Basement Shaman Blog

We Knew You Were Out There

I think we may all just have sown a seed here on the Basement Shaman's new blog! I hope it will bear fruit (and share it) for all that attend and grow into a place that's informative, provocative, playful and a friendly meeting ground for all you pioneers, bioneers, and students of the strange, luminous intelligence of the universe.

We're in this to make a better ride for all. If we can be of help, please let us know. By hearing from you, you make us smarter. We've lots of questions....an occasional answer, and on good days, sometimes really good answers.

We'll be contacting those of you who recently posted over the next few days to get your physical addresses so we can send along our tokens of thanks for helping to jumpstart things. And wow, the idea of gifting each other is really the crux of it all. Gift each other....a simple and yet astonishingly potent idea.

Ah, and careful with thos San Pedros kids! They really are marvelous spirits. Most homes in high Andean desert are flanked San Pedro to provide protection to the home and its inhabitants.

Better technology for plant growing? Yes, you bet! We hope to soon offer super-efficient LED-based plant lighting. If you know of any other appropriate technologies you'd like to see us offer please let us know. We really do listen to your suggestions!

The buzz, hype and hullaballoo and misinformation surrounding Salvia divinorum. It really gets my blood boiling when ill-informed, elected governmental officials start to declare species of our planet "illegitimate". It's high farce and equally mind-numbing and dangerous. Why does our culture have such trouble with substance abuse. Does anyone really believe that incarceration is the answer? Our officials seem to be most comfortable when we're playing the war card. Tell the folks there's a war going on and maybe they won't notice their civil liberties disappearing. Tell them it's a nasty war, and start your watchlist for the planet's most dangerous species. It will be a long list indeed. Makes me wonder if maybe we shouldn't be among the most wanted.

Happiness, andy @ the basement shaman

Talk and We'll Gift You

I feel like the part of the circus barker, shouting out to the flowing crowds, and hoping to lure a few passersby to take a peek at some of the strange, mysterious and weird things that await on the other side of the curtain. Admission is free, as long as you share what's on your mind. Have you a question for the shaman? A word of advice, praise or scorn. This is a completely transparent and unedited forum for you to speak to us, and most importantly, to connect to others like yourself from around the planet. Don't be such a shy crowd. As a shameless enticement, we'll happily send along a sample of one of our wares to you for getting out mixing with the company at hand. The next ten posts will be gifted...okay, you'll have to have "somehting to say", no other restrictions, just get us talking to each other. I know you're out there! Happiness, Andy @ the basement shaman

Sovereign States : minds, plants, planets

The "fly under the radar technique" is not without its virtues, however the stakes for the preservation of the so many potentially irrevocably lost plant species, our planet and the fundamental issue of the soverienty of our indidividual bodies, minds and spirits changes to everything. I don't think we can sit back quietly on these issues, but rather we should provide as much accurate and independent research to our lawmakers to validate the idea that many of the plants, botanical preparations, and forms of greenware & hardware are implicitly a part of the human evolutionn of the human species.

Today a Rant

Yesterday's entry still resonates with me today. We've become very estranged from the natural world have we not. Large corporate interests like ADM and Monsanto have begun patenting plants and seeds, and brewing up insecticides and herbicides that dovetail with their genetically modified creations. Meanwhile governments around the globe ban one plant after another, deeming them dangerous to the public. Plants used for millenia by tribal cultures are, in a quick stroke of the pen, made illegitimate dismissed as dirty "drugs". America's venerable Food and Drug Administration has essentially followed a policy which states that all natural herbs and remedies, even those never in fact studied by the agency are to be assumed dangerous until clinically proven safe. Pharmaceutical companies cannot patent herbal medicine, so just who will finance trials to prove traditional plant pharmacopeia as safe? It's really as though we have declared nature guilty before the trial.

At the Basement Shaman we've always walked the razor's edge between keeping available traditional plant wisdom and incurring the wrath of governmental regulatory agencies. I can't tell you how many times I've winced when a customer has asked if botanical "X" is still legal. It's time to pick up the phone, send an e-mail or write a letter to your local, state and federal law makers to let them know we're tired of of having the government make decisions about the natural world. These are the same people who are still having a difficult time reconciling the fact that the appetites of the Western world might just be screwing up the balance of nature.

Starbucks disappoints

http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/press_releases/press_release.2006-11-17.6908160357Head on over to the retail java giant, Starbucks website and they are very quick to give you an education on origins of the plant Coffea arabica, said to have first been discovered among a pack of randy goats in Eithiopia. Starbucks sings the praises of the beautiful Ethiopian bean, but they've pushing hard against Ethiopian farmers seeking to devise regional and estate trademarks for their beans. Think French wines for a second, and how the addition of an appleation de controllee has brought higher trading values among French grape growers. If you work at an Ethiopian plantation chances are you'll be lucky to pull in about $2.00/day for your work. Starbucks says that by having growing adhere to the official Starbucks generated guidelines for quality and consistency, and allowing Starbucks to take care of the marketing, labeling and trademarking, they can elevate the plight of java growers. However, why is Starbucks so afraid when growers want to develop trademarked identitites for their own beans?

To learn more head out to Oxfands site to decide for yourself: Starbucks rattles Ethiopian bean growers.

We believe that allowing Ethiopian farmers to control the branding and identity of their beans will offer the most benefit to its producers and workers. Check out another Oxfam site where you can help make a difference: www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/press_releases/press_release.2006-11-17.6908160357

Random Acts of Kindness

Step away from the florist's counter and racks of preprinted and insipid poetry, we're going deeper than Valentine's day here. This week is marked as random acts of kindness week. Think guerilla compassion, do something for somone else, a complete stranger, maybe somebody you know but who typically annoys you. Do your kind acts only because they may be of benefit to this person and help them to realize happiness and the root cause of happiness. Don't get attached to your action or do it because it makes you feel you are a better person. Forget about yourself and see the world in terms of promoting the happiness of others. Repeat. Practice....repeat.

For the imaginative or perhaps techically saavy, imagine new extremely effective devices for creating the most collateral happiness....no holds weapons-grade, heart rending. Please share your techniques.
Happiness, Andy@the basement shaman

A Mind with a View

As a very lazy Buddhist I need to constantly be reminded of my true nature. It's so easy to identify the self as simply the everchanging range of emotions, storylines, and thoughts that we mistakenly assume as the capital "I', when in fact, they are merely passing clouds, the fleetings assertions of the ego which move across the pure azure sky which is the true immutable "I". I can give the utmost recommendation to the site www.rigpa.org. Here you can subscribe to a simple, often incredibly powerful view of the day.

The Hope in a Seed

One might think that this a quiet time at the shaman, but the truth is that the greenhouse hums with much activity. This is the time of year that we engage in the practice of sowing the seeds of a quiet revolution. Seeds for opening your heart and mind, and healing your body and spirit. Imagine something so subversive and yet so humble as planting a seed. In this era of a "war on" everything, it always feels very right to return back to the hope conveyed in a seed. Don't be so glum, go out and plant a tree or put a few seeds in clay pot on your windowsill. Invite nature in everywhere.

Oh, I heard about another interesting and revolutionary idea today. Replace all your archaic, Thomas Edison era sources of incandescent lighting with compact fluorescent light bulbs. The amount of energy saved is staggering. It's a simple meme, but really effective. Check out www.onebillionbulbs.com

Virgin B

Here it is gang, the veritable, vestal virgin of a post. We hope that by putting a blog on our site, we all can get a chance to find out more about who we all are (on both sides of the counter). I imagine passing many a "basement" shaman during the day. Maybe it's the girl that teaches yoga in Crystal Lake looking for a cool CD to play during her classes, or the M.D. anesthesiologist with a love for Sacred Cacti or maybe the gentleman that owns that great eastern Indian restaurant pining for some fresh betel leaf. Send us your tired students cramming for finals, your weary shift-workers who could use some Rhodiola and some good cheer. You are all invited. Just play nice, respect each other and spread the meme of happiness, stewardship of the planet, enhanced awareness and compassion. Andy