Honoring the Monarch Bear, film series prospectus:

This is the introductory Monarch Bear film The various strands (themes) will be introduced in the film and then developed in independent subsequent films.

1.)                Interviews and performance by important Celtic/Druid teachers.

a.       R.J. Stewart

b.      Mara Freeman

c.       Rodney G. Karr. PhD.

d.      Phillip Carr-Gomm

e.       Caitlin Mathews

f.        John Matthews

g.       Others as filmed

 

2.)                Interrelated Themes

a.       The Monarch Bear (The totem animal of California appearing on the State flag)

b.      The extinct California Grizzly, official animal of the State of California

c.       William Randolph Hearst who sponsored the capture of the Monarch Bear, the last California Grizzly Bear

d.      The Gold Rush and the “forty-niners” that resulted in the massive genocide of Nature, Creatures and Native Americans (including the extinction of the California Grizzly Bear).

3.)                The Monarch Bear Hill

a.       The location in Golden Gate Park where the Monarch Bear, who was captured in 1889, resided between 1895 and 1911 when he died

b.      The sacred stones of the Chapter House of the Abbey of Santa Maria de Ovila

c.       Ancient Oak and Bay Groves.

d.      Monarch Bear hill is most sacred, given that it is the site of one of the five remaining oak groves in San Francisco which predate the City and the Park. This makes it particularly sacred for us as Druids.

e.       Native American Sacred sites. The Oak groves were sacred to the native San Francisco bay ancient peoples, the Miwok and the Olone. It is therefore likely that Monarch Bear hill and its oak groves were sites of worship of the ancient peoples who have inhabited this land for 5,000 years. It is likely the oak and bay tree groves are thousands of years old.

f.        The Druid History of Monarch Bear Grove. How Rodney Karr, Chief Druid of Manannan Mac Lir Grove of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids has developed Monarch Bear Hill as a sacred Druid Grove, beginning in 1992 until the present. Discussion of the celebration of the eight seasonal festivals of the Celtic wheel of the year. A discussion of how the sacred stones which remain have been arranged in seven sacred altars and circles, which are dedicated to each of the seven sacred directions and elements.

g.       Focus upon the various interesting characters, human and otherwise, who inhabit and pass through the grove on a regular basis. These include:

a.       The Monarch Raven of the grove and his clan to the spirit of the Monarch Bear, which appears in the grove.

b.      Maria Eintz, a storyteller, who visits regularly.

c.       Jesse, a Native American, homeless Vietnam veteran, artist and sculptor who frequents the grove.

d.      Matthew, an ex-convict who helps care take the grove.

e.       Many other creatures, spirits and humans.

h.       Rodney’s own personal journey discovering the Grove and care taking it for the last 12 years.

4.)                The National AIDS memorial Grove.

a.       History of the development and manifestation of the National AIDS Memorial Grove.

b.      History of the interrelationship and connection of the National AIDS Memorial Grove with the Druid Monarch Bear Grove.

                                                                           i.      Human and Organizational History, which will include how the National AIDS Memorial Grove and gardeners from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park have supported and allowed the development of Monarch Bear Grove as a druid grove.

                                                                         ii.      Spiritual History. How the National Aids memorial grove, representing the feminine polarity of the valley, connects with and balances with Monarch Bear Grove/Hill which represents and manifests the male polarity and principle The two groves, being adjacent to each other, comprise a valley leading to a hill with an east-west alignment. This configuration manifests the classical European pattern of a sacred site, especially when combined with the sacred stones, the oak & bay groves and the primordial presence of a seasonal lake in the National AIDS Memorial Grove.

                                                                        iii.      Traditionally Celtic sacred sites as well as those of other cultures include the presence of the ancestors in the form of the ashes and bones of the ancestral dead. They are present in all of the ancient sites of Europe including Stonehenge and are very essential to a sacred site. An important aspect of the National AIDS Memorial Grove and Monarch Bear Grove, being sacred sites, is that the bones and ashes of thousands of people who have died from aids have been spread at both sites. The presence of the ancestral spirits mediates a good deal of the underworld-druid work that the Grove of Manannan Mac Lir does at both sites.

5.)                The sacred stones of the Chapter House of the Abbey of Santa Maria de Ovila.

a.       It is the place where the sacred stones were dumped and stored by the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. The sacred stones had been brought by William Randolph Hearst from Spain to America in 13 ships in 1931. He planned to build them into one of his great mansion estates. But, due to the Great Depression he did not have the funds to do so. He therefore gave the stones to the City of San Francisco and the De Young Museum with the intention that the DeYoung Museum would use them to construct a building to house their ancient art collection within Golden Gate Park. Over the years the De Young Museum has never been able to provide the funds to build this museum. Around 1992, Abbot Thomas of the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vining California succeeded in negotiating with the City of SF and the Museum for the right to receive and remove the stones from Golden Gate Park and take them to Vining CA where his Cistercian Order agreed to rebuild the original Chapter House. The foundation for the Chapter House was laid in 2003 and building is proceeding.

b.      By agreement, sufficient stones were left by the Monks at Monarch Bear Grove for Druid use.

6.)                Sacred Groves/Sacred Places and the Tradition of Grove Stewardship

a.       The Thousand Groves Project of OBOD

b.      American Groves and their Stewards

                                                                           i.      Bob Conrad, (steward) and twin springs Grove in Mendocino County, California

                                                                         ii.      Barbara and Jim Thomas (stewards) and Amity Cottage Grove in Ben Lomand, California

                                                                        iii.      Rodney Karr, (Steward) and Manannan Mac Lir Grove in Walnut Creek, California

                                                                       iv.      Other Groves and Stewards to be identified.

c.       Sacred Druid Sites in Britain and Europe

                                                                           i.      Stonehenge

                                                                         ii.      Avenbury

                                                                        iii.      Glastonbury Tor

                                                                       iv.      New Grange

                                                                         v.      Carnac

                                                                       vi.      And others (as you suggest)

7.)                Druid/Pagan revival

a.       Druid

                                                                           i.      History of Druidry

                                                                         ii.      The Druid revival movement of the 18th Century

1.      OBOD

2.      Other Druid Orders

                                                                        iii.      Druids relationship with Christianity including the Celtic Druid Church (The Church of the Culdees)

b.      Wiccan and other crafts

c.       Western Mysteries and Underworld Traditions

d.      Fairy Traditions

8.)                Native Earth-Based Traditions

a.       Native North American Traditions

b.      Hawaiian and South Pacific Traditions

c.       South and Central American Traditions

d.      Aboriginal Australian Traditions

9.)                Trans-personal (spiritual-psychological) approach to Earth-Based Traditions

a.       Carl Jung

b.      Others

10.)            Ritual and Magic and their continuing place in modern life

a.       Communal Ritual celebration of the eight festivals of the Celtic wheel of the year

b.      High Magic - Ritual aimed at connecting to and helping to heal our mother, the Earth, and her dominion

c.       Personal Magic and Ritual

11.)            Spiritual Ecology – Environmental Crisis. We are in the middle of a major ecological crisis in the world which threatens life as we know it The Polar Ice Caps are melting. The Oceans are rising.

a.       The temperatures are rising

b.      Many species of animals and plants are becoming extinct

c.       Humanity is in a state of confusion and denial as to when the collapse will fall upon us as well

d.      It is the purpose of Druidry as well as all other Earth-Based traditions to do whatever we can politically, personally and spiritually to facilitate life and healing in the midst in the upcoming collapse. It is our purpose on a higher level to reestablish the alliances between human, creature, and Faerie realms in order to help save as many forms of life as possible. We hope that this film will in some way help bring more consciousness to humanity

12.)            Worldwide Materialism: Humanity’s current disconnections from self, community, culture, nature, and the divine have resulted in the mechanical and objectifying materialistic view of everyone and everything.

a.       The major religions, i.e. of the west Christianity, Islam and Judaism with their monotheistic viewpoint have, over time, eroded the earth-based, traditional, animistic view that everything is divine, In the erosion of the view that everything is divine, human beings have become more and more human-centric. Other life forms have been denied their souls and the rivers, mountains and forests have been denied their divinity. This has thereby and allowed the massive destruction of all of these by humans. This needs to be looked at.

b.      Christianity in its first fourteen hundred years included a deep mystic, animistic, and earth-based approach to the earth has over the last four hundred years, following the Reformation and the black death rejected it’s mystic and earth-based connection and has become materialistic in it’s relationship with all of nature. Christianity is currently experiencing a major collapse and disillusionment because it is no longer serving spirit and it’s people. The rise of the ancient traditions of Witchcraft, Shamanism, Druidry, etc. is occurring to fill this spiritual void.

c.       The Earth-based traditions need to bridge, communicate, educate and transform the religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, re-awakening them to the old wisdom of the earth before we are all dead.

13.)            The re-emergence of the old archetypes and cultures of the Goddess Traditions.

a.       The re-emergence of the recognition of the divine feminine in her three forms of mother, maiden and crone.

b.      The re-emergence of the Earth God in his two primary forms, the Green Man (light form) the vegetative principle; and the Deer horned God (dark form) in his animal form as protector and king of the animals, trees and others.

c.       The Goddess has been returning to Western consciousness since at least the beginning of the 18th Century. She has opened the doorways for her consort, her sons and her lovers who since the nineteen fifties have begun to return through her gateway into consciousness. The environmental movement is a manifestation of a reconnection of mankind to our primary purpose and reason for being placed upon our mother Earth. This purpose is to be the protectors and stewards of our mother Earth and everything upon it and within it.