CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF LOU DESABLA

Tributes from long-time colleagues and friends honoring the passing of the Pathways founder and publisher.

Community Forklift: A Vital Resource for the Home and Community

By Heather Bien

For nearly twenty years, Community Forklift has been a pillar of the DC community. A spot where those across the broader metro area plan any afternoon pilgrimage, hoping to source salvaged materials and secondhand furniture. And, while that’s the reuse warehouse’s most visible mission for home enthusiasts, the organization’s impact reaches far beyond gorgeous old mantels and retro light fixtures….

The Dao of Nature: Daoist Principles for a Sustainable Future

By Gregory Ripley

Daoism is an ancient philosophical and religious tradition that developed in China over 2000 years ago. While mainly known in the West through its most foundational text, the Daode Jing, Daoism is a living tradition that has always valued a harmonious relationship with the natural world. The core of its teachings has remained constant through its many historical developments, and Daoists have always sought to maintain this relationship. This continues into the present day.….

Seed Libraries and the Importance of Seed Sovereignty 

By Ciara O’Brien

In the face of today’s agricultural challenges, the concept of seed libraries has emerged as a solution for preserving biodiversity and fostering climate resilience. A seed library is a place where local community members can get diverse plant seeds for free, and they are run for the public benefit. They allow individuals to access, borrow, and contribute to the preservation of heirloom and rare seed varieties. With the growing realization that seed preservation is vital to maintaining ecological balance, food security, and cultural identity, seed libraries are popping up all over the country and world….

Are Fish Farms Really That Bad? Five Ways Fish Farms Are Like Factory Farms

By Farm Sanctuary

Some of the most commonly farmed species around the world are salmon, shrimp, catfish, and trout. Like the farming of animals on land, this booming industry has become heavily industrialized, with farms on land and at sea raising and killing fish on a massive scale to the detriment of animal welfare, workers, and the environment. It is an industry that sees fish as products, not living beings….

A Deeper Understanding of Sustainability

By Judith Polich

I think we all know the word sustainability is overused and means different things to different people. Generally speaking, we like to believe it’s possible to use less resources than those that can be naturally replenished. That is one way people think of sustainability. However, sustainability means far more than that….

When East Meets West: Reiki Energy Healing Methods Evolve and Flourish

By Annie Larson

To understand the gentle healing energy of Reiki as both a complementary & alternative medicine and a spiritual practice, it’s helpful to explore eastern traditions and western changes to Reiki lineages. There is a rich, largely oral history that has made its way from East to West, passed down from teacher to teacher. Between Mikao Usui’s discovery of Reiki over 100 years ago to the latest offering of Holy Fire® Reiki by William Lee Rand, a modern authority and prominent teacher of the Reiki System of Healing, the practice has grown and transformed.

Men and Relationships

By Barry & Joyce Vissell 

Over the years of working with men and their relationships, not to mention my own 59-year relationship with Joyce, I have seen some central issues emerge. The last thing I want to do is generalize, saying that all men do this or feel that. However, I have seen certain tendencies which apply to many men. If any of the following applies to you, take it to heart. If not, let it pass, but be sure you are not in denial. And women, please read the following. It may apply just as much to you….

A Wild Hope: Imagination as Liberation and Healing

By Carol Burbank

Lately I’ve been exploring the connections between creativity and ecology, from writing to reimagining my own relationship with the land, its history, and its future. Our planet and all the species on it are in an evolving crisis, instigated and maintained mostly by human interference. It’s hard to know what to do, what is enough to do. Often, even when the path is clear, it’s not clear how to take the first step….

Nurturing Self-Esteem

By Patricia Spranger, LCSW

Self-esteem is believing in one’s intrinsic worth as a human being. It is the assumption we each have unique qualities to contribute in life. How we live our lives affects how we feel about ourselves. Self-esteem is not something that just develops by itself, nor is it something that is reliably stable over time. It is a state of being about the Self that is usually in flux, from childhood on, changing and adapting as life circumstances unfold. Of course, it helps to have had a supportive environment growing up, one in which we heard good things about ourselves….

Rewild Your Inner Child: How Connecting with Earth Can Balance Our Mind, Body, and Spirit 

By Lindsey Van Wagner

Physical fitness, mental health, and spiritual wellness have become a priority in our modern world. We want to get better, feel better, be better. Sometimes we seek transformative elements we hope will change us into a new person altogether, because our culture has convinced us we are flawed and need something to fix ourselves. We are subjected to a never-ending barrage of offerings that make us feel we are physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually incomplete on our own….

Sustainability? Don’t Sustain What We Do to Animals — End It 

By Jeremy Loeb; edited by Cam MacQueen

For the better part of ten years I called myself an “environmentalist”. I obsessed over things like getting low-energy LED light bulbs, recycling, and biking to lower my carbon footprint. As a reporter and host at four different NPR-affiliate radio stations across the southeast, I worked to elevate stories about the climate and other progressive causes; but I felt a deep sense of powerlessness. That all changed overnight….

Spring 2024: Navigating This World to Discover the Real You

By Misty Kuceris

Brace yourself as Spring 2024 appears over the horizon and moves into your life. The next few months are one of the most intense time periods both astronomically and astrologically. Two eclipses emphasizing the sign of Aries form the foundation for the energies you’ll experience this Spring quarter: the penumbral lunar eclipse that occurs on March 25, and a total solar eclipse that occurs on April 8. Meanwhile, other important energies are also occurring: the Spring Equinox with Sun in Aries on March 19; the change of direction with Mercury in Aries as it goes retrograde from April 1 until April 25; and Jupiter changing signs by moving from Taurus into Gemini….

Treating Seasonal Allergies with Functional Medicine

By Helena Amos, M.AC. L.AC., Euro. Physician

Spring officially kicks off with the vernal equinox, taking place this year on March 19. For most people, this is a welcome change after a long, dark and cold winter. But for allergy sufferers, this also means the beginning of drippy noses, sneezing fits, sinus headaches, and other itchy miseries…. It’s important to understand why spring allergies happen in order to treat them effectively….

Use of Complementary Health Practices for Pain Management, Heart Health on the Rise 

By Michelle Alonso

The world of complementary and alternative medicine received a major boost with recent news coming out of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). An analysis conducted by NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) reveals the overall use of complementary health approaches by American adults increased substantially from 2002 to 2022. The study, published in the January 2024 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), particularly highlights a surge in the adoption of complementary health approaches for pain management….

Spirit, Plants, Animals and the Amazing World of the Patuxent River 

By Grandmother Rabiah Nur

“Wait until you see this place,” my friend Caryl Henry-Alexander said to me. “You are going to love it. I want to introduce you to Fred Tutman. You are really going to like him; you have a lot in common. Fred is the Patuxent Riverkeeper.” As she drove us to the place where my life would change, I was soaking in the beauty of the countryside, listening, feeling, and seeing the bountiful gifts of nature. As a medicine woman of mixed Indigenous roots (no tribal affiliations), I have used my gifts for over 50 years to connect people with the Earth as the sentient being She is, and with the bounty of other beings who grow from Her being. We were going to be part of a ceremony I was asked to lead at the river. I never imagined this river and its Spirit would have such a profound effect on me, which has bonded us deeply and in ways I can only touch on. Patuxent….

Embracing the Cool Kapha Season 

By Anjali Sunita

Freezing and sluggish winter shifts to cool and damp spring. We emerge from the warm soft blankets with enthusiasm for the sun on our skin. Melted ice reveals a wet, more fertile soil of promise. Winter hibernation season is over, but the air and earth are still cool. Mucus has built for months in our bodies; and many people begin to ooze with spring colds and allergies. Ayurveda described six seasons in the classical texts. The gunas, or qualities of late winter through spring belong to Kapha Dosha, namely: heavy, dull, slow, smooth, dense, soft, sticky, and stable….

How To Be A GREEN Gardener

By Kathy Jentz

What is a “green gardener”? According to author Richard Lay, “being green” means learning how to live on Earth without hurting it. Extending that principle into the garden only makes sense. Here are several ways you can green up your gardening practices….

BOOK REVIEWS

By Alyce Ortuzar

• Natural Healing, Mother Earth News Special Edition
• My Zero Waste Kitchen: Easy Ways to Eat Waste-Free, by Kate Turner

POWER OF POETRY

Reclamation, and your role in the blooming, a poem by Emily Vierthaler

*Illustration by Nova Lore

ON THE COVER

OUR WORLD IS A TREE’S DREAM, by Neha Misra