By Christine DeLorey

“2012. We’ve really waited for this one, haven’t we!
Let’s hope we have our mojos working, our intentions
in place, and our homework done to give the best of
ourselves to this new year – and to take confirmation
of our own blessings within it…”
Judith Gayle – Political Waves

2012 is not the end of the world. It is the end of a system – the class system – that has brought our world to a state of such inequality, unfairness and imbalance, that we can no longer survive without drastic changes of priority and direction. In 2012, it will finally dawn on those who are currently controlling life on Earth that a huge portion of the population is wide awake, powerful, watching their every move and angry! And yet, the majority of people are proceeding in a peaceful and solution-oriented way, with determination and hope for a better future. Humanity’s desire for real and positive change is starting to outweigh our primitive need for revenge and our inclination for WAR.

Anger is not meant to be used as a weapon. Anger is a natural reaction to pain – and pain takes many forms. Anger is a vital emotion which pushes us to find solutions to problems that are hurting us. When properly understood, anger is an instrument of constructive change – and constructive change is what 2012 is all about.

The fact that life doesn’t have to be this way has penetrated mass consciousness. The emotional antenna of humanity has kicked into gear and we are starting to feel and sense the truth, rather than relying on others to tell us what’s what and go passively along with the program.

We are all fellow travelers on the road of life, but we are not all the same. 2012 is a 5 global year (2+0+1+2=5), and 5 represents everything that is “different.” 5 is the number of DIVERSITY. The acceptance of diversity is the acceptance of differences, which is PEACE.

“It is amazing how fast your life can change…
events can alter your course in the blink of an eye,
and all you can do is go with the flow
and see where it takes you.”
MaryAn Sigafoos

5 is the number of ACTION. 5 is alive with movement. 5 is a hive of activity. In 2012, this means facing reality and having the faith to steer ourselves along unbeaten paths that we’re creating as we go. We need to be fully engaged now, and ready to adjust to new and unexpected realities. If we just watch everything unfold on TV or the Internet like it’s some kind of entertainment, we’ll be very shocked when suddenly we are part of what is unfolding.

We are going to have to be at our most resourceful and creative. And out of this, we will develop STYLE. Our individual styles have been washed away by mediocrity, uniformity, monotony and sameness. To be who we are, we must lose our fear of being different.

War Department. Pentagon, aerial view II. Photo by Theodor Horydczak.

The main symbol of 5 is the shape of a pentagon. No doubt we’ll be seeing a lot of America’s military headquarters in 2012 as it is the largest structure on Earth that is pentagon-shaped. From the very start of 2012 there has been talk of invading Iran. But, on January 5, President Obama announced a reduction in defense spending. “After a decade of war, we are turning a new page…the tide of war is receding”, he said. Let’s hope so. He also spoke of learning from mistakes, which is a major principle of the 5 energy. We will see.

The pentagon shape also resembles a house. With so many people homeless now, and so many houses just sitting empty all over the world, something innovative needs to be done to help people attain the basic need of shelter.

Toward the end of 2011 (a 4 global year symbolized by the natural shape of the square), the Occupy Movement in the USA and other countries started to move in that direction by occupying foreclosed homes. The Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring and other extraordinary uprisings of the human will, all emerged out of city squares, plazas and parks. That movement must expand now. The square symbolizes limitation and breakthrough. The protesters (pioneers) certainly came up against limitations in 2011, but they also achieved many important breakthroughs that have set the stage for the changes yet to come. What will they do now that the limited square has transformed into a pentagon and a 5-pointed star? That will be interesting to see.

The pentagon and 5-pointed star (pentagram) are highly representative of the military and corporations, and are widely used in advertising, sports and politics. The flags of many nations contain 5-pointed stars. China’s flag has 5. The American flag has 50!

but, most importantly,

Everybody is a Star!

Image of a human body in a pentagram from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Libri tres de occulta philosophia. Symbols of the sun and moon are in the center, while the other five classical "planets" are around the edge. Image from Wikipedia.

5 teaches us about the physical aspects of life, including our own physical bodies, the wellbeing of which is likely to be a major issue this year. The body is the vehicle which transports us through this journey called ‘physical life’, and we need to learn how to take proper care of it. 5 is the number of ALTERNATIVES – and various areas of alternative medicine are likely to make great inroads now as its practitioners expand their knowledge – despite the attempts of the pharmaceutical and medical industries to stop it. Alternative fuel could significantly impact the energy industry this year – despite the attempts of big oil, coal and gas to stop it. Wherever we have been going wrong in the world and in our personal lives, the 5 energy enables us to find alternative routes and approaches. 5 is the number of CHOICE; the basis of freedom.

As we become more aware of our true needs in life (as opposed to what the system tells us we need and then removes our choices) there is likely to be a great emphasis on the damage done to our food supply by corporations such as Monsanto, and the pollution caused by industry and consumerism in general. There is likely to be a LOT of anger as the truth finally sinks in and moves the population to change things.

This is the year when PEOPLE really start to understand themselves, inside and out. 2012 is the year in which we have the opportunity to BECOME the change we want in the world. 5 is the number of CHANGE. 5 is the number of OPPORTUNITY. As our knowledge expands, we will find solutions. 5 is the number of RESOURCEFULNESS.

For the past 12 years, ‘we the people’ have been rapidly developing our sensory system – our inner radar – the emotional circuitry which runs through the body and meets with the spirit in the heart. The heart is the point of LOVE within the body where the physical connects to the metaphysical – mind and emotion. It is from the heart that we develop perspective and broaden our view of life.

People are realizing how limited and frozen our points of view have been. We have looked at life from the shallow standpoint of materialism but are realizing that our potential as human beings is so much more than that. Through the rise of our emotional feminine energy, we are feeling much more deeply into life. As we develop DEPTH through the love in our hearts, shallowness falls away and huge waves of heartlessness are exposed. Our hearts need to be reset because right now they beat in accordance with a dying system. Only warmth can counter coldness. Only love can counter hate. Heartlessness is life without feeling; light without love.

Science itself is going to change because science made an assumption that was fatally flawed – that life on Earth is a purely physical experience. It is becoming increasingly difficult to explain the laws of physics without bringing metaphysics into it. The prefix ‘meta’ means ‘beyond’. In an interview with New Scientist magazine this January, world-famous physicist and author of A Brief Moment In Time, Stephen Hawking, was asked what he most thinks about. He answered, “Women. They are a complete mystery.”…and therein lies the biggest problem that science has. The inability to progress beyond the physical or even consider the essential role that feminine energy – emotion – plays in the fabric and vibration of life.

The problems we created in the era we are evolving from will not disappear of their own accord. We cannot progress until we recognize our mistakes, learn from them, stop making them, and move in a different direction. We severely limit ourselves when we assume we should already know the answers. As evolving beings, the learning never ends.

5 operates by learning ‘from experience’ – from discerning what works and what doesn’t. 5 is the number of the inquisitive scientist – and in case you didn’t realize it, there is a scientist in all of us. It is that part of us that is looking for truth; the part of us that needs to understand.

“Life is one big road with lots of signs.”
Wake Up & Live ~ Bob Marley

In 2012, we will have an array of new experiences for which we have no previous experience to guide us. Some may be painful and shocking. Others may be exciting and joyful. Whatever the case, this year’s experiences will broaden our potential even more. 5 is the number of EXCITEMENT, ADVENTURE, CURIOSITY and DISCOVERY, and it is important to remember that AWARENESS OF REALITY is the best safety net we could possibly have.

The past, present and future are converging in 2012, bringing us into present time in a most unusual, ‘strange’, and all-encompassing way. Issues of the past are being buffeted into the present so that we can learn from them, heal from them and create a future that is based on what we have learned. This mirrors the convergence of body, mind and emotions going on within our hearts. This activity will accelerate significantly in 2012.

Memory Lane is a passageway to healing, but we cannot dwell there. We must develop the firm intent to let the past go. The intent to heal all that unexpressed emotional energy is how the healing starts. Only then can we put the past behind us where it belongs, lighten our load and move forward. We will learn this year, firsthand, that what we did in the past creates the present and what we do in the present creates the future.

5 is the number of FREEDOM – and while it is true that freedom is what most human beings aspire to, we must be careful not to define freedom on too broad or narrow a scale. Freedom for one could feel like hell to another. As election after election takes place all over the world this year, the word freedom is going to be used, abused and twisted, as a lure for political gain. The controlling few are trying to pull us back to the past, to times-gone-by, when people were so much easier to control. Be aware.

A huge numeric shift took place when we moved from the millennial vibrations of the 1000s into those of the 2000s. This massive transfer of energy has taken us 12 of our linear years to acknowledge, feel and accept. Our evolution from 1 to 2 now brings us into the year the whole world has been waiting for. 2012 – the year in which whatever is going to happen will happen – but perhaps not in the way we expect. 5 is the number of the UNEXPECTED, the UNFORESEEN, and the UNPREDICTABLE.

Those in control, the infamous 1%, who cannot seem to understand that they are part of the 100%, will do everything they can to prevent this shift from a purely ‘man’s world’ into a world brought into balance by the infusion of the feminine. Resistance to this shift is the fundamental cause of most of the turmoil going on in the world today.

With all of its ups and downs and unexpected turnarounds, 5 is not the most stable of paths to travel. Anything can happen. The fact that 2012 is a Leap Year makes things even more shaky and volatile. Leap years occur every 4 years so that the calendar remains in alignment with Earth’s motion around the sun. An extra day is added – February 29 – and this ‘hiccup’ causes an energetic ‘wobble’ in the flow of time which cannot help but effect the flow of life. We last experienced a leap year in 2008 – a year of much upheaval in the world, the year the free market (capitalism) imposed its failures on the people in the form of bailouts and so-called ‘austerity’ measures. 2008 was the year the sub-prime mortgage crisis impacted the USA and then the world. At the end of 2008, Barack Obama was voted the first black president of the United States, creating a massive rise in people’s feelings along the entire emotional spectrum. There was a lot of hatred mixed up in all that jubilation. 2008 was a 1 year in the world – an important BEGINNING to the current leg of our journey. It was the year in which humanity found the enormous power of emotion and, one way or another, was deeply moved by it.

2008 was also the year that 69,000 people were killed in one earthquake alone, in China, but we did not hear much about that enormous loss of life because of the cloak of secrecy under which China operates. It is safe to assume that Mother Earth will continue to move and shake in whatever way allows her to heal from the onslaught of abuse we have imposed on her, and continue to do!

Notice that we are now at the halfway mark of the journey that began in 2008. 1, 2, 3 and 4 have gone. 5 is dead center – the balance point – and 6, 7, 8 and 9 are yet to come. We now need to lean emphatically in the direction we want this journey to go. We are the only ones who can tip that delicate balance in the right direction.

The last time we were in a 5 global year was 2003 – the year of the Iraq war. We have a chance to do things very differently this time around, as the very same arguments that took us into Iraq are now being made for an attack on Iran.

Our millennial journey from 1 to 2 is taking us from secrecy and isolationism to openness and connection. It was secrecy that enabled the old system to flourish for so long. It is taking us from the big LIE that this crumbling system has always been, into HONESTY. Honesty is what our feelings are.

By the end of 2011, the people of China, Burma and Russia were spontaneously rising up against oppression and slavery. The emotional energy of the entire population on Earth has been moved by the pain of not being allowed to be the free spirits we really are.

The 2000s ushered in an era of equality and balance in which the vibration of our feelings open the space that consciousness needs in order to expand. This is why women are under attack on so many fronts all over the world. The controlling few cannot allow feminine energy to expand because such an evolution, such change, would render them irrelevant in terms of what they believe relevance to be.

Feminine energy is our FREE WILL, and we are well aware that the WILL of the people is anything but free. It never was. In 2012, we will experience the power of our personal and collective WILL as never before. The battered, bruised and abused Will of humanity is starting to heal – because it is starting to feel.

Creativity and evolution are working together. They are part of the same process of growth, but at different speeds. 1 is the number of change through progressive, one-step-at-a-time action. 5 is also the number of change – the sudden and unexpected kind that occurs through seemingly random events. In this year’s convergence of time, it may be difficult to tell which is which.

We must learn as we go in the 5 energy, so that our mistakes become channels of self-education, not self-torture. We allow ourselves to be beaten up by guilt, the only objective of which is to punish. Guilt is not an emotion. Guilt is judgment we make against ourselves, often without realizing it, and which stops us from taking the most basic steps. We don’t need guilt to tell us what is right and wrong. We need loving intention in our hearts, and the desire to do the right thing no matter what the circumstances.

If your idea of freedom excludes caring about others, denied guilt is in play. Denied guilt says, “I don’t care about other people’s suffering,” but the love within really does care, and so love is denied, too. There is no freedom in pure selfishness.

5 is the number of FREEDOM – not freedoms. By pluralizing the word freedom, we diminish its meaning and dilute its effectiveness. And defining freedom for others is to deny freedom altogether. In 2012, it is not enough to simply talk about freedom. It is a year in which we must strive to be as free as possible no matter what our circumstances happen to be. We must encourage others to be free as well, even if their idea of freedom does not match our own. We must learn to live and let live.

As this 12-year journey out of denial continues, not only are we coming face to face with our own guilt, we are also gaining a deeper understanding of the healing power of forgiveness. Life is too short to bear grudges. That is what keeps us locked in the past.

Everyone is becoming more resourceful now, and there are likely to be some very convincing tactics used to sway people in one direction or another. Never forget that this failing system is engaged in a major war against each one of us – the war to capture our HEARTS and MINDS with misinformation and propaganda. What they did not bargain for or prepare for was the response of our emotions which represent TRUTH within.

We must be very aware of those who are so afraid of losing possession and position, so afraid of change, so afraid of the unknown, that they will go to the most extreme lengths to prevent this natural change from 1 to 2, from alpha to beta, from imbalance to equality, from war to peace. 5 is the number of the unforeseen, the unknown, and people are very afraid of that.

It took us 12 years into the new millennium to put 1 and 1 together and make 2, all the time wondering why the number 11 was so visible in our lives. It took us 12 years to connect the dots and accept that life as we knew it was over. Our task now is to create a new form of living based on what we have learned from previous experience which is supportive, not destructive.

The damage done to Mother Earth will be more apparent than ever this year because 5 is the number of the physical, and Mother Earth is the physical plane that sustains us. Mother Earth is feminine energy manifested, and she is in the process of healing from the unrelenting abuse she has taken in order to feed our addictions.

In traditional numerology, 5 warns against the over-use of alcohol, drugs and gambling but, over the course of time, we have developed many other addictions, technological ones especially, from which we need to detach ourselves if we are to be free. This includes TV, the Internet, phones and other devices which occupy our lives to an unnecessary degree and keep us tied to this collapsing system. Technology must have its place in the 2000s, but it must serve us, not own us.

The principle characteristics of 2 include the chemistry that occurs when ideas and ideals, cultures and beliefs, gifts and needs are combined. 2 is the number of cooperation, not competition. 2 brings us from pure selfishness to truly caring about others; from isolation to connection. From I AM to WE ARE. That is the only way for the fabric of humanity to pull itself together and heal.

2012 – PART TWO – (coming soon)

NUMEROLOGY YOU CAN FEEL! What happens in 2012 is likely to reveal the true reason you came into the world at this precise time in the human journey. Creative Numerology Year Books by Christine DeLorey were written specifically for these fast-changing (r)evolutionary times, and will bring clarity and insight to your life on a daily basis. Click here for more details.

By Fe Bongolan

On a recent visit to my friend and stylist, a Brazilian man I’ve known for years, he abruptly said to me, “You know, in Candomble (a Brazilian expression of the Yoruban religion), you are close to Oya, the goddess of wind, of change.”

Cancer. Painting by Carlos Cedillo.

From the many conversations we’ve had over the years, talk of the orisha – Yoruban deities – was never part of the dialogue, let alone open talk about one’s orisha affinity, particularly in a beauty salon. Up until that point, after years of speaking of everything else under the sun, I understand how it probably took years to get to this point. He was waiting to tell me, trying to gauge my credulity threshold as well as respect for Brazilian mythology and African religion. When he told me, the tender earnestness of his voice, the intent he placed on the words he imparted, felt like he was delivering a message long-held quiet until this moment. It was important that I knew this now.

It was not as if I didn’t know what he was talking about. I’ve met enough people in my life to understand the power and have respect for the following of the orisha. When he told me that it was Oya those words registered inside with the impact of a submarine’s depth change. They would lead me to a new journey – letting this information seep in slowly, testing as it starts to saturate – with me taking in its wake a long, hard look at my life.

For those unfamiliar with Oya’s place in the Yoruban orisha – worshipped in Africa and all the far-flung places of the African diaspora – Oya is a warrior goddess, the ultimate cool head in the height of an emergency, and a protector of women in trouble. She is the spirit of change on the scale of a massive hurricane, clearing away the debris and rubble, making room for the new. She is also a guardian of the cemetery, which brings to mind the image of the Death card in Tarot. It is said her ruling planet is Pluto, the planet of profound and compelling change. Her associated Catholic saint, Our Lady of La Candelaria, has a feast day of February 2nd. A day after my birthday.

Proximity of my solar return to Oya’s day was the least of our coincidental ties. As a kid whose father died early and unexpectedly, I was an unfinished spirit, jump-started by my dad’s death with the winds of deep change in full force and control early on. The day after my dad died, my mother was so distraught she couldn’t function. It was that day I pulled off the skin of my childhood. I began making decisions affecting my mother’s life and mine in the space of a few short weeks. Something had taken over me, a kind of calm that returns every time since, when in a crisis situation. Oya took my child’s skin, replacing it with hers. This was my initiation.

At 18, I left home, full of questions I could not yet verbalize, propelled forward onto life in a big, unfathomable world. I had no idea who I was, or what I was doing. Was this adulthood? If it was, was it always like being a leaf in the wind?

Despite my new-found ability to be cool under fire, I was scared most of the time, looking for the missing parent to fill a father wound that cratered my heart. I was needy, terribly insecure and desperate for the trappings that gave one the picture of credibility and stability in the world: a regular job, a steady man, a secure home – to replace the profound loss of one of the principal figures of my soul. When I grasped for these things they always slipped away. Despite my protests otherwise, Oya had other plans for me.

Oya’s skin was a resilient shield, keeping my spirit upright even when I would rather fall down and die. She led me from one teacher to the next. I built up my social skills, learning to be with people outside my comfort zone without fear. I was shamed into learning how to respect the cultures and traditions of others. I learned I had to cast away the anguished small-town girl I was, separating herself from other women like me: poor, confused, alone. I learned to embrace the woman I was becoming – a strong woman, mature and confident. A woman with a voice. I learned that I had to be in connection with others in the world. Not to shy away. Not to hold back. I learned that my life not only has a value, but a purpose, and that I must honor that purpose until it is my time to leave.

Oya shaped me. I found my niche as a theater artist working in the county jail with a world of women struggling and in pain and who needed help. It was there that I uncovered the parts of my underdeveloped soul. I became part of a clan of women who midwife other women’s voices so that all women living on the edge could be heard with compassion. Things started to fall into place, saturation point had been reached, and my Brazilian friend’s words were ringing true: I was close to Mama Oya, comfortable inside her skin, so much so that I didn’t know where she began and where I ended. I grew into the swerves and contours of Oya, the orisha whose skin I was wearing, old enough to realize now that I was walking her path on earth, the path of profound change – of myself and others. After all those years, I lost track that we had been together at all until that afternoon, waiting for my haircut, my friend timing his words for the right moment to detonate and have their deepest effect.

You might say that from 2012-2017 will be the years Oya will make her presence known, visiting us more than once. There will be debris flying, lives disrupted, unexpected catastrophes and major adjustments to be made. Yet, if you’re ready, something else will happen to you as well, because of her, because of the worlds she will dismantle and the ones you will create. Something will slip away: a floor, a foundation you once thought solid, a wall that no longer has studs to hold it up, a person who is no longer going to be there for you, a job that will get de-funded and another purpose coming into view. You will soon realize that even though you may miss these things, you will also no longer need them. You are becoming something else, something bigger, something more: Yourself. Fearless, free, and moving swiftly through the walls and passages of time. Just like the wind.

By Chris Countryman

I sat by the water. Although I wanted to get my camp set up before meeting with the others, this had to come first. I had come to Pennsylvania to participate in an emergency Walk about Water called by the Gaia Grrrls on August 6, in response to a pipeline drilling accident about 3 miles upstream from Salt Springs State Park.

Photo by Eric Francis.

I looked, I sat, and I listened. As I became aware of the nuances of the stream, I noticed the sound of the water as it passed over a cluster of rocks nearby. I observed that further up another arrangement of stones gave voice to the water in a different way. By listening carefully I could discern each separate song and also how lovely they sounded together. I absorbed the mystery and beauty of this as I gazed upstream at the many pools and rapids. It occurred to me that it is kind of like how people respond to the conditions of life: each speaking, believing and expressing the reality they experience in their own way. Then the message I was seeking from the water was very clear. We people may speak with many voices, but we are all the same stream.

I am recently given to carrying around jars of water. I have one that I call the Tears of Salt Spring. It comes from a natural salt spring which has been a precious resource for millennia. First Peoples would access it as part of their annual routines. It was made into a salt factory at one time, and park lovers have been in the habit of tasting water from the spring to marvel at the inland salt water for decades. Because of the pervasive toxicity of tiny amounts of endocrine disruptors, which may now be present due to drilling for natural gas in the vicinity, it is recommended that people do not sample the water anymore. I’m not declaring that the water has been made poisonous. You just don’t know if it’s safe, but fear is poison. Now there are tears outside the jar.

I am reminded of a boy, maybe 11 years old. We walked by his house in Hallstead, Pennsylvania. We were walking along a beautiful, very kid-friendly stream across the road from a modest neighborhood. The natural gas issue had been very divisive for communities in that part of PA and after explaining that his parents would never let him attend a water celebration, he threw himself full length onto the ground. It was the most eloquent expression of childhood despair. I had to wonder how that stream will look in a couple years, because once they get the gas pipelines built to Susquehanna, the drilling will start there in earnest.

Sadly, I no longer have to wonder what a stream looks like after the pipeline goes in. On August 1, 2011, beautiful Laurel Lake Creek suffered what pipeline drilling companies call an inadvertent return, which means thousands of gallons of their drilling mud migrated through a natural underground fissure and escaped into the environment — in this case up through the stream bed. This creek is a cold water fishery which empties into an exceptional value watershed, so they were being extra careful. The site of the accident is just upstream from Salt Springs State Park, which is a popular swimming spot. They did remediation to protect the cleanliness of the water, but ¼ mile of the stream now looks like a sewer project. It is hundreds of sandbags, straw bales and culvert pipe. The DEP has studied the accident, and claims no harm has been done. A YouTube playlist that documents the situation as it developed is here. Much is revealed in this series of raw video.

The next challenge to this beautiful natural area is the permit for an impoundment the gas company is seeking across the road from the park. That is what they call the giant-size open pits in which they store their millions of gallons of poisonous fracking fluids. Millions of gallons is not an exaggeration, and that water is drawn from local streams, lakes and aquifers before being mixed with thousands of gallons of toxic proprietary chemicals and forced underground. I know this sounds like a ridiculous claim, a terrible nightmare, and too much to deal with.

Who does beauty belong to? What is it worth? These are unspoken questions I see on faces all over Pennsylvania. One of the scary things about how the gas industry operates is that although each well and every mile of pipeline is an undertaking on a superhuman scale, nobody is apparently in charge. Separate tasks are subcontracted to companies who don’t know what the other contractors are doing. The one coordinating the contract work is not seemingly connected at all to the actual work, or is aware of its consequences to the drill site or its inhabitants. Nobody can be held responsible. That’s the way it is designed. Does anyone else become uneasy when an industry designed to avoid accountability is touted as an economic panacea?

How does fear impact public health? What is the outcome of widespread grieving for the loss of beautiful natural landscapes and eternal vistas? What does it cost in measurable health terms to accommodate the loss of quality of life, peace and quiet, clean air, potable water, access to the outdoors? In the meeting with UC Health Department, made possible by the June 20 Walk about Water in Kingston, NY, we learned that the health department is regulatory in nature. It doesn’t make the rules but works hard to enforce them for the public benefit. The people who populate those agencies speak their minds at risk of unemployment. However, shale gas mining remains a serious public health issue.

On Oct 6-7, 2011 an association of public health officials held their semi-annual Leadership Summit. This body is a policy incubator. We learned of this by perusing the NYSACHO website. We wanted to appeal to all the county public health executives at once and encourage them to speak up about the health risks associated with shale gas mining. I wrote a nice letter offering a short presentation and asked for an invitation. I also called and left a couple of pleasant messages, with no response. We determined to approach them anyway, and camped out on state land about 4 miles from the conference site. We were there before the opening to distribute some flyers. We were able to connect with a couple of attendees but when we asked the registrar for permission to display our banner they said no. We were permitted to place our flyers on the registration desk where attendees would see them and had a conversation with several people, many of whom thought we were there to protest fracking, since those who understand what it means almost always are against it.

The process of forcing the chemicals down the drill shaft is just one portion of the destructive activity associated with shale gas mining. We had planned to speak about the cumulative health effects of the entire industry. We would rather talk about the necessity of natural places and clean water, the moral basis of making quality of life for future generations a priority. Since the Rensselaerville Institute is a non-profit assisting people with water quality issues as part of their mission, we just had to be polite!

Many are up in arms about fracking. The State Assembly held a hearing Oct. 6 inviting public comment about it. Since we were banned from the NYSACHO conference site, we headed into town to observe the proceedings. The Hamilton Hearing Room in the Legislative building was not easy to find. The doors to the building say NO ENTRANCE and have no handles. We inquired of a passerby who directed us down the block and to the other side of the street, through unmarked doors to the security desk and metal detectors. We asked directions again and were sent “down the escalators and make a right, keep on going.” As we got deeper and deeper into the building, the ceilings got higher, the lighting was dim, there was nobody around, and no signs saying “public comment hearing this way.” I felt I was traversing a crypt on the way to see the Pharaoh. I felt the size of an ant, and my concerns insignificant. No wonder politicians in Albany get a big head. We finally found the hearing room, and there were many dear people, testifying to the assembly with facts and research references, passion and excellence one at a time, all day long. The quality and dedication of the people working on this issue from every angle is admirable.

When a fellow from Food and Water Watch suggested we go on a march about the capitol, I was enthusiastic, but surprised to learn we would stay inside the building. Off we went, yelling, “No fracking way!” along with the other thirty or so people. We marched up and down stairs, then over to the Assembly to hear some speeches and deliver a letter. There we learned of the nearly 300 health professionals who signed a letter to Governor Cuomo asking him to slow down and study public health effects before issuing permits for horizontal shale gas drilling and hydrofracking. From there it was up the gothic staircase to Governor Cuomo’s office where there was much loud chanting of “No fracking way.”

The energy of stuck opposition and no communication was so evident to me that I couldn’t carry on. I put my arms around the other women from Walk about Water and we began to chant along instead with, “Our Water! Our Air! Our Kids! Our Planet!” The leaders of our little march were astounded by our insurrection, but recovered quickly with, “Governor Cuomo! Protect our water! Ban fracking now.” We got right behind that. I was very grateful, I just couldn’t yell “no” anymore. Nor will I remain quiet.

The Governor sent out his emissary to receive the next letter, and then we chanted and marched on our way to the exit. Many people returned down the long jaunt to the hearing room, where the testimony was expected to continue into the night. But we had run out of time on the parking meters and wanted to get back to camp before dark.

On Friday, when the Public Health officials had concluded their conference, we were waiting for them with our banner and megaphone, right across the street from the exit. We received several friendly waves and a couple of thumbs up, and were “invisible” to only a couple. Don’t believe it when someone tells you there is nothing you can do.

When we were planning the first Walk about Water, our intention was to carry a symbolic amount of clean water from New York reservoirs to the people in Dimock, Pennsylvania, whose water has been contaminated by shale gas mining. We wanted to bring attention to the essential and unifying nature of water and to encourage people to think about, and get together around what they have in common. At that time the gas drilling issue was so divisive, and the community there so shattered, that it was decided that we would go instead to Salt Springs State Park, north of Montrose. There we successfully arrived after carrying our precious Amphora of water through April’s cold and rain over 90 miles on foot. The celebration was all we could have dreamed and the spirits of the land and the water and the fire in the hearts of the people was stirred.

How do I know? In late August, the people of Montrose called another Walk about Water. It had to be postponed due to floods and water walked the roads for days. In late September they gathered by the dozens to carry water on foot from Montrose to Dimock. I walked along with them. Most people driving by were supportive, even drill industry truckers were courteous of the pedestrians with bottles and signs and a giant rickshaw. We all relaxed afterward as welcome guests on the front lawn of the local church.

Recently Cabot Oil and Gas has decided to discontinue water deliveries to the people of Carter Road in Dimock because the regulations only cover methane levels, and because methane is common in local water supplies, the company now claims the water is acceptable for household use. They should be held accountable for poisoning people, but this story is far from over.

The people of Dimock are walking again, this time as an occupation of Zombies. I’m dying to see what they think of next. Walk about Water is plotting how to occupy Pharaoh’s Crypt in Albany for the winter, and to go visit the Department of Health every day. That way we can keep steady pressure on them and Governor Cuomo to remember their obligation to the public health and future generations. Got shoes?

www.walkaboutwater.blogspot.com
Find us on Facebook – search “Walk about Water”

1. We began as six women from NY and PA, grateful to live in a place of abundant clean water.
2. We represent mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters and granddaughters.
3. We are moved to action by the threat of contaminated water from the extraction of fossil fuels.
4. Our concern is for the waters of lakes and rivers, streams, aquifers and wells and over the harm that will come to our families and future generations should these bodies of water become contaminated. The urgency of these concerns prevents us from simply living our lives peacefully and gratefully.
5. We demand that public health and quality of life for future generations take priority in decisions that affect everyone. We insist upon a ban of any technology which is harmful to life and threatens the ability of future generations to inherit a healthy and wholesome environment in which to thrive.
6. When the intersections of politics, economics and science result in a situation that bears no resemblance to common sense, art is the only sane response.
7. To illustrate our concerns we carried the most precious substance on the planet – water – 90 miles on foot.
8. We did this to bring attention to how precious and vulnerable this essential resource truly is.
9. The need for clean water is something everyone has in common.
10. We seek to make this important point by visibly honoring what we love.
11. We bring good wishes to all water drinkers and bath takers.
12. Water is eternal. Gas is so temporary it is gone the instant it is useful.
13. We women refuse to sit quietly while clean water needed by everyone is foolishly squandered in the pursuit of temporary benefits for a few.
14. Water is life and like it or not, we are all wet together.