tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74689896253198424382024-03-04T21:43:50.871-08:00Cannabis KateJoin me on my cannabis growing and medicine making adventure . . . set in the central valley of California, in a county hostile to Mother Earth's finest medicine.cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-59926234862473768602020-05-10T13:33:00.000-07:002020-08-04T10:28:43.167-07:00Mother's Day in the Lockdown Bubble -- How Our Tribe is Faring based on a Ten Question Survey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The survey says . . . . our tribe is faring farely well. <br />
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I woke at six a.m. this morning to begin analyzing the results of our full moon Covid survey in order to share them with you today, my geek gift to you, this Mothers Day of May, 2020.<br />
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If you haven't taken our Covid-19 lockdown survey, you may do so right <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CG87S2P" target="_blank">here</a> because I will continue to collect responses until I have a larger sample size. It's a simple ten-question survey that takes an average of four minutes to complete. And, when you are done, we kind of have a picture of what's happening to our tribe. One hundred twenty-five people responded. That's enough to draw a picture of what's happening to our tribe, Covid-wise.<br />
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From the 125 respondents (our initial sample survey size), more than 4 of 5 respondents are living in places with lockdown orders in effect. The various answers from those who said neither 'yes', nor 'no', seem to indicate that everyone is living some form of lockdown, some on hard lockdown, some on soft-lockdown, some essential workers living with those on lockdown. It is also interesting that it seems a good number of people who answered don't know their legal lockdown situation and are just locking down to be safe or protect others (the curve flattening thing is working without law enforcement ushering folks home).<br />
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More than half of our respondents are on lockdown with others (54%), while approximately one in four who answered the survey are locked down alone (26%). Twelve percent of the respondents are essential workers and, thus, not locked down. Unlocked up (?) <br />
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Sixty-one percent (nearly 2 of 3) respondents have received lockdown assistance from their governments. <br />
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Approximately 70% of the respondents received stimulus checks (as of May 8th, 2020) and 12% received or will receive unemployment. 3.2% received low-interest loans.<br />
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When eighty percent of the people of our enclave are collecting unemployment, but twelve percent of our respondents indicate they are collecting unemployment, either everyone is working or people just don't know how to go about dealing with our government agencies. I suspect some of the people who aren't getting help don't need the help (like my son who makes a lot of money), and that's fine, but it is sad if people in need aren't getting it because they don't know how to not take no for an answer. <br />
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Sister Mary Ellen: Sister Kate, I tried to file for unemployment and they wouldn't let me.<br />
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Sister Kate: When did you do that, Sister Mary Ellen? <br />
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Sister Mary Ellen: Sunday afternoon.<br />
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Sister Kate: Right, when 30 million other Americans were trying to file? <br />
You try at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning, and then let me know.<br />
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Sister Mary Ellen: Yes, Sister.<br />
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Brother Nix: Sister Kate, I know you said I could file for unemployment, but I can't, because I'm self-employed.<br />
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Sister Kate: Oh for f****'s sake. You don't want the free government money<br />
while you can't run your small business? Did you get wealthy<br />
while I wasn't looking, Brother?<br />
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Brother Nix: No, Sister, (kicking stones with toe of shoes), I just . . .<br />
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Sister Kate: You just go in there again, say you are unemployed, say you worked for<br />
your business, and go through it like that's your money. You know that<br />
is your money, right? You pay taxes, right, Brother?<br />
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Brother Nix: Yes, Sister<br />
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Sister Mary Ellen and Brother Nix got their government assistance for tough Covid-times. And Sister Kate didn't hear from them again. <br />
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Some of the comments made it very clear that people are confused. I tell my folks that if they want that money, they have to show the universe and get up early, try more than once, never take no for an answer. Eight of eight people who applied for unemployment are getting it. The business qualified and got a payroll protection loan from the SBA.<br />
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If you worked 4th quarter 2019 and paid taxes, and you worked 1st quarter 2020 and paid taxes, you should be getting unemployment unless you are wealthy and if you are wealthy, you don't need the help.<br />
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Question 5 How has the lockdown changed my daily work life?<br />
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This is a bad question, or my choices weren't good. With half the respondents replying 'other', I had to count and format the comments resulting from the 'other' category to see where the tribe sits, workwise.<br />
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Approximately 1/5th 'no change, already working from home'. Approximately 1/5th retired, approximately 1/5th working, 15% on furlough (approximately 1/6th), 8% home with the kids (1/12th), and ten percent includes overworked and underworked health care professionals, caretakers and students.<br />
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Question 6 Measuring Transience - Has the lockdown changed your living situation?<br />
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Nearly 82% of the respondents said 'no change' in living situation. That's good. We have seen people coming and going from our place, seeking refuge, seeking solace, and we wondered if it was happening elsewhere. The comments reek with separation sadness, "I can't visit my girlfriend", "I can't see my grandkids", but otherwise, this respondent group has food and shelter, it seems.<br />
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Question #7 - What do you do with your extra time?<br />
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4 of 10 people, according to our small survey, are investing more time in meal planning and cooking, more time in prayer and spirituality, more time cleaning and organizing, and more time sleeping and resting. This is the healing of mind-body-soul going on here, you know, right?<br />
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I know I pray more when certain sisters are cooking. <br />
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I certainly pray more loudly when it is time to clean and organize, kind of like this, "Mother Goddess, don't let me kill the people who mess this up when I'm done."<br />
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The comments that came with Question 7 were like the people they represent. Varied and contrasty.<br />
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From words of hope: life is fair, hang in there, words that make us smile. To words of despair, that call us to prayer . . . "severe depression . . . creatively frozen". Most of the words, however, reflect what we are doing here . . . more time gardening, yoga practice, sewing, knitting, reading, writing, praying, making things, fixing things.<br />
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Q9 If you believe in magic fairies, what would you ask them to bring you right now?<br />
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The highest-scoring category (no pun intended) was the 'ounce of good weed' answer to the question of what you would have your magic fairy bring you right now.<br />
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Q10 Have you developed any new routines since lockdown happened?<br />
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The good news is that 45% of the respondents day they implemented healthier habits and only15% say they adopted some unhealthy habits. 18% they are sleeping better, but 21% say that sleep is harder for them to come by.<br />
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Here is a<a href="https://www.facebook.com/875321082503416/videos/810990572723703/" target="_blank"> link to our favorite song</a>, May All Mothers Know That They Are Loved (Circle of Women)<br />
<br />
Support the sisters this mother's day by making a purchase from the <a href="http://www.sistersofthevalley.org/" target="_blank">Sisters' store.</a> The month of May brings two new products, the <a href="https://www.sistersofthevalley.org/Fresh-Sweetgrass-Braids--Burned-for-Prosperity-Harmony_p_254.html" target="_blank">fresh sweet-grass braids</a> burned for abundance and the cotton washable <a href="https://www.sistersofthevalley.org/Four-Pack-Cotton-Face-Mask-Set-with-Designer-Weed-Nun-Images--Free-Shipping_p_253.html" target="_blank">designer masks</a>.<br />
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Sisters of the Valley LLC<br />
support@sistersofcbd.com<br />
3144 G Street, Suite 125-205<br />
Merced, CA 95388<br />
www.sistersofthevalley.org<br />
209 626 6003 MTW only during shelter in place<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<script>
window.location = "https://www.sistersofthevalley.org/lockdown-survey-how-do-we-deal-with-coronavirus-anxiety";
</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-13478121043317732042019-10-05T09:36:00.000-07:002020-08-04T10:29:25.411-07:00Hemp Seeds and Politicans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4lJXerTd6EEHn1qwGHw-qJkSuy5aIQ1JLsvXdRNwTDINOXTu65FBtgN9f4PbBqeJuy1xCnoyVjKbbgmex7xQ97xxIng_zbjUlXOJdY-jyYLQ7vTvDNJF-Uc5U14229cOV3RaDrXhSaOeI/s1600/20190825_192046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4lJXerTd6EEHn1qwGHw-qJkSuy5aIQ1JLsvXdRNwTDINOXTu65FBtgN9f4PbBqeJuy1xCnoyVjKbbgmex7xQ97xxIng_zbjUlXOJdY-jyYLQ7vTvDNJF-Uc5U14229cOV3RaDrXhSaOeI/s400/20190825_192046.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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No, we haven’t resolved our business banking challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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Yes, Congress has passed the Safe Banking Act (for cannabis and hemp businesses), but the Senate hasn’t yet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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No, we can’t grow our operations here in Merced County.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
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Yes, we’ve already moved ¼ million in sales a year north to
another enclave in another town. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Yes, we’ve replaced 4 of the 5 people who quit during the
shit-storm, but those jobs were created for women two counties away, because,
you know, it’s still a ‘no’ to having a business permit from the county.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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The hold-up on business banking is because we don’t have
this permit. We have banks in North Carolina,
Nevada, and Arkansas who will take us as clients if we just had that little
piece of paper. So our growth and
progress is being stalled by Merced County. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP2dER6iouGYNeKxJbwpdKPfndCIMkdmcU8gDollXTIU1Rjug9APhtoBbaxMtx9Eqgzi9GSP99SQyCnQjtO7blfUHqY-DiXPVnnMyKKhMlo2oGShxACpdFNCOzyjY6Em119y1H61qsn-AV/s1600/20190828_071351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP2dER6iouGYNeKxJbwpdKPfndCIMkdmcU8gDollXTIU1Rjug9APhtoBbaxMtx9Eqgzi9GSP99SQyCnQjtO7blfUHqY-DiXPVnnMyKKhMlo2oGShxACpdFNCOzyjY6Em119y1H61qsn-AV/s320/20190828_071351.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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A politician from Washington DC came to see us this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone keenly interested in hemp for the planet and the people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won’t say if it was a congressman, a senator, or Trump, but it was one of them . . . and the entourage.</div>
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“Hook up with a University”, the visiting important person said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I would love to do that, Senator, Congressman, President” (can’t say), “But the problem is the Universities themselves are engaging in a tremendous amount of corruption in regard to researching hemp and cannabis.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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“How’s that?” person-of-political-influence says.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I will give you two recent examples.” I explained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“One is our very own UC Merced, where a $5 million grant from an anonymous pharmaceutical company was endowed on them to prove that cannabis smoking leads to cigarette smoking.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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The politicians roll their eyes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Yes, and it’s soooo very interesting that $5M was awarded but $3.5 million made it to the study group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there’s shit upon shit here.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The politician nodded.<o:p></o:p><br />
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“Next example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New York Medical Research facility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asking to purchase a bulk lot of our CBD oils for their study. Further questioning determines that they care far more about their money than the study, and want to give chronic pain users 3 mg a day of CBD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or 6, if they feel generous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>3 mg in the morning and 3 mg a night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is 1/10<sup>th</sup> of the starting dosage for people in pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I explained that the dosage was far too small and didn’t take into account the size of the patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They didn’t care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We said ‘no’ to supplying them because they are trying to prove CBD won’t help, by giving the least amount possible.”<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><br />
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The politician person was perturbed, but not surprised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly. </div>
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Every attack on us this year was solved by throwing money at
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s how capitalism works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cease and desist, ka-ching, the movement
of wholesale to another enclave, ka-ching, the quitting of two finance people
who both left me surprise bills, $12K vendor bill and $8K legal bill, ka-ching,
lost health insurance (it turns out Anthem Blue Cross doesn’t take payment in
cash), stacked up taxes that couldn’t be paid (will be paid, but even being late
on all this is something we didn’t engineer!), opinion paper from the attorneys
-- ka-ching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mastercard compliance needs
us to have an office in London and it can’t be Southampton where Matt is, where
the money could benefit someone in the enclave, NOOOO, it must be a WeWork
office and no one in our shop benefits from that . . . .the lawyers, the fix-it
guys, the list goes on.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Every job became a work-from-home job and 4 of the 6 sisters
were moved off the farm in order to stay compliant with our farm mortgage, to
keep homeowner’s insurance.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All of these things together caused financial chaos we are
still reeling from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We never shut down
our store, we never have had any problems with our credit card processors, and
we only paid salaries in cash for one week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We never switched to cash sales as the universe seemed to encourage us
to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I told every tax bureaus and
professional who would listen, ‘If we have to go cash, that’s the same as
shutting down, because I can’t put the sisters at risk!’<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three things are in the works to help us set ourselves right
after the storm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One, my ex-husband is
likely to come through with a settlement from our court hearing in September.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I have to fight for every dollar
he hid, I do like to say to people ‘Do you like the farm?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My ex- bought it for us!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now, I am hoping this last court round awards
enough to pay the debt we incurred this year and perhaps build us a greenhouse.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can just hear it now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Do you like the green-house?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My ex- bought it for us!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He’s a master at using the courts to delay, as evidence by
the fact that this is our 12<sup>th</sup> year of litigation . . . . so plan A,
though sweet, and just, has to come with Plan B and Plan C.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Plan B is to raise $30K by selling our <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/SistersoftheCAvalley?ref=search_shop_redirect">metaphor dolls</a> and if
we can do that, we take some stress off the business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are kind of expensive, but all hand-made
by the Sisters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are called ‘metaphor
dolls’ because they are metaphors for throw-away women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We find them naked and forlorn at flea markets,
clean them up, give them spiritual, choice-filled, purpose-driven lives, and (unlike
the real weed-nuns), they smile allllll the time!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Plan C is the hemp seed crop that will be harvested in front
of Dutch filmmakers the end of the month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are designing the seed envelopes now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All these seeds came from clones from Big Bertha, who sprouted suddenly,
out of line, on her own, without intention, in the backyard in the Spring of
2018.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the Fall, she was the tallest
and grandest and she was the plant that Nesta crawled inside on Ollie’s music
video, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MXsCIuaoF0">Sex, Weed, TV</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was amazing
and forgiving, and we abused her for film because she grew out of line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a lesson in here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wasn’t important to us – because she grew
out of line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rvebTaw5G7RhoKa7Avqow00huVMUPhGzKZ9UvjYdBtzhlonJEiRbn6xHHq4jtpmXeF8czkOfHLoi5syDo2Uzd5D7FAgvGyocIRTHQzbFg_fJCmXaQPbr8G6u4RneQPIqt69TRpKIy_nA/s1600/20190906_154042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rvebTaw5G7RhoKa7Avqow00huVMUPhGzKZ9UvjYdBtzhlonJEiRbn6xHHq4jtpmXeF8czkOfHLoi5syDo2Uzd5D7FAgvGyocIRTHQzbFg_fJCmXaQPbr8G6u4RneQPIqt69TRpKIy_nA/s320/20190906_154042.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember the day that Rudy said, “Sister Kate, look” and
he pointed to a little plant on the ground that was struggling to meet the sun,
only about six inches tall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How did
that get there?” I asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
shrugged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Just happened, I guess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Random seed, wind, it happens.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We just stood there for a moment staring at her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I guess you should put a little fence around
her so that no one steps on her.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“She’s out of line.” Rudy said, pointing to the rows of plants
that were geometrically symmetrical.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So am I.” I said dryly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Most of the time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rudy must
have liked my answer, because he took real good care of her and she grew up to give
us over 12% CBD and less than ½% THC, as well as thirty clones that became our long
season crop for 2019. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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By the way, we didn’t set out to make a seed crop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of the hemp ban, because of the cease
and desist, and because of the loss of banking, all in the same month, we
really thought we were going to have to shut down the business and move entirely
to another county.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One doesn’t put a
crop in the ground if they are planning to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was mid-July before we planted and we
decided that because a plant crop would not be abundant, and because all the plants
were clones of Big Bertha, we would engineer for a seed crop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s how we got here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hoping to make lemons from lemonade.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<script>
window.location = "https://www.sistersofthevalley.org/hemp-farming-hemp-seeds-and-politicans";
</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-76122071884834001182019-02-05T16:18:00.000-08:002020-08-04T10:29:59.525-07:00On the Path to Hollywood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-h0bR7y3K2gsis-Nghok7bUFJcsX29gx4YgIv0SzcwbWvwoGI3A9hXsZxc0R5Fr7abFipxTpo2r-osy-0f7-0CK7XmZG0vvlLaP4uhs93eVCInLGaQvLQqqvcNJEl7Dsgu8VXioEU6EkE/s1600/20190204_162359.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-h0bR7y3K2gsis-Nghok7bUFJcsX29gx4YgIv0SzcwbWvwoGI3A9hXsZxc0R5Fr7abFipxTpo2r-osy-0f7-0CK7XmZG0vvlLaP4uhs93eVCInLGaQvLQqqvcNJEl7Dsgu8VXioEU6EkE/s320/20190204_162359.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
When Jackie Huntington first reached out to us, over a year
ago, to ask if we would consider being in and hosting on our farm Ollie and
Nesta, to make a music video, we listened to the music and immediately fell in
love with Ollie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t know who the
artist was, when Jackie first approached.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We guessed Taylor Swift or Halsey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We debated about it for weeks, as we listened and thought about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More than one good, strong, Sister came to us as a result of
watching <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/04/149133/weed-nuns-medicinal-marijuana-experience">Jackie’
Refinery 29</a>, her short documentary on us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There isn’t much Jackie could ask of us, that we would deny her.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We often accept requests from odd places <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QipKtr2PH2U&t=2091s">(the Charlo
Green show),</a> and sometimes regret those decisions, but in this case, I
convinced reluctant and saintly Sister Sierra that the song isn’t really about having
sex and smoking weed and getting couch-locked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I convinced her that the song is about what happens when one doesn’t
have a purpose-driven life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She accepted
that and we agreed to hosting and playing our part in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MXsCIuaoF0">Jackie’s production</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Merced county should thank us for the people
we bring into the valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who
rent camera equipment, trucks, and stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, and fuel
their cars, locally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just saying.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Our next interaction with Ollie, and her manager, Evan, was
in the release party for the Sex, Weed, TV music video in December.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got to know Ollie a bit better on that
trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And our next interaction was just
this past weekend, as we came to Hollywood to rehearse and perform as the
Supremes to her Diana Ross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ollie is a
sweetheart and it was touching to form a circle before our performance and pray
together, for blessings from Mother Goddess, for her success, and so the
Sisters didn’t trip and fall on our asses with all the cords and equipment on
the small stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It just so happened that on our way down to Los Angeles, we stopped
in Santa Barbara to attend the film festival and answer questions after the two
showings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was so thankful to have
Sister Alice and Sister Sierra by my side, happy to sing with me for the
audience, a Randy Rainbow song, ‘<a href="https://www.facebook.com/dwightlarks/videos/10157035662637566/UzpfSTg3NTMyMTA4MjUwMzQxNjoyMDMzODA3MzU5OTg4MTEw/">All
About His Base’</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our first showing was sold out and our second showing was
very well attended for 8:20 a.m. on a Sunday morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/gooddeedentertainment/videos/2159151027461980/?__xts__[0]=68.ARAdkUmz4r3_b2JO8wLif4NTysciLg_LkK7-eBvMMaj3TR6gGJUfKBF7oaS_Vzc9YxgaUdAcKsT45wX7GmfXzmzm1T8tW4fuyza7aIXCzn1gyt2B564Mqzk6N1N7d0SqD7dzNMLIWAUl8put2REDBttvxcW1qQ64oQXjd_JJhV0_tiGGySkIvtIAN89g6T_kES9Gf2jrBOlxVpcSYQG-UvmzmR7j6Nw0ZZieAIyX-vOHJtFQ28JuF8UF1YPwqcLrib1k-za6O1Q47dg6M6hP9p_vtOEGpLd8pTCmL2trs5p6tVoo_xbSlaTu9pcloiaK3rdAPzMBLfBeW9oxZGHXt3oAlD637pPCttckvA&__tn__=-R">Breaking Habits (the movie)</a> was
well-received.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The audience had great questions
and it was fun to answer them with Rob Ryan standing next to me, the
award-winning producer of our documentary film.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The film shows a picture of you with two boys, where is
your other son?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s an engineer on the coast and has kept
his social media distance since his university days, when I was Sister Occupy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has a career to protect, is all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Can you speak numbers? Numbers of Sisters?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Numbers of sales units?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easy peasy, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I gave her the best numbers I had readily available in the filing
cabinet in my head, annual history of gross sales, salary ranges, and explained
how I now have to guess at the number of sisters because other orders are
growing and other sisters have been given the authority to bring in others, in
other countries, like Canada and the U.K. and New Zealand.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Is there anything about the making of the film that either
of you would like to share?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Don’t go
there, Brother Rob, I whisper, and he smiles, relieved that we don’t have to
pick at the still-tender sores of the difficulties we traversed to get to this
point of standing on that stage, taking questions from a kind, considerate, and
educated audience.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Good Deeds Entertainment informed us that the highway 101
was closed in the early afternoon of the day of our red-carpet walk, and that
the red-carpet walk has been postponed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Their representative</span> also asked if we could stay another night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was so relieved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel like I personally prayed away the red-carpet
walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Glen Close had to turn around go back
to Los Angeles, but she’ll be here tomorrow night and the red carpet is on for
tomorrow night if you can stay . . .”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was so relieved we had to be in Hollywood for a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sistersofthevalley/videos/1143575525825029/">rehearsal</a>
and couldn’t stay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to confess
that I prayed away our red-carpet walk (as much as I would have liked to meet
Glen Close), because it’s unhumble and, frankly, stupid, in my opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get that Hollywood does it, and I get why
they do it, and it’s not stupid at all for Glen Close, it’s logical, but it’s
illogical for sister servants to be doing that kind of stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would rather smoke five joints on tv and
pass out on a red carpet, then walk one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe my other sisters don’t feel the same, but I made it go away, anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or Mother Goddess did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we finally arrived at the Bardot Theater in Los Angeles
Monday night at nine p.m. for our performance, we had all had sick stomachs all
day, and alternated trying to get our attention off of the upcoming
performance, and gathering to practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our job was to sing Nesta’s lines in the “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/dwightlarks/videos/10157036840182566/?epa=SEARCH_BOX">Sex
Weed TV</a>” number and the chorus for “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/dwightlarks/videos/10157035777447566/UzpfSTg3NTMyMTA4MjUwMzQxNjoyMDMzNzEwMTQzMzMxMTY1/">Please
Don’t F*** Up the Whole World, Mr. President</a>”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had to rap these lines:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All I ever do is trying hearing
you out when you have a problem you know you can bring it to me.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s the first line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No punctuation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No pause, one
breath, one long sentence with three little ones in it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tired of 9 to 5, too much time
this regular life is taking from me.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I gotta slide, when I’m low, I
know you’re coming like medication for me.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>High, take a ride, I am so over
this week.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
A nice man named Mark, whisked us out of the crowd and gave
us a personal tour of the theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
saw the den where the rat-pack once hung out, the stage where the Jerry Lewis
show was filmed, where the Hollywood Palace was filmed, and where Judy Garland
performed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had time to kill and after practicing on that same stage
for a half hour, we went into the room that was a private lounge for those very
stars, not more than forty years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all the excitement of practicing on a world-famous
stage, touring the behind the scenes bungalow of the stars, we sat quietly in Jerry
Lewis’ dressing room and wondered how we got here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They say, look at what you were doing when
you were seven years old, and that’s your destiny or calling.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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“What were you doing, then?” I asked Sierra in response to
her profundity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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“Oh, I was wanting to learn guitar, but my mother was
troubled and she used it as a weapon against me so I wasn’t much
encouraged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I liked music.” Sierra
answered.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I was gathering up the neighborhood children, with a white
pillowcase on my head to mimic Sister Cecilia and organizing musical talent
shows.” I confessed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Funny thing,” said Sister Alice wistfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I was organizing my dolls and teddy bears to
be my audience and stage-props as I performed musical commercials.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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We laughed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then
it was quiet again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The brothers were
somewhere out of earshot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“But now we have gone from singing about sex, weed, and tv,
to saying the ‘f’ word and shouting ‘asshole’,” Sister Sierra mused aloud, ever
protecting our image – ever-protecting our name.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Do you think people are really bothered by that, when our
president is putting children in cages?” Sister Alice countered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> "</span>We aren’t supposed to swear even when
swearing is called for?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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“It feels like a slippery slope,” I said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“What, you think if someone lays out a line of cocaine here,
we’re going to lean forward with rolled up dollar bills?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alice asked, making the two of us laugh at
the image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You girls worry too much,”
Alice lectured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We are taking on the
tough issues, and the Goddess has our backs.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She was right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And anyway,” she
added, “This is Ollie’s show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
simply back-up to her music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we do
our own music, we don’t use any of those words.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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We spent the next ten minutes walking up and down staircases
that seemed to go somewhere, but it was an optical illusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed every route led to locked
doors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We started to get frightened that
we would miss the performance and made our way back near the main stage where
we started, to get help getting out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We formed a prayer circle for a second time, Ollie, Sierra, Alice,
me, and said a final quick prayer that gave us the courage to bounce onto a
stage that had hundreds of people cheering us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe not hundreds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just felt
like that many.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When we sang, we put our hearts into it, for Ollie, for
Evan, for the musicians and musical appreciators gathered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a magical experience for all of us,
and this time, we are very happy we swallowed the fear and walked right into
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ollie and Jackie have promised to
join us on the farm sometime in the next two moons, for a quiet retreat, as the
anti-dote to the glamour and glitz.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-85985199484467188582019-01-06T08:55:00.001-08:002020-08-04T10:30:50.418-07:00Sister Mary Batshit Crazy<br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While I was living in Amsterdam, I wrote a book called
‘Thigh Freedom’, and what I remember from that is that my heroine of the story
smoked a joint and the publishers made me write that out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was only fifteen years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I fend calls with offers for movies,
films, documentaries, animated series, on the very subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now foreign governments ask us to come speak
at their conferences on the subject, mainstream media asks us to smoke a joint
for their cameras before they leave. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Chamber of Commerce visits the farm and they all take selfies with the
plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How much the world has changed!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAnOdfk76sgrWJWDP4rn1O0bKmarsI4OREr6h8l70UAzoFLlB7mnJI8CU6gV_QQ7RmKEQpzAMDTDPWlpTN6dTXn9XXoGt4kDZ1pPS6SPMPcqdnr-08HkKQAkRycZqLMYJ66pcYAvaKtTtE/s1600/14977.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAnOdfk76sgrWJWDP4rn1O0bKmarsI4OREr6h8l70UAzoFLlB7mnJI8CU6gV_QQ7RmKEQpzAMDTDPWlpTN6dTXn9XXoGt4kDZ1pPS6SPMPcqdnr-08HkKQAkRycZqLMYJ66pcYAvaKtTtE/s1600/14977.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">‘Thigh Freedom’ (by the way) is a modern-day story where the
heroine is trapped in a miserable marriage (I had to do something with all that
divorce angst) and she reads a novel about her ancestral heritage and learns that
pre-Christianity, according to Celtic lore, the month of May is the month where
all married women get to exercise their ‘thigh freedom’ and cavort with other
men – only married women with other married men (so as not to upset whatever
was going on with the young courting folks).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was custom and culture and if babies sprung from such
unions, they were raised by the woman’s family, along with the other children,
without a thought to genetic origins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The idea captured my imagination (just for being so radical), and I
wrote a modern-day story where the heroin decides that every tenth year of
marriage, for the whole year, would be her thigh freedom year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed more practical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More adapted to current times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she embarks on a journey which ultimately
lands her back with her husband, living happily ever after.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In my own divorce situation, there was no
happily-ever-after, so I poured my energies into that book as a form of
therapy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the interested publishers
told me that I had to take all references to weed out of the story, I lost my ‘zin’
for publishing it and it has sat on a shelf, since.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Xaviera Hollander, a friend from Europe, loved the book and
encouraged me to get it published, but I didn’t have time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was distracted by a raging custody battle
and the re-settlement of my children in America after nearly a decade in the
Netherlands. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eighteen months after returning to America, I found myself
poor and frightened in a strange city, as I chose poverty and escape from
Kentucky over staying trapped in a state that was presented to me as a
temporary landing place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My ex- talked
me into moving to Kentucky from Europe (good God!), by convincing me that we
would only live there temporarily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
when I got to Kentucky, he informed me that I am penniless, he seized all my
business funds, I should go ahead and divorce him, he said, because he had all
the money and had decided to make his retirement permanent (with three children
in middle school), and decided I could support us on my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knew I would file for divorce -- he stole
over a million dollars from my business, a business I founded and worked in,
while he stayed at home and played house-husband with a housekeeper, cook, a gardener and
a driver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the end, he wanted the divorce to happen in Kentucky
where the courts favor their Kentucky boys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I call Northern Kentucky ‘the penis fly trap’ for the way the men of
that place trap Yankee women.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7WV8YyrcBkHESXgBPEwnK7t4SM_FiPb_TIrdMVnJ_o3u4ToCuoBxqAWvImaUEZSc0PGSRinL6vils5d29wO0lBahRU1XWCY91hyphenhyphengOkqgMTwkgSM3cFlQTTtrLB0KTx5iiYXgCBVnDbPTH/s1600/20181009_154449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7WV8YyrcBkHESXgBPEwnK7t4SM_FiPb_TIrdMVnJ_o3u4ToCuoBxqAWvImaUEZSc0PGSRinL6vils5d29wO0lBahRU1XWCY91hyphenhyphengOkqgMTwkgSM3cFlQTTtrLB0KTx5iiYXgCBVnDbPTH/s320/20181009_154449.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This was only one of two very dark and frightening periods
of my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was in this period, that
Xaviera called and offered me an advance for ghost-writing a book for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a sex tip book for men, using the best
of the best quotes from her 32 years publishing her ‘Call Me Madame’ column in
Penthouse magazine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her tips for men are
wrapped up in the philosophy that women have three clits:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a brain clit, a heart clit, and a body
clit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The heart clit has to be made to
feel safe, the brain clit has to be made to feel ‘unsafe’ or challenged, and
the body clit will follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the
nutshell of the wrappings, but there were great quotes from modern-day
celebrities on the subject of sex and love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My personal favorite is Sharon Stone’s:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Women may be able to fake orgasm, but men can fake whole
relationships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boom!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Just this fall, I published my own story, the Accidental
Nun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A two-year project that took four years to come
to fruition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sex-tip book with
Xaviera was purely for the money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
‘Thigh Freedom’ book was purely for the therapy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Accidental Nun was an attempt to
de-mystify my journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two of those
books made it to market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like many other people, I have wounds I carry and try to
heal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been betrayed twice by men
I completely trusted, an ex-husband who stole from me, abused me, and then by a
brother who pretended to rescue me, but made me homeless in a fit of temper and
then stuck with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of that formed
me, however, and gave me the courage to set out and create a Beguine
Sisterhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although I am living a life of celibate devotion, I still
love men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wouldn’t want to build
anything without them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wouldn’t want
to live without them in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have
Brothers here now who take their jobs with us seriously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are grounded, respectful,
protective.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I see the actions of my ex-husband and my brother a sickness
in our society, where men beat their chests and make women and children
homeless over pride. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All over a false
sense of pride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want our children to
have it a little better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want a world
of less suffering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I certainly don’t
believe that men have cornered the market on bad behavior.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the farm now, after much turmoil, peace and serenity have
finally arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t realize when I
set out on this journey five short years ago, that a large part of my job would
be sorting out the bat-shit crazy from the regular-every-day crazy in order to
keep us marching forward, harmoniously and peaceably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our first two farm managers had severe drug problems that
were well-hidden from us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I call them
Brother Tweeker 1 and Brother Tweeker 2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It works like this, I hired them
when they had both been poor for a long time and, thus, were clean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they were fine for two to three
months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as financial stability
came, however, they began indulging in hard drugs (not together, these were
consecutive hires).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One we called out as
soon as raging became a part of his normal activities with the sisters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appears he raged when he ran out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he wasn’t particular about who or what he
raged about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The man who replaced him, Brother Tweeker 2, had the same
thing going on, minus the rage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First
two to three months – just fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
financial stability comes from working and then come the hard drugs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t rage -- he just started doing bizarre
things like showing up on the farm on a Sunday afternoon and putting a lasagna
in our oven (!) when it was 105 degrees outside – without a word to anyone,
with just a nod, like it was normal and expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They weren’t crazy. They were addicts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The bat-shit crazy came from the wanna-be sisters who came
through here. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the first two years, I
had to dismiss many Sister Mary’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sister Mary Natzi Vegan, Sister Mary Full-On Wiccan, Sister Mary
Got-Any-Oxy?, Sister Mary – May I Sleep with Your Son? Sister Mary Polyamorous,
Sister Mary Platitude, Sister Mary can’t wake up and Sister Mary can’t shut up.
Of all of them, the last was probably the most intolerable to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As we stand at the precipice of launching our second sister
farm, I can’t help but wonder how the other sisters who will be managing the
crazy they must juggle -- their own and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These are very crazy times and the energies of the planet reflect
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, it is vital to the growth of
the sisterhood that we manage the people well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That we select the right people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We cannot be sidelined by individuals, when we have a global calling. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will be criticized for our focus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some will say, why didn’t you help rehabilitate those addicts?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why didn’t you put medicine on those women?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answers to that are easy for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Firstly, they didn’t ask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Secondly, we do not exist to conform to the
individual needs of the enclave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have
a higher calling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we can’t be
distracted by anyone other than our own people, when and if they need us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We spend all day, every day, getting the word out about CBD,
taking calls from sick people, helping them figure out their path with the
natural medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need strong people
around us to help us fulfill the mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are all broken a little, and we all need a healing place to live and
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We require a healing place to
work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that doesn’t mean we are
Lourdes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t do miracles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are ordinary women who are on a serious
mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Speaking of Lourdes, this past summer I had the opportunity
to impersonate my own sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a
hot August Saturday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We try not to work
on weekends, as we consider that a form of slavery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It happens, sometimes, but it’s not our
normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our normal is the farm is very
quiet on the weekends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Saturday,
the doorbell rang to the abbey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in
shorts and a wife-beater t-shirt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
quickly put a scarf on my head (as if that made up for the rest of me showing)
and answered the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw a big tour
bus parked outside and people with walkers and canes getting out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The bus driver apologized and told me his tour wanted very
much to stop here to meet the sisters and he complied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had no idea how they got our address, so I
was stunned at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“The Sisters aren’t here today,” I said in wonder, trying to
figure out how many people were on that bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Where are they?” an elderly Asian woman asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“I don’t know.” I said, extending my hand to the bus-driver,
to the old Asian woman who was, apparently, the ring-leader.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I am Sister Kate’s sister, Shari, visiting
from Wisconsin and I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think
they went into the city to run errands.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The woman had to adjust her cane a bit to extend her
hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Very nice to meet you, Shari, but
we really wanted to see the Sisters.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“I’m sorry, they aren’t here.” I said again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The woman was very aggressive and persistent,
making me repeat over and over again, that the Sisters weren’t on the farm –
that no sisters were on the farm, and that I didn’t know where they were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she asked the fifth time, I said in
exasperation, “I really have no idea what those bitches do on the weekends, I’m
just watching the dogs for them!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
finally admitted defeat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess that
was just un-nunly enough to do the trick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I gave them the office number, asked them to please schedule
their visit and sent them away with a tin of salve each, so they weren’t too
terribly disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My sisters and
brothers who are right now starting or figuring out how to start their own
sister-farm, are you ready for this?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-88329112925792100602018-07-11T18:54:00.000-07:002020-08-04T10:31:48.942-07:00Hadewijch in the CastleWe believe that we have plugged into a sacred, healing
energy stream that is flowing thickly around the planet. Like reaching up and pulling on a cord of a
moving train or tram, we reached up and connected to a higher calling, a pulse
of holistic healing, a pulse of returning to ancient ways, that is a comforting
drum-beat, growing bigger and louder and more significant to our lives with
every passing day.<br />
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What we are doing
with our new age order of Sisters is not something we created.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is something we plugged into.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything about us is cultural
appropriation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We appropriate everything
good that our ancestral mothers learned and practiced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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We believe in the family values of the stoner culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stoners have had to hang together and protect
their own culture for one hundred years of persecution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stoners have had to make sacrifices to get
along with people and society, a society where conventional wisdom says that
cannabis is bad and cannabis smokers are bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stoners have always tolerated this baloney, because they look kindly and
patiently upon the ignorant and think, ‘yes, it was once conventional wisdom
that the earth is flat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was once
conventional wisdom that women have smaller brains then men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was once conventional wisdom that if you masturbated
you would go blind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we live in an
age of science and your old-paradigm views are adorable in a naïve, throw-back
kind of way, but untrue none-the-less.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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Stoner values respect and revere the ability to protect
boundaries and familial privacy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stoner
values hold transparency in high regard and secrecy in suspicion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stoners respect knowledge and science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stoners are generally compassionate, to
people and to the planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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We also hold fast to the belief that those who attempt to
grow weed and attempt commerce in the cannabis space will be foiled if they go
against compassionate principles applied to people and the planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who are ok with fracking, will not be
rewarded by their efforts with the plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those who are ok with caging children, those who protect and defend
Trump and others of his ilk in other countries (Doug Ford, Therese May), those
people can’t grow cannabis and be successful in the healing space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who want to be billionaires just
because they want to brag and be like Trump, you will fail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plant will not serve you, I promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She will choose who she serves and who she
doesn’t, and you will fail if you try to cultivate her with false or shallow
intentions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Those who judge others without trying to understand them,
they will not be rewarded by this industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And those who are mean to women, they will – especially - be locked out
of reaping any rewards on the backs of the magnificent female cannabis plant.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It was springtime in
the castle and those whose lives centered around the Beguine sisters, those who
farmed, made plant medicine, those who worked day in and day out to alleviate
suffering among the town-folk, farm-folk, land-owners and serfs – were busy
putting away their tools and chores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was hours before their normal quitting time, but if was a special
feast-day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It was the feast of
young Beguine sister and her man, in their mid-twenties, and expecting twin
babies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the custom of the Beguines
to prepare the first-time parents with gifts and supplies from the tribe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dignitaries had gathered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the Sisters were nervous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an ominous sign that the feast was to
be of mixed people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t custom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, the abbess had her head turned by the
tax collector who wanted to be part of the celebrations and especially, wanted
to bring the business of the feast to his relative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tax collector had insisted on helping
arrange the feast, inside the castle, at the Bear and Steer, a local tavern and
eatery owned by his brother-in-law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“It is not customary
for us to have a public celebration in the castle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is custom to have them privately, on the
farm,” explained the Abbess that day in the foyer of the house on the farm – that
day the tax collector had unexpectedly stopped in.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“You know, it hasn’t
escaped my attention,” said the tax collector to Sister Hadewijch, “That the
castle governors don’t know you are growing cannabis to put in your
potions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they knew, they would put a
special tax on you or, even, they could shut you down.” He threatened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sister Hadewijch sighed and agreed to have the
baby shower in the castle, in a public place, in a place where ‘others’ might
be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And I’m going to invited everyone
from my office” said the tax collector on his way out the door.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hadewijch sighed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow, she knew there would be
trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She didn’t know what form, she
just knew there would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It turned out to be
the fact that the very-pregnant mother smoked cannabis at the baby shower that brought
the town to buzzing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It brought out all
the righteous indignation of those who know so little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Sisters and Brothers weren’t back on the
farm a fortnight before word came that the town was buzzing about the cannabis
consumption that happened inside castle walls (gasp!) and by the mother with
the babies in her belly, no less!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Right
in the alley behind the Bear and Steer, right before Goddess Mother and the
world!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Double gasp!!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Beguine elders who
paid for the celebration, the elders who agreed to make this celebration open
to non-tribal members, hadn’t considered the mother-to-be’s eating disorder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They hadn't considered that the town-folk had no reason to know that the young mother
requires a small amount of THC before each meal to stimulate her appetite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Do you think our
taxes will be raised because of this?” asked Sister Sierra.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Do you think those
wankers are going to get vengeful?” asked Sister Alice.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Nonsense,” said
Hadewijch to the gathered Sisters and Brothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Do not fear these people and do not hold these people in contempt for
their ignorance but look kindly on them as if they are mis-informed
children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t get angry at a
child for not understanding algebra, do you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are a complicated order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are not simple, as many would like us to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are like a beautiful onion with many layers to be peeled off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are foremost, compassionate healers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were gathered to celebrate more than the
coming of the twin babies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were gathered
also to celebrate the healing of the mother-to-be and the father-to-be under
our own tender care, using our own natural ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These townsfolk don’t know that the father,
four years ago, admitted himself to a recovery clinic nearly dead from
overdosing meth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or that his meth habit
was actually a step better than his addiction to cutting himself?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These town-folk don’t know that the
mother-to-be is severely anorexic due to family trauma and malnutrition
experienced as a young child . . . nor that
cannabis allowed her to keep eating what she must through-out her pregnancy to
nourish those children and bear them to birth successfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The town-folk don’t know any of these
important facts.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Will you tell them,
Sister?” asked a young postulant.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“No, I will not.” Hadewijch
answered quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They must learn these
things on their own.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Elder Beguine
paused and took a sip of water from a pewter mug.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Setting the mug down, she continued, “They
will not know our personal stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
will have to find their own way to the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The town-folk will never know that those babies were scheduled to be
aborted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That the mother believed she
would die in child-birth, something an old, white-man castle-doctor told her
years earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She believed her anorexia
would overtake both of them, that she would be unable to eat, and that she and
they would die (at best) or they would be born deformed (at worst) and that
only the herb calmed those fears and gave her the certainty and strength she
needed to go forward with the pregnancy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Only the Sisters’ assurances that we would not judge her or fault her
for continuing to use cannabis as her medicine through-out the pregnancy
convinced her not to abort the babies she was sure would come deformed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Sisters all know first-hand how she
relies on the THC to stimulate her appetite before each meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She smokes so that she can eat like normal folks do." H</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adewijch stood up
from her place at the table.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“What about the tax
collector?” asked an Elder Sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The tax collector has
put us in jeopardy,” Sister Hadewijch said plainly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I will have a word with him, at some point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there are no further questions, I have
much work to do and one of you should be checking up on our
soon-to-be-mom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s nearly 4:20 and we
want her to eat a full dinner.” <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
When our young Sister arrived at the hospital eighteen days
before the due date of the twins in her belly, she admitted naively and calmly
to the check-in nurse that she had smoked a joint the day before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wasn’t with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would have warned her that this is
Merced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a place that once, not
long ago, a mother having weed in her system was reason for the health
insurance to be cancelled and for Child Protective Services to be called
in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My millennial Sister knows the law
and knows her rights as a medical patient.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She told the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her truth
caused the hospital staff treat us all like trash until the babies’ toxicology
report came back and showed there was no THC in their systems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mother smoked a high-THC joint the day
before, but no THC was registered in the babies immediately after birth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That fact made curiosity over-ride hostility
with the medical staff in obstetrics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Hadewijch, why are
they being so mean?” asked the young man earnestly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Why do the castle-keepers not allow me to be
with my wife, now, while they are poking and prodding at her?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why can’t I be there to hold her hand when
they give her the epidural?”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The old woman’s
sympathy showed all over her face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I am
so sorry, son,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But we are
but humble farmers and we do not have the sophisticated, fancy equipment these
folks have.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hadewijch spoke with her
hands, gesturing all the equipment surrounding them where they stood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Having twins is not something that should be
done at home, with a mid-wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those
babies have taken all of the calcium, magnesium and iron out of her
system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has preeclampsia, high
blood pressure, and is at high risk of dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The babies are perfectly healthy, and all this we wouldn’t know if we
didn’t have access to their hospital, their technology and their
technicians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You cannot expect people
who are of science, who are of technology, who let those things define them
completely, you cannot expect them to have compassion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not un-compassionate, they just have
strange, un-compassionate ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see it
like you do!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see it, but I don’t care,
and you mustn’t care either because #1, these are not our people and #2 right
now, our people, our Sister, your wife, needs the tools and knowledge they have
to spare her life and the lives of those twin babies in her belly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are using them, don’t forget, my son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are using them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do not have to like them or accept them,
we must just use them.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hadewijch had noticed
every slight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When a nurse asked
‘where’s the papa’ and Hadewijch answered, ‘her husband is out making a phone
call’, the other nurse corrected her, saying “they aren’t married, they just
live together”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As if she was on
auto-pilot and couldn’t ever miss a chance of putting her two-Christian-cents
out into the universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only weddings
that mattered were the ones of their culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She wished her young Sister had been more careful in answering.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hadewijch noted how
they refused to let anyone be with the young, frightened mother, only twenty-four
years of age and fearful of dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Afraid of giving birth to monsters because she dabbed THC concentrates during
the first three months of her pregnancy, not knowing she was pregnant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her eating disorder made her cycle irregular
and she was accustomed to not having her period more than having it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She didn’t learn of her pregnancy until she
was half-way through and it was too late, then, to do anything about the
concentrates she consumed months prior. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Now she lay frightened
and scared and they make her more so by subjecting her to an interview by nazi
nurses who don’t give a flip about making her more uncomfortable, by
daughters-of-science who won’t allow her to have her loved ones by her
side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hadewijch saw it. She
saw their bully tactics, which seemed brutal to all of them, to her, to
Father/Brother Dwight, to the expecting young parents, in stark contrast to the
gentle and respectful healing they practice in their tribe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she didn’t judge them for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She prayed for their enlightenment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She thanked them for what they did know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How to run a blood pressure machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How to check the urine for danger signs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How to measure the baby’s heartbeats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have tools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they know things that will help our
Sister through this, she reminded herself and the nervous father-to-be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are in their land, seeking their
help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must respect their ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is our way, she reminded them both.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the healthy babies were born, doctors and nurses came
by to chat more respectfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone finally
asked the new mama why she had smoked cannabis and finally, my lovely young
Sister/Daughter was allowed to explain about her eating disorder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who were once hostile suddenly became
compassionate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I told my young Sister
that perhaps, going forward, she should lead with that information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was two weeks ago today that the babies were born and in
two days, it will be two weeks since they left the hospital to live in a cocoon
of love, tended by their parents, their Oma and Opa, their Tante and Ohm. Kept secluded in a little apartment, far from
noise and hustle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They gain weight and
color and their mother gains her health back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And we are back, all of us, to working and mingling with people who
respect cannabis as a medicine – one people, one tribe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-63742402021451542272018-04-13T12:54:00.000-07:002020-08-04T10:32:38.586-07:00Taking on the Angry Vegans<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Taking on the Angry Vegans<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are three
ways the American people are polarized:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
first is in regard to the Word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Some
believe, some do not.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second is in
regard to spirituality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Some are, some
are not.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The third is in regard to
being vegan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(the Vegans are angry at
all of us)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The first polarity
is ridiculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second is
necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The third is tiresome.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Just as we exist
to bridge the gap-between the non-believers and the believers, just as we exist
to bring peace between those two groups, we also exist to bridge the gap
between spiritual people and the non-believers, and to broker peace between vegans
and the carnivores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are all
highly polarized groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Followers of the Word<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There are those
who believe the Word and those who don’t.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Oh, did you think
I was talking about God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t be
ridiculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am talking about
the Word of the cannabis plant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
talking about the knowledge that the cannabis plant is the secret to salvation.
Salvation of the people, and salvation of the planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The medicinal compounds hold the secret to
healing the people, and the industrial hemp holds the secret to replacing
plastics and getting on with healing the planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s THAT word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Word that can end the hurtling journey
toward extinction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That Word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If you still want
to talk about the Word of God, you have to realize that we see you as if you
are standing on the railroad tracks, reading your Bible, while a high-speed
train is bearing down on you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We aren’t
going to have that discussion with you, not now, not while the children of the
planet are in great jeopardy, probably – not ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not while sixty species go extinct per
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not while McDonalds and Taco Bell
are still paying thousands of people to figure out new ways for you to eat
meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“It’s not enough” demands Ronald McDonald, pounding the table, “It’s
not enough!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The buns must become
meat!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The aprons must be made of
meat!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The very plates we serve the meat
on, must be made of meat!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is a truly
diabolical task master.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If you want to talk
about your relationship with Creator Goddess, then let’s start by talking about
the one and only truly great gift she gave us, Planet Earth, and why we are
trashing that gift. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s talk about why
we made it cultural (and we’re exporting that culture around the world,
rapidly) to have extinction on our plate for every meal and every snack???<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If I spend all the
money in the world building my children the greatest, coolest, more exotic and
exciting place to live and they spent all their time killing the plants to feed
the pets to kill the pets to eat them, I <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>wouldn’t be happy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, this is what we are doing with the
planet given us as a gift from our Creator.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The other day, as
I was coming home from the gym, I had a Christian talk show on the radio and
the minister was so compelling, that I was still sitting in the driveway
listening to him, a full twenty minutes after pulling in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was systematically laying out the
extinction of Christianity and how it came to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And everything he said was truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought the punch line should be, ‘So now,
with Christianity on the brink of extinction, we have, the Weed Nuns!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wouldn’t that be remarkable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, his
speech ended with the conclusion that Christianity is going extinct because we
are at the eve of the rapture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Click.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turned it off and carried on with my day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The one sentence
the Baptist preacher said that stuck with me was this one:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“We (the
Christians) are sitting making daisy chains in the dark night of the globe, while
the great masses of people are finding ways to cope without us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hence,
the sprouting of weed-nuns?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
People have traded up arguing about invisible gods and invisible
fetuses for real talk about highly visible and effective plant-medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s an upgrade in the planet’s conversational
IQ.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Spiritual
vs. Non-Spiritual<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In re-cap, the first
bi-polar group is those who believe in Cannabis’ medical powers and those who
have never tried it (the dis-believers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The second group
is those who are spiritual and those who are not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I let them be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the planet needs our cynics and
disbelievers when it comes to religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
are quite beautiful and quite necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are here to make sure no one drinks the cool-aid and every religion
should welcome the non-believers as witnesses to the religion’s ‘do-no-harm’ ethics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(They all have that ethos, few follow it.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We only honor the
disbelievers of spiritual and unseen things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(Bill Maher disbelieves all spirituality and we love him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is his job.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, we do not honor people who
disbelieve science, facts, and physical things happening right here, before our
eyes, on the physical plane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climate
change deniers, be gone from us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Libertarians,
be gone too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We follow best
example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We want our children to have
the same quality of life they would have if they were Dutch, German or
Canadian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t want them to continue
this system of being second-class-citizens of the developed nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vegans
versus Not-Vegan-Enough<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There’s no other
way to address this issue but to say plainly that Angry Vegans are not helping
the plant-based diet cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know you
are angry!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone though it better to raise livestock
for slaughter over something less slaughter-ish, like, say, eating beans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We agree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was stupid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is stupid. And
one day, we promise you that the Sisters here in Merced will get drunk enough
to break into Foster Farms and free the chickens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will do that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve heard real nuns do shit like that and
we want to emulate them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s on our bucket
list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Promise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
After three years
of failing at veganism, this past January, as new years’ resolutions swirled
around us, we decided to take a much more practical approach to our dietary
restrictions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a religious approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Religious’ means ‘have fun with it for no
apparent planetary reason, just imaginary reasons’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->New Moon to Full Moon – Strictly No Meat, with
exceptions:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>see #3, #4, #5, #6<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Full Moon to New Moon – Meat Is Permitted Daily,
once per day only and not to be mixed with cheese, eggs or other animal
by-product foods<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Holy Sacred Meat is Bacon*** is an exception to
all rules, but in moderation / as a seasoning / never more than 2 slices of
bacon in a 24-hour period<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->All food rules are waived if you are sick or pregnant<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->We are Activists and in Service Daily to the
People, we cannot afford to go to bed hungry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If your stomach is growling at bed-time, you are allowed to eat meat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->You are allowed to eat meat that was prepared prior
to the new moon and would be thrown away if not eaten (make no waste of sacrificial
meat)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Never mix meat with the milk or dairy or
by-products from the same animal<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Meat is allowed at restaurants when traveling,
but only once per trip (if in moon cycle)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Why is bacon the
sacred exception?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because Sister Kate’s Chinese
astrology sign is the Pig.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is just
as reasonable as saying twenty million Catholics will eat meat on Friday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their reason was because the Catholic church
invested in fisheries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least my
reason has no economic motive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We are Beguine
revivalists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our ancient mothers had to
have eight children to see two of them turn eighteen years old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means they buried three of four children
they gave birth do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We think that had a
lot to do with diet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t think ‘no
meat’ is the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We certainly think WAY
LESS MEAT is the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we think every
family and tribe should find its own path to a plant-based diet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We think the more creative that path, the
better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s the thing, though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t hate on people for not being vegan
purists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you do, you lose the battle
of moving more plant-based.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
What happens when you go two full weeks without meat?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t go back to eating meat once a day,
you’ll get sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>WE learned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So even though it is allowed, most of us stay
plant-based most of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But if someone gets angry and ragey, we tell
them to go eat meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It means, go satisfy
your animal spirit needs in some other way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We are angry
activists, because happy activists are shitty activists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a place for anger and for ferocious
animal energies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We think we need our
meat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We think the animal energy helps
us be the ferocious women we need to be now, in this dark night of the
globe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we recognize that meat-eating
is ruining this planet and the trends have to go the other way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We believe our way is a helping hand in
sending the trend in a new direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
don’t mind that the vegans are angry with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They too, have their place and anyway, without angry vegans, we would
have way fewer recipes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Corn and grain,
meat and milk, on the table before us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hands and hearts
come together to nourish and restore us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Bless our food and
bless our folk and keep us in your grace,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ensure this sacred
walk we take respects this sacred place.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(women)
In Goddess we trust.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(men)
In Goddess we trust.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<script>
window.location = "https://www.sistersofthevalley.org/cannabis-plant-taking-on-the-angry-vegans";
</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-2976217784777836402017-06-23T17:53:00.002-07:002020-08-04T05:57:16.631-07:00How to Join the Sisterhood<div class="MsoNormal">
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Ever since the Aubrey Plaza video came out, we have been
deluged with requests to join our Sisterhood. These requests are coming in from
both women and men, many of whom are offering help in establishing a chapter,
an order, whatever the Beguine equivalent word is, in their ‘neck of the woods’. We tirelessly work to answer each and every
one of them, but because of the Aubrey video (I wonder if she calls it ‘the
weed nuns video’?), we are now officially backed up and it may take us weeks to
catch up.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Step 1: </span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">Go to bottom of this page to sign up for our</span><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><a href="https://www.sistersofcbd.com/" style="text-align: center;">Newsletter</a></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Step 2: Get Active in Local Cannabis Law Reform Movements<o:p></o:p></div>
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Step 3: Post Photos and Progress on Social Media (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sistersofthevalley/">facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/sistersofcbd">twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.instagram.com/sistersofthevalley">Instagram</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Step 4: Be patient. We are working on it.</div>
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Normally, when favorable press comes out on us, we see a
bump in sales. This time, we saw a huge
spike in the number of requests to join us.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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It makes us all very happy to see people across the planet
identifying with us and connecting with the message. I almost wrote ‘our message’, but I stopped
and corrected it because I have said from the beginning, that all what we do is
not original. It’s not new. It may seem that way, but Beguine revivalism
is happening in many places on planet earth right now, in many forms. And with or without knowledge of the
Beguines, women and men are walking the walk everywhere, and those people with
a devotion to healing, have just been waiting for the Sisters of the Valley to come
along, to unite us all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We are connecting the women and men that can be a force to
be reckoned with – we are connecting a thousand points of light in a thousand
places in a thousand lands . . . it feels wonderful. It gives us hope for humanity, the people,
the planet. It gives us renewed belief
that maybe we can turn the corner and start living a more charming and gracious
interaction with our all-nurturing, all forgiving, all providing Mother Earth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We don’t believe in suffering as a path to spirituality, as
many other religions do. We don’t
believe that suffering necessarily brings you any closer to God. We don’t believe that healing should
necessarily hurt. But there is one place
we suffer – and that is in our activism.
Being an activist is like being in the army, or being a parent to a newborn. Your personal comforts are set aside, while
you are subjected to servitude. In our
case, the suffering comes from listening to city council(s) and police chiefs and
even citizens spew lies about the cannabis plant (either out of ignorance or
some other agenda that trivializes people’s pain). <o:p></o:p></div>
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For these highly spiritual women, highly intuitive women, it
is difficult to be in a room with liars. It is a tear in our golden web when we have to
sit in a room and listen to lies come through a microphone. It hurts our feet when we protest. We sometimes don’t get to eat, and our
stomachs are often growling and we can’t find a place to even get a drink of
water. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Even though we are not proponents of pain, nor are we
interested in poverty vows, we also know that all things worth having, are
worth making some sacrifices for. We
sacrifice our time, we sacrifice our feet and our comforts all in the name of
activism -- to change the minds and hearts of a very uncompassionate governing
body.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Many ex-Catholic nuns and a few current Catholic nuns
reached out to me to talk with me. I
always ask them the same thing, I ask them for advice on growing my order. The common answer is: “Many are called, few are chosen.” I take that as a reminder that this is my
order, I gave birth to it, and I can’t let any one person pollute it or harm
it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I know what we are not going to do. We are not going to sell admittance to our
order. We are not going to be like the
internet minister certification companies.
We aren’t going to sell outfits or commercialize the spiritual side of
things. <o:p></o:p></div>
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More and more, Christianity is getting on my nerves. They are holding up a patriarchy that needs
to collapse, and they are leading the attack against the cannabis plant. At the city council meeting in Fresno
yesterday, four Christian ministers/pastors and one Chaplain from the police
force (?) spoke. All of them were men, and
all of them spoke out against the intelligent plant. Against mother earth, and her people. I was the only woman representing a ministry
(of sorts) and I spoke for the plant. Do
you see what I see? Do you see a
connection between Christianity suppressing women, suppression of the feminine
healing cannabis plant, and trashing of Mother Earth? <o:p></o:p></div>
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The planet is crying out for a new age order of Sisters (and
Brothers) to grow and provide some leadership and direction. Seriously.
We need to grow big enough that we become a political force of our
own. It is the only way we will gain justice
for the people of the plant – and the planet.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The media has perpetuated the lie that the cannabis plant is
our own ‘holy trinity’. That’s
ridiculous. We work with all kinds of
plant-based medicine, and even though we are lousy vegans, we try. We are always trying to be more plant-based
in our diets. More raw foods. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We do have a holy trinity, though. It is Service, Activism, and
Spirituality. We put our prayer into our
work and into our activism. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We take six vows:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Devotion (Service) – through spreading the Word
(of the intelligent plant) and Medicine-Making<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Activism – Dedication of Time to Local Politics,
Local Causes<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Ecology - a commitment to reducing our foot-print<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Chastity – Privatizing sexuality / keeping
ourselves covered out of respect for the work we do<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Obedience – to moon cycles<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Living simply – one bedroom, one car, one TV –
wealth goes to creating more jobs, more housing security, more career paths for
women</div>
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We
celebrate every full moon with a fire circle.
When the weather is bad, we light up a large room with candles and have
the service and celebration inside. (Ancient
wisdom. Don’t make your tribe sick.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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And
on most New Moons the Sisters gather, either by laptop connections, telephone
conference, or in person, to provide healing to one another through word
medicine, Taro card readings, energy healings.
New moons are for the women. Full
moons are for the tribe.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When
Sisters of the Valley was just an idea, four short years ago, I thought that I
would disqualify women who had ever shamed someone for using the cannabis
plant. I would ask that question first,
and if they told me they had, then they couldn’t be a Sister. But then, I met too many lovely women who had
crossed over from the darkness to the light, and became advocates for the
plant, and why should they be punished for having bought into the propaganda
that was the gospel of the day?<o:p></o:p></div>
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We
strive for excellence. We need women (and
men) who want to walk that walk.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If
you are strongly against abortion, you shouldn’t even be talking to us. What we hear when people talk about abortion
being a sin is this: I DON’T TRUST WOMEN
TO MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR OWN BODIES. Actually, we just hear the first part: I DON’T TRUST WOMEN.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If
you are strongly pro-gun, as well, you probably aren’t going to like our
organization. If you believe boy parts
are boy parts and girl parts are girl parts and deny the existence and rights
of those who are ‘twin spirited’, gender neutral, or transgender, then you won’t
like the Sisterhood, either.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We
are a women empowerment organization.
Every single decision we make about our order has to pass these tests: Is this empowering? Or does it dis-empower women? Would our ancient mothers approve? Or disapprove?<o:p></o:p></div>
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If
we banished women who took their vows, but ultimately decided to leave, is that
empowering? No, banishment, shunning, shaming
-- all the same negative energy. That’s
exactly why our vows require no allegiance to the order. Women can come join us, but they can also leave,
and there is no shame, no dishonor, no negativity associated with ‘moving on’. Not all things, not all experiences, are
meant to be permanent. You still learn
and grow from them. And I believe some
of those women who leave will return, if we release them spiritually, gently,
honorably . . . if we assist, rather than harm, in their path to move along.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If
we told women that they couldn’t have a husband or children, is that
empowering? No, it is not. If you want
to empower women, you let them choose their partner, and if and when they want
children, how many. We respect
them. They are women. By virtue of the fact that they can give
birth to children, they are closer to Creator God then men. Yes, I said that. That is ancient wisdom. It’s sexist, but it’s true.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our
guiding question is, “What would our ancient mothers do?” We know they wouldn’t make any sick person
wait for more than 12 hours outside the cave, teepee, or castle apartment, to
get an answer to a medical question or question about diet. That’s why we try to answer all questions
that come to us via telephone or social media, within that timeframe. We don’t always succeed, as we honor the
weekends as a break from our work, and so we can refresh ourselves and
rest. (Last year, we had long months of
no days off and that is not a sustainable model, either.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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“What
would our ancient mothers do, if they had the internet and the post office and
could reach the world with their plant-based medicines?” We are like our Beguine mothers and have no
intention of hiding from the public, but rather – we work with them. Helping them.
The Beguines had enclaves inside every castle during the
middle-ages. They had the first nurses;
they rescued poor women and gave them housing security, food security, and
honorable, spiritual jobs. They were
around long before Christianity came with its armies to convert the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sister
Kassidy began working for us as an apprentice in January of 2016 and by the
Fall, she had completed her apprenticeship, and shortly thereafter, her and her
man, Brother Rudy, came to inquire about making their participation in the
Sisterhood more formal. A few months
later, she took her vows.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sister
Freya joined us as an employee in August, and by December, she was also
interested in formalizing her involvement and her commitment to the order. Sister Freya is a tribal elder. She has many years of studies and practical
work experience in the healing arts.
When women come to us with decades of experience, they are automatically
Elders and they take their vows once. We
don’t put them through the same process that younger women are put through
(meaning, apprentice positions and three times taking their vows under full
moons). Some women we are simply
connecting with; for others, we are providing their first training and their
first opportunities on a career path.
Some don’t fit neatly into either category (for the record).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Like
Sister Kass and Sister Freya, Sister Eevee and Sister Gina and Sister Claire
all worked for the Sisterhood for a
period of time before the subject was broached.
Although Sister Eevee shares the abbey with me, she is the only Beguine
revivalist Sister that lives here on the farm.
Sister Kassidy and Sister Freya live in nearby towns and come to the
farm every day. Sister Gina lives and
works in Sacramento making our holy soaps and prayer shawls. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Sister
Claire lives and works in Toronto and has spent a year building us a complete,
real-time, state-of-the-art control dashboard for the many systems that drive
our engine. She is going to be playing a
prominent role in growing our global business, as she is our Chief Risk
Officer, our Chief Financial Officer, and is the person through which the Canadian
Sisterhood shall grow. She will be coming
to the farm next month, along with
another Canadian Sister, to take their vows.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
In
between these occurrences, three other women came to stay with us, worked for
us, and ultimately, didn’t work out. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
For
now, a Sister isn’t going to become a Sister until we meet her and work with
her and qualify her. But soon, I hope,
we get some Sister-Generals in all the states and all the countries, so that
everyone needn’t come here. The
participation and selection should be happening locally, but we need to get sister-leadership
all over the place so that we can accommodate that dream.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Ultimately,
we would like to have cottage-industry kitchens making our medicines, from
locally grown cannabis, with the loving hands of local women. We believe that cannabis is like honey and
local is best. We believe that the
healing hands of the local women add to the benefit of the medicine for their
people. In other words, German women
should be praying over Sisters of the Valley medicines made in a German kitchen
from weed grown in Germany. Same for
Canada. Same for each state in the U.S.
and all the provinces in all the countries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
That’s
a big goal. It will take a lot of
coordination.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTaLRvHzIELhrTLGCR_F5-DMen8qdB8gLfU9TF6TJeqaQJRcNJIe3kIuK8Txk3aWXXzarUU9WrcZAqMe4ASVCa1-CzgyMrBKCNGUR-8rILTqmr0aUJyLj31Te94EfLAz6kb0xmx01jKvG/s1600/edit+IMG_20170616_131942489.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="1600" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTaLRvHzIELhrTLGCR_F5-DMen8qdB8gLfU9TF6TJeqaQJRcNJIe3kIuK8Txk3aWXXzarUU9WrcZAqMe4ASVCa1-CzgyMrBKCNGUR-8rILTqmr0aUJyLj31Te94EfLAz6kb0xmx01jKvG/s320/edit+IMG_20170616_131942489.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
In
the meantime, we are looking at perhaps making the Sisters an exclusive offer
to be our agents and to earn commissions from getting our products on the
shelves of stores in their local areas. There
will be a path to Sisterhood and earnings there, very soon, I hope. I am working on export licenses. We don’t want to do anything ‘US only’
because ‘Murika scares the crap out of us.
Every day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Wealthy
women of the middle ages were attracted to the Beguines, as well as poor
women. The wealthy women were attracted
by the Beguines’ excellence and wanted to be part of things because the mission
was worthy (helping people) and the way they did it was spiritual, and with
system-run operations to ensure that the quality of everything they made
(textiles, medicines) was <i>always</i> excellent. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
So,
what shall we do with wealthy women who want to help? What shall we do with women like Aubrey
Plaza? We don’t take donations. We aren’t a religion. (But then, neither were the Beguines.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
What
would our ancient mothers do? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
They
would use the money to build housing for more women who need housing security,
food security, and whom desire working in a quiet, compassionate, spiritual
environment. They would use it to give
more women skills, to give more women business savvy, so more women can grow
and operate and manage more businesses.
They would turn their wealth over to the Bougienage so that others who
would have otherwise had no shot at property ownership or business ownership – suddenly
get a chance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
My
son came into my office one day, recently, and said “Mom, how come there’s a
path and vows for the Sisters, but nothing for the Brothers?” I smiled at him with a look on my face that
warned him that what I was about to say, he wasn’t going to like.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
“I’m
sorry, honey, but I told you, this is a woman empowerment organization. It’s about empowering women. That’s why I did this.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
“But
why can’t there be a path for the Brothers?
Why can’t you make something similar?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Again,
I hesitated at being blunt with him. He
took his role as fire-keeper, with Brother Rudy, very seriously these
days. They work together well, and he
had been working harder and harder and taking on more projects and I didn’t
want to interrupt his enthusiasm for our growing order. Yet, I couldn’t avoid it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
“Because
the Brothers don’t matter, honey.” I
said as kindly as I could. His eyes,
predictably, flashed with disbelief.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
“Look,
Alex, a Brother becomes a Brother when a Sister says so. It’s very simple. If you ask, which approach is the most
empowering to women? The answer is, let
them choose. So, as long as the Brothers
are helping the Sisters on their mission, they are fine. But if a Brother falls out of favor with a
sponsoring Sister, he will have to find another Sister-sponsor or leave. You have nothing to worry about! You are my son, so you are a Beguine, so you
are always welcome. And anyway, all of
the other Sisters would be happy to sponsor you.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
“That
is f’d up.” He said to me. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
“That
is ultimate feminine empowerment. And
you do believe that what is good for women is good for society? That the higher women are elevated, the
higher a society in whole is elevated? You do believe that men will benefit
from female leadership?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
“I’m
leaving now, Mom,” he said, sullenly closing the door to my office behind him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Men
have a distinct role with the Sisterhood.
They are to protect us. They are
to be our political ears to the ground hearing what people say about us and
reporting back (politically, socially).
They protect us physically, they tend our fires. They play an important role in our community
and we will never want to be without them.
They are not disrespected. We are
simply focused on women empowerment and believe strongly that men will only
benefit from this focus. And of course,
because we believe that choices are empowering, we will, from time to time,
choose to partner with men who share our values.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Six
months into working with us, Sister Claire said, “I am so shocked by all the
support we are given by men, I’m kind of shocked that so many men connect to
our message – a feminist agenda. If men
asked me to join their ‘male empowerment’ organization, I would tell them ‘no,
no thank you, pass’.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
“It
doesn’t shock me at all.” I explained to her.
“It is simply because so many of the men we meet were raised by single
mothers. They saw first-hand how it’s
all a trap. Slavery. Spending hard earned money to protect custody
rights. Or fighting for child
support. And minimum wage jobs that make
it impossible to support a family. The men, too, are tired of this country’s
wealth going to a military machine that seems to be operating for the direct
benefit of the top 1%. They want
feminine leadership, too. They crave the women taking their turn at running
things. They trust us not to do many of
the stupid things men have done. They
trust us not to feed a war machine unnecessarily, not to feed our children
poisonous lunches, not to set a bad example.
We’ve proved ourselves to the men and they now want us in leadership.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
I
may have convinced Sister Claire, but I’m not sure about my son.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;">
********<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Subscribe
to our <a href="http://www.sistersofcbd.com/">mailing list</a> (scroll to
bottom of landing page) if you are interested in keeping up with latest
developments. We barely get out one a
month, so we won’t fill your inbox with unnecessary correspondence. We speak when we have something to say. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
If
you want to visit our personal, not-so-private library, <a href="http://www.sistersofthevalley.biz/">click here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
If
you want to see the video of us trimming weed with Aubrey Plaza, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3vHbXDMNmE">click here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com146tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-80138056690892591502017-05-30T14:48:00.000-07:002020-08-04T10:36:40.837-07:00The Twelve Inch Metaphor<br />
When I was rudely made homeless, I found myself not only selling things at flea markets, but buying things at flea markets. Among my treasures were the one dollar barbie dolls laying forlorn, naked, and abandoned in a pile at every street market. Every one I rescued I would promise a hot bath, clean clothes, and an honorable, spiritual job.<br />
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<br />
<br />
I related to those Barbies as each one on the pile reminded me of other throw-away women. They reminded me of how our society devalues women. It reminded me of how fragile our lives are that one minute you can be in a nice house and the next minute, you can be evicted from your own life.<br />
<br />
The forlorn, naked and abandoned Barbies comforted me, in a twisted way, as a metaphor for my own 'throw away' status, at the hands of a family member who turned me to the streets quickly, mercilessly, with a suitcase of clothes left over from a mountain trip and all the possessions to my name kept behind his newly keyed-locks. <br />
<br />
Anyone who has experienced homelessness first hand, or even near homelessness, or such betrayal at the hands of kin, has experienced trauma. So I'm sure it was the reason I would wander the flea markets feeling kinship to the abandoned Barbies in a stack. Looking at them would make me feel grateful for the clothes on my back. <br />
<br />
During the long four months of sofa surfing and searching for an entrance back into a life - any life, I remember wanting more than anything, some privacy -- so I could go bathe the barbies and make them new clothes. I wanted to restore their dignity as I needed so badly for my own to be restored. I needed to restore their faith in humanity, in family, in goodness, and in happy-ever-after endings.<br />
<br />
It's been three and a half years, but I finally have a sewing room. And the first thing I did was not mend the many torn hems and gowns hanging in the closet, waiting to be tended. I did not sew new bibs and veils, as are badly needed. No, for my heart and my soul, I rescued my first two barbies. I bathed them, I issued them new clothes, I gave them a robust crop to harvest, and now, they are weed-nuns. Healing themselves as they heal others.<br />
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<br />
In my journey, I learned that you can't buy Barbie spiritual clothing and you can't buy miniature pot plants. So what do you think? Does that harvest look like weed to you?<br />
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Beguine undies.</div>
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Beguine Barbies?</div>
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If we launch a spiritual doll-clothes line, every priest, monk and rabbi will have a kola in his hands. Every high priestess and every high nun (no pun intended) will have a kola in her hands. If we do that, we can't call them Barbies. They will have to be 'the 12-inch Metaphors'.<br />
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<script>
window.location = "https://www.sistersofthevalley.org/society-problems-and-the-twelve-inch-metaphor";
</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-74921023431181479972017-05-21T11:14:00.000-07:002020-08-04T10:37:24.116-07:00Lifting Local Canna-biz Bans<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wednesday night a local activist and real estate investor
stopped by and asked me to attend a City Council meeting with him in Atwater -
another little ghost town of the central valley. For those of you who don’t know the central
valley, all towns are pretty much the same.
Their city councils certainly look alike, and have the same people singing the same songs from the same songbooks . . . it seems that being a 'bold lawmaker' in the central valley is an oxymoron.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most of all city council members across all the towns in the
valley are collecting retirement pensions from public service jobs. The kind of
jobs that tax-paying citizens support. They’ve
all earned their money by what I call ‘in the castle’ positions. The town lawmakers have contempt for the very
people who make their jobs possible simply because they (the city councils) are ‘in the castle,
from the castle’ and the rest of us are castle-outsiders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Atwater city council was discussing a particular ordinance
that allows cannabis operations on a certain strip of land near the
highway. I thought it was a good idea to
show up at their meeting and say “Hey, what you are doing is fantastic! Setting aside a whole strip of dead land in
your town, to be pre-permitted for cannabis businesses, that’s progressive!” But then I also had to say that the idea of
banning all retail sales of cannabis is ridiculous because, for one thing, no
investor is going to consider setting up operations where they can’t sell to
the locals. Banning retail sales of
cannabis is the same as saying “Hey, Dole, you can make your pineapple juice
here, you just can’t sell it here.” Can
you imagine Mr. Dole signing up for that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Furthermore”, I explained to them. “Retail sales of cannabis are already
happening in your little town. They have
been happening all through prohibition.
You aren’t stopping retail sales from happening by banning them, you are
just making sure that those activities stay in the hands of the black
market. You are just making sure that it
is an underground activity and no taxes are received.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the record, I was addressing a city council whose city
budget is near bankruptcy! And I invited
them all to our farm to visit and see what we do and learn something. I recommended they visit Harborside in
Oakland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">"In God We Trust" emblazoned across the building and a pledge of allegiance to the flag at the opening of every meeting. My Canadian visitor felt like she was visiting a quaint old movie set. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The clearing of their voices, the pompous positioning before
they spoke – they don’t know this, because they don’t attend other city council
meetings in the valley, they don’t know that not one of them sitting on the
panel has an original thought on the matter. Their voice-clearing and pompous deliveries
of their words aren’t even original. I guess that’s what bugs me the most. They think they are so smart and so wise and so important. But the words
that come out of their mouths prove two things:
complete ignorance on the subject of cannabis combined with a complete
ignorance on what is happening around them in other town-hall meetings, other
states, other countries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I sometimes think that if God assigned an angel to watch
over central valley town discussions of cannabis, the angel would quickly hang
himself. Or, the angel equivalent of
dropping out of the game completely versus having to hear one more politician
deliver as if it is golden words of advice, the warning against children
getting their hands on it. Or, a pompous
warning that money and economics shouldn’t guide this heavy ‘moral’
decision. Grrrrr. Arrrrghghghgh. Grrrrr!
YOU HAVE 12 YEAR OLD METH ADDICTS!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Four citizens addressed the council Wednesday night. All four of them were pro-cannabis businesses
in their town. All four of them said it
is ludicrous to ban retail sales, to dis-allow retail businesses. One was a doctor, one was a lawyer, one was a
real estate magnate, one was a weed-nun.
No one spoke against, except the council members themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After hearing us speak, after closing the public comments,
they said the same stupid things that I have heard over and over again at
council meetings in the central valley. The
same things that would make the angel of cannabis hang himself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">1. We can’t
have it getting in the hands of kids!</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">That’s why we can’t have retail sales.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All
lawmakers in the central valley use that as their first go-to point. Ridiculous!
They don’t care that we have a meth addiction epidemic. They don’t care that children get into
alcohol and pills. They don’t care that
their town is a ghost-town and has absolutely nothing for children to do. They don’t care that since Castle Air Force
closed, their population has increasingly gone down and the businesses that
were here have moved out. Let’s worry
about the children getting into something that’s never killed anyone, and let’s
ignore the meth epidemic and the extreme poverty that the central valley holds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">2. Let’s not
focus so much on the money.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The decision
shouldn’t be about money.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Says the old fart who has never worried about money one day of his
life! I broke their rules on that one
and stood up and reminded them that economic hardship is the number one
promoter of disease and sickness. I didn’t
add this part, but I was thinking it: “If I grew up in your town, I would do
meth, too.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I sat down, I just prayed for a bit of light to shine into their
thick skulls. (I accuse all, but really,
there were one or two enlightened ones up there, they just don’t get to say
much. They maintain a foot in the
cannabis closet.) I meditated on a
golden beam of knowledge flowing into all their heads.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If their town wasn’t so shabby and dilapidated and so on the brink of
economic ruin, it wouldn’t be so infuriating.
But it is! Melia Robinson just
came out with an article that discusses five towns on the brink of ruin who
were saved by the intelligent plant. It
discusses the fact that more people shop at the dispensaries than live in the
town, because people come from all over to get their medicine. It discusses how the tax revenues generated
got them new fire engines, street lights, repairs and upgrades of their main
street area. Here’s the link. Someone please get the Atwater city council
members to read it:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/small-towns-saved-by-legal-marijuana-2017-5?&platform=bi-androidapp/#residents-of-sedgwick-colorado-were-in-talks-to-disband-the-town-when-a-medical-marijuana-dispensary-opened-for-business-1">http://www.businessinsider.com/small-towns-saved-by-legal-marijuana-2017-5?&platform=bi-androidapp/#residents-of-sedgwick-colorado-were-in-talks-to-disband-the-town-when-a-medical-marijuana-dispensary-opened-for-business-1</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I sat and listened to them talk about how they will have to take more
time (code for, have another public meeting, but stack it with people who think
their way – narrowly, selfishly and uncompassionately), my thoughts went to the
businesses I had done some consulting for in their town and one experience in
particular.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was working on their QuickBooks when a woman came in, big hair and tiny
hips, a cloud of perfume around her, clickity click across the floor in her
high heels and she was carrying a poodle and a purse and wearing gloves(!) She said “Are the owners’ here?” and the
receptionist told her they were not. She
said “Well, tell them they owe me a thank you, because Saturday night? At around ten o’clock, I was driving by and I
saw a homeless person sleeping in the alcove.
I called the police and they took care of it. Tell them Gloria said ‘your welcome’”. She turned away and -- clickity click -- off
she went.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My soul was so offended and though I tried really hard to bite my tongue,
I couldn’t do it. As the door opened
about twenty feet or so from where I was sitting, I shouted for everyone in the
place to hear, “Yes, let’s not be outraged that someone is shelterless! Let’s be outraged that they had the nerve to
do that in front of your tender eyes!”
In my mind, I added, you ice-hearted bitch. (Yes, I have an evil inner twin and she said
that in my ears.) I don’t know if she actually heard me, as the
door opening had this noise attached to it and she was twenty to thirty feet
away, but everyone in the office heard me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s unfortunate, but I carry that image as the one in my head that
represents, sadly, the attitude of many in that town. I am sad for these women, because they are
the same ones who hold up the patriarchy.
They don’t even know their words and actions are betraying their own
gender.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the end of the city council meeting, the woman in front of me turned
and asked why we dress like we do. I
explained that we are Beguine revivalists, not nuns. I explained that we dress formally out of
respect for the plant, as a meditation to be in synch with our ancient mothers
and their spiritual practices, that Muslim women are the only women who still
dress like our ancient mothers and that makes them targets of discrimination,
and so in Sisterhood with them, we also cover ourselves. She listened to all that and said “I like the
other kind.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was so surprised that I could only nod, smile, and walk away to catch
up with Sister Claire, who had already headed toward the back of the room. This woman was showing her disdain for our
self-declared, self-empowered, woman-owned, woman-run spiritual and tribal
operation. I’m always surprised when
women don’t support women as it seems unnatural. Naughty replies danced in my head. “We like the other ones too -- too bad they
are going extinct.” And “You like the
other ones? Would you like to come visit
the next time those ‘other ones’ come visit?”
And “You like the other ones? Are
you intending to become one?” I had to
stifle a giggle because I had caught up with Sister Claire and she didn’t know
the exchange had happened. I don’t like
to share hater comments with the Sisters.
Best they keep their thoughts positive while working the medicine and doing
other important work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every time someone throws darts at our Sisterhood, I feel more and more
connected to our Beguine ancestral mothers who were persecuted many times in
history for being excellent at what they did, and for being excellent at what
they did without a patriarchy telling them what and how to do it. So I don’t take those arrows personally. I accept that I have a calling, and that I am
not certain where the journey will lead, but I am certain that I will strive,
as my other Sisters do, every day, to make our ancient Beguine mothers proud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sadly, or – weirdly, the Atwater city council decided to schedule their
next public discussion of cannabis ordinances on the summer solstice (june 21<sup>st</sup>). We are flexible, however, and may likely move
our celebration night so that we can pack their room with pro-job, pro-compassion,
pro-planet earth people. I know you are
all out there. Sixty-eight percent of
the Atwater city population voted for Prop 64.
You should all come out. Everyone
in the valley should come out that night and be heard. We need to stop this nonsense of them
continuing to thwart the will of the people.
They need to listen to some Nixon tapes.
They need to understand that the bans against the plant were rooted in
racism. They need to understand that they
are on the wrong side of this argument and that one day, their children will be
putting cannabis in their grand-children’s granola to make sure they ward off a
host of diseases. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maybe you can’t come to that meeting, but maybe you would like to call
them or email them. Their information is
below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And to end on a more positive note, at least one of the city council
members spoke with me after about cannabis and specific diseases and she was
also the only one who was ready to act on the ordinance so Atwater could get on
with the business of the business. So
that’s one down and four to go . . . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">James Price</span></strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
City Council<br />
Mayor<br />
750 Bellevue Road<br />
Atwater, CA 95301<br />
209-357-6300<br />
209-777-0675<br />
209-357-6302<br />
<a href="mailto:jprice@atwater.org">jprice@atwater.org</a></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">James
Vineyard</span></strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
City Council<br />
Mayor Pro Tem<br />
750 Bellevue Road<br />
Atwater, CA 9530<br />
209-357-6300<br />
209-769-4050<br />
209-357-6302<br />
<a href="mailto:jvineyard@atwater.org">jvineyard@atwater.org</a></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Paul
Creighton</span></strong><b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span></b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">City Council<br />
Council Member<br />
750 Bellevue Road<br />
Atwater, CA 95301<br />
<a href="mailto:pcreighton@atwater.org">pcreighton@atwater.org</a></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Brian
Raymond</span></strong><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
City Council<br />
City Council Member<br />
750 Bellevue Road<br />
Atwater, CA 95301<br />
(209)357-6300<br />
209-676-0671<br />
(209)357-6302<br />
<a href="mailto:braymond@atwater.org">braymond@atwater.org</a></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-50315111081898704142017-04-02T09:24:00.001-07:002020-08-04T10:40:17.167-07:00Blogging and Flogging<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Yesterday, a group of
Sisters drove up to Sacramento for the Healing Arts fair. Sister Nia took these
photos. You haven't met her, yet, but you will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>Sister Freya stocking up on healing stones.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">During the two days
preceding our girls-day-out, we had an uncomfortable number of interviews.
Skype interviews, where we all take turns sitting at my computer, the only one
set up for Skype in the office, connected to the only good headset we own, and
there was much chatter and concern about the interviews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">When I have media, I
always warn them that I’m the chatty one.
If they want a lot of words without a lot of effort, they speak to me. But then I also warn them:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">(a) these Sisters didn’t
come to work with me for media attention.
They didn’t come to be public speakers.
They came to made medicine and work with the plant. So, speaking in front of a camera doesn’t
come easily to any of them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">(b) the young ones haven’t
found their voices yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">That’s how we define it
here. Some have found their voices, some
have not. I am 57 years old and got my
voice fifteen or twenty years ago.
Sister Freya is only forty and she found her voice five to ten years
ago. It’s not reasonable to expect young women, twenty-three and twenty-four to
have found their voices. They haven’t really lived enough, yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><b>Vegan eats! Affirmation that we are out of the valley.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">As soon as we got in the
car at seven forty-five yesterday morning, Sister Nia asked Sister Freya how
her interview went the evening before.
And Sister Freya laughed and said she found her ‘interview-super-power’. She did a reading on the interviewer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Sister Freya sees
spirits and in this case, there was much unresolved between the interviewer and
her father, who crossed over by suicide – we don’t know exactly when. But that spirit was there, wanting to speak
to his daughter, and Sister Freya, faced with sending him away or offering some
healing to this young woman on the TV screen, chose for the latter -- true to
her calling as a healer.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Although Sister Freya
was delighted that she got out of the interview, the whole scheduled hour given
over to medium-ship between the deceased father and his daughter-in-pain-on-the-earth-plane,
Sister Nia and I were sad that the young reporter had to deal with such serious
tragedy. We are both empaths and we both
felt kicked in the gut at the news.
Without words spoken between us, Sister Freya felt our sadness and
added, “Oh, it’s worse than that, even. Her
mom isn’t handling it at all and is at risk of suicide herself. I’ve scheduled two more calls with them this
weekend.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">That was some solace. The Sisters can do something. Sister Freya is intervening to offer medicine. A silent prayer went up for her success, and
then the conversation returned to her glee over having dodged the bullet of the
interview.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">“You really don’t like
interviews? It’s all basic stuff! You can say what’s in your heart. You know that whatever you say will be ok,
right?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">“I don’t mind
interviews,” she said, “But this is wayyyyy better! I will become known as the Sister who has
never been interviewed, because I always do readings and distract them by
helping them with their own personal issues!
It’s brilliant!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">On the remainder of the
drive up highway 99, we talked about many things. Bullets and pellets, our name
for a new CBD product we are developing, the development of our rosary to help
us count during our chants, the wholesale program and anticipated demand. We spent a few minutes comparing notes on
family gossip that they don’t know comes right back to us, because in every
Sisters’ family, there is at least one silent supporter among the haters. If our families say bad stuff about us, we
hear about it. If a lawmaker or
law-enforcement person says something bad about us, we hear it. We believe the concept of ‘having a mole’ is
ancient wisdom and contributes to the survival of the tribe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">In some cases, the
families are split over the issue of our very existence. Mom’s side is a group
of supporters, Dad’s side is suspicious haters.
Or vice versa. In my own family, some believe we are mocking Catholic
nuns. Nothing could be further from the
truth. First, we have great respect for
their excellence in teaching and nursing, their vast contributions, and we
strive to emulate their system-run, dependable standards of excellence. But secondly, and more importantly, it is the
very fact that the people out protesting miss having the nuns and priests at
their sides, fighting the good fights right there alongside the working class
angry -- it is that fact that called this Order into being. The people asked for us. Thirdly, it’s not a competition and fourthly,
we are Beguine-revivalists. The only ‘nun
moniker’ we claim is the ‘weed-nun’ handle.
It says everything in two succinct syllables.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">I find it ironic that
the people who should be most embracing and supportive of this new age path we
are walking, should be family and local politicians and lawmakers. It is ironic that we have so many followers
from around the world who understand us, love us, support us, but in the arms
of our tribe, we suffer the bearing of false witness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Left to Right: Sister Gina, daughter Ava, Sister Kate and Sister Freya</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b>Before heading back to Merced, we visited a community college agriculture-day fair and bought some clary sage and white sage plants for our garden.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Just before arriving at
our destination in Sacramento, we gave a little time to our manifesting powers
and spoke of our dreams of travel. Two
of us are going to Brazil in May to speak at a conference on cannabis and
morality and we collectively hope that that turns into more offers from other
countries. Personally, I want to take a
trip to Greece, perhaps with stops in France (to see a Bougienage), England and
Ireland. Except, I lamented, I really
want to travel with all the Sisters and that would shut us down. “We will have to take turns,” I concluded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">That led me to reminding
the Sisters that I am still the sole voice of the Sisterhood. Ever-on-the-look-out for ways to lighten my
load and make a system-run organization not dependent of any one Sister – ever ensuring
I have future choices – choices to go, choices to send someone who would
represent us well, I encouraged Nia to consider public relations (social media
posting) on behalf of the Sisters. I threw out a couple of topics that would be
good starter subjects, promised her that I would get her access to the dropbox
for photos, and pushed my personal agenda along its path.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">“Think about writing and
sharing your wisdom.” That was the last
thing I said before shutting off the engine of the car and embarking on our
adventure at the Healing Arts fair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">An hour later we were in
a group reading with Dr. Christian Toren, a Master Clairvoyant from Burbank,
California, who works primarily with the archangels and he was telling Nia that
Archangel Gabriel says she has to share her knowledge. He told her that she’s been collecting it all
her life and she needs to get it out, get it on paper, share it with the
people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">I was kind of impressed
that he went there, first, and, sitting right next to Nia, I said “Blogging,
blogging, blogging”. But every time I
said it, Dr. Toren winced, and finally, the third time I repeated it, he said “No,
please, no flogging!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">“Flogging?” I said,
horrified, “Good God, I said BLOGGING! It
means ‘writing’!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">It was my turn to be
horrified, but Sister Freya and Sister Nia were both laughing so hard, hands
over their mouths, trying to stifle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">“Good God!” I said
again, “What kind of nuns do you think we are?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Dr. Toren apologized,
but he, too, was laughing so hard he had to wipe tears out of his eyes.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">We must have had some
mischief-making gnome-interference, because he went right back to talking to
Nia about why she must write, about how her ‘not writing’ is affecting her
stomach and sleep, and then exclaimed “You are meant to inspire!” The noise level of the convention hall had
risen a bit and Nia didn’t hear him properly, although Freya and I heard him
clearly. Nia looked horrified, while
Freya and I were nodding and smiling in agreement with his words. We realized quickly that Nia had turned
pale. “I was meant to expire?” she said.
“When?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%;">“INSPIRE!” we all three hollered
at once. “Inspire!” I said again, to
make sure she heard properly this time.
Good grief. Blogging, flogging,
inspire, expire, what the heck?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><b>Brother Andy hooked us up.</b></span></span></div>
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link at the top to see our products)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-84334059577849412092017-02-11T12:32:00.000-08:002020-08-04T10:47:17.730-07:00The Final Hours Before the Final Vows<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhen2XMgGnyXWVIWAY88_j5W6Y7diXNl9PkQWRUukk56DYX0B7MbELT7JLS0ytZvQH8pc8PsKEMHIPePpWTAYn1_fheaK77klesjmNZWNK1vfVtewgRbeXgTQ-zTIeRgAwCzLCGFV411Vet/s1600/IMG_20170211_091348+rouge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhen2XMgGnyXWVIWAY88_j5W6Y7diXNl9PkQWRUukk56DYX0B7MbELT7JLS0ytZvQH8pc8PsKEMHIPePpWTAYn1_fheaK77klesjmNZWNK1vfVtewgRbeXgTQ-zTIeRgAwCzLCGFV411Vet/s320/IMG_20170211_091348+rouge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Last night’s full moon was a reminder to me of how far we
have come in such a short time. As I
retreated to my room with laptop under arm to play some meditative music, light
a candle, and rest in preparation for the evening ceremonies, I couldn’t help but
feel a warm sense of satisfaction that, as Mary Chapin Carpenter sings: <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsbAfxAjvEU&list=PLYVFbVme-IaKxq-8LEltEXIU23tSzveCh&index=17"><span style="font-style: normal;">everything runs right on time, years of practice and
design</span></a>.</i></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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We are now in our third year of the Sisterhood, and by late
yesterday, I was already feeling deeply satisfied by the progress of the Order. I was feeling a sense of pride in how
everything around the farm seemed to be running right on time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It was ten after four in the afternoon when I entered the
abbey. I noticed how quiet it was,
straight off. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Like a mother with her list of children, I couldn’t help but
do a quick assessment on where all my tribe were at this particular
moment. Sister Kassidy was out for two
days, preparing to take her vows. That
meant her two-year old noisemaker (and I call her that in the nicest way possible) was not here either. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Miss Preslee was the only one working down the hall from the
kitchen, quietly absorbed in answering <a href="http://www.sistersofcbd.com/">customer
emails</a>. Miss Amy and Chef Marilyn
were in the kitchen of the blue house prepare the evening feast. Miss Lori was in the office taking my calls
and hers, and getting payroll ready. Sister Freya’s off-spring wouldn’t be
arriving for two hours and she was holed up with the stars and the forecasts,
preparing her readings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I knew Miss Preslee’s seven-year-old son, Jayden, was
kicking a ball around outside in the drizzling rain and that the Brothers were
in the shop, tending the plants. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At the time that I walked passed Jayden (after a very long
day in the office on conference calls and preparing the songs, speeches and
vows for the ceremony), I was intent on just having my tea, resting on my bed
and listening to healing music. But when
I stepped into the main hall, the visual was so pleasant I had to stop and
appreciate it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The late afternoon sun filtered through the blinds and did a
little light show on the polished surface of the big wooden table in the center
of the room. The faint smell of our
topical salves lingered in the air. Everything
was so clean and orderly and peaceful. A
sigh of relief that Sister Freya had arranged the abbey. I hadn’t intended to linger, as I only had an
hour and a half to shower and rest before I must dress for the evening. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I set down my papers and computer and stood admiring the
sunlight coming through the blinds, admiring the positioning of the items
required for the ceremony. The
candelabra at the center of the big wooden table, with half-burned white taper
candles in their holes from the last ceremony, but boxes of new white taper
candles set nearby the base . . . new, colored, scented candles in deep glass
jars were set about the room - two on the wood-burning stove, two on the wooden
chest near the front door, two on the kitchen counter, one on each side of the
candelabra. That table is the center place
for all our indoor ceremonies, I thought, smiling fondly at the table, and then
nodding respectfully to it, as if it has a life of its own. With all the items arranged on and, around
it, it seemed so.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Miss Preslee had set out four sets of gloves, four palo
santo sticks, and four smudgesticks, all new wicks, new sticks, new gloves.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The only sound in the quiet room was the ticking clock from
Karlovac.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I opened the gown closet door and smiled at the four gowns,
four bleached and starched bibs, and turning to the table, counted four pressed
veils, four caps and four neck-covers hanging individually over the backs of
four chairs. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When I emerged from my rooms at half past five, I lit the
candles and thanked my lucky stars, and Godfather and Goddess Mother for how
far we have come. I recalled that it
wasn’t so long ago that I was doing the ceremonies alone, under the stars,
feeling a bit crazy for doing so. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Two years ago, I did everything, I was the everything. One year ago, it wasn’t so, with at least a
dozen people around and participating . . .
and though I had more Sisters and more Brothers, I was still doing pretty much everything, but with helpers. I was still doing all the menu planning, most
of the cooking, and I was candle-fetcher, music director, sermon-writer,
moon-phase researcher. I was garment
manager, too, and would sometimes be sewing, pressing, or repairing gowns, bibs
or veils up to an hour before the ceremony.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Last night, as I moved from station to station lighting the
candles for the coming ceremony, I said a prayer of thanksgiving for the ease
with which our full moon events have come to be executed. It isn’t just a normal ceremony as there is a
feast; there is special cleaning and preparing that must be done, preparing of
both the physical and the spiritual. But this time, I didn't do it alone. This time, I didn't even do the majority of it! This time, I got to focus on my part and everyone else focused on their own parts and somehow, we nailed it -- with the elegance and grace of professional
ballet dancers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I said a prayer of thanks for Mother Goddess shepherding
these women to me, the right women, the right men. I said
thanks for the order and the calm. It is,
after all, the order that we crave; it is the simplicity of an elegant dance
that we all wish to be part of -- it is the lack of a need to discuss and over-discuss
every little thing. We strive to be like
our ancient mothers -- less words, more dignified action. Last night’s ceremony – and more importantly,
the period of twenty-four hours leading up to last night’s ceremony -- was like
a graduating step for the Order. Like a
coming-of-age of the Sisterhood. Everyone
had a task to do; everyone had a role to fill, and everyone did their thing,
elegantly, gracefully, seriously, and excellently. I couldn’t be more proud.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">February 10, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Ice Moon / Full Moon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Celebration of Sister Kassidy Taking
Her Final Vows<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Opening Song – #1 Sacred Ancestors<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">First Reading – Sister Kate / Pope
Joan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Song – #3 Earth Joy Dance<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Light Sage and Palo Santo Incense<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Song - #5 We Are a Circle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Second Reading – Sister Freya / The
Strength of the Moon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Light Sage and Palo Santo Incense<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Song - #8 We All Come from the Goddess
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Sister Kassidy Vows & Gifts from
the Tribe<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "lucida handwriting";">Final Song - #7 I Hear You Calling<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Photos by Jaime Riley.<o:p></o:p></div>
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-4532405747259528932017-01-22T12:47:00.000-08:002020-08-04T10:48:22.464-07:00The Inauguration of Trump and the Up-rising of the Women<br />
I have to get something off my chest.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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For over two months now, there has been a moral tug-of-war
going on in my heart. It is the
tug-of-war between sensible commerce and moral duty. It is a tug of war that kept my political
views off of our facebook page for the business. Mostly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5r0xhX8XElPMg5WczMEBhN9ygFhaq6XLuPPZWF0hMGGxq0d2egwwkSIBpnT5v6Gb7OmyuQF6RIHd1Qqtv2pgM7Nt6UtQGvB6g8_RiwUo9zJUIwsZTOs0pwQYxVab0mkkim5Ybsclp0eK/s1600/20170121_123114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5r0xhX8XElPMg5WczMEBhN9ygFhaq6XLuPPZWF0hMGGxq0d2egwwkSIBpnT5v6Gb7OmyuQF6RIHd1Qqtv2pgM7Nt6UtQGvB6g8_RiwUo9zJUIwsZTOs0pwQYxVab0mkkim5Ybsclp0eK/s320/20170121_123114.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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But I am done with that.
I am, today, officially done with that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It happened with the Women’s March on Washington and the
solidarity march we attended here in the central valley. It happened because so many people posted angry comments under our photos. We were harshly judged for standing in solidarity with the women.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We are <a href="http://cannabiskateincalifornia.blogspot.com/2017/01/being-beguine-dec-2016.html">Beguine
revivalists</a>. If you don’t know who
the Beguines were, maybe you should look them up. They were progressive activists for women, in
the middle ages. Their core mission was
to lift women from poverty by giving them housing security, food security, and
training, and jobs. This is who we
are. This is what we want to be.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our capitalist enterprises are there to support our
spirituality and activism. It is not the
other way around. Our capitalist
enterprises are for the women, for the people.
Our progressive activism is for the women, for the people. Our spirituality? That’s for us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s what you need to understand about our origins. This order was given birth by the Occupy
movement. Our origins are in
protesting. While out with the people,
the formalization of this order came as a result of so many people asking for
it – from so many asking for an order that has, as its holy trinity -- service,
activism, and spirituality.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDZDrEAYzrXLi302K3WvVGc0ekJu_zfk859uHXqO-6pwP7am-fjIW4lu7e4nc0fXiw2K4s7ALehKHKt-PC7n9DSa7I4exQbclRmfdmt4yjGGCEUxJFJ8-v5XouAENf8xdu5338OC1Z8IF/s1600/2017012195122734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDZDrEAYzrXLi302K3WvVGc0ekJu_zfk859uHXqO-6pwP7am-fjIW4lu7e4nc0fXiw2K4s7ALehKHKt-PC7n9DSa7I4exQbclRmfdmt4yjGGCEUxJFJ8-v5XouAENf8xdu5338OC1Z8IF/s320/2017012195122734.jpg" width="320" /></a>We grew a business from nothing, two years ago, to employing
nine folks full-time and another nine to twelve in various specialty positions,
and this all began from five thousand anarchist, activist, facebook friends.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let’s just take a quick stroll through what we are all
about. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Mission statement: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>The Sisters of the Valley
is a newly born, new-age group of Sisters whose fundamental mission is to get
plant-based medicine into the hands of those in need -- and to do that in a
responsible and sustainable manner. The mission is supported by
their founding principles, which are to honor Mother Earth and her intelligent
plant, provide a valuable product to the people, empower other women to succeed,
and participate in <b>peaceful progressive
activism</b>.</i><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Vows:<o:p></o:p></div>
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#1 Chastity. Do you think that when we take a vow to
privatize our sexuality and keep ourselves covered at all times in public, do
you think we can support a pussy-grabbing president? How does that work?<o:p></o:p></div>
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#2 Activism. Yes,
activism is a vow. So now, tell me, if
activism is a vow we take, do you not expect us to join protests?<o:p></o:p></div>
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#3 Service. This is
our medicine-making. We use
non-psychoactive cannabis to make tinctures and topical salves. We have hundreds of testimonials from people
around the world thanking us for alleviating their suffering. Trump is trying to appoint a man who has
contempt in his heart for this intelligent plant. Do you expect us to get behind that?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF34TVT6FgJNIdHYJqV9NIToFhl_41y_TsrTLAHcuJrKydgHuQMzyi6HZhfGdXsy4gHLfkv8S9eS9ojPeo3uo3yFP6zAe7XpGaV_quRBUA5O5vJnNXo2d1pOVfmd8NdNzh4Tp5hD9-hSV3/s1600/2017012195122421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF34TVT6FgJNIdHYJqV9NIToFhl_41y_TsrTLAHcuJrKydgHuQMzyi6HZhfGdXsy4gHLfkv8S9eS9ojPeo3uo3yFP6zAe7XpGaV_quRBUA5O5vJnNXo2d1pOVfmd8NdNzh4Tp5hD9-hSV3/s320/2017012195122421.jpg" width="320" /></a>#4 Ecology. This is
the part of our vow where we respect and repair mother earth, try to reduce our
foot-print, migrate to a more plant-based diet, and more friendly co-existence
with her. By Trump’s Exxon appointment,
do you think he is taking an earth-friendly approach?<o:p></o:p></div>
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#5 Living Simply.
Trump represents the opposite of that.
He is all glitz and glamour and largess and wastefulness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Which political party do you think best represents the
ethics and values of the Sisters? The
Green Party, naturally, and Bernie, who is green at heart. With a few controlling our media propaganda
machine, with a two-party grid-locked system, with DNC corruption, neither had
a chance. <o:p></o:p></div>
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People like to come onto our facebook posts and tell me ‘get
behind your president’. No, sorry, we cannot. He represents the opposite of all we stand
for.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One more thing, our <a href="http://www.sistersofcbd.com/">business</a>
grew fifteen times the second year over the first. We have, since the very beginning -- sold out
of every jar, every bottle, of every product we have ever made. We have hundreds of stores around the world
who want to carry our products and over seven thousand loyal repeat retail
customers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We do well because of our commitment to excellence, our
commitment to making and protecting the medicines in an ancient-ritual
spiritual environment. We do well
because of our commitment to using best business practices, to being ‘audit
ready’ at all times, to ensure all taxes are paid, that no cheats are used,
ever. We do well because we are
committed to making our customers happy and we are committed to being
responsive to their calls, emails, and inquiries from many different social
media platforms.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sometimes I wonder if we were Trump supporters, if we
adopted Trump’s business ethics, would our medicine do as well? If we meditated on Trump-think, instead of
the suffering of the people, would our products still do what they do for the
people? Do any of you seriously feel any
compassion radiating from this new President of ours? Do any of you believe we could be in a
prayerful, spiritual, meditative environment with a picture of Trump hanging on
our wall?<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you think you are punishing us by refusing to buy from us
because of our politics – you are not. I
have maintained since the beginning that if we only had the progressive
activists around the world supporting us, we will always grow and thrive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Are we angry at the Trump-voters? Heck, no!
The decision the American public was faced with was horrible, dismal,
disturbing. In the end, we had a choice
between two shadow characters and the people chose the one who is <b>'out' </b>about his
darkness; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmerXO00sGE"><b>they chose
authenticity over pretense</b></a>. We don’t
blame. We don’t shame. We accept that everyone did the best they
could, with the deck stacked as it was, against the people.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The American people chose to throw a torch to the system. One half of the people didn’t vote. One fourth of the people voted for
Hillary. One fourth voted for
Trump. He does not have and never held
majority support. I take comfort in that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So please, stop threatening us, as if we rely on your
purchases. We do not. We try to be sensible in regard to our
capitalist enterprises, but you are asking us to support a man who mocks our
vows. You are asking us to ignore our
vows and mission. It is too much to ask. If it offends you, there are many places you
can find CBD and it does not offend us if you wish to buy from others. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On another note, I have had a half dozen women declare that
they will not buy from us because they perceive us to be ‘pro-abortion’. We try to explain -- it isn’t abortion we are
proponents of, it’s just that we trust the women to make their own decisions
for their own bodies. Have you read our
mission statement? Regulating the vagina
is the opposite of women empowerment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-H_wuEh5yefIZQd4XzyyzzkxIGUHy9ieDS3M03bLRpfX9EDdkvdsgYVaz6q27LG_i-l-5h_lgVfK38ZYh7oNy8QGi_S1a2ZzceuetG7n9zGKaopxlcgM8O18nJIuX8_JN_BYsPM6LKpdB/s1600/2017012195121933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-H_wuEh5yefIZQd4XzyyzzkxIGUHy9ieDS3M03bLRpfX9EDdkvdsgYVaz6q27LG_i-l-5h_lgVfK38ZYh7oNy8QGi_S1a2ZzceuetG7n9zGKaopxlcgM8O18nJIuX8_JN_BYsPM6LKpdB/s320/2017012195121933.jpg" width="180" /></a>We are well aware of the fact that first term abortions didn’t
‘become a sin’ in the Catholic church until one hundred years ago, coincidentally,
at the same time the intelligent plant became demonized. It is the same time that mankind stepped up
the effort to trash the planet. Do women
not see that the divine feminine is under attack all the way around on this
planet? From the planet, herself, to the
women who occupy it, to the vaginas of the women who occupy it? All are under
attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We are well aware of the fact that where women have food, housing,
healthcare and education security, when they have equal rights and equal opportunity
and equal pay in the work force, they have two children. Inside a marriage. Zero abortions. Zero population growth. So we are trying to understand why people
want to regulate women’s vaginas? Why
wouldn’t you want to fix the root cause of the reason for abortions instead of
just attacking the women on a moral basis?
Why does one woman want to control the vagina of another woman? Is that thinking sticking to us because of
200,000 years of male energies dominating the planet? Can we not shed ourselves of that and think
only in terms of Sisterhood?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s a special little note to the men, who have the
propensity to give orders to the Sisters without thinking them through. In the past month, I’ve had two men reach out
to us – one to say ‘stick to weed growing and get the hell out of politics, you
are making yourselves look stupid’ – and one to say ‘stick to weed growing and
stay the hell out of spirituality, you are not a trained theologian.’<o:p></o:p></div>
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My answer to them both?
Sorry, we don’t take orders from men, but it’s cute that you tried.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I feel so much better now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<script>
window.location = "https://www.sistersofthevalley.org/the-inauguration-of-trump-and-the-up-rising-of-the-women";
</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-47916626945880388412017-01-11T17:24:00.003-08:002020-08-04T10:38:03.679-07:00Being Beguine (Dec 2016)<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "Bitstream Charter", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">
Originally published December 5th, 2016</div>
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My fascination with Catholic nuns, my ever-on radar for nun-news, comes not so much from having grown up with them all around, but the fact that they are going extinct<em>. (If someone knows of a Catholic nun revival surge, please point it out to me.) </em></div>
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It is the fact that we are alive to witness the extinction of a twelve-hundred-year-old tradition that is fascinating. It is the fact that they ‘stood by their men’ through some pretty egregious happenings that suggests extinction is inevitable, perhaps even karmic.<br />
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As a child educated in a Catholic school, I had to swallow some pretty bizarre concepts, presented to me as ‘truths’. The pope is infallible. Purgatory is a place. The Holy Ghost is a thing.</div>
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Recently, I heard a modern-day Catholic nun tell a news reporter that the white habits they wear represent being married to God. She said they put on their wedding dresses every day to celebrate their anniversary of marriage. The nuns I grew up with wore black, so I never heard of such a thing as the habit being a wedding dress!</div>
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It got me to thinking. If no-one objects to the rather bizarre notion that nuns wear their wedding dresses daily, to re-live their marriage to God, then certainly people can wrap their heads around the concept of a Sisterhood of women who work with cannabis plants, make home-made tonics and tinctures, and support themselves through their own labors and without need of alms?</div>
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Our earth family should be able to accept the fact that we wear the gowns to honor our ancient Beguine fore-mothers, that we put them on to show respect for the plant and Mother Earth, that we put them on to remind ourselves to make our sacred ancestors proud, that we wear them to announce our presence to the people, as regalia, to honor them, whenever we are among them. Yet, word on the street is that our local officials can’t wrap their heads around this concept. Yes, word on the street is that they are fine with our cannabis business, but not with our uniforms. So I can only assume that if we claimed to be married to God, if we claimed our uniform was a wedding dress, then it would be ok?</div>
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Actually, try as they might to make it about something else, we know too well why they object. They object because there are no men in charge here. They object because there is no male-founded, male-run, male dominated church here. There are men here, of course, but they don’t run the show. Furthermore, our order is ‘self-formed’ and, as ‘weed-nuns’, we are self-declared, which makes us empowered, and the old grey-haired white dudes running the central valley of California find that to be frightening.</div>
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In case you hadn’t heard, we are leaving a two-hundred-thousand-year-old period of male energies ruling the planet and are entering the age of feminine energies ruling the planet. We are leaving our ‘conquer all’ mentality that formed our civilizations and we are entering an age of preservation, nurturing, nesting. Of course, female energies must now rule, if we want to keep our people inhabiting this planet. (Never mind Trump, Brexit, Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen, and the others of their ilk, they represent the last gasp of a dying paradigm. You didn’t think the conquerors would go down without a fight, did you? But worry not -- hate is not a sustainable political platform.)</div>
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Before we bought our farm, we checked the history of the land to make sure no blood was spilled here. We purchased as ‘near virgin’ land as is possible in these parts. No animals were caged or slaughtered here, no one was ever hurt here, and we made a big upset in this place by putting a digger in the ground and splitting a line through the property diagonally, to lay electricity for lighting. We had to do a special healing ceremony for the land, to repent for the cut we made. The split in the land upset the energies of the property and made people who love each other quarrel and bicker.</div>
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In the same manner that we checked the land and the house before offering to buy it, to make sure that the energies here were right for the women and the work to be done, we would not reach for a spiritual practice or religion that had blood on its hands. If murders and pedophilia and dark plots lurk there in the history of the enterprise, we don’t want it. </div>
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We are starting anew.</div>
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Our holy trinity is S.A.S. Yes, because we are political activists, we do ‘give sass’ (now and again), as Brother Emery calls it, but no, the acronym stands for Service, Activism, and Spirituality. The most important part of our ancient-wisdom medicine-making is the environment the products are made in. Therefore, we sought a pure place. An untarnished little farm, a little closer to the gangster-town than we might have preferred, but the land, all the same, is clean.</div>
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We would not do our Activism, if it required blood or harm to anyone. Burning fuel to get to our events is harm enough, and we pray for forgiveness and try to double up. We yearn for solar powered cars, but what we have is fossil-fuel-burning carriages.</div>
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We approach our activism and perform our activism with pure hearts, good intentions, and would not go where dark forces gather. The intention of our activism is to inform, educate, elucidate, where the media machine would rather you remain ignorant.</div>
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In service to the people through the cannabis plant, we are working in a space of ‘no harm’, because try though they might, no-one has ever died from an overdose of the Cannabis medicine.</div>
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And finally, our spirituality. We are Beguine revivalists. </div>
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The Beguines pre-dated Christianity and though they lived together, dressed alike, and prayed together, their mission was not to spread any kind of dogma. Their mission was to rescue women from poverty and give them independence and property (wealth). They were very good at it.</div>
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They were so good at it that during different times through-out their history, they were persecuted by different religious and political groups – mainly because the products they made were of such consistently high quality, and because their work had garnered them such loyal followings. The attacks on them were for jealousy of their success, and because the Beguine mission was to empower women. Our research indicates that in medieval times in Europe, many towns had Beguine villages within their castle walls and many travelers came from far and wide to purchase their products.</div>
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Eschewing Christianity is not because we are ‘anti-Christian’ – we are not. It is simply that our practices identify with our pre-Christian mothers, those early enclaves, whose stories and practices were largely lost to history because they existed before books and written records. Because of the lack of information, we must use our own imagination and intuition to build something akin to what their lives would have been.</div>
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This Yule Tide Season, I want a book on the Beguines, and more importantly -- time to read it. But I am interested in the ancient Beguines, not the ones that recorded history is most likely to discuss – the Catholic Beguines. </div>
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The first Catholic nun didn’t come about until the late 800’s, and I am interested in the enclaves of our Beguine mothers before that, because I am pretty sure that their conversion to Catholicism was coerced. And that this move to Catholicism actually accelerated their extinction (just a personal theory at this point).</div>
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Because Christianity (widespread) happened when the first books became distributable, one might falsely come to the conclusion that our Beguine mothers were Catholics. That would be un-true. The Beguines were around long before Catholicism became mainstream. The Beguines thrived during the dark and middle ages, when daily life was not so well documented, but just because it isn’t written, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.</div>
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It’s not a surprise that the first book mass produced was the Bible, because the man who developed the printing press was Catholic. I have to say I’m a bit surprised and pleased with the blunt <a data-mce-href="http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/pre-reformation.html" href="http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/pre-reformation.html">Wikipedia</a> entry on the history of the Bible (and the added apology to Catholics).</div>
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<em>By<strong> </strong><strong>500 A.D.</strong> the Bible had been translated into over 500 languages. Just one century later, by <strong>600 A.D.</strong>, it has been restricted to only one language: the Latin Vulgate! The only organized and recognized church at that time in history was the Catholic Church of Rome, and they refused to allow the scripture to be available in any language other than Latin. Those in possession of non-Latin scriptures would be executed! This was because only the priests were educated to understand Latin, and this gave the church ultimate power… a power to rule without question… a power to deceive… a power to extort money from the masses. Nobody could question their “Biblical” teachings, because few people other than priests could read Latin. The church capitalized on this forced-ignorance through the 1,000-year period from 400 AD to 1,400 AD knows as the “Dark and Middle Ages”.</em></div>
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<em>Pope Leo the Tenth established a practice called the “selling of indulgences” as a way to extort money from the people. He offered forgiveness of sins for a fairly small amount of money. For a little bit more money, you would be allowed to indulge in a continuous lifestyle of sin, such as keeping a mistress. Also, through the invention of “Purgatory”, you could purchase the salvation of your loved-one’s souls. The church taught the ignorant masses . . . Pope Leo the Tenth showed his true feelings when he said, </em><em>“The fable of Christ has been quite profitable to us!”</em></div>
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<em>Editorial Note: Let us state at this point, that it is not our intent to offend or “bash” Roman Catholics. It is unavoidable that every historical account has its “good guys” and its “bad guys”. Just as it is impossible to accurately tell the story of World War Two without offending the Germans and the Italians who were undeniably the enemies of world peace at that time… it is equally impossible to accurately tell the story of the English Bible without unintentionally offending those who continue to revere the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches.</em></div>
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The Beguines thrived during the dark and middle ages. They were focused on helping the women. Their methods and order and spirituality drew women of all classes. They built housing and many devoted their lives to the enclaves and when they died, left their wealth to the enclave so more unfortunates could be brought in, taught a trade, put to work, given honorable lives. They didn’t live in the same house, but clustered their homes. They owned businesses and houses, grew their own food and hemp and made clothing for themselves and to sell. They made medicines for themselves and to sell. They made jobs. That was their mission. That is ours.</div>
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Right now, this planet has a lot in common with the dark and middle ages. Just like back then, women and children suffer the brunt of the poverty stick. Just like back then, there is a certain hopelessness that sickens the spirit, when people cannot have gainful employment. There is a malaise that happens when the deck is stacked against you – born poor, die poor. We are re-living that again. I call it the castle syndrome. But we, the descendants of the Beguines, intend to occupy the castle, as our ancient mothers once did.</div>
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-31236695067997900962017-01-11T16:49:00.000-08:002020-08-04T10:49:31.428-07:00Samain* Season at the Abbey (November 2016)<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", "Bitstream Charter", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">
<i>Originally published November 2, 2016</i></div>
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<em>*pronounced Saa-ween or Saa-win</em></div>
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<em>Samhain's long association with death and the Dead reflects Nature's rhythms. In many places, Samhain coincides with the end of the growing season. Vegetation dies back with killing frosts, and therefore, literally, death is in the air. This contributes to the ancient notion that at Samhain, the veil is thin between the world of the living and the realm of the Dead and this facilitates contact and communication. For those who have lost loved ones in the past year, Samhain rituals can be an opportunity to bring closure to grieving and to further adjust to their being in the Otherworld by spiritually communing with them. (Selena Fox)</em></div>
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This year at the abbey, Samhain was another trip down ancient lane.</div>
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To accommodate the children and their modern-day custom of ‘Halloween’, the Sisters weren’t able to practice all the pieces and parts together, but beginning at sundown, we managed to get in all the seven services of Samhain and by the time the bonfire was lit, we were together as one.</div>
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With the coming of sunset, one Sister arranged the <strong>pumpkins and candles</strong> on the feast table. She then joined an older Sister for a <strong>meditative walk </strong>through the countryside, setting the energies for the evening. Meanwhile, one Sister was out trick-or-treating with the young ones, and would, no doubt, be late to dinner.</div>
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A <strong>harvest meal</strong>, made by the loving hands of the day-time staff, was shared in a prayerful environment, in honor of the ancestral spirits. Simple fare . . . potato kale soup and a vegetable pine-nut pasta salad, with several kinds of bakery breads. </div>
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One Sister prayed over the feast table, taking special care to invite ancestors from the other side to join in the <strong>Feast of the Dead</strong>. The table was set with an extra place as is custom, with a filled plate and bowl and wine glass, later set outside for easy access by the spirit world.</div>
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After dinner, two Sisters <strong>consulted their pendulums for predictions of the coming year</strong>. Outside, the men built <strong>the bonfire</strong>.</div>
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A <strong>solemn ceremony</strong> was held. The Sisters gathered around the fire, robed in their formal gowns, holding hands and chanting, <em>“We are the circle, within a circle, with no beginning, and never ending.”</em></div>
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There were prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for the coming years’ blessings. There were prayers offered for those recently departed and those who have long departed the earth plane. There were individual prayers and prayers for the Sisterhood. </div>
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The women took their candles and sang as they moved first counterclockwise, then clockwise around the bonfire: “Sacred Ancestors come to me, Sacred Ancestors please help me, All my Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, and Relations, too, Who have loved me for always, I’ll keep the light for you.”</div>
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And the service ended with an <strong>ancestral story</strong>:</div>
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Imagine that we are standing at a bonfire in Northern England in the year 50 of the current era. Christianity wasn’t a thing, yet. The Bible was centuries from being written. The country had been torn up by one war or another for the past fifty years and the people and the land had not yet recovered. But here stand the women, ‘round the fire, on land recently conquered by the Romans.</div>
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Take yourselves there, to their fire. The women are gathered as we are, to pray, to talk. Let’s sit. It is cold there, so they gather close to the fire. </div>
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They share information that is not for others’ ears, so they gather close to speak softly and still be heard.These women, like many of us, have children. These women, like many of us, are raising those children alone. These women had to fight to get a loaf of bread each day and spent much of their precious lives begging or borrowing. They knew they were not alone. They knew they weren’t ‘special’. They knew the men could join the military machine and get food, but their choices were far less. They knew that other women, all the women, suffered the brunt of the poverty. </div>
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“I have heard the Romans wish to end the conflict, to civilize this place, and live peacefully.” Said one woman at the fire. She paused before she continued and then spoke with unabashed hopefulness: “There will be jobs, and medicine, and food.” </div>
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Another Sister at the fire countered her: “We will just be slaves for them and the profit will go to Rome.”</div>
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But then another Sister interjected an idea, a good idea. “We must begin our own business. We must own and control something, something that is ours, that will keep us safe.”</div>
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“They are allowing us to grow hemp,” says another woman, another face around the fire.</div>
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What followed, then, was a serious conversation about what was needed and how those needs could be fulfilled, so that the women could begin participating in a newly de-regulating business. What followed, then, was a serious conversation about making jobs, creating housing and food security, through farming, textiles and medicine. What followed, then, was an all-night conversation that didn’t end until the sun began to show its light. </div>
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That night, at their fire, an era of empowerment was born. This is not uncommon. Women create in more than one way.</div>
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That night, at the fire, a lifetime of purposeful living, a life-time of sustenance for themselves and their children began to manifest. That night, hope and purpose was re-born in the embers of the Samhain fires. </div>
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And these are the ancestral mothers whom we honor and emulate. These are the ancestral mothers whose blessings we pursue.</div>
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-79631212909847265572017-01-11T16:41:00.000-08:002020-08-04T10:50:44.302-07:00Taking a Trip on the Good Ship Could've Been (Oct 2016)<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><i>Originally published October 8th, 2016.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">I woke up at six a.m. intent on pressing and preparing all the
gowns for all the Sisters. Instead, I spent the next thirty minutes
looking for our iron (found buried under clothes in a laundry basket) and no
one in the abbey, or working for the abbey, got by that morning without a
lecture on how irons are integral to being a sister. How everything has a
place and must be kept in that place. How the iron is essential to our
grooming. How we can get away with being wrinkled for farm work, but not
acceptable for activist events. I was so annoyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Nonetheless,
I was smiling as I got in the car because at seven-thirty, on the dot, all road
trip personnel were assembled, pressed and crisp, and ready to rock and
roll. And we pulled into the Capitol Building parking structure in
Sacramento at precisely ten o’clock. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsbAfxAjvEU&index=17&list=PLYVFbVme-IaKxq-8LEltEXIU23tSzveCh">Everything runs right on time . . . years of practice
and design</a>.</span></em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">The
night before, I finally studied the sixty-page document that makes up Prop 64,
the recreational marijuana legalization bill on the California ballot next
month. I knew I would be sitting at the Yes on Prop 64 table.
I knew my Sisters would be with the ‘Yes’ side of the audience.
It was being held on the Capitol steps, and politicians and media would
be there, I was told. </span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqQc9-fynBy5J-izJ1wQ4qd1ko6_r8KjnzbCk-62pnrmR2GqbJpBY-xNj4QxikQcBouevtcvmhJsif9mll-jRW4LDQMYEjnJBSrBxH1WHc1b9EDXO130d4IpjsCqddSteBSe9GQpHgPCqr/s1600/20161005_115435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqQc9-fynBy5J-izJ1wQ4qd1ko6_r8KjnzbCk-62pnrmR2GqbJpBY-xNj4QxikQcBouevtcvmhJsif9mll-jRW4LDQMYEjnJBSrBxH1WHc1b9EDXO130d4IpjsCqddSteBSe9GQpHgPCqr/s320/20161005_115435.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">I saw
no signs of either group in attendance, actually, but we did have a Citizens’
debate and that is the nourishment that drew me. As activists, we are
used to being ignored by both the politicians and the media. That is
just, yawn, status quo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif;">I went
to Sacramento believing the debate would be – should we allow recreational
marijuana or shouldn’t we? I anticipated the tired old arguments about it
getting in the hands of children, or encouraging use of it by all – kids and
non-kids. I quickly realized what my fellow panelists already knew. This
debate wasn’t about that at all.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I asked for a show of hands from the No to Prop 64 side. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">How many of you don’t want to see recreational marijuana legalized? No
show of hands. “Now, how many of you are sitting on the ‘No to Prop 64’
side because you think this bill is all wrong, too much power in the hands of
the legislators, too much taxes . . .?” I didn’t have to finish.
All the hands went up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I was thrilled. It appeared that every person there believes
recreational marijuana should be legalized. There was no debate from the
people who say “NO” to rec. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The debate became: should we legalize now, with this big
pharma bill, or should we wait and try to get it right, like Ohio did?
(Ohio passed on medical marijuana when the only bill on the ballot formed a
four-company State monopoly.) The voters didn’t reject it because they
don’t want medical marijuana in their state, they rejected it because it was a
corrupt bill and they know they can do better.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.sistersofcbd.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20161005_112407-e1475962911869.jpg"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none;"></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I get it. I understand and am empathetic to the
No-on-Prop-64-because-we-can-do-better Team. MCLR was better. CCLR
was better. All of the initiatives that didn’t make it to the ballot,
were better. But guess what? They didn’t make it to the
ballot. So our choice is now Recreational or No Recreational. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">To get Recreational cannabis, we have to put up with
interference and taxation from eight different State agencies named in the
proposition:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Board of Equalization<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
State Water Resources Control Board<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Department of Fish and Wildlife<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Department of Consumer Affairs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Department of Public Health<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Department of Food and Agriculture<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Bureau of State Audits<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
Bureau of Marijuana Control<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We have taxation rights in here that will make sure the black
market never goes away – which is, by the way, opposite the mission of the
proposition. We have a track and trace program that is just new chains,
invented solely for keeping the plants and the people of the plants in
chains. I get it. I agree, the other bills were better. But
the other bills aren’t on the ballot. At this point, sticking with this
argument is like taking a ride on the good ship “could’ve been”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBHOTT7gPABtJdUY_yF1rEtqUgVvFxYiU89jtXAig3cwxBKePNrHopZp1q9lNSqc1U1NiCHpzTzMDjP0yxgff0gCoyv4RuCVFl5GZVCoZy1ADLtse-ToGLJVIU54vrswlDF846lINVAT8/s1600/20161005_114446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBHOTT7gPABtJdUY_yF1rEtqUgVvFxYiU89jtXAig3cwxBKePNrHopZp1q9lNSqc1U1NiCHpzTzMDjP0yxgff0gCoyv4RuCVFl5GZVCoZy1ADLtse-ToGLJVIU54vrswlDF846lINVAT8/s320/20161005_114446.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I used the analogy of human slavery. The cannabis plant
and her people have been kept in the dark, chained, beaten, starved, maligned,
and cursed. Now the slave-owner has extended sunlight and food, and
lighter, more comfortable chains. Prop 64 and all those agencies above
who plan to feed off the sweat of the slave, they are, by their nature, racist,
unfair, and the enemies of the cannabis plant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But do we, the slaves, deny the sunlight, food and lighter
chains? With more than eight thousand felony arrests every year that will
go away with Prop 64, can we afford to wait another day?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s what Prop 64 does right:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Anti-corruption clauses restricting the licensing folks from
dipping their fingers in the business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Promotion of small business via a five-year delay before big
grow licenses are issued.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Minors who deal or use will stop going to jail. Stop
draining their parents’ savings to keep them from going to jail. Replaced
with drug counseling and limited fines. The drug counseling is free
and the fines are less than what Fresno State charges a college student for
j-walking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It gives the courts authority to re-sentence people who are
being penalized that wouldn’t be after Prop 64 goes into effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It re-affirms the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and all those
rights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It prohibits liquor stores from selling cannabis (yeah!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">But mostly, it dis-empowers the police. Every home in the
state, every property, has the right to six indoor plants and the cities and
counties can’t regulate that away. This is a serious step for plant
freedom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">If I was on the fence about Prop 64 before going to the debate,
sitting up there opposite the anti-Prop 64 people was enough to push me all the
way over, firmly, happily, with the Yes folks. It’s because the No folks
are angry and frustrated and apparently, desperate to get people to see it
their way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here is some of the spin worth noting:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">THE BILL DOESN’T
SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MEDICAL! They proclaimed this as if it is a great
secret sin of the Proposition 64. The truth is, Prop 64 is about
recreational marijuana. The governor and MMRSA have already got
Medical on its path for over-regulation.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">IT ONLY ALLOWS
FOR ONE OUNCE OF WEED TO CARRY! They proclaimed the unfairness of this
based on MEDICAL needs of patients, they kept saying “This isn’t right for
my veterans” (your veterans?) and one panelist claimed to smoke two ounces
per day for his medical condition. Those vets and that panelist can
still have their two ounces a day, through the medical program. We
are talking about REC! They kept mixing medical into the equation to
confuse and scare. (But seriously, anyone who has to smoke two ounces
a day needs to look into concentrates and better weed.)<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">MORE PEOPLE WILL
GO TO JAIL THAN EVER BEFORE! This was a claim based on the fact that the
old rules for MEDICAL (again, they couldn’t stop mixing issues) disappear
at the end of 2018. If a collective hasn’t gotten their license from
the licensing board by then, then YES, they have to close and if they
don’t, they will go to jail. Does this sound like 8,800 felonies a
year from Cannabis? Do you think that there are 8,800 collectives a
year that will be denied licenses and so all those folks will be
imprisoned? I don’t think so. 8,800 is the number of citizens
per year that are being sentenced now, without Prop 64.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">They accused the
YES team of working for big money. To the left of me sat a hemp
radio program host who spends all his life understanding the changing laws
in the various states. To the right of me sat a lawyer who
went to prison for five years for growing cannabis for his dying
mother. And then there was me. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In their
rebuttals, they would say things like, “Listening to them is like
listening to Trump” and “We need a real debate”. Yes, they said
‘this isn’t a real debate’ and now who sounds like Trump?<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Their arguments were emotional, but there wasn’t much of an
audience to hear them anyway and of the audience we did have, the majority sat
on the No side. Not "NO" on rec marijuana, just NO on such
heavy handed legislation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">While I was speaking, one man on the No side hollered “What do
you know? You don't pay taxes! You work for the Vatican”.
That drew laughter from the folks who know us. I replied, “We aren’t
Catholic” and he said “Well, then, what the hell are you?” Now that’s a
good question. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For the record, we aren't non-profit, we aren't in the
psychotropics business; neither the recreational bills nor the medical
marijuana legislation really apply to us -- neither of them do, and for the
record, we pay all taxes and have no desire to be a tax-exempt organization,
like, er, the NFL, for example. No desire whatsoever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9EpXuH2tHCaxQ_fL0KfyiHl65OS3lRebCkfDAkrKu8Ev9InMOw6XDk1CBhzkgHr4I8Wfw8PQHsxSybGLMJ2QpdLM6wpYa0l0ioi3MOM4xMNl4mVHRI_bRYVyZalWUPkH2u-RG2JJc58SZ/s1600/20161005_142518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9EpXuH2tHCaxQ_fL0KfyiHl65OS3lRebCkfDAkrKu8Ev9InMOw6XDk1CBhzkgHr4I8Wfw8PQHsxSybGLMJ2QpdLM6wpYa0l0ioi3MOM4xMNl4mVHRI_bRYVyZalWUPkH2u-RG2JJc58SZ/s320/20161005_142518.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">According to every recent survey, Prop 64 is going to
pass. That’s not why I sat in the debate on the Pro-Prop 64 side, but the
fact perhaps lent an air of confidence and calmness to the Yes side that the No
table didn’t have. Except for me. I never do activism calmly.
But my debate-mates were calm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The only legitimate argument for voting No on proposition 64 is
because it gives the government too much control. I don’t trust the
government either, so we plan to activate against MMRSA (the marijuana control
board) and we will make them reform. But in the meantime, we will not
refuse the sunlight, nourishment and lighter chains.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</script>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-51340348688043867902016-06-25T12:20:00.000-07:002020-08-04T10:53:18.951-07:00Merced County Elections and the Fate of the Cannabis Plant<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">County Elections<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just a month before the June primary elections, Sister Darcy
and I released a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sistersofthevalley/videos">political
video plea</a>, to urge disenfranchised voters to vote, and to kick-off our ‘anybody
but whitey’ campaign to get some people of color on the dole (in the lawmaker
position) because Mother Earth and the Sisters agree that people of color are
friendlier toward plant-based <a href="https://sistersofcbd.com/?v=7516fd43adaa">medicine</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People of color (around here, in my experience) never bought
into all the lies about cannabis, and many still remember a grandma, aunt, or other
female relative who made liniments and tonics from the plant. This person they remember is always someone
they loved, always someone they honored, and always someone that they couldn’t
demonize with a reefer madness slant. It
wouldn’t fit. So even the crisply suited
Latino businessman who wouldn’t touch the stuff and strictly enforces a no tolerance rule with his nieces and
nephews and children, even he knows its medicine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the risk of sounding like Donald Trump with my sweeping
observations, here’s how I see it:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">White man tells his kids not to touch the devil’s weed,
because white-man is naïve and trusted his government, who lied to him on this
subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mexican man tells his kids not to touch the devil’s weed –
because he knows what white man does to his people when they use plant-based
medicine. The same thing white man has
done from the beginning of their conquering days, demonize and criminalize what
isn’t theirs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what does come to us from white-man culture? Alcohol and pills and judgement of anything
not understood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From my perspective, all the intelligence about the cannabis
plant has been unevenly distributed to the people of color. Just like skin pigmentation, whitey got less. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what happened on June 7<sup>th</sup>? Did we accomplish our goals? Did we make any progress? Do we have a shot at less white and more
color in our lawmaking bodies for the November elections? For the sake of the plant and the people she heals?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The answer is yes, in some districts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an analyst, I am always interested in knowing if activism
works. Intuitively, I know it does. But statistically? You can never be sure of the measurement of
that influence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did some digging. It appears that since I moved to the
Central Valley in 2008, the valley has gone blue. It has taken a decided turn
for compassionate progress. I’m not saying that the Democratic party equals
that, but for primary elections, June elections, with the lowest turn-out among
elections, if you look at the numbers, you can see what’s happening here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since 2008, there has been a 42% increase in the number of
ballots cast during the June elections.
Since 2008, there has been a 72% increase in ballots cast for the
democratic side. The number of registered
voters has stayed the same over all that time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe that the numbers tell us that we aren't getting new registrants, we would have to look at population shifts to know for sure. But we are winning on getting them to the polls. Of course, it might have
happened without us. It might be
happening because, as Anonymous famously says, “When enough people have their
asses against the wall for long enough, they will rise up and claim their
power.” Maybe that’s what’s
happening. Certainly this trend tells me
that the working class are waking up and coming out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">County Elections<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was no one candidate in any of the three districts
with seats opening that had a clear majority.
Anyone with a clear majority wouldn’t have to run in November. That didn’t happen, so we are off to the
races. The two candidates with the most
votes face off in November. So we need
to force some cannabis debates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">District 1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Southern Merced reaching around and including
Livingston, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Planada, Le Grande and El Nido<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The two that are competing for the district one lawmaker
seat are John Pedrozo (incumbent, who ruled under the ban) and Rodrigo
Esponozo, who sounds like he might be of a race that is more plant
friendly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Sisters have a vested interest in getting Merced to
embrace cannabis and hemp as agriculture, because we have families in this
district that would like to use their backyards to grow us organic CBD plant
and earn money that we are currently spending out of the county. The people of this District should be calling
these two candidates to see where they sit on plant-based medicine, on
embracing a thriving new industry on main street in our town, and make them
debate publicly. The one with the
friendlier cannabis industry attitude wins.
I place my bets on the guy who isn’t whitey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">District 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Central Merced<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lee Lor (our candidate) made it and she will be running
against Hub Walsh who, if not stopped, will be doing his third term over the
homicide capital, gangsta capital, meth capital of America. We have more of those things per capita than
any other place, and he talks like he’s done a good job. And he wants a THIRD term! Puh-lease.
We need to activate for Lee Lor and make sure she takes his position in
November.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">District 4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gustine, North Merced, Ballico, Cressey,
Winton, Snelling</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good grief. We have
two anti-cannabis bubbas who could spend a lot of money getting here and did, the former mayor of Gustine coming
out of retirement because he wants to stay on the dole, against Lloyd, a
wealthy white bubba from Snelling. No
good choices here. The best we can do is
perhaps force a debate? Force them to
come out on cannabis business for the county residents? I don’t know what to say. We lost on the ‘anybody but whitey’ campaign
for District 4. We are stuck in choosing
between two white guys with money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The city of Merced is going to vote to lift the ban on July
6<sup>th</sup>. Mark your
calendars. They are going to lift the
ban, but they are going to do it in a way that it will prohibit any cannabis
commerce in their town. They are
planning to take back the states’ 12 plant per patient standard, and roll it
back to six if not eliminate it. They are not going to allow
main street to have cannabis businesses.
You can be a tattoo parlor, a liquor store, a pill peddler, a porn shop
on main street, but you can’t have Mother Earth’s most intelligent, healing
plant. And they are planning to put
wide-net forfeiture clauses in to the licensing, so they are really setting
someone up to lose all their property.
It’s bullshit. They intend to make sure no smart businessman (woman) would set up in their town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fight is still on.
Cannabis is Agriculture. Stand
with us. Pester your District dudes,
call Merced city council members. Be
there July 6<sup>th</sup>. They have to
vote on their weak ‘pretend to lift the ban, but don’t really’ two times
publicly. July 6<sup>th</sup> is our
first of two times to intercede. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more about the Sisters, read the last blog, ‘<a href="http://cannabiskateincalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/06/breaking-custom.html">Breaking
Custom</a>’.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-68086894161489787282016-06-12T18:59:00.001-07:002020-08-04T10:55:00.273-07:00Breaking Custom<br />
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Our Sunday work rule in Sistah-ville is this: If you must work on Sunday, do something creative or, at the very least, out of the ordinary. </div>
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As I write this, I realize I’ve spent seven
hours breaking our Sunday rule by attempting to answer the ga-zillion messages
we’ve gotten on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sistersofthevalley/">Facebook</a>. With one <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LADbible/videos/2738082629572243/">viral video</a>
getting over twenty million views in the span of three days, our phones,
emails, social media messaging platforms are BLOWING UP.</div>
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We have lots of rules here at the abbey, and like any
religion worth its salt, we have lots of breakage. Turns out, I’m the worst. But what do you expect from a nun who has her
origins in anarchist activism?</div>
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Twenty Thousand <a href="https://sistersofcbd.com/?v=a459622909d8">Website Visitors</a> in one
day? <o:p></o:p><br />
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Twenty Million views on a thirty-second news clip . . . WTH?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since it is extraordinarily daunting, this massive attention
we are currently getting, I put aside my rule-breaking correspondence chores to
do something more creative -- to take up quill and hemp to paint pictures
with words. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you scroll the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LADbible/videos/2738082629572243/">thousands of
comments</a> under the twenty-million-viewed news-clip, you will quickly see
that people are going ape-shit over the fact that we call ourselves nuns. Actually, we were very used to calling
ourselves Sisters, but the media called us nuns and we shrugged and went ‘ok –
but make it ‘the weed nuns’, and thus, it came to be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As women who feel called to their professions, called by the
medicine, to the medicine, we are actually delighted that the public is going
ape-shit over the habit, with not one word of malice toward the cannabis plant. We are Mother Nature’s best decoys, it turns
out. They are too busy hating on us (on
our clothes, actually) to notice that they are actually defending the cannabis
plant as medicine! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think Mother
Goddess smiles upon us every day, and says “You go girls!”.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDZ0GgAsr-YlHUPH-F5DaUvGmvsDQQhlcVMt1uvwnBq8vMsZ9QBZH05Qpab-0LAyCDcq4RCjZ0zBFBj-lRRyS0neBsK9f0CVlqOjbyY0wszO3-26ZACc3ZFwXjeDblNgtg1hbA3MAUs4v/s1600/20160603_181124%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDZ0GgAsr-YlHUPH-F5DaUvGmvsDQQhlcVMt1uvwnBq8vMsZ9QBZH05Qpab-0LAyCDcq4RCjZ0zBFBj-lRRyS0neBsK9f0CVlqOjbyY0wszO3-26ZACc3ZFwXjeDblNgtg1hbA3MAUs4v/s320/20160603_181124%255B1%255D.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Controversy Gets the Conversation Going<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The media loves to distort things, and they like to leave
much unsaid so as to coax emotional responses from the public. And it
works! But the Sisters and Brothers of
this order are convinced that the conversation needs to be held, loud, and
public, and often. The Cannabis plant
has, against science and truth, been maligned and lied about for seventy-five
years and the lights have now gone on, and it is time for everyone to know, for
everyone to see. So we try to bury our
indignation, when our earnings are over-stated or our mission is made to look
greedy and capitalistic, because their spin is getting the conversation going.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJNdBLzhkQtrwVh4hFwI5qW1mUHnkt5Svjk3YPJv1U79NEPcmGLu4YIbWvz1cNrD3fDiZgyVUxejeKglmycw1Ng_9rZqrxMfizxeQEC4f7bccsMleE46me-PasCcNkCJPsYi4KAD0fiRH/s1600/20160608_190559%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJNdBLzhkQtrwVh4hFwI5qW1mUHnkt5Svjk3YPJv1U79NEPcmGLu4YIbWvz1cNrD3fDiZgyVUxejeKglmycw1Ng_9rZqrxMfizxeQEC4f7bccsMleE46me-PasCcNkCJPsYi4KAD0fiRH/s320/20160608_190559%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We Are Not Catholic Nuns<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You don’t have to look far to learn that we are not affiliated
with any contemporary, and especially, any male-founded or male-run
religions. We are clear about that
everywhere we go, everywhere we are asked, it’s at the top of the discussion
forum on our website, at the top of the frequently asked questions. We ARE NOT CATHOLIC NUNS.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stand accused of ‘fakery’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First of all, it is no badge of honor to be associated as a
cleric with the Catholic church these days.
They have much to atone for, and they know it. So why would I want to pretend to be part of
that group? I don’t. We don’t.
Wearing the Uniform gives us the burden of explaining where-ever we go
that we are not Catholic nuns, but we do that, because we don’t want to mislead
anyone and yet, it is time for a new age order of nuns. The people miss them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Second, the only time some stranger person has gotten angry
with me is when he thought we WERE connected to the Catholic church and that
poor young Sister Darcy has been forced to take a celibacy vow for life. He stepped in front of our path and stopped
us, as we walked down the street in Oakland.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His head turned this way and that as he first looked at Sister
Darcy, then looked at me, looked at her, looked at me, anger bubbling in his
veins, thoughts of pedophile priests ruling the roost, and submissive nuns
walking the boys to their victimhood (I imagined). If his eyes could shoot arrows, they would
have killed me. Before he could utter a
word however, I did what I always do and said, “We are not Catholic nuns. In fact, we are a women-founded, women run,
independent order of activist nuns.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had him at the first short sentence. His whole body relaxed as my words registered
in his brain. The tirade he stored up in
his head floated away into the west coast sunlight. He smiled, nodded, bowed respectfully, and
allowed us to pass.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86y1hkl1vxyOfrnjJLnM-sojmd0jc1KGRWv78pq8aHfEY0hfhpRfQ0oZa69wfpJyaT_aI6oORt3HzK2I7PcFieQiWQW_RG1VtJ7zUTUaRYfZ2ZILeI7TLolv77I7SyaKn6wn4GjfktzcZ/s1600/20160610_181203%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh86y1hkl1vxyOfrnjJLnM-sojmd0jc1KGRWv78pq8aHfEY0hfhpRfQ0oZa69wfpJyaT_aI6oORt3HzK2I7PcFieQiWQW_RG1VtJ7zUTUaRYfZ2ZILeI7TLolv77I7SyaKn6wn4GjfktzcZ/s320/20160610_181203%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Choice of Uniform was Deliberate<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The transition from Sister Occupy (Fall, 2011) to where we
are today is an interesting tale too long to tell here, but it definitely
represents a journey towards a calling, towards the plant, towards the clearing
of the fog, the dispelling of information, toward the shaming of those lawmakers
who shame the plant medicine. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In that journey, the ultimate decision was to abandon the
Marion uniform that is so tightly associated with the Catholic church, in favor
of something more in alignment with our political views – blue jean skirts best
representing the ‘cannabis is agriculture’ movement. We wear white blouses and white head
coverings in order to set ourselves far apart from the Catholic sisters who
have never, to our knowledge, worn such a combination. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our spiritual and medicine-making beliefs are based on
getting in touch and staying in touch with our ancient wisdom, our ancient
mothers and their practices. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We make medicine by moon cycle, as they did. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We wear clothes that announce who we are to our tribal
members, wherever we go, as a way of honoring them, as did our ancient
mothers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We wear robes that represent devotion and connection to our
order, as our ancient mothers did. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing about our choice of clothes has anything to do with
the Catholics, but everything to do with culture. We could have chosen for our clothing, the
clothing of the ancient mothers of this land, in which case, we would have worn
skins and beads and looked like Native Americans. Or, we could choose to wear clothes more
similar to those of our Northern European ancestors. We knew someone would be offended, and chose
to risk offending the Catholics over risking offending the Native Americans. After all, the Catholics gained Native
Americans to their culture by criminalizing their own native cultural
practices, and gained lands by slaughtering whole tribes, so, the Catholics can
take this perceived slight -- on the chin.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRU3BiR96g55yb4pvXpkjjtsmmyCq75j5VEdHgpozWp19YWRnxs3jMsOSRLZJIt4wRwjgiF_8Jfy8MJC_ulOk-V2bvoTIvKuzMQwuZDaDaYq9l0st2QeL25QS7U_RCmZYmHuzcPy5J_aK/s1600/abbey+kitchen14+lotus+moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRU3BiR96g55yb4pvXpkjjtsmmyCq75j5VEdHgpozWp19YWRnxs3jMsOSRLZJIt4wRwjgiF_8Jfy8MJC_ulOk-V2bvoTIvKuzMQwuZDaDaYq9l0st2QeL25QS7U_RCmZYmHuzcPy5J_aK/s320/abbey+kitchen14+lotus+moon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We wear very formal clothing to honor the plant that has
been so dishonored this past century. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We wear very formal clothing in solidarity with our Muslim
sisters who have privatized their sexuality by covering themselves entirely, as
we do not believe that they should be the only culture on the planet wearing
clothes our ancient mothers wore, to be modest, to be chaste, to announce which
tribe they belong to, to honor their people via regalia. All other religious cultures have gone modern
or incognito. Being alone in this makes Muslim
women targets of discrimination.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spiritual, Not Religious<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We believe in and promote religions of one. What Sister Darcy and I do in our prayers is
not ‘religion’. What we do is practice
our trade, our gift, our calling, and we practice it in silence, prayer, and
meditation. We practice it with all our
thoughts, with heart and soul, maximizing the healing powers through words,
prayers, thoughts, hands, and elements of Mother Earth. It’s not a religion; it is our work, it is
our sustenance, and it is our calling.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We stand accused of standing behind religion for tax favors!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are NOT a non-profit, because that would put us in the
same category as the NFL, which is CLEARLY for profit. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are NOT a religion, because that would put
us squarely in the same category of those who have been justifying ravaging
mother earth and her children without missing a moment of a nights’ sleep,
those who use the Bible to judge instead of help the poor. . . no thanks,
religion hasn’t worked out so well for the planet, why would we want to be
that?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are a one hundred percent woman owned LLC and we pay all
taxes just like any other legitimate business and to do otherwise would be
against our own principals as we are trying to make tax dollars for these
crummy little valley towns that need capital desperately – that need tax money to
build things for the children to do (to build alternatives to meth)!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPQlCYPYrRgLSbxZ687iUlLC6jsLap1hFiHsNZcWajnT7QUhlzhsjODy2WjYRqZhmu1A2cmK6TZm5HU6jAofW-lhmbG1dtF-EfqxS4vEqgFhRJpHlmu6Jy-thwUHdcYWCkh_TsSaxOg_k/s1600/medicine+making+blue+house4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPQlCYPYrRgLSbxZ687iUlLC6jsLap1hFiHsNZcWajnT7QUhlzhsjODy2WjYRqZhmu1A2cmK6TZm5HU6jAofW-lhmbG1dtF-EfqxS4vEqgFhRJpHlmu6Jy-thwUHdcYWCkh_TsSaxOg_k/s320/medicine+making+blue+house4.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A New Age Order of Activist Anarchist Nuns<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Catholic nun is going extinct in this country. I know, because I did a little research during
my Sister Occupy years, and although the church is very non-transparent about
this and all things (in a long-standing tradition), what I learned was that the
nuns are going extinct. There were
350,000 of them in America when I was growing up, there are now less than
40,000. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The average age of an American
nun is somewhere around 85 years old, the average age of a new recruit? 78.
They die at the rate of 10,000 per year and without recruiting young
nuns, they are destined for extinction.
I believe some lost their housing to pedophile suits, so that could have
contributed to the thinning of the ranks, as well. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even with the convents that are alive and well and have
women under seventy-eight under the roof, the women don’t wear ancient
garb. They wear modern versions. They abandoned the robes and we ‘occupied’
them. And though Sister Occupy once wore
black, Sisters of the Valley wear blue (blue jean skirts) and white or purple
and white. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Purple is the significant color of the order because it is
the color of suffering, the color of the occupy movement, and the color that
you get when you melt together the colors of our bi-polar two party system.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSGb9UaBEoqqkbUlC1GmEWxLSIWVY3mVVL-pSTPfDxPItfJ3j0HnCd249MViEYCyx_l9VPrP0EaBKCukdyhkKu_cHBt_msWl-ShCHl0qG-wxZTOTDkmsOtBw3e48f6PHlGQN9aGSO_UUY/s1600/gazebo5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSGb9UaBEoqqkbUlC1GmEWxLSIWVY3mVVL-pSTPfDxPItfJ3j0HnCd249MViEYCyx_l9VPrP0EaBKCukdyhkKu_cHBt_msWl-ShCHl0qG-wxZTOTDkmsOtBw3e48f6PHlGQN9aGSO_UUY/s320/gazebo5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What is a nun?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to most dictionary definitions, a nun is defined
as a woman who lives with other women in devotion to their work or prayer, they
work together, live together, pray together and take vows. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing in any dictionary I saw said you had
to be Catholic to be a nun. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the record, the first Catholic nun, after whom all
Catholic nuns came, was Saint Scholastica. She founded her order in the 800’s. But at that time, the Beguines were the
popular cultural equivalent and pre-cursors to the nuns of Catholicism. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Beguines were women owned, women run, clusters of houses
around which hemp was farmed and all the women worked in the farming and
textile industry together. They lived
together, in the sense of housing proximity.
They worked together in a spiritual environment. They dressed in garb that identified their
enclave. They did commerce (textiles). They
were all allowed to hold private property.
They were empowered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The women owned all the property, the Brothers lived among
them but made no significant decisions about the operations, and owned no
property. The Beguines did not take life-time
vows. They could leave and return,
without barrier or stigma. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe that Saint Scholastica’s first order was built on
the dream of being them, but different. My theory is that she wanted to be a Beguine,
but her parents were Christians and the Beguines were self-empowered and
probably not Christians. Saint
Scholastica formed her own version, connected to Catholicism, and added
celibacy as a new twist on an old custom.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Submission to a male-run hierarchy, with no female
empowerment at the helm, that was probably considered heretical in those times. If Saint Scholastica had social media to deal
with, she would have been sick from the trolls and haters. Or maybe not.
Maybe she would have smiled and said, ‘love me, hate me, just keep
talking about me’, so that she, too, could fulfill her dream of expanding the
order into something big and global, which, actually, she did!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A heck of a lot of nuns educated a heck of a lot of kids –
planet-wide, in their time. A heck of a
lot of nuns served in many healing professions, as well, in their time. I salute them for their service.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We emulate a standard of excellence in serving our customers. But when we have to deal with hard decisions,
we don’t say ‘what would the Catholic nuns have done? What would Catholic sisters do?’. No, we ask, ‘what would our ancient mothers do?’
and we believe those to be the Beguines.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We emulate a certain system and order to things. Are we emulating the Catholic nuns who
emulated the Beguines? Or are we
emulating the Beguines? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We don’t believe that celibacy is required to be a spiritual
and devoted woman. We do take a vow of
chastity and that is to privatize our sexuality in clothes and manner. There is an element of celibacy to our
practices, as we are celibate during the medicine making moon cycles, but that
is a custom, not a vow. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5woKppd6plJP9USyG0-0nLdoeLaCBWC7HwA_z7SZrimJy6c5Vbm-4jnt3HhQ-o-j8SlEpnQ9DYkVmOe-BUqEQs23RK-JfO0sn4CNXzGgC0OidIgu4Zi9hctL8Vx4OGvilPvJG9iQPG7RP/s1600/sisters+laughing2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5woKppd6plJP9USyG0-0nLdoeLaCBWC7HwA_z7SZrimJy6c5Vbm-4jnt3HhQ-o-j8SlEpnQ9DYkVmOe-BUqEQs23RK-JfO0sn4CNXzGgC0OidIgu4Zi9hctL8Vx4OGvilPvJG9iQPG7RP/s320/sisters+laughing2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We take six vows for life:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Devotion – We promise before Godfather and
Goddess Mother to devote all of the days of our lives to the growing, making
and distribution of plant-based medicines and to promoting the benefits of
plant-based medicines and plant-based diets for Mother Earth and her
people. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Obedience – to the Moon Cycles and planting
cycles, to the goals of the Sisterhood<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Activism – to dedicate time each week to
progressive activist causes that best benefit the economic conditions of the
poor surrounding us<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Ecology – to honor mother earth in all we do, to
do no harm during medicine making periods <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Chastity – dress and behave to honor the work we
do, to honor our ancestors and our people<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Simplicity – a life of living simply (one car,
one bedroom, one house, one TV set) – we do not believe it is necessary, with
the wise, just, and ample distribution and use of Mother Earth’s gifts, for
anyone to live in poverty. As activists,
we fight for the $15 minimum wage and work hard to create honorable jobs for
the local people.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Offensive
Things <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you are still offended by the co-opting of the ‘nun’ look
that the Catholics copied from the Beguines and then, decades ago, tossed to
the trash bins, hear this (please): <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is much about society that offends us . . . <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Citizens United, for starters. The fact that we are re-fighting old fights
or fights that are unquestionably already answered in the public consciousness. Equal rights and equal pay for women and
minorities and the LGBT community – fighting that in this day and age is
offensive! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not yet having socialized medicine for everyone. Trump.
Sending our boys off to wars that we orchestrate for profit. Denying even bothering to explain what
happened on 9/11. The two-party system,
the electoral college, the federal reserve.
The rigged economic system, operated by and for a few uber-rich. Profit
on health care . . . profit on burials . . . profit on tuition . . . politicians
who work hard to make sure government gets broken or stays broken, and then
stand up and shout, ‘hey, you’re broken!’ . . . all this and more, offends
us. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the Thing:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are humble medicine-making women who have not yet
realized any profit from this venture.
Any monies made are re-invested in bigger batches and hiring more people
who have given up on looking for work.
We reach for and employ the terminally unemployed.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are working to shed light across the planet on the urgent
need for all of us to save ourselves and save the planet by changing how we
live and how we consume.<br />
<br />
We promote
plant-based diets, plant-based medicine, and a return to ancient ways.<br />
<br />
We believe that the path toward a new way of
living in harmony with each other and mother earth is lined with economic
security, economic security that brings good health to the people naturally,
economic security brought to the people via the cannabis plant, the hemp plant,
and commerce in those exciting new (old) industries.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are not your normal nuns.
We are, however, on a mission from God.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For more blogs, <a href="http://cannabiskateincalifornia.blogspot.com/">click here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the Sisters’ music video playlist, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdcONKz6wfE&list=PLYVFbVme-IaKxq-8LEltEXIU23tSzveCh">inside
and outside the abbey</a>”, click here.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmFFb8q6m0eSF7OIfQy5YJl-NXx6yuH9fX_458hosyeiNyfMs9Tt0TCdi9AYGoM4sTOmBcNX3e0aHGWlawLvBnooWIF_YJioWRJB_158z6T09Kw3neIXB3peOXrRYyFm23Xsjsq1hsnITi/s1600/occupying+farm10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmFFb8q6m0eSF7OIfQy5YJl-NXx6yuH9fX_458hosyeiNyfMs9Tt0TCdi9AYGoM4sTOmBcNX3e0aHGWlawLvBnooWIF_YJioWRJB_158z6T09Kw3neIXB3peOXrRYyFm23Xsjsq1hsnITi/s320/occupying+farm10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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window.location = "https://www.sistersofthevalley.org/breaking-custom-nuns";
</script>
cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-49760515713556836292016-04-01T21:01:00.001-07:002016-04-01T21:01:52.139-07:00Follow Your Arrow<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zfg56AkNXvc" width="480"></iframe>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-4151560593732554262016-03-13T22:49:00.000-07:002020-08-04T10:56:26.273-07:00Settling the Farm<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">If it weren't for my
activism, and the wonderful people it blows into my path, I would have probably
hung myself by now over the farm construction delays. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">It never rains in
California. IT NEVER RAINS in California, seriously. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I moved here (to the
central valley of California) shortly after spending eight years in Amsterdam
and after my fourth month, I asked someone, 'it hasn't rained, does it ever
rain here?' </span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I know it really does
rain here, but not like Amsterdam rain. Not like Seattle rain. It rains here
politely, in the middle of the night or the early morning hour, and vanishes
before it can spoil one's day. In Amsterdam, it would rain for weeks on end,
morning 'til night, sometimes never seeing daylight, the darkness of the night
blending seamlessly into the darkness of the morning. And the rainy season
lasted months.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Then came the central
valley drought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I became one of
those people who prays for rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never
thought that would happen . . . </span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">And then my prayers
were answered, right when I moved to a farm with construction going on, with no
heat in either homes, lights intermittent, plumbing intermittent, and laundry
facilities non-existent, both kitchens under renovation . . . and then, only
then, do we get rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No rugs . . . mud
everywhere.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">One of my growers
texted me the other day and said “Did you pray for this shit?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It made me giggle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not recently, I told him.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I have a space heater
in my room and I wear a miner's lamp on my head to cross the property from my
office to my bedroom at the end of each day.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
I never anticipated how hard it is to concentrate and get work done, with
pounding, sawing, buzzing, and banging going on. I have cabinet doors on the
closets in my office now, but by the time the carpenter was gone, I also had a
severe migraine.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
And all the surprise expenses that go along with a renovation require that I
keep constantly updating the books and watching the accounts. The bathrooms
that were supposed to cost $7K in total (two totally gutted and re-built
bathrooms in the blue house) ended up costing $1,600 more because we had to
re-do plumbing and then re-do tiling because the problems with the plumbing
weren't discovered until after the tiling guy was done and out.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
The RV that is being renovated to be a bungalow for Brother Zane, well that
ended up very poorly with the first contractor, so we paid $400 the first time
and got nothing, and then paid over a thousand to get the job done. They have a
saying in Holland that goes "I'm not rich enough to afford cheap
goods." It rings in my ears as every day, the cost of the less costly
options eats away at our funds.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The homeowners
insurance company, in just the last few days, handed me a list of things that
need repair and none of those things were on the lists of the three
construction teams on site. They are mostly trees-brushing-buildings, eaves not
painted (?), tree limbs touching roof-tops sort of things that we were going to
get to anyway, we just now have to get to them sooner.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
The wonderful, beautiful custom kitchen for the abbey that allows six women to
work comfortably together around a dual level center counter, turned out to be
an additional $2,200 for the countertops than planned, then budgeted, and we
aren't getting marble or anything upscale . . . </span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
There was one plumbing company out here a few weeks ago that fixed some $600
worth of plumbing issues, but left $500 in damage for the water they left where
the tile work was still in process and they won't answer my calls.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">After two full days of
spending time with the run-away expenses, realizing that over $5K is
unaccounted for, and that all the contractors have not been turning in all
their receipts, and after making my own staff crazy in hunting down the
mystery expenses, the corker of it all was learning yesterday that five bottles
of 151 proof alcohol, alcohol we use to make tinctures, ‘went missing’ during
the reconstruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">We discovered this in
front of visiting media, here to film us setting the batch. If we had any
drunks working on the re-construction, I would know it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt that it was any of our workers, or
maybe I am naïve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did hire mostly
people who were very hard up for work and we have had volunteers on site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t think it got into the hands of minors, because we haven’t had any
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it’s more likely someone
took it to sell it on the black market to get some grocery money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s my preferred scenario, I guess (as if
getting robbed can have an upside!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
screwed up our plans for a big alcohol tincture batch (we’ve been sold out for
awhile), but we will recover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I am resigned to
spending the next forty to sixty hours trying to straighten out overcharges,
bank issues, potential fraud . . . argghghghghgh. I just want to hang pictures
and unpack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">On the brighter side,
in the last twenty-four hours we got lights on and heat on in the abbey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brother John in New York rescued us on our
countertop overage for the new abbey kitchen, and those will be installed the
29<sup>th</sup> of March.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God willing,
that will be the end of this little adventure.</span></div>
<br />
*****<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #373e4d;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Visit our ETSY store to see our products: <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #373e4d;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #373e4d;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">or go to our website: <a href="http://www.sistersofthevalley.org/">www.sistersofthevalley.org</a></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #373e4d;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><br />
<br />
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<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><br />
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Abbess Office . . . coming together.</div>
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Prioress Office</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17Tdr1lsiHe1R5FaR5zGBjquazbo2I0PqYzp2-hiWtCZgDWJiPK0sqIAdDorm_UOnYhWLjUiJzNhcNPzQe6hR7KpV86VMrthA6B_JvbYxQOJlY6cl1_fB0tyV_-dA32tUAy4bUn8X5oFc/s1600/20160229_135114%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17Tdr1lsiHe1R5FaR5zGBjquazbo2I0PqYzp2-hiWtCZgDWJiPK0sqIAdDorm_UOnYhWLjUiJzNhcNPzQe6hR7KpV86VMrthA6B_JvbYxQOJlY6cl1_fB0tyV_-dA32tUAy4bUn8X5oFc/s320/20160229_135114%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The View on the ride to Merced.</div>
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Love visiting college kids! This old table is being transformed using recycled glass.</div>
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Brother Zane spotted this lovely mushroom patch outside my office window.</div>
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We went to explore and found many more!</div>
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The Brothers having some down time.</div>
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One of the Brothers' is settled in the blue house (or getting there)</div>
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Our carpenter at work.</div>
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<span style="color: #373e4d; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The cat hasn't agreed to the terms of the Harmony Agreement (no pets in the homes, we have three barns!). She had her first menstrual cycle and was miserable and because of the rain, the brothers let her in. Here she is camped out in my office. Her name is Oscar. Yes, we didn't know how to sex her as a kitten . . . her counterpart, Molly, is a male (as it turns out). We got that all wrong.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-44594765043490382542016-01-20T09:18:00.000-08:002020-08-04T11:11:08.147-07:00Word Soup<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Yesterday,
I spoke with an inspector at America’s largest weed-delivery service (the
United States Postal Service), and he advised me to get a label lawyer. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I only call it ‘weed-delivery’ to be
provocative. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They are also,
coincidentally, the largest deliverer of pharmaceuticals. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Just saying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
medicine in the cannabis known as CBD actually does come from a weed plant
whose proper name is cannabis. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The
CBD in the plant is known for pain relief and healing. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It’s science. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Ask the American Cancer Society.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Two
years ago, if one googled ‘buy cbd oil’, there were twelve entries. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>One year ago, same search phrase, and
the results are twelve thousand entries. <span class="apple-converted-space"> Do it now and you get </span>over three million
results. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>That’s how many
options people now have in purchasing CBD.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">So
why do the Sisters need a label lawyer? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“Because
you use the word ‘medicine’ on your web-site,” explained the inspector. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We
make no claims, we are as transparent and reach-able as possible, we refer
everyone to www.projectcbd.org, and tell them to do homework on dosages and
what doctors and experts are saying. We are a resource center, in a way,
teaching people to take ownership of their illnesses and learn, and research,
and be their own doctors. I explained all this to the inspector, but he
said we use the word 'medicine' on our website.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">"It's
what we do! We make medicines by ancient wisdom custom and ritual, or
best we can guess at what that might have been, so, yes, probably, somewhere,
but we make no claims. We present it all as a grand human experiment
after seventy-five years of mother earth's finest medicine being maligned and
misrepresented!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">"I
understand." said the inspector.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">"And
the right to grow is granted us under ‘medical marijuana’ laws," I
continued. "So how can I not use the word ‘medicine’, when it comes
from a plant that the government regulates as ‘medical’?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“Your
products are not FDA approved,” I was told.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“We
say that, right in our product ads, on ETSY, the world’s largest platform for
selling <b><i>home-made</i></b> and <b><i>hand-made goods</i></b>, by the way.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s
not protection,” he said. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“That’s
not enough.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“So
you are advising me to get FDA approval of my products? <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>We were planning to get that started
this year anyway, and I don’t know this for sure, but I have to guess that the
FDA might be an agency that played a significant role in keeping this medicine
out of the hands of the people for the past three quarters of a century. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And so you are advising me to ask an
anti-cannabis organization to bless my cannabis products?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Sisters could use another courier service, he said, because its only illegal to
use the post office, it only violates federal post office rules. In other words, we can call ourselves
medicine and our work medicine-work, but just not call ourselves that and use
the post office to ship our goods.
Hmmmmm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I
then explained to the inspector that It is in the core of the beliefs of the
sisterhood that women heal women with words. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Can I say that, you know, and still
use your postal service?, I asked. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And won a chuckle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I
explained that it is not an option for the Sisters to use an alternate courier
service, because the cost of using another service is double or more, and then,
suffering people would have to suffer additional cost, which is silly. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The Sisters have always been advocates
of the United States Post Office. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I
lived in Holland where the Post Office is the banking system of the people, a
non-profit, self-sustaining, bank of the people. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It works. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I think we should just give the
banking function to the post office, raise the cost of a piece of post to
one dollar, give all postal employees raises, and make the valley town offices
stay open on Saturdays, just like they do on the coast. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">And
now, I need the post office to have my back. I want them to have my back –
which was, after all, the purpose of that call to that inspector,
yesterday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In
summary, we the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.sistersofcbd.com/">sisters</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>are making and selling<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">home-made goods</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on the worlds’ largest home-made,
hand-made sales portal. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And
we consider ourselves to be a sisterhood that honors both Mother Earth and
Creator God. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>We follow
ancient wisdom, where the women make the medicines, and our sustainability
comes from medicinal cannabis. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But
we can’t use the word medicine, without the FDA, the agency that has rejected
the health benefits of cannabis for three quarters of a century.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“That’s
my advice, ma’am.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“Then
how do you explain the vast amount of CBD traveling around America, how do you
explain the three million ways one can access CBD over the internet and
the fact that the vast majority of deliveries pass through the post office?”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“Federal
law is sometimes slow to catch up with the will of the people,” he said
succinctly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">So
I compared this to the laws on the books that remain to this day, the silly
ones, like it still being illegal to tie your horse up on main street. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It’s an irrelevant law that no one
cares about, but it’s a thing. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And
this thing – this calling a spade a spade, it makes the Sisters potentially
unable to avail ourselves of post office services. It makes the cost of that, a new cost to the
patients of CBD.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br /></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I
feel like we are caught in a big bowl of word soup. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Medicine is at the core of our
beliefs. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Medicine is what
we believe the people need during these turbulent times. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Medicine comes in all forms. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Word Medicine is good. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Word soup is not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">He
said he understood my position and he was a very nice man, that inspector at
the USPS. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But I hung up the
phone shaking my head. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdmhkVxKe8d1Lxu0gNlFnOanSvu3Ko52LfXBhxYbk8iQdZ6rzdm-shPPu3zIC_I-qcuVCGKp2-y4I36-SM2PS9_NBf-Wnb3pzlAriXcFTkULk9NuZ3lP8GDU1zqi1bglV9Ov2nfM0b4lS/s1600/making+medicine+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdmhkVxKe8d1Lxu0gNlFnOanSvu3Ko52LfXBhxYbk8iQdZ6rzdm-shPPu3zIC_I-qcuVCGKp2-y4I36-SM2PS9_NBf-Wnb3pzlAriXcFTkULk9NuZ3lP8GDU1zqi1bglV9Ov2nfM0b4lS/s320/making+medicine+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-41680766778458534882016-01-05T00:33:00.001-08:002016-01-05T00:33:11.670-08:00A Weekend With the Sisters<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZsbAfxAjvEU" width="480"></iframe>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-22947731021740357192015-12-23T21:08:00.001-08:002015-12-23T21:08:15.502-08:00Making Salves During the Cold Moon / Winter Solstice Moon<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P8Lw1_lIDUs" width="480"></iframe>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-83840701582317242002015-12-21T08:32:00.001-08:002015-12-21T08:32:33.515-08:00Central Valley Citizens for Cannabis Research and Commerce<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oXCKLIYZjqs" width="480"></iframe>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-73330329546879639772015-12-20T12:44:00.000-08:002020-08-04T11:30:01.853-07:00Yule Tijd Season<br />
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December has been such a whirl-wind of activity and I am overdue for posting a blog on abbey happenings. This Sunday before the Winter Solstice (Dec 22nd) and this moon cycle's full moon (December 25th), I decided to write our December in lyrics to the twelve days of Christmas. </div>
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It should be noted that the Sisters, tired of the fake war on Christmas touted by Faux News, decided to give them their badly wanted and needed war on Christmas (else they wouldn't talk about it so much) and this year, we are celebrating Yule Tijd -- Yule Season. We still have a Yule Tree and wreaths, pre-cursors to the Christian-created holiday. We still have gifts and candles and we still sing songs and over-indulge in all our favorite things.<br />
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We still gather round the candle-lit table, hold hands, bow our heads and give thanks. It was a good year for the Sisters. We have worked hard and deserve a holiday rest. <br />
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My picture blog. The twelve days of Christmas at the abbey.</div>
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On the first day of Yule Tijd, my true love gave to me,</div>
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One Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj097zB0nniKylooRxPKKYuggJu84BPXD2e1mpsWnEhjbaiWqOborcL2enfnuZbThJ4b6BGDtSobz7Cz6_mZ3lMP-_y-UPMRYCBCNrTUsxBQXDRI92zrlWehk0NMgLVN5fxnVGzyYipGS4W/s1600/Zrina+smiling+carefree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj097zB0nniKylooRxPKKYuggJu84BPXD2e1mpsWnEhjbaiWqOborcL2enfnuZbThJ4b6BGDtSobz7Cz6_mZ3lMP-_y-UPMRYCBCNrTUsxBQXDRI92zrlWehk0NMgLVN5fxnVGzyYipGS4W/s320/Zrina+smiling+carefree.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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On the second day of Yule Tijd, my true love gave to me,<br />
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Two travel mates,</div>
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And my Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcButcO292K2k4FrnbE_Bfljd9Wx5d5GTxkWB5kgH_cm-7f3ibZfOsjJqbrj92J_gLW4MRzyvn-ap3MKB4kSvA3kgFkvCrttqCQQq696J4hSqAl3uPy70XaqFMWWs-Ff2Iaw85ATwzZOFm/s1600/zrina+and+darcy+dec+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcButcO292K2k4FrnbE_Bfljd9Wx5d5GTxkWB5kgH_cm-7f3ibZfOsjJqbrj92J_gLW4MRzyvn-ap3MKB4kSvA3kgFkvCrttqCQQq696J4hSqAl3uPy70XaqFMWWs-Ff2Iaw85ATwzZOFm/s320/zrina+and+darcy+dec+2015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the third day of Yule Tijd, my true love gave to me,<br />
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Three bags of CBD,</div>
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Two travel mates,</div>
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And my Zrina smiling carefree.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVI5sppLTjaHo6U6XZ5LhnuHH9e2yh8vLNs54kbEHBF3jPZA_d4JRI2j_4zW_d6UDHj2qd2rwpIsRTo5Uxe6Wv8cYIy-_SCaShUsRwqDEaIjF_IhoG5MAxdWCfjKuV-9TwfkjytCQVx0U/s1600/IMG_9915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVI5sppLTjaHo6U6XZ5LhnuHH9e2yh8vLNs54kbEHBF3jPZA_d4JRI2j_4zW_d6UDHj2qd2rwpIsRTo5Uxe6Wv8cYIy-_SCaShUsRwqDEaIjF_IhoG5MAxdWCfjKuV-9TwfkjytCQVx0U/s320/IMG_9915.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the fourth day of Yule Tijd my true love gave to me,</div>
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Four activist events,</div>
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Three bags of CBD</div>
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Two travel mates</div>
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And my Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPY9S3zsWuk4ggCFwQse-r5OImX7pK5Byidxm1OMRi0V6hlrUgOQp6cYfj79Q4xVArB1l3OKJpWiYiSRV9aZm3AIG1WHfV2wh9VRzQbAcXH45_RZkU0ffsZC-MDEDDWbAjQi2fsupPwGXw/s1600/darcy+activist+nov+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPY9S3zsWuk4ggCFwQse-r5OImX7pK5Byidxm1OMRi0V6hlrUgOQp6cYfj79Q4xVArB1l3OKJpWiYiSRV9aZm3AIG1WHfV2wh9VRzQbAcXH45_RZkU0ffsZC-MDEDDWbAjQi2fsupPwGXw/s320/darcy+activist+nov+2015.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0T1OOOC1hHG0jxcm_YXQZF-ve_xUQN2ya6FoUwm_03RCrlJHyLK5VMrHo3orbWcmdIrwtnsMXsgqpAxs2Ld4WTYdJ0I8-zUhf2wdqPQmIkMATOWvY72eXSEdmjG6YMn2Ffp6I7TXSV2gG/s1600/sisters+on+cbd+acquisition+dec+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0T1OOOC1hHG0jxcm_YXQZF-ve_xUQN2ya6FoUwm_03RCrlJHyLK5VMrHo3orbWcmdIrwtnsMXsgqpAxs2Ld4WTYdJ0I8-zUhf2wdqPQmIkMATOWvY72eXSEdmjG6YMn2Ffp6I7TXSV2gG/s320/sisters+on+cbd+acquisition+dec+2015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the fifth day of Yule Tijd my true love gave to me:</div>
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Five college kids back home!</div>
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Four activist events,</div>
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<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">Three bags of CBD</a></div>
</div>
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Two travel mates</div>
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And my Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTg3euOEtS8L9UhEG7ZZbaszTWkbJTEiI1Wu4RbA9q65VdtE-mxANgzvOpAw-MWnw6wJKwDN1bBpJCWl-tEtDGjIurFrD4R8ahioNB2YunKze-IpMARXeJlbhxZGJWBY0gmo_WMKZq8gdN/s1600/college+kids+home+dec+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTg3euOEtS8L9UhEG7ZZbaszTWkbJTEiI1Wu4RbA9q65VdtE-mxANgzvOpAw-MWnw6wJKwDN1bBpJCWl-tEtDGjIurFrD4R8ahioNB2YunKze-IpMARXeJlbhxZGJWBY0gmo_WMKZq8gdN/s320/college+kids+home+dec+2015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the sixth day of Yule Tijd my true love gave to me,</div>
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Six structures on a farm,</div>
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Five college kids back home,</div>
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Four activist events</div>
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Three bags of CBD</div>
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Two travel mates</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
And my Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZezA03SdWrWIBzhnxSj7jhGMLBLejntjc1NQRQeVfTQMDUaGWFWDKliunBktN6r8ln6meHnI_tmnAARFCkFiWHpLev7wRAc0ohLCM0gk0Tm4IJYF_asy6zv6FF-VL7gRlcY0meaLXFzWX/s1600/IMG_0604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZezA03SdWrWIBzhnxSj7jhGMLBLejntjc1NQRQeVfTQMDUaGWFWDKliunBktN6r8ln6meHnI_tmnAARFCkFiWHpLev7wRAc0ohLCM0gk0Tm4IJYF_asy6zv6FF-VL7gRlcY0meaLXFzWX/s320/IMG_0604.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the seventh day of Yule Tijd my true love gave to me,</div>
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My first college graduate,</div>
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Six structures on a farm,</div>
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Five college kids back home,</div>
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Four activist events<br />
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<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">Three bags of CBD</a></div>
</div>
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Two travel mates</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
And my Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2vzD5A7Vw8CJay3jmsw0IA65FuNJPyksVgPo-7h7KyU4FcLqi46GB8XnGqjmm2mk0dOIaK1-AUC2vFtxC-5pLdfaVctLORx_kKQAclaf4PgJUUN_oZIbY6iV_YCtFxjExK9LO_m8hgF0/s1600/IMG_0287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2vzD5A7Vw8CJay3jmsw0IA65FuNJPyksVgPo-7h7KyU4FcLqi46GB8XnGqjmm2mk0dOIaK1-AUC2vFtxC-5pLdfaVctLORx_kKQAclaf4PgJUUN_oZIbY6iV_YCtFxjExK9LO_m8hgF0/s320/IMG_0287.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the eight day of Yule Tijd my true love gave to me,</div>
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An eight hour workshop,</div>
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(It was social media)</div>
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Seven smiles for college grad,</div>
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Six structures on a farm,</div>
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Five college kids back home!</div>
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Four activist events<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">Three bags of CBD</a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Two travel mates</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
And mijn Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7kjQPCF-1kjBdpB0J4m0tUBQ97rRATcJKdW1kfDsrSY-1VX-nVQRsPgJpJ769KOBIoaClG7uqfBFaRm5w7Yxv_2Dtl4lnuUSrXVFbbwGHSua1OSgFMQMMnF_5EObJaGDT0JbHRpKOxYgO/s1600/IMG_9977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7kjQPCF-1kjBdpB0J4m0tUBQ97rRATcJKdW1kfDsrSY-1VX-nVQRsPgJpJ769KOBIoaClG7uqfBFaRm5w7Yxv_2Dtl4lnuUSrXVFbbwGHSua1OSgFMQMMnF_5EObJaGDT0JbHRpKOxYgO/s320/IMG_9977.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the ninth day of Yule Tijd my true love gave to me,</div>
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Nine gathered for a feast</div>
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Eight hour workshop,</div>
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Seven smiles for college grad,</div>
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Six structures on a farm,</div>
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Five college kids back home,</div>
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Four activist events<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">Three bags of CBD</a></div>
</div>
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Two travel mates</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
And mijn Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIWpA8WqsuQtNMnUCprJQXkKhr31QTWRSIVXddxjXhi0NpiF1b5K87hVBEyaKGSZlrOl1J07TkFt5hDS_FycpVxrPQunYQeHQVPkKHrJjgH65eGMX8XWg0b5dJSqwfTHHEHyYAufrLHC-G/s1600/IMG_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIWpA8WqsuQtNMnUCprJQXkKhr31QTWRSIVXddxjXhi0NpiF1b5K87hVBEyaKGSZlrOl1J07TkFt5hDS_FycpVxrPQunYQeHQVPkKHrJjgH65eGMX8XWg0b5dJSqwfTHHEHyYAufrLHC-G/s320/IMG_0003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the tenth day of Yule Tijd my true love gave to me,</div>
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Ten kinds of cookies,</div>
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Nine gathered for a feast.</div>
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Eight hour workshop,</div>
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Seven smiles for college grad,</div>
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Six structures on a farm,</div>
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Five college kids back home,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Four activist events<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">Three bags of CBD</a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Two travel mates</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
And mijn Zrina smiling carefree.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5o-BpEJLDoL_9J5mWunr3aZglaFoKG9V2GA9dvaJcdJHsp9BXnSjvYRyC8sQPJxRN-6ldOw2wRA73VkwnoVueNV0En06_fta7K4OZgVMA2arOKj6xBlEwslLwiH9_xFVnNzXc8aV55jHk/s1600/medicating+beauty+of+the+past.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5o-BpEJLDoL_9J5mWunr3aZglaFoKG9V2GA9dvaJcdJHsp9BXnSjvYRyC8sQPJxRN-6ldOw2wRA73VkwnoVueNV0En06_fta7K4OZgVMA2arOKj6xBlEwslLwiH9_xFVnNzXc8aV55jHk/s320/medicating+beauty+of+the+past.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
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On the eleventh day of Yule Tijd my true love gave to me,</div>
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Eleven vegan dishes</div>
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(Blessed be Sister Darcy)</div>
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Ten kinds of cookies,</div>
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Nine gathered for a feast.</div>
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Eight hour workshop,</div>
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(It was social media)</div>
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Seven smiles for college grad,</div>
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Six structures on a farm,</div>
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Five college kids back home!</div>
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Four activist events<br />
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<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">Three bags of CBD</a></div>
</div>
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Two travel mates</div>
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And mijn Zrina smiling carefree.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85M2gQ3ionH9i_hu5k-fKqH0eCs13S9klSDzEwaK3uI6wNdE6FqXdOKsan4C9kEhjmH7niuISaKKME8AIEnjCEcDLWmuS4aokPhntZi0iIFgHKOLX5n2jw2yGKqMfLRWPTAncxie_3ooe/s1600/20150716_213747.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85M2gQ3ionH9i_hu5k-fKqH0eCs13S9klSDzEwaK3uI6wNdE6FqXdOKsan4C9kEhjmH7niuISaKKME8AIEnjCEcDLWmuS4aokPhntZi0iIFgHKOLX5n2jw2yGKqMfLRWPTAncxie_3ooe/s320/20150716_213747.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On the twelfth day of Yule Tijd, my true love gave to me,</div>
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Twelve candles burning,</div>
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Eleven vegan dishes</div>
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Ten kinds of cookies,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Nine gathered for a feast.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Eight hour workshop,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Seven smiles for college grad,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Six structures on a farm,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Five college kids back home!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Four activist events<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/sistersofcbd">Three bags of CBD</a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Two travel mates</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
And mijn Zrina smiling carefree.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVNGqlSs80ViIVHyRXtxuNW1tNL_0TlFZoJxCS-3RDwXCqlcdF4HlN34cGWYpmJdGgARaqg2Q98J_XV3-ZEDeErSqhmqsDs6Ff3iob7CaO_Ba6jauMtjob6DcJBiPGtgU1UCXjzeWPiLh/s1600/IMG_0501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVNGqlSs80ViIVHyRXtxuNW1tNL_0TlFZoJxCS-3RDwXCqlcdF4HlN34cGWYpmJdGgARaqg2Q98J_XV3-ZEDeErSqhmqsDs6Ff3iob7CaO_Ba6jauMtjob6DcJBiPGtgU1UCXjzeWPiLh/s320/IMG_0501.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7468989625319842438.post-7668637175418864402015-12-15T20:22:00.001-08:002015-12-15T20:22:33.346-08:00Making Medicine Packages High CBD Sister Distribution Center<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hKH1TM6oQ-c" width="480"></iframe>cannabiskateincaliforniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15575250917027720955noreply@blogger.com0