THE BADGER YEAR 9 VOLUME 1

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the new BADGER Volume, our new publishing time is connected to the solstices, the times when the wheel of seasons reaches its apex and continues its eternal cycle.

We have already published 8 years of celebrations of seasons and life!

When I first started this adventure, I had a vague notion of where I wanted us to go with it. The passing of time has shown me and all the partners, as well as the authors who are still with THE BADGER, that we are in a sacred wheel, where all the points of the compass are equally appreciated, studied and lived, so that they can bring their fruits in the lives both of the people directly connected to THE BADGER and the many readers around the world.

We started with our number 0 (November 2014), so full of technical mistakes and, at the same time, a door to the future. The first 4 years were devoted to a deep and meaningful dance of the East, the place of dawn, of enlightenment, of the high-flying hawk that can see everything at a glance, so that there will be a visionary seed to be planted in the ground of life. The first 4 years were experiments, taking new paths, exploring, opening the eyes of our inner mental awareness. With the intensity of the spring season, the new eyes searched everywhere for the truth. Life is an adventure.

Then we moved to the south of our wheel, the place where 1 becomes 2, where we are confronted with the emotions of our lives and the lives of those around us. Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed, and we may think that the once clear vision from springtime is lost in the intricate details of daily life.

Nevertheless, at this stage the seed of vision was firmly planted and lovingly cared for, so that it could grow and bear fruits, filled with the sun of ripening summer, so that we could be nourished by such hard work.

Now we face 4 years of a new dance, the dance of the West, the place of both action and reflection. That seed planted in spring, flowered bearing fruit in summer, now it is ready to feed us and when we eat the fruit of our labor we are forever transformed and ready for wise action, mediated by the depth of contemplation in the dark cavern of autumn. Now we can dream new projects and act on them, so that they will bear new fruits in the future.

This is a time to look after our Mother Earth, our Father Sky and all the beings, so that the future we entrust to our descendants is livable and in line with our ancestors’ dreams.

Eventually, in 2027, we will reach our last round of 4 years to celebrate the north, the place where that visionary spring seed has sprouted, taken roots, and grown in summer, it has given us nourishment in autumn, and now in the north we have a chance to distill the knowledge acquired into perennial wisdom. By honoring the place of our ancestors, we realign ourselves with our true mission on Earth and make peace with all aspects of our lives.

The North is also the place where the red road of incarnation starts, our ancestors lovingly placed us here to walk in awareness, and light up all aspects of our lives.

In my studies, long ago, but time does not really exist, so it is like yesterday, I learnt the Varnashrama Dharma, the traditional Indian division of casts and tasks, in that vision there were 4 stages: from the student and lover, whose task is to study life in all its aspect, to the paterfamilias, whose task was to look after the daily things of life and protect his family, to the dweller in the forests, who could still have some possessions with him, but had already started to dedicate his life to contemplation, eventually the hermit, who renounced all of social life concerns in order to retire into contemplation.

Like all great metaphors, I soon realized that none of these descriptions is only literal, although there are people living in this way, but – just like the metaphor of the medicine wheel- everything happens all at once.

We are forever having new ideas/visions, we are forever studying new aspects of life, as eternal students.

We are forever tending to our emotions and the daily chores of life, protecting those we love.

We are forever retiring somewhere quiet and dark inside us, in nature, whenever possible, in order to contemplate our next steps and move wisely.

We are forever in deep communion, or we can be if we so choose, with all that is around us, with the deep source of all of life and the long line of ancestors who paved the way for our path.

Thank you for following us so far, the next chapters are going to be different from the past and just as exciting.

Antonella Vicini

THE BADGER Director

Lay out Antonella

Vicini

Cover Photo Robert Doppler