Creating Gaia Culture

Humanity stands at the threshold of a new phase of Earth’s planetary evolution. Breathtaking possibilities – in tune with the evolutionary path of the universe – are now available. Yet the question arises: Does humanity have the ideas, foresight and potential for action that could create a culture that corresponds to the planet’s transformation? In the midst of distressing ecological crises, Marko Pogačnik offers fresh hope. Having worked intensively in the fields of holistic ecology (geomancy) and Earth-healing for four decades, he now formulates a vision of a culture based on co-creation with Gaia (the Earth), her elemental worlds and beings from parallel evolutions. Creating Gaia Culture is also a workbook, featuring dozens of drawings and meditative exercises to help transcend mental obstacles by cultivating the quality of living imagination. Pogačnik – UNO Goodwill Ambassador and UNESCO Artist for Peace – presents numerous ways to collaborate with the process of creating Gaia culture. He allows us to look into the primeval source of the future by interpreting the ancient book of the biblical Apocalypse – a text that holds the secret of Earth changes in a coded vision of a new human civilization – and uses his experiences, visions, dream stories and communications with beings from parallel worlds to trigger pictures that can enable a new human culture become a tactile reality. ‘The only path that makes sense is to reconnect with the essence of life and embrace a loving partnership with Gaia, Earth. This path involves a challenging transformation of our current cultures and may provoke changes in many aspects of the embodied world as we know it, as we continue to evolve into the future.’

Humanity stands at the threshold of a new phase of Earth’s planetary evolution. Breathtaking possibilities – in tune with the evolutionary path of the universe – are now available. Yet the question arises: Does humanity have the ideas, foresight and potential for action that could create a culture that corresponds to the planet’s transformation? In the midst of distressing ecological crises, Marko Pogačnik offers fresh hope. Having worked intensively in the fields of holistic ecology (geomancy) and Earth-healing for four decades, he now formulates a vision of a culture based on co-creation with Gaia (the Earth), her elemental worlds and beings from parallel evolutions. Creating Gaia Culture is also a workbook, featuring dozens of drawings and meditative exercises to help transcend mental obstacles by cultivating the quality of living imagina­tion. Pogačnik – UNO Goodwill Ambassador and UNESCO Artist for Peace – presents numerous ways to collaborate with the process of creating Gaia culture. He allows us to look into the primeval source of the future by interpreting the ancient book of the biblical Apocalypse – a text that holds the secret of Earth changes in a coded vision of a new human civilization – and uses his experiences, visions, dream stories and communications with beings from parallel worlds to trigger pictures that can enable a new human culture become a tactile reality. ‘The only path that makes sense is to reconnect with the essence of life and embrace a loving partnership with Gaia, Earth. This path involves a challenging transformation of our current cultures and may provoke changes in many aspects of the embodied world as we know it, as we continue to evolve into the future.’

A unique book that takes the reader into the depths and mysteries of creating a wondrous people-initiated economic plan grounded in centuries of cultural and ecological wisdom. In a tapestry of factual and everyday events, the author makes a well-reasoned argument that we first need to address culture, then a sustainable lifestyle, then ecology, and finally economics. The author strongly reasons that this paradigm in the current century has been reversed by all the countries of the world. The authors compelling argument makes the reader ask some thought-provoking questions: Is our present state of affairs increasing costs in all areas of the economy? Is our system of education placing a distorted emphasis in creating an army of misplaced problem solvers? Is this the right approach? What is cultural economy? Is a culture-based economy better than a consumer economy? The adventure-filled story telling in this book is a blend of the ancient wisdom of the East with suggestions to using the right sources of practical technological wisdom from the East and the West. It takes the current state of our affairs and economic planning and simply turns the current logic on its head. The reader finds several clues on how to implement and create a people-initiated economic plan without necessarily changing his or her current station in life. The beauty of the book is that any person can help create a technological culture that is aligned with nature and ecology. A scholarly book that offers a fascinating reading, as pleasant as reading a novel.

Cultural Contact explores adaptation, resistance and reciprocity in Axial-Age Mediterranean exchange, a discussion begun in antiquity. Real progress requires relearning the Mediterranean as a historical system. These essays illustrate the problems such study must overcome.

How have the goddesses of ancient myth survived, prevalent even now as literary and cultural icons? How do allegory, symbolic interpretation, and political context transform the goddess from her regional and individual identity into a goddess of philosophy and literature? Emilie Kutash explores these questions, beginning from the premise that cultural memory, a collective cultural and social phenomenon, can last thousands of years. Kutash demonstrates a continuing practice of interpreting and allegorizing ancient myths, tracing these goddesses of archaic origin through history. Chapters follow the goddesses from their ancient near eastern prototypes, to their place in the epic poetry, drama and hymns of classical Greece, to their appearance in Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy, Medieval allegory, and their association with Christendom. Finally, Kutash considers how goddesses were made into Jungian archetypes, and how some contemporary feminists made them a counterfoil to male divinity, thereby addressing the continued role of goddesses in perpetuating gender binaries.

Sacred Groves, Cultural Ecosystems and Conservation addresses the increasing contemporary relevance of ecosystems being depleted at an alarming rate worldwide. The purpose of this collection of essays is to bring together different perspectives on sacred groves in the context of the cultural and spiritual dimensions of biodiversity conservation. In offering an experience of sacred natural sites in varied cultural contexts of Africa and Asia, it raises a common concern for natural resource management. Based on the long-term research of the contributing authors, the nine chapters reflect a continuous process of redefining sacred spaces within an interdisciplinary framework grounded on existing literature and ethnographic field research. The highlight of the discourse is the complex interactions and negotiations between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’; which brings center-stage the subject of sacred status that communities have given to nature. This book will be of interest to researchers and general audience alike interested and concerned with earth ecosystems and the spiritual world, creating a space for critical enquiry and future hopes in the face of threatening habitat loss.

Folktales in India have been told, heard, read and celebrated for many centuries. In breaking new ground, Indian folktales have been reread and examined in the light of the Mother Earth discourse as it manifests in the lifeworlds of women, nature and language. The book introduces ecofeminist criticism and situates it within an innovative folktale typology to connect women and environment through folklore. The book proposes an innovative paradigm inspired by the beehive to analyze motifs, relationships, concerns, worldviews and consciousness of indigenous women and men who live close to nature as well as other socially marginalized groups. In the current global context fraught with challenges for ecology and hopes for sustainable development, this book with its interdisciplinary approach will interest scholars and researchers of literature, environmental studies, gender studies and cultural anthropology.

The most comprehensive resource available on creation myths from around the world—their narratives, themes, motifs, similarities, and differences—and what they reveal about their cultures of origin. ABC-CLIO's breakthrough reference work on creation beliefs from around the world returns in a richly updated and expanded new edition. From the Garden of Eden, to the female creators of Acoma Indians, to the rival creators of the Basonge tribe in the Congo, Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia, Second Edition examines how different cultures explain the origins of their existence. Expanded into two volumes, the new edition of Creation Myths of the World begins with introductory essays on the five basic types of creation stories, analyzing their nature and significance. Following are over 200 creation myths, each introduced with a brief discussion of its culture of origin. At the core of the new edition is its enhanced focus on creation mythology as a global human phenomenon, with greatly expanded coverage of recurring motifs, comparative themes, the influence of geography, the social impact of myths, and more.