease to exist after December 31,
the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on
December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the
Mayan long-count period but thenjust as your
calendar begins again on January 1another
long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.
Q: Could phenomena occur where planets align in
a way that impacts Earth?
A: There are no planetary alignments in the next
few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane
in 2012, and even if these alignments were to
occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible.
Each December the Earth and sun align with the
approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but
that is an annual event of no consequence.

example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds

of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to
claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However,
many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-switch
to fool people. They claim a relationship between
the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth,
which does change irregularly, with a magnetic
reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average.
As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesnt
cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal
is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia,
anyway.
Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor
in 2012?
A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts
by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very
rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago,
and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey
called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large
nearEarth asteroids long before they hit.
We have already determined that there are no
threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed
the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the
discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO
Program Office website, so you can see for yourself
that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.
Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted
for 2012?
A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks
approximately every 11 years. Near these activity
peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of
satellite communications, although engineers
are learning how to build electronics that are
protected against most solar storms. But there is
no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar
maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame
and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no
different than previous cycles throughout history.
Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of
pending doomsday?
A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic
changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the
evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional
assertions, whether they are made in books,
movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we
cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible
evidence for any of the assertions made in support
of unusual events taking place in December 2012.

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru

or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth
and threatening our planet with widespread
destruction?
A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets
are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for
these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and
headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012,
astronomers would have been tracking it for at
least the past decade, and it would be visible by
now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist.
Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto
that will remain in the outer solar system; the
closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.
Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the
earths crust does a 180-degree rotation around the
core in a matter of days if not hours?
A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible.
There are slow movements of the continents (for

For more answers, visit www.nasa.gov

30.

Earth Quarterly

Vernal Equinox

31.

WORTH ANOTHER LOOK

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in

Space. 1994, Carl Sagan

Siddhartha. 1951, Hermann Hesse

As Siddhartha left the grove, leaving the Buddha,
the perfect one behind, leaving Govinda behind, he
had the feeling he was also leaving behind in the
grove his life, up to that time, and separating himself
from it. He pondered this feeling, which completely
filled him, as he slowly made his way. He pondered
deeply, sinking down in to the depths of this feeling as
through deep water until he reached the point where
the causes lie, for to know the causes, so it seemed to
him, that is what thinking is, and only in this way, to
feelings become knowledge instead of being wasted.
In this way they become meaningful and begin to
radiate what is within them.
Going slowly along his way, Siddhartha deliberated.
He realized that he was no longer a youth, but had
become a man. He realized that there was one thing
he had left behind, as a snake leaves behind its old
skin. One thing that was no longer in him, that had
accompanied him throughout his youth and been a
part of him: the desire to have a teacher and to hear
teachings. The last teacher he had encountered
on his way he had left. Even him, the highest and
wisest teacher, the most holy one, the Buddha, he had
had to part from him. He had been unable to accept
his teaching. Slower yet, the pondering man walked
asking himself: But now what is it that you are
trying to learn from teachers and teachings, and
what is it that they, though they taught you a lot,
could not teach you? And he found this: It was
the ego, whose meaning and essence of I wanted to
learn. It was the ego that I wanted to get rid of, to
overcome. But I was unable to overcome it, I could only
trick it, could only elude it, only hide from it. In truth,
nothing in the world has occupied my thoughts so
much as my ego. This enigma that I am alive, that I am
unique and separate and distinct from all others, that
I am Siddhartha! And there is nothing in this world
I know less about than about me, than Siddhartha!
The slowly walking thinker came to a halt altogether,
captured by his last thought, and immediately
from this thought another sprang. A new thought,
which was this: That I know nothing of myself, that
Siddhartha remains so alien and unknown to me.
There is one cause from this, just one: I was afraid
of myself, I was running away from myself! I was
looking for Atman, I was looking for Brahman, I
was determined to tear my ego apart, to peel it layer
by layer, in order to find in its unknown innards, the
pith behind all of the husks, Atman, life, the divine,
the ultimate. But in the process, I myself got lost.
Siddhartha opened his eyes and looked around him,
a smile spread over his face and a profound sensation
of awakening from long dream filled him down to his
toes. Immediately he resumed walking, walking fast
like a man who knows what it is he has to do. Oh,
he thought, taking deep breaths, now I will not let
Siddhartha slip away from me again! No more will
the point of departure from my thinking and my life
be Atman and the suffering of the world. I will no
longer kill myself and tear myself to pieces, trying
to find the secret beneath the rubble. The Yoga-Veda
will teach me no longer, nor the Atharva-Veda, nor
the ascetics, nor any other teaching. I will learn from
myself, be my own student. I will learn about myself,
about the mystery of Siddhartha.

Look again at that dot. Thats here. Thats home.

Thats us. On it everyone you love, everyone you
know, everyone you ever heard of, every human
being who ever was, lived out their lives. The
aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of
confident religions, ideologies, and economic
doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and
coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization,
every king and peasant, every young couple in love,
every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor
and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt
politician, every superstar, every supreme leader,
every saint and sinner in the history of our species
lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.
Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those
generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph,
they could become the momentary masters of a
fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited
by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the
scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other
corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how
eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their
hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the
delusion that we have some privileged position in the
Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping
cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness,
there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to
save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor
life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future,
to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle,
not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where
we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and
character-building experience. There is perhaps no
better demonstration of the folly of human conceits
than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it
underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly
with one another, and to preserve and cherish the
pale blue dot, the only home weve ever known.

Gaias Garden, A Guide To Home-Scale

Permaculture. 2009, Toby Hemenway
An ugly landscape cramps the soul, while a beautiful
one invites, relaxes, and heals the viewer. Yet a garden
that is designed only to look pretty barely skims the
surface of what landscapes can offer. A place designed
according to principles deeper than those of surface
appearance can still be beautiful but will also shelter
wildlife, feed people and animals, purify the air and
water, store carbon, and be an asset to Earth.
No human designed an alpine meadow, a tropical
forest, or a creek-side grotto, yet these wild landscapes
are never ugly. They follow a larger natural order that
seems to ensure beauty. In the previous chapter we
began to glimpse a few aspects of natures order. Now
we can use these principles and patterns of nature to
design our gardens.
A natural landscape is patterned in ways that harvest
the energy (sun, wind, heat) and matter (water and
nutrients) that flow through it, casting a living net
that collects these resources and shuttles them into
myriad cycles that transform them into more life.
Nearly everything that enters a natural landscape
is captured and used, absorbed and reincarnated
into vibrant biodiversity. Anything produced in that
landscape, from by-products such as sugary root
secretions to wastes such as manure and molted
insect casings, is recycled, swallowed up again,
and reincorporated into new living tissue. And the
landscape learns as it goes, selecting and improving
the patterns that work best. Each captured bit helps
build and refine a network that gets better than before
at catching what comes its way.
Billions of years of evolution have left few loose ends
in nature. One creatures waste is anothers food. Nearly
every niche is tightly held, every habitat is packed full
of interconnected species. Anything faintly resembling
a resource will be used: if one species cant use it,
another will.
It is this interconnectednessthis linking of one
species outputs to anothers inputs- that we seek
to re-create in the ecological garden. Unfortunately,
we dont have billions of years to wait while our
gardens evolve to the immense webiness of the
natural landscape. But we have another tool: our
creative minds. We can consciously evaluate the pieces
of our landscape and use permaculture.

One Mans Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey.

1999, Sam Keith/Richard Proenneke

Anthem. 1938, Ayn Rand

We look ahead, we beg our heart for guidance in
answering this call no voice has spoken, yet we have
heard. We look upon our hands. We see the dust of
centuries, the dust which hid the great secrets and
perhaps great evils. And yet it stirs no fear within our
heart, but only silent reverence and pity.
May knowledge come to us! What is the secret our
heart has understood and yet will not reveal to us,
although it seems to beat as if it were endeavoring to
tell it?
I am. I think. I will.
My hands . . . My spirit . . . My sky . . . My forest . . . This
earth of mine. . . . What must I say besides? These are
the words. This is the answer.
I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift
my head and I spread my arms. This, my body and
spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the
meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find
a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and
no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant
and the sanction.
It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants
beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the
hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my
mind which thinks, and the judgement of my mind is
the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my
will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the
only edict I must respect.
Many words have been granted me, and some are
wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: I
will it!
Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me;
the guiding star and the loadstone which point the
way. They point in but one direction. They point to
me.
I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core
of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in
eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know
what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my
happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My
happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It
is its own goal. It is its own purpose.
Neither am I the means to any end others may wish
to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not
a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their
wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.
I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and
keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine
to kneel before!

Needs? I guess thats what bothers so many folks. They

keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on
too many things and too many other people. . . Funny
thing about comfortone mans comfort is another
mans misery. Most people dont work hard physically
anymore, and comfort is not easy to find. It is surprising
how comfortable a hard bunk can be after you come
down off a mountain.
What a man never has, he never misses. I learned
something from the big game animals. Their food is
pretty much the same day to day. I dont vary my fare
too much either, and Ive never felt better in my life. I
dont confuse my digestive system, I just season simple
food with hunger. Food is fuel, and the best fuel I have
found is oatmeal and all the stuff you can mix with
it, like raisins and honey and brown sugar; meat and
gravy and sourdough biscuits to sop up the juices with;
a kettle of beans you can dip into every day; rice or
spuds with fish, and some fresh greens now and then.

The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times. 2001, Pema Chodron
At the beginning joy is just a feeling that our
own situation is workable. We stop looking for a
more suitable place to be. Weve discovered that the
continual search for something better does not work
out. This doesnt mean that there are suddenly flowers
growing where before there were only rocks. It means
we have confidence that something will grow here.

A Separate Reality: Further Conversations With

Don Juan. 1971, Carlos Castaneda
To be a warrior you have to be crystal clear.
My acts are sincere but they are only the acts of an actor
because everything I do is controlled folly. Everything I
do in regard to myself and my fellow men is folly, because
nothing matters.
Certain things in your life matter to you because theyre
important; your acts are certainly important to you,
but for me, not a single thing is important any longer,
neither my acts nor the acts of any of my fellow men. I
go on living though, because I have my will . Because I
have tempered my will throughout my life until its neat
and wholesome and now it doesnt matter to me that
nothing matters. My will controls the folly of my life.
Once a man learns to see he finds himself alone in
the world with nothing but folly. Your acts, as well as
the acts of your fellow men in general, appear to be
important to you because you have learned to think
they are important.
We learn to think about everything, and then we train
our eyes to look as we think about the things we look
at. We look at ourselves already thinking that we are
important. And therefore weve got to feel important!
But then when a man learns to see , he realizes that he
can no longer think about the things he looks at, and
if he cannot think about what he looks at everything
becomes unimportant. Everything is equal and therefore
unimportant.
We need to look with our eyes to laugh. When our eyes
see , everything is so equal that nothing is funny. My
laughter, as well as everything I do is real but it also is
controlled folly because it is useless; it changes nothing and yet I still do it.
One must always choose the path with heart in order to
be at ones best, perhaps so one can always laugh.
You dont understand me now because of your habit
of thinking as you look and thinking as you think. By
thinking I mean the constant idea that we have of
everything in the world. Seeing dispels that habit and
until you learn to see you will not really understand
what I mean.
Our lot as men is to learn. I have learned to see
and I tell you that nothing really matters. A man
of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about
acting, nor by thinking about what he will think
when he has finished acting. A man of knowledge
chooses a path with heart and follows it; and then he
looks and rejoices and laughs; and then he sees and
knows. He knows that his life will be over altogether
too soon; he knows that he, as well as everybody else,
is not going anywhere; he knows, because he sees,
that nothing is more important than anything else.

A CONSTELLATION OF RELATIONSHIPS
HAS BROUGHT US TOGETHER

ISSUE 2 CONTRIBUTORS
Ryan Anzures, Laina Briedis , Jesse Draxler, Beth Hoeckel, NASA, Carl Sagan,
Brad and Kate Silberberg, Carly Waito, Anthony Zinonos
EARTH is published independently by Vincent Pacheco, Seattle, WA. USA.
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