Norwegian Sage Apothecary : An Organic Love Affair

~ A N O R G A N I C L O V E A F F A I R ~

The Norwegian Sage Apothecary is now open for orders. It’s been a wild and nourishing harvest ~ and the spirits of nature are eager to serve body, mind and soul…

The elixirs are pure gifts from nature, soul medicine from the depths of my heart, a coming of my own love affair with the wild weeds and landscapes. They are distillations of our nordic ecology, answers to imbalances and guardians of connection ~ seeking to support our sensory journey into wholeness and health.

I began making these remedies for my self and the rituals I offer in my practice, and have expanded the cabinet upon demand from clients. My favourite is the St. John’s Wart, Almond and Sandalwood Body Oul, activated by fire ~ serving our serotoning and self care rituals in the winter months..

Stay tuned for posts and contents about the individual products and their benefits.

With love,

C

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T I N C T U R E S & E L I X I R S

~ St. John’s Wort Tincture (30 and 50 ml)

~ Wild Nettle Tincture (30 ml)

~ Dandelion Root Tincture (30 ml)

~ Ashwaganda Tincture (30ml)

~ Chaga Tincture (30ml)

~ Mugwort Tincture (30 and 50ml)

~ Yarrow Tincture (30 ml)

R I T U A L O I L S

~ St. John’s Wort & Almond Body Oil (100ml)

~ St. John’s Wort, Sandalwood & Almond Body Oil (100ml)

~ Wild Rose & Olive Ritual Body Oil (50ml)

~ Lavender, Frankincense and Olive Body Oil (100 ml)

~ Calendula & Almond Body Oil (50ml)

~ Bliss Balm: Almond, Calendula and St. John’s Wort with organic beeswax

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*Limited stock. Clients have first choice of products. The flower essences are taking some time to develop, but will be ready in November.

**All products are harvested in the wild and made with organic oils, alcohol or beeswax.

***I am available for online and physical sessions if you are curious about their use.

**** You can also purchase Medicine Kit Gift Cards on www.norwegiansage.com

#ecotherapy #naturalmedicine #nordicmedice #wild #raw #kami #power

Resurrecting Our Nordic Rites of Passage

All the answers we need can be found in Nature.. Today I had the honour of guiding a ritual for Ida to mark her 40 years around the Sun and a transition into conscious queendom and feminine sovereignty. We wandered the forests of Bygdøy supported by ecotherapy practices to connect to the sensory truth and timeless wisdom of each present moment and deep breath. The journey was inspired by Ida’s Life Work Gene Key 61 - The Holy of Holiest.

The dance of fire and water led our way through the white landscape, and we broke out in ecstacy to witness the sacred geometry of the hundered of snowstars that melted on our skin. Between glowing pines, faded jade moss and steaming cups of local tea, our original condition was restored and red roses blossomed on our cheeks.

Slowly and steadily, we are bringing back our traditional rites of passage to mark the transition between different phases in our lives. In today’s society many people lose themselves in these transitions, since we have lost many of our traditional healing arts and practices of our local cultures and land.

The rites serve to cultivate deeper self-trust, responsibility, and a personal understanding of one’s unique purpose in society and the natural world. They are also portals to the archetypal elements of Nature and can be passed from one generation to the next, in a flow that evokes the continuity of life and reminds us of our place in the Great Mystery.

Creating a Rite of Passage is a also way to nurture a sense of renewal and belonging to inner and outer nature, rekindle our connection with our ancestors, weave us deeper into a sense of guardianship of Nature, and help us recalibrate our centre and make sense of change on a planet in rapid transformation.

To request your own Rite of Passage or read more about my work with Pathfinding and Medicine Journeys, see http://www.norwegiansage.com/pathfinding

Advent in the North ~ Awaiting the Return of the Sun God/dess

The word 'advent' derives from latin 'adventus', meaning arrival, or approach. In the Christian tradition this is the period of the great waiting - for the arrival of the holy Son into the world. Long before the time of Jesus however, communities world wide spent the period before Winter Solstice (this year on December 21st) honouring the coming of the light.

In the Arctic territories, stretching over the four countries Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, the sun in winter does not even reach the horizon. In Northern mythology, the Sun was seen as a goddess riding the heavenly skies, disappearing in the dark months, and returning with new life in the spring. For the Sami, the indigenous people of the Nordic countries, her name is Beaivi. She is the mother of fertility, raindeer and of plants. And since the early Neolithic age, nomadic tribes across the northern hemisphere have also paid tribute to the female raindeer, the 'life giving mother', as she was the leader of the herds upon which they depended for survival. 

Advent for me has become a time for bridging the ancient and modern traditions with the simple message of seeing the light in darkness. Awareness of humanity’s deep, inner connections with the rhythms of the natural world. Honouring the potential of the seeds of light we have collected in the summer months. As autumn gives way to winter, and the quiet deepens and settles over the villages, we move into a time of silent warmth. This is also a time for moving our attention inwards, for reflection, and for honouring and kindling the light, flames and sparks inside each and every one of us. 

In Norway, where I grew up, this would be the day for lighting the first of four candles, counting down the days to the arrival of the Light. Gathering friends around a fire, maybe even make a Sacred Spiral with pine branches or dry leaves, an anthroposophic advent tradition honouring the four kingdoms of the world, and the four virtues of peace, faith, hope and charity. 

Tonight, in Nepal, I am placing four candles in the centre of the crystal mandala, and singing first verse of the beautiful tune that goes with the tradition, which I now call the ‘Boddhisattva Advent Song’: 

Tenn lys!
Et lys skal brenne for denne lille jord.
Den blanke himmelstjerne, der vi og alle bor.
Må alle dele håpet så gode ting kan skje.
Må jord og himmel møtes. Et lys er tent for det. 

//

Light the candle!
One candle will burn, for this small earth. 
For this beaming star of the sky that we call our home. 
May all beings share the hope that good things can come about. 
May earth and heaven meet. For this, one light is lit.

 ✡
 

I also love this poem by Rudolf Steiner, honouring the natural elements: 

“The first light of Advent is the light of stones.
Stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones.

The second light of Advent is the light of plants.
Roots, stem, leaf, flower and fruit by whom we live and grow.

The third light of Advent is the light of beasts.
Animals of farm, field, forest, air and sea.
All await the birth in greatest and in least.

The fourth light of Advent is the light of humankind. 
The light of love, the light of thought, to give and to understand.”

If Women Rose Rooted - Unearthing Our Heroines

Spending Easter/Eostre deep down in myths, folklore and poetry, looking out over the Himalayan mountain range. Today - If Women Rose Rooted, by Sharon Blackie, about how to transform 'the wastelands of modern society to a place of nourishment and connection', by resurrecting and reinventing the narratives that make up our cultural and bioregional foundations.

Stories matter. From an early age, we make sense of the world and make up our identities through the sharing and passing of stories. The stories of our ancestors were inherited, and many were about heroes who went off on adventure to save a woman from dark forces, and rescue the kingdom. In our surviving mythology, literature and culture, women are often seen as innocent, helpless maidens or alluring, mischievous temptresses needing to be saved or confined, when they used to take the centre stage as guardians and protectors of nature.

Joseph Campell says “Women don’t need to make the hero’s journey. In the whole mythological journey, the woman is there. All she has to realise that she’s the place that people are trying to get to.” With all due respect, he’s missing the point. In the heroine’s journey, it’s not about slaying the dragon, and returning home. It is about uncovering and passing on our authentic values, and waking up to the creative feminine power which will in turn balance the scale of planetary equilibrium.

I would like to see a movement where women and communities revive the stories that have shaped their cultures, tales of how to live in harmony with the land. Freya, Durga, Kali, Huldra, Reina de Floresta, Rán. Stories of wise and powerful females in native mythology, combined with modern environmental literature. Time to unearth the goddesses of the Northern/Scandinavian/Celtic mythological lineage and unleash the heroines of our folklore.

“If women remember that once upon a time we sang with the tongues of seals and flew with the wings of swan, that we forged our paths through the dark forest while creating a community of its many inhabitants, then we will rise up rooted, like trees.” - SB

“Refusing to confine itself in the whalebone corset of national borders, the ‘Celtic fringe’ - made up of specific regions of the countries which stretch along the western oceanic coastline of Europe - binds together richly diverse populations with a strong thread of collective cultural identity. That thread isn’t founded on tribalism or nationalism, not is it about genetics. These entanglements emerge from shared history, mythology and common belief systems; they arise out of a common landscape and environment which brought about a highly distinctive pan-Celtic culture that is rooted in intense feelings of belonging to place”. (Ibid.)

Who are the divine, powerful women of your culture? Which nature-dancers will be of inspiration to the next generations?What will be the storyline of the eco-heroine's journey?

Illustration by Elisabeth Alba picturing the Scandinavian water-goddess Rán, guardian of the Northern seas.

Biointensive Organic Farming in Patalekhet Village

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Photos and text: Caroline Hargreaves

"The biodiversity crisis, which presents us with dangers as profound and costly as climate change does, demands the creation of an equal and corresponding political will to act. The environment is the economy. No problem – not poverty, not climate changes, not the economic downturn – can be addressed without simultaneously restoring the systems that are life itself. We must look to what is left of our planet. In rewilding, we have dreamed up the ways and means to keep it alive. Now, we must only connect." - Caroline James

This is Judith. Judith is a systems-restorer. Wise. Wild. A seeder and grower of tree. Of light.

In this series of deep green initiatives in Nepal, we continue our journey to 'Everyday Organic', a green haven supplying and growing vegetables, trees, and herbs near Patalekhet village in Kavre district. From 1987 to 1994, the American couple Jim and Judith lived in Gamcha village near Thimi, promoting local ceramics and experimenting with organic farming between California and Kathmandu.

Today's nursery 'Everything Organic', was established in 2010, and aims to reinvigorate the wealth and health of traditional Nepali rural life and promoting this lifestyle to young nepalis by combining ancient practices with new approaches and techniques for organic farming. Nepal, which is still suffering after the earthquakes of 2015, has a vast potential for the production of organic produce. Sadly, decades of pesticides and chemical fertilizers have polluted the soil. The effect has now been directly linked to disease and poor health conditions amongst farming working directly with the substances in the surrounding areas.

Judith's farm demonstrates and teaches biointensive organic farming, which produces particularly large and healthy yields. In seven years, Oma has trained over 200 local farmers, mostly women, and over 50 of them have since adopted the organic practices. Her colleagues Binod and Shyam are spreading the knowledge across the country. Through their work, they are reconnecting with the soil, so that the dependent and destructive habits of chemical fertilizers can be eliminated and the production increased.

Working and cooperating with the local communities on marketing, trading of saplings and produce also inspires a new form of economic collaboration which strengthens and decentralises the local units. The trade of seedlings, food and wisdom between geographical communities is already part of the new economy of Nepal. Is it part of yours?

The farm has also experimented extensively with composting, water irrigation and pest control, and believes in sharing their findings with environmental activists around the world. In the following sheets, you can learn about:

• Sheet composting bed for soil improvement and high yield

• Making a 2 foot/5 level deep bed

• Daniel Bakaino, a local indigenous pesticidial herb to protect the plants from insects

• Organic Composting

• Ideal root depth for vegetables

• Urine composting

• Ghitmal, a local, liquid microbial plant and soil nutrient

Redefining Sustainability - what are the key features a life-centered economy?

Socially responsible entrepreneurs proclaim that sustainable business will save the world. Bureaucrats in the World Bank promote sustainable development in developing countries. Organic farmers describe their practices as sustainable agriculture. But when we shed of all the superficial layers, what is sustainability really about? Roar Bjonnes reflects on the innate meaning of the concept and sketches out some key features of a life-centered economy. 

Sustainability - an industrial system mirroring nature?
The word sustainability refers to a 'system of agriculture or business that, ideally, does not harm the environment in its pursuit of growth'. To industrial ecologist William McDonough, sustainability refers to a “closed loop” or “cradle to cradle” business in which all the effluent waste is recycled back into the production process. In other words, an industrial system that mirrors the way nature works. Historically, it was the United Nations that first started using the term sustainable development. The influential, UN sponsored Brundtland Report, issued in 1987, declared that the answer to our environmental and economic problems is “sustainable development.” Since then, sustainable development has come to mean different things to different people–from organic farming to fair trade, from small businesses that recycle their waste paper to large, polluting corporations who want to show the world they have “green” intentions.

Corporate Unsustainable Development
Dole is a good example of the last category business. With $5.1 billion in revenues, Dole is the world’s largest producer and marketer of conventional fruit and vegetables. Dole is also the world’s largest user of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Dole is therefore not exactly a sustainable company. According to Sharon Hayes, Dole’s director of environmental affairs, however, the company has a “commitment to environmental leadership and consumer choice.”What Hayes refers to is that Dole has a “sustainable branch” that grows organic bananas and other fruits. But many environmentalists call this “green washing.” That is, Dole has no real intention of becoming a sustainable company, it simply wants tocapitalize on the highly profitable market of organic foods. Thus the irony: while Dole’s organic bananas are eaten by health conscious Americans driving gas guzzling SUV’s, the workers in Peru and Ecuador growing these fruits do not even make a living wage.

Dole is not alone in showing its “green face” these days. Many multinational corporations have similar campaigns. One may argue that these incremental steps toward sustainability are favourable. But in reality, the sustainable development practices among corporations today are, for the most part, not very sustainable, neither environmentally nor economically. The main reason for this is that it is profit (the bottom line), not sustainability (the second bottom line), that drives the growth of these corporations.

Almost two decades after the Brundtland Report–as both material and spiritual poverty has increased dramatically–it is clear that deeper solutions are needed. Indeed, many critics maintain that the current sustainable development model maintains many of the fatal flaws of the neo-liberal or capitalist development paradigm itself. In other words, sustainable development promoted by corporations and by rich western nations has not been able to deliver its much touted promise of a healthier environment and a more equitable economy. In fact, we are in many ways much worse off today than in 1987.

Green Sustainability
Because of capitalism’s apparent failures, many environmental activists and thinkers such as Paul Hawken, David Korten and Lester Brown have realized the need to move away from a purely capitalist and materialist economy. Paul Hawken has thus developed what he calls “natural capitalism.” David Korten has advanced a new economic model he terms “people centred economics.” Lester Brown is a spokesperson for a new “eco-economy.”

All of these models have much in common, including decentralized economics, green taxes, economic equity, etc. What they also have in common is that they want to reform rather than replace the capitalist model. They do not offer a new economic paradigm. Despite their many progressive and well meaning facets, all of the new sustainability models operate within the framework of capitalism. But can sustainable capitalism really be sustainable?

Progressive Utilization Theory and Sustainability
Progressive Utilization Theory, also known by the acronym PROUT, is a collection of socioeconomic and political ideas created by Indian philosopher Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, envisioning "a decentralized, community-based world economy of self-sufficiency; economic democracy; small business; and limits on the accumulation of wealth." From a PROUT perspective even the most idealistic sustainable models will inevitably confront capitalism’s inherent contradiction: that self-interest and profit are the main drives of the economy and also the main causes of economic exploitation and environmental degradation.

Sarkar explains: “The contradictions in capitalism are due to the self-centered profit motivated psychology and the accumulation of wealth for the benefit of a few rather than for the welfare of all. Hence, capitalism is not congenial to the integrated growth of human progress.” In other words, in a capitalist economy, no matter how green, there will always be a tug of war between the bottom line (profit) and the second bottom line (sustainability). And the bottom line will always win. 

Sarkar’s keen insight into this fundamental flaw of capitalism is the reason why PROUT advocates a radical restructuring of the entire economy. PROUT’s alternative to capitalist reform is its three-tiered structure—small private enterprises, worker owned cooperatives and enterprises owned by state, regional or municipal boards. The inherent problems of profit-motivated greed can thus be checked and balanced by limiting capitalism itself. In other words, without curbing the growth of private capitalism—which is driven by its profit motivation– it will be impossible to maintain social, economic and environmental balance, no matter how “sustainable,” “green” or “natural” the economy is.

Cooperatives and large scale key-industries owned by the state are therefore the main engines of the PROUT economy. PROUT is clearly committed to protecting the environment and supports “closed loop” business practices. Yet PROUT maintains that these ethical and environmental business habits are not enough. The economic structure itself must radically change to end exploitation of both humans and nature. This keen insight is one of many ways in which PROUT-theory can help in the creation of a more sustainable society.To create a sustainable economy, the economy itself must be modelled after both human nature as well as the natural world. Thus, unlike capitalism – which grew out of the social Darwinist dictum of “the survival of the fittest” – the PROUT economy grew out of the realization that human society as well as the ecological order is based on both cooperation and self interest. Sarkar’s PROUT is thus holistic, integral, cooperative and ecological. It is an economy that supports and maintains the growth and balance of the larger whole as well as its individual members, whether people, animals or plants.

Naked Sustainability - key features of a life-centered economy
Neohumanism: Our ecological vision is based on Neohumanism, which proclaims the existential rights of both animals and plants. According to this philosophy, we must redirect our selfish tendencies (which capitalism cultivates to its fullest extreme) toward the development of a deep sense of social equality. Neohumanism also hails that sustainable stewardship of the planet’s resources can best be realized through a spiritual kinship with all beings. The realization of our Cosmic Oneness with all beings must be the underlying dictum of a sustainable society. Without sustainable spirituality there can be no sustainable society.

Progress: True progress is that which leads to spiritual realization and emancipation. Economic and scientific progress is important, but such progress must not come at the expense of nature or the development of culture and spirituality. To PROUT, the role of material development is not just to create more wealth and goods, but to create a conducive environment for spiritual growth, recreation, art and culture. All of these activities rate very high on the personal happiness curve and very low on the environmental destruction curve. Sustainability will thus be achieved when society’s overall goal is spiritual rather than material growth.

Prama: In its optimum, ecological state, nature is in a state of dynamic equilibrium or prama. Progressive Utilization Theory maintains that economics and science must strive towards dynamic equilibrium as well, rather than the false, capitalist notion of “linear and perpetual growth.” In order to create a sustainable world, prama in the physical, mental and spiritual spheres must be established. That is, the interaction between science, politics, culture, economics and ecology must be in a state of dynamic equilibrium.

Decentralization: Progressive Utilization Theory s not the only “green” theory that advocates economic decentralization and local self-sufficiency, as such an economy is much more benign to the environment. Yet PROUT offers a unique approach to decentralization. Based on the formation of socio-economic regions throughout the world, PROUT would decentralize society based on common economic problems and potentialities, ethnic similarities, common geographical features, common language and culture. Within each socioeconomic region, which sometimes would cross national boundaries, there would be “block level planning.” In other words, a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach to planning the relationship between economics, culture and natural resources. International products will be replaced with local products, energy use for transportation will go down, and pollution will be dramatically reduced.

Production for consumption, not profit: A consumption economy is an integral aspect of PROUT’s decentralized economy and should not be confused with a profit-oriented consumer economy. A consumption economy is an economy where goods are produced as per people’s needs. A consumer economy is an economy where goods are produced and sold solely for profit. Since the consumption economy’s main goal is to satisfy basic human needs, it also provides the economic security needed for people’s non-material sources of fulfilment—family, community, culture, and spirituality.

Cooperative enterprises: Coops are the cornerstone of the PROUT economy. The Darwinian notion that competition promoted the evolutionary survival of the fittest individual is outdated. New research reveals that evolutionary success had more to do with the survival of the fittest community through interwoven cooperation. Thus cooperation, not competition, must be the cornerstone of a more equitable and sustainable economy.

Eco-villages: Sarkar’s “master units” or eco-villages will serve as micro-level experiments on how to integrate science, economy, culture, spirituality and ecology on both a local and global scale.

Global vision and governance: Decentralization, self-sufficiency, and smaller scale industries do not mean neglecting a global agenda. We need a global movement with at least three separate, yet integrated, goals. 1) A strengthening of the global polity through a gradual replacement of the UN with a global federation, or world government that can safeguard the needs and right of people and the environment. 2) The formation of self-sufficient, socio-economic regions of free and fair trade zones—that is, a global grid of sustainable and self-sufficient trading partners. 3) The development of a global movement rooted in a life-affirming vision of spirituality and oneness with all of creation.

Beyond Sustainable Development - towards a life-centred economy
Sarkar’s model urges us to move “beyond sustainable development” and natural capitalism toward a complete restructuring of the economy based on a spirit-centred vision of progress and economic prosperity. Progressive utilization theory advocates for a development model that is life-centred rather than matter-centred; one that grows from local communities, that is cooperative rather than competitive, one that shares wealth equitably, maintains harmony with the earth, protects local markets, vitalizes local cultures, and makes spirituality the defining context of progress.

Ramesh Bjonnes has a degree in agronomy. He has authored numerous articles on sustainable development issues and is a regular columnist for a Norwegian daily newspaper. Published with permission from the author. The book 'Growing A New Economy' will be available for sale online by December 2016. 

Artemisa Vulgarius (Mugwort, Burot), found on the banks of the Bagmati River, Nepal

The Language of Snow

Today I realised that Norwegians through countless treks into the mountains, have learned to speak the language of snow. In surfing or sailing, you learn to speak to the ocean, you learn the language of the waves. In the mountains, the water takes another shape, and you need to face ice, frost, powder and ‘skare’. ‘Skare’ is a Norwegian word, which means a type of condition where the top layers of snow has frozen to ice, resting on the softer snow underneath.

As you flow down narrow slopes in the wilderness, through pine trees and past frozen lakes, your body will naturally try to keep itself in balance, but like the waves on the open waters, snow is unpredictable. Every small edge and layer of the track calls for a shift in weight and adjustment. From early childhood, we have learned to conquer these conditions by reading and adapting to the constant stream of the snow covered surface passing by underneath our skis.

Adapting to the snow on cross country skis also requires a certain type of wax, from solid to melted. In the stone-age, they used slithers of leather or fur to find the grip, which later evolved to other substances such as tar or resin from pine trees or birch. Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen used liquid stearine under his skis when he trekked over Greenland in 1888. The first know ‘professional’ wax was made in Sierra Nevada in the 1860s, and called Frank Steward's Old Black Dope, containing spermaceti (found in the head cavities of the sperm whale), pine, tar, and camphor.

What blessing to learn the language of the elements, and to go deeper into nature’s shapeshifting qualities. However, as many of the indigenous peoples turn away from traditional lifestyles, the expertise and wisdom held together in both their written and kinetic vocabulary fades. We still have a great deal to remember and to keep alive..

It is a common myth that the inuits have over 200 words for snow. In Western Greenland, for instance, they only use two basic words; qanik which means 'snow in the air', and aput, which means 'snow on the land'. In Northern Canada, they use elaborate terms to describe their frozen landscapes: “aqilokoq” for “softly falling snow” and “piegnartoq” for “the snow that is good for driving sled,” to name just two. The Norwegian indigenous peoples, Samis, were nomads and raindeer herders and therefore needed more words to describe how the snow changed shape, in order to find the best conditions to set up tents and tend to the herds. So fascinating. I wonder how they speak of snow in the Himalayas..

If you set out into the mountains this Easter, reflect on the qualities of the snow on which you are moving, your body's language, and how your mind is constantly working to stabilise on the surface. Maybe there’s a life lesson hiding somewhere in the experience..