by Rev. Cathryn Platine
America’s apparent descent into a fascist state means a re-evaluation of our work at the Maetreum. Although our resources have suffered from the pandemic followed by the betrayal of one of our priestess, we are still here and functioning. As in our beginnings, we are a sanctuary for all women and transpeople. Now, more than ever, this is a mission we must undertake as a Mother Goddess religious organization. As I write this I fear the realities of our collective future are not understood by those who will suffer most under it. History shows this is normal as shock has crippled all but the most aware who see things as “better the devil I know” rather than time to flee.
Many people think of “prepping” as amassing dried food, MREs and weapons in some sort of bunker and in the short run that will work for individuals in emergency situations but not for long term survival and even thriving in a totally changed reality. It is my belief that the coming administration will screw the pooch to the point that the world, as we have known it, will be a thing of the past. Already during the course of my lifetime I have witnessed a redistribution of wealth and resources that staggers the mind when you step back and look at it as a whole. Effective “prepping” is gathering resources and people together in groups that compliment each others abilities. It means a return to the world similar to the one our grandparents and great grandparents knew following the last major redistribution of wealth accompanied by a pandemic and the crash that followed, the Great Depression of the thirties.
Although, like myself, the Maetreum buildings are old, due to visions I was given when I moved here, we have amassed resources that will be needed in a SHTF world. We have some solar and wind generation equipment, a greenhouse, gardening tools both powered and hand powered, kerosene lamps, a couple of generators, heirloom seeds and some long term foodstuffs. We have a hand-powered grain grinder. Our hot water does not require electric, our well can be run from an inverter for short times. What we lack is younger, able bodied women to utilize these things. Although we had to give up our chickens when I had to undergo heart surgery, the needed equipment is mostly here.
For about two decades now, the world of our future was one I called “techno-Amish” were groups lived together growing their own food and using renewable energy and the older ways of living that worked for thousands of years while holding on to technology that is non-destructive such as the internet and communications networks. The Maetreum has been set up already to foster this reality. We even have a FCC licensed low-power FM community radio station.
I know that blogs such as this no longer get the exposure they once did in the post pod-cast world but those who still read things rather than having it spoonfed into your head with gee-whiz videos are exactly the kind of people we need to rebuild in a world gone mad. Come and visit. Contact me about living here.
