Eleventh Quarterly Newsletter from the Ziraat Council

FANA-FI-GAIA

Beltane, May 1, 2024

11th Quarterly from the Ziraat Council

Note from the Council

Maitreya Jon Stevens

At 8:31 am, an eastern cottontail rabbit exits its lakeside burrow and hops over a downed tree limb. It begins to chew a soft leaf.

At 11:05 am, a mallard duck flies through an intersection of two roads. The traffic light is green. Phew.

At 11:42 am, a common gallinule runs across the surface of a lake before making the decision to fly or swim. It decides to swim.

A very warm greeting to you, readers of Fana-fi-Gaia, as we arrive at the midway point between the equinoxes and solstices in all hemispheres of the world. As it is always sunrise somewhere, it is sunset somewhere else. Just as winter recedes from some lands, it is arriving in another place.

The mallard duck traveled through the intersection just before the traffic light turned red. Awaiting cars then began their turn of filing through the intersection. Apparently ducks are able to follow traffic laws just like (most) humans. This duck reminds us that we are all subject to numerous laws of the natural world, simple extensions of larger laws governing all the worlds. They can be studied with teachers and in books, learned in the school of life, and applied or ignored. Ducks spend much time in repose, which is how I suspect this duck stayed up to date on human traffic laws.

And that eastern cottontail rabbit? Emerging one hour and thirty-two minutes after the sun rose? Was it a teenager sleeping in? Judgments and stories fill my head when I interact with the world. Stories kindle more stories, and then one forgets that there is a rabbit eating a tasty

leaf mere inches from one's foot. The invitation is to de-story. The rabbit isn't caught in stories as its ears are constantly adjusting themselves so that it knows the exact location of a strolling cat two houses away. Awareness unburdened leads to the tastiest morsels of truth and knowledge for all.

The common gallinule ran across the water for a better part of three seconds. We can tread water for only so long, but not as long as this yellow-footed sprinter. It seems we begin treading water when we get out of rhythm of our daily lives. If we don't take flight with those wings extending from our hearts, we'll splash in the water for a good swim (or sink). Either way, we gain perspective and can renew our quest to find and live out our unique rhythm for the moment. This gallinule is preparing for big things to come, like all of us.

At this cross-quarter day, Beltane, we can be in repose and study the laws, we can release stories about others and ourselves such that unburdened awareness may surface, and we can seek out the rhythm unique to us in this moment.

Maitreya, on behalf of the Ziraat Council

Excerpt from Ziraat Reader

Nature’s Rhythms and Feminine Spirituality

by Rabia Clark

From Ziraat reader Part 2 (pg89-90)

Women are naturally spiritual, if by spiritual we mean in touch with the rhythms of nature and having a sense of the sacredness of life. Down to our very cells, we respond to the ebb and flow of the tides of the moon in a cyclical shedding and replacing of the lining of the womb. Month by month, year by year, women may spend 40 years in this rhythmical dance, responding to inner necessity as well as balancing our bodies with those of other women around us. In meditation communities where there is a celibacy and a vegetarian diet, many women gradually stop menstruating, no longer captive to the restless egg-making that ties us to our animal sisters.

Ziraati Changemakers

Matin Alfredo Salazar (Ecuador)

A little more than two years ago I decided to get closer to nature, the countryside, the mountains and all the life that inhabits them. This radical change meant going from being a completely urban dweller to living in a country environment, driven by a passion that I had left in the background for decades but that had always been latent in me: painting. However, what I express through naturalistic art goes beyond the artistic expression, as its purpose is to raise awareness about the importance of caring for the life that surrounds us.

My training and experience as a biologist and filmmaker specialized in nature have left a significant imprint in my first works, which I now share with you. I have started with illustrations of birds that inhabit the inter-Andean valleys of Ecuador and birds of the Andean Choco, which dazzle with their explosion of colors and shapes. The thematic collections grew with the addition of the Andean bear, Amazonian birds and a first series dedicated to Galapagos species -the result of the first two years of immersion in this new environment. Likewise, I have started a series devoted to farm animals, with the intention of highlighting their value and contribution to our daily lives.

Along with my colleague Catalina and her daughter Isabella, we will gradually share more of this vast world of painting, which will cover from portraits and landscapes to flowers and nudes. Our current family challenge is to be able to live in wellness through art.

Keeping Up

Jane Goodall is world-famous for her work with chimpanzees. Now her focus has turned to a different crowd

The 90-year-old legendary primatologist is empowering the next generation of environmental changemakers.

Read about Roots & Shoots from CNN: https://apple.news/AxmfzadQGQNeIuKw3qPxJww

Marc Bekoff (Author of The Emotional Lives of Animals and many other books) giving an interview about his new book Jane Goodall at 90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUTrAvtKqlY&t=543s

Practice

From the Ziraat website

Elemental Purification Breaths

From the Sufi tradition as originally taught by Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan.

The Sacred Manuscript of Nature

A suggested daily Ziraat practice is to find time every day to be in the Holy Book of nature.

Wood Stork in repose

photo by Maitreya

Vultures and metal bird

photo by Maitreya