Cosmic Cycles, Human Cycles

Eternal Life And The Mystery Cults

Ironically, mature civilizations inevitably focus on issues of eternal life. Western thinkers, both modern and post-modern, have shown great interest in the ancient mystery cults. No doubt such curiosity is justified by numerous historical parallels linking those troubled times with our own. Cults of the Magna Mater, Isis, Dionysus, Cybele, Mithra, and others flourished most in an era when daily vicissitudes generated by a newly formed and rapidly burgeoning empire emptied traditional belief systems of their relevance and emotive power. Life became precarious; death loitered menacingly around every corner. History provides ample evidence of the problem, as all hope of secure, let alone eternal life receded into a glowering distance.

Oppressive anomie coupled with a general feeling that something new and spiritually vibrant was needed filled the psychic atmosphere of those bygone days. When this yearning became almost palpable, the mystery cults proffered their intriguing solution. The question we ask today is: exactly how did those strange rites fill the yawning inner void which extended across lines of class, gender, and learning? Precisely what could they offer that comforted and satisfied so many whose hearts, under the baneful Roman eye, had grown cynical and cold? Could their hidden treasure be the confident assurance of eternal life?

Eternal Life Through Organic Vision

When our Lucky Six Farms staff raised these questions with monks and friars of nearby Madre Grande Monastery, the resultant discussion proved provocative and illuminating. Because both groups have long been involved in day-to-day issues of organic farming in the service of sacred vegetation, certain answers presented themselves with unusual vigor. One aspect of the mystery rites was shared in common by virtually every cult: an apotheosis wherein a sheaf of grain or similarly common plant was presented, bathed in radiant glory, to new initiates. Although forbidden to give clear voice to the principal mystery doctrines per se, all devotees agreed that the central concept involved new life after ostensible death, rebirth  after burial, resurrection following destruction. Both the Monastery personnel and those at Lucky Six Farms are well acquainted with such notions, since they lie at the very hub of ecologically sound organic farming.

Eternal Life Via Practice And Product

When such matters are broached, it is all too easy to lose the thread of meaning in a labyrinth of semantics. It is a maze in which today’s academics too often flounder. However, in whatever terms it is couched, the critical point here is simply this: Cosmic cycles so evident in our farming do not stop at the soil but, in fact, infuse every aspect of our lives and thoughts. We are profoundly connected to the Earth and share the essentially perennial nature of all her living forms. It is indeed in that spirit of eternal life and the purity underlying it that we offer our White Sage products. 

By Alan Beck

Organic Perspectives

True Wisdom In Theory

Where does true wisdom lie? As many readers already know, Lucky Six Farms leases all of its White Sage fields from world-renowned Madre Grande Monastery. In addition, all of our products - essential oil, hydrosol, smudge bundles, cones, and whole White Sage leaves - are processed according to rigorous standards first set forth by the Monastery. The arrangement allows for a continuing exchange of opinion and information between the two organizations, an ongoing and often remarkably fruitful discussion forging links between pragmatic aspects of organic farming and esoteric Theosophical principles. Key components of the latter include belief in extremely long evolutionary cycles or waves, wherein immutable hubs of conscious being are carried across immense gulfs of time and space in a cosmic process encouraging constructive change. The wisdom of this approach has been recognized by cultures as diverse as the western hemisphere Maya and eastern hemisphere Hindu. 

True Wisdom In Practice

Farmers who personally participate in their profession can find much with which to identify in this perspective. Such an expansive view is directly at odds with most popular notions of progress largely derived from post-modern corporate demands. Instead of catering to inflexible, narrow time-lines set by requirements for quarterly profits, farmers must cultivate patience, genuine adaptability, and openness marked by a keen awareness of seasonality and yearly yield. Stately movements of sun, moon, stars, and clouds against a solid background of soil gradually unfold the stage on which successful cultivation thrives. Thus, the difference in thought patterns between farmer’s market and commodity market are clearly evident and often stark.

Fruits Of True Wisdom

At Lucky Six Farms, we are - and have always been - firmly committed to the living Earth that supports us, the welfare of all her children, and the long-term spiritual satisfaction of our customers. Profits are merely a vehicle for achieving these ends rather than ends in themselves. Whatever the bureaucratic arrangements necessary for our enterprise, we acknowledge the fundamental validity of traditional views: in the final analysis, our blue planet and her wondrous resources cannot be owned by anyone. All we can hope to do is ethically manage those elements that lie temporarily under our aegis. We know that responsibility alone constitutes a serious charge as well as an unparalleled privilege.

By Alan Beck

Turning The Wheel Of The Year

Weather Sets The Mood

Our weather, in the stark but lovely shadow of Madre Grande, is never just ordinary. Spring and summer are marked by long weeks of cloudless skies. The sun’s face then is uncompromisingly radiant, so by noon even large boulders are seared to the point where they are painful to touch. Such climate creates an archetypal high desert so familiar to those who explore the American southwest. But there is a slow, primordial rhythm at work behind the scenes, a planetary yin and yang which becomes obvious only as the wheel of the year revolves past its zenith. Fall sets in suddenly, so precipitously in fact, that even savvy residents are caught unaware. In the course of a single day, our weather turns sullen, dark, and cool.

The Weather of Reminiscence

In September, we wake to a pea-soup fog so thick a paltry distance of twenty feet recedes into infinity. Creepy dampness, reminiscent of a haunted house rather than a bright desert, fills every nook and cranny of what was, only hours before, clear, crisp openness. Our thoughts respond appropriately, of course, moving into realms of past foibles and triumphs, recollecting actions taken in the heat of the moment that have long  banked into lifeless embers. As night descends, the atmosphere becomes stranger still. Unmoving fog weighs down the land with palpable moisture, embracing us in its crypt-like, stygian depths. Without a bright flashlight, travel outdoors is impossible, for we are now blind as those eyeless fish who spend their days endlessly swimming through subterranean pools.

Our White Sage Energy Transcends The Weather

Our fields of organic White Sage, the pride of Lucky Six Farms, must also lie quiet in this eerily silent interregnum, like the other indigenous life-forms. Initiates into the Mysteries of old knew this liminal time well, for the fulcrum of the year reminds us of the frightening darkness into which we all descend, steadfast in our faith of renewed life. Although winter has not yet begun, we are confident of the invisible, vibrant stirrings just beneath the soil - and of the carefully stored fruits of our labor. Our work insures that the heart of the White Sage spirit, the very essence of purifying energy, never vanishes. It remains accessible across even the bleakest horizons for those who know and care.

By Alan Beck

  

Fractal Farming

Living Links Of Earth

Our Earth is much more than a dirty, moist ball of rock hurtling through a bleakly immense vacuum. Home to millions of species as well as humankind, it is a wondrous repository of psychic energy penetrating to the most subtle depths of mind and matter. Specifically, it embraces a highly ramifiedl, undeniably living network, wherein intuition, knowledge, and feeling transcend the fleshly barriers of individual lifetimes. Wisdom teachings throughout the ages emphasized an essential identity between the self-consciously small and the immutably great, between Microcosm and Macrocosm, that is, between (wo)man and the overarching cosmos wherein (s)he thinks, speaks, and acts. Lamentably pushed aside for two centuries by soulless mechanistic philosophies, this primordial truth experienced a recent resurgence via insights generated by fractal geometry and its allied disciplines. Ideas drawn from fractal research and the related field of chaos theory have shown how our Earth conforms to patterning and order wholly independent of scale.

Fractal Earth

By uniting the greatest and smallest components of our being, by forging stupendously gorgeous visions of absolute interconnectedness, fractal thought has done much to rescue us from spurious philosophical isolation and return us to our authentic roots in sacred wholeness. Those who work at Lucky Six Farms and its leaseholder, Madre Grande Monastery, have long contemplated the realities now coming to light in the guise of fractal concepts. We see our duty in making Blake’s “universe in a grain of sand and eternity in an hour” come alive.

White Sage From Our Earth

We perceive how spiraling forms of our organically cultivated, purifying White Sage reflect the immense galactic whorls of energy that have woven our world from stardust. In a similar vein, we are confident the essential oils, hydrosols, smudge bundles, cones, and whole leaves we offer always carry an inextinguishably bright core of that understanding to each and every one of our customers. The benefits of our fractal farming are older than Stonehenge and newer than the latest findings of experimental math: we are delighted to make them readily available for you!

By Alan Beck

Art, Nature & Sacred Sage

The Why Of Sacred Sage

Sacred sage was little thought of at the turn of the twentieth century. But the few decades that followed turned our familiar universe upside-down while highlighting conceptual vistas rarely dreamed of for centuries. During those early years of the last century the predominant Western view of how we fit into our universe underwent a sea change. A veritable avalanche of novel and surprising findings from an array of disciplines stunned the public and set even the most complacent citizens on edge. The world was no longer solid or simple; it could no longer be taken for granted or its paradigms filed away in the dusty drawer of common sense. While staid science was riven by quantum theory, relativity, and higher-dimensioned geometry, the art world took its first tentative steps into abstraction, plumbing phantasmagoric revelations from primordial archetypes. Many of the most original thinkers, like Arp, Kandinsky, and Klee became vivid articulators of society’s dawning vision. All agreed that the real processes of creation are the same in art and nature. Hitherto recondite topics like sacred sage suddenly began to acquire a new valence

New Science, New Lifestyle

So radical was this revised understanding that a century later we are still integrating it into our lifestyles. Scientific alchemy had changed our perspective. Vital components of this effort may be observed throughout the globe in ecological movements, New-Age thought, religious eclecticism, and burgeoning respect for traditional forms of Earth-centered spirituality. Both Lucky Six Farms and its land leaseholder Madre Grande Monastery have their roots in this expansive, radiant awareness.

Scents And Sensibility

The White Sage we organically cultivate is a direct product of Nature’s artistry. Taking our cue from her painstaking aesthetic, we craft our essential oils, hydrosols, smudge bundles and cones so that the original purity of the plant spirit is consistently retained and enhanced. As artists working hand-in-hand with Nature, we can confidently promulgate her energizing power even as we share her benevolent intent.

By Alan Beck

Dreams of the Great Mother

Maternal Calm

We feel her immutable bright calm in the floating hours just before dawn, before we can even perceive the outlines of her form with our eyes. We are heartened by her strength, inspired by her presence. When the disk of the sun moves over her, we can finally see her in full glory. She lies quiet but imposing, gently circumscribing our northeastern horizon. Eyes half closed in millennial repose, granite lips barely parted in the bright air, she dreams, weaving her maternal impulses into tangible form. She has given birth to the tangible and numinous, to creatures sharp and soft, to insights profound and simple. Those who have learned to know her, shamans, warriors, and the canny, may even be privileged to part the veil of her nocturnal visions, for they understand she is too wise to vanish into the stygian depths of sleep. Her calm is a paradox, filled with energy yet unperturbed.

Cosmic Calm

She is Madre Grande, the Great Mother, the mountain who lent her fame to the healing, teaching Monastery which, ensconced in her shadow, now bears her name and proud reputation. No one who settles near her remains untouched by her ancient power. We, who wild-craft and process her signal child, the purifying White Sage, love her. Long ago, during harrowing times, foreign conquerors sensed her displeasure and tried to blunt her magick. Although they mockingly twisted her into droll Mother Grundy, such a slight proved easy to ignore. Words without substance blow away like dust cast against a whirlwind. While truth may be silenced, it will never remain concealed.

Unique Calm Of Madre Grande's White Sage

Living and working daily in her shadow, we cannot forget the truth of her being. Like the indigenous Tribes, we continue to honor the mysteries channeled through her rough-hewn flesh. Our White Sage products, offerings of Lucky Six Farms which calm bodies while energizing minds worldwide, mark our tribute to her cosmic fruitfulness.

By Alan Beck

Alchemical Perspectives

Paracelsus’ Universe

Is there only one way - the scientific method - to plumb the mysteries of the universe and ourselves? Such a blinkered notion is a relatively modern conceit born largely of complacency bestowed upon us by technology. Yet, that veneer of supercilious surety wears thin for many; some of the more thoughtful among us have scratched through it entirely. Case in point: Because we at Lucky Six Farms lease our White Sage fields from California's Madre Grande Monastery, frequent and fruitful dialogue naturally flows between the two institutions. Keen observations of Paracelsus, the 16th Century father of systematic botany, usually come to highlight such discussions, as several monks and friars are thoroughly conversant with his works. Why should Paracelsus elicit our interest? Perhaps because he was also the founder of spagyrics - little-known as a word today - which was a method by which key alchemical insights could be applied to plant-based therapeutics. I believe even today Paracelsus’ universe is congruent with our own.

The Alchemical Universe

Paracelsus emphasized a three-fold division in every plant species: a gross physical form, an underlying fundamental character, and a universally transformative component. As a convenient short-hand, he termed the first "salt," the second "sulfur," and the third "mercury." (Of course, these strictly spagyric terms-of-art bore no connection to their common, everyday meanings.) The second aspect in particular, i.e. spagyric sulfur, is what provides each species its own highly unique array of practical uses. Thus, it might be seen as analogous to the individual human personality.

Our Universe Of Living Energy

Paracelsus was familiar with White Sage and believed its character to be Jovian, that is highly purifying, mentally energizing, yet physically relaxing. Even today, students of spagyrics recommend White Sage fumigation to cleanse areas where conflicts and arguments have occurred. It is fascinating to note that Paracelsus' opinion is fully congruent with that held by Native American cultures, although no known communication took place between him and representatives of the latter. Clearly, the beneficial power of White Sage has been independently recognized by wisdom-holders of the most diverse backgrounds and traditions. We at Lucky Six Farms are proud to offer it to you in the same spirit of universality!

By Alan Beck

 

The Company We Keep

People Need People

You can tell a lot about about people - and organizations, for that matter - by their close associates. As every seasoned salesperson knows, people tend to favor those who closely share their own opinions, habits, and ideas. Conversely, the groups we belong to exert an incredibly powerful influence on us. Of course, our inner drive to conform can serve laudable or lamentable ends. Virtually all will readily acknowledge the detrimental effects of “hanging out with a rough crowd,” but only a few comprehend the very real soul-elevating power generated by the sincerely motivated benevolence of certain groups. Despite strident rhetoric, people rarely function alone: they link their lives to long chains established by others.

Seeing The Reality of People

Groups can only be fairly evaluated when we learn to move past the superficial and penetrate to the truth of the people within. Even ostensibly upstanding citizens may merit another look if they habitually associate with the notorious. Seemingly altruistic charities or public-action groups probably won't live up to their selfless rhetoric if their financial lifeblood flows from conglomerates with venal agendas. The inverse is also true, of course. The famous Underground Railway which led so many slaves to freedom during the Nineteenth Century was inextricably linked to a large network of abolitionist church congregations. Today, many food banks and co-operatives provide wholesome nourishment at reasonable cost only because of their intimate ties to concerned businesses and individuals.

Loving People Make Loving Products

At Lucky Six Farms, we pride ourselves on our long-standing relationship to Madre Grande Monastery. All of the fields where we cultivate the sacred White Sage are leased directly from the Monastery. The connection is neither arbitrary nor accidental. For four decades, Madre Grande has been well-known not only throughout its southern California home but around the world for remarkable teaching and healing work. Arising from that same spirit, each and every one of our pure, certified organic, wild-crafted products is consciously created to support humanity's health, well-being, and fundamental unity. We wouldn't have it any other way!

By Alan Beck

Valuing Paths Less Traveled

Seeker's Psychology

Euclid implies the straightest path between two points is also the quickest, but psychology offers very different testimony. I've learned some unusual life lessons by treading the vast, uniquely beautiful southern California acres of Lucky Six Farms. Case in point: threading my way through the thick, often thorny brush so typical of the high desert landscape. How should we go about finding the best paths to our most important goals? Often, when my interest has been aroused by a particularly striking geological formation or topographic vantage point, I've trusted the seemingly ironclad conclusions of plane geometry and sought to reach the place via the most direct trails. At first blush, this approach certainly seems to be sober, clear-eyed, rational, and eminently sensible, given the wilderness of rough terrain dotted by spiny undergrowth separating me from my ultimate destination. Yet psychology wins over math almost every time.

Desert Psychology Is Subtle

How can I draw such a peculiar conclusion? Indigenous intelligences which blazed those trails understood that paths obvious to travelers would be equally clear to predators. So, in terms of desert psychology subtlety is a cardinal virtue while transparency can be a deadly sin. From my more mundane position, I've found what appears as the shortest, most obvious route usually proves to be nothing but a dead end. Thus, after a taxing series of laborious trials and errors, I find that the quickest, least precarious way is one that initially seemed quite obscure or even nonexistent. In much the same way, although we may long to experience the full benefit of energetic purification, we hesitate to make use of venerable yet unfamiliar aids like White Sage essential oil, hydrosol, or smudge sticks.

Lessons From Natural Psychology

The potent White Sage lovingly grown and harvested in the imposing shadow of Madre Grande monastery manifests its assistance via a number of little-known but amazingly effective products. By taking just a bit of extra time to travel the paths each one of them opens, it becomes possible to approach an empowering luminance with surprising ease.

Healing with White Sage

     
                                                                By Monica Maghiar
                                           

         
       White sage is one of the most sacred plants to Native Americans. For centuries, it has been used in folk medicine as well as in religious and healing rituals. Today, white sage is used by people that are interested in natural remedies, alternative medicine practitioners, artisans for: soaps, candles and lotions making and everybody else that wishes to cleanse homes and people of bad energy or influences. The native belief is that all ceremonies, tribal or private, must be entered into with a good heart so that we can pray, sing, walk, dance and live in a clean, sacred, honest  manner.


   Physical Healing - Feel Your Roots

   Make a tea using dry white sage whole leaves. Add to a cup of hot water and let it sit for at least four minutes. This tea can be used to treat stomach troubles, arthritis and headaches. It has also shown to lessen the painful effects of heavy menstruation, but should not be used by pregnant or nursing mothers as it can also decrease lactation production.

   Add a couple of dry or fresh leaves to a bottle of water. Use purified, filtered or mineral water for better results. Close the bottle and let it sit so the healing properties of the sage mix in with the water. This can be used as a day-to-day drink or given to those who are recuperating from an illness as a tonic. Adding lemon and xylitol makes it very refreshing.

  Put a dry or fresh leaf in between your teeth and cheek and let it soak to soothe a sore throat. Make sure you use organically grown sage. Don't swallow the leaf. Instead, replace it with a new one when it feels like there's no flavor or juice left. Leaves are also good to chew on when one fights heatstroke.
   Mash fresh or dry leaves and mix them with water to create a paste. Wrap it using a cheesecloth and use it as a poultice over sore muscles, skin eruptions and rashes. You can also use it on the forehead to lower fevers, or on the lower stomach to relieve menstrual cramps. Leave the poultice in place until it has dried or cooled, or until the symptoms have subsided. Reapply the poultice as necessary, using a fresh cloth and fresh herbal preparation every time.

   Crush and add dry or fresh leaves to boiling water. Remove from the source of heat and let it steep for at least one hour for use as a soaples shampoo, dye and hair straightener.


    Spiritual Healing - Tread lightly

   White sage has been used by the Native Americans for thousands of years in order to primarily heal the spirit, which they believe in turn aids to the body’s ability to function properly.
   Use a white sage smudge cone or smudge wand and fire to burn the end so it starts smoking. Walk from room to room, making sure the smoke reaches every corner. Use a cleansing prayer or make up one yourself. Think about asking the bad energy to leave the area and ask for protection and peace to come over it. When cleansing a room, light a smudge cone and leave it in a corner to burn off.
Keep the room closed so the smoke doesn't wander out, but make sure the wand or cone is placed on a heart burner or clay surface to prevent fires and to protect your furniture and upholstery. White sage has a pleasant sweet aroma, so you won't need to air the room afterwards. The smoke attaches itself to negative energy. As the smoke clears it takes the negative energy with it, releasing it to regenerate into something more positive. Tests have also shown that the smoke of burning sage literally changes the ionization polarity of the air.
   Smudging is very effective when you've been feeling depressed, angry, resentful or unwell or after you have had an argument with someone. When this is the case, your entire energy field will require cleansing. At times it will be possible for you to perform this ritual for yourself, with the use of a lit white sage smudge wand. At other times you may detect the need for some assistance, both in terms of spiritual intuition and because it can be tricky to sweep the smoke over the entire outline of your body, front and back, head to toe. In a sympathetically conducted ritual, your helper will gather the smoke with their hand and draw it into the perimeter of your body. Special attention will be given to areas of stress and unbalance so that cleansing and protection can be experienced.

   Use the plant to the highest of your abilities, showing with all your power, gratitude and respect for the benefits that you receive. Try to apply the same attitude in relationship with yourself, others and the world.

   Follow your bliss!

  All the wonderful products that you might need to create the suggested herbal experiences can be found at our online store at http://luckysixfarms.com

Walk on the Grounds

 By Alan Beck

Confidence In The Earth

Each morning as I touch the soil, my confidence in our planet's holistic healing power increases. Every day I walk the grounds of Lucky Six Farms, marveling at its expansive, organic White Sage gardens. I especially enjoy working directly with White Sage and contemplating its venerable power. It is a privilege to maintain a personal relationship with its remarkably cleansing, energizing, and uplifting spirit. Such feelings reflect more than superficial sentiment. I believe our California White sage offers a truly unique array of useful gifts to those seeking paths of authentic betterment today. In particular, for those lacking confidence in themselves, their society, or their world, the White Sage provides a unique remedy.

White Sage Rewards Our Confidence

Virtually all societies acknowledge the vital role played by plants; this is especially true in communities where profound, earth-centered traditions have long been maintained. But no matter what our personal beliefs may be, plants proactively support our lives: our physical, intellectual, energetic, and even spiritual states are closely tied to the living plant life around us - so much so, in fact, that too many inadvertently take that wondrous bounty for granted. The confidence we place in the Earth as our home, our primordial support is most directly evinced through our trust in the plant life that serves us. Nowhere is this better illustrated then in the ancient respect indigenous peoples had for the plant we today call the California White Sage.

Confidence Is Rooted In The Plant Spirit

Native communities, in particular, viewed their daily relationship with White Sage as particularly vital. Through it, even stubborn negative energies could be cleared away in a relatively brief period. It was understood that White Sage was consistently allied with the community's highest and best goals, as the beneficial Sage Spirit worked to open each individual's heart energy to abundant flow. And abundant energy translates into self confidence. Nothing of this has changed over the centuries. Thus, White Sage can, even now, be an important adjunct to our heart's most authentic expression. No wonder this remarkable plant spirit has been sincerely venerated by so many for so long!

Morning Surprise at Lucky Six Farm

Morning Surprise at Lucky Six Farm

 

By Corey Hale

It’s harvest time. Our White Sage has reached its peak potential, the time when the leaves are most aromatic and plump. The healing oils will soon fill the Sun Center with their aura cleansing properties. The beauty of the morning dazzles us as we gather at sunrise to begin.

The White Sage grown and harvested here, while common to this area of Southern California, is still a rare find in its cultivation and distillation. Located high in the mountains east of San Diego, CA., overseen by the monks of Madre Grande Monastery whose continuation is our mission, each plant is tenderly cared for on pesticide-free land, handpicked, and only organically composted.

Our most exciting news this first day of harvest is the discovery of a bird’s nest cradled into the sweet-smelling arms of a mature plant. The amazing protective properties of White Sage extending beyond the spiritual and metaphysical world in order to weave a velvety green cocoon of sparkling, sun-drenched branches around the nest, keeping it safe during last night’s crazy storm.

Back to the dazzling morning… 

www.luckysixfarms.com