The Ringing Cedars and Anastasia

Laura

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Anybody want to check this out?

_http://www.ringingcedars.com/
 
Hi, Laura:
The following is just a brief summary. If you have specific questions I will try to answer them.
I found the original references in NEXUS magazin.
The “Ringing Cedars” is a series of books written by Vladimir Megre, a Russian Trader who used to travel in Siberia.
The official website is at:
_http://www.ringingcedarsofrussia.org/Main/English/index.php
Briefly, it deals with his encountering a woman, Anastasia, who lives in the Siberian Tundra in a “natural” way and communicates with the animals who bring her food.
One of the main points is the description of a “kins domain” or “space of love”,
which is a one hectare piece of land that is a family domain and assures self-sufficiency.
These books were originally self-published but spread by word of mouth in Russia and became available in English in about 2005.
In the meantime, this has developed into a kind of “back to the land” movement that is also politically active in Russia to achieve legislation that would guarantee
each Russian citizen one hectare of land for his family and their descendants in perpetuity.
They are also selling cedar products.
Their Newsletter provides more info:
_http://www.ringingcedarsofrussia.org/theearth/kins-domain/against-world-crisis/2009-apr.html
What I found most interesting was a report about a school that was built by the children.
They are learning by their own choice and have finished the basic and highschool
program in just a few years. I need to find the name of the educator.
In summary it seems a good idea. Only people who are in control of their basic needs
can begin to explore themselves and their relationship with other people and nature and
the cosmos. Imo.
 
Had a look at the website, and it looks like a Harlequin novel for men: a young and beautiful woman (supposedly "discovered" by the author back in 1995), who lives naked in the Siberian wilderness with tamed bears and wolves, who has sex with the guy who wrote her book, and who gives him "incredible insights" on life, humans, spirituality, the Universe, etc., thanks to her fantastic psychic powers.
I went to check the book on Amazon and immediately went to the negative reviews, most of which denounce the misogynistic overtone of the book, along with its "perverse take on sexuality" (paraphrasing here).

Another reviewer (on Amazon uk) describes Anastasia's take on UFO's (emphasis mine):

"As just one example of some of the more laughable ideas in this book, Anastasia claims that UFOs are merely some type of fungus, and that the inhabitants are (of course) less intelligent than humans. This must be hilarious to anyone who has actually studied the subject."

and:

"After all the hype surrounding this book, I was really looking forward to reading it, as Russia and spiritual matters are particular interests of mine. It seemed like a perfect combination. However, Anastasia has succeeded in doing what I thought impossible - making most other New Age writings seem sensible and rational!
[…]
I also find her insistence that the human race ("Man") is the highest creation of the universe and that no more intelligent life exists elsewhere, debatable to say the least. If that's the case, God help the universe!"

Yeah right…

This blogger wrote two interesting (and very funny) reviews of the thing:
http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2007/03/babe-in-woods.html
http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2007/04/choose-your-imaginary-friends-wisely.html

If it looks like a scam, smells like a scam, …
 
My significant other got the first book a few years back and then read the others back to back.

She was so impressed that she was going on and on about it.

She then went for the entire merchandise number, first buying tons of the cedar oil (which is of course expensive), then those necklaces that have a little round piece of cedar as a pendulum. She had all of us (herself, me and the kids) wear them. Then cedar spoons and so forth. Firsts she explained how there had to be a certain ritual in nature performed that would charge the cedar pendulum with the healing power and how important that ritual was. We never did it. Anyway that sounded like total new age BS to me. I went along for a few days as the kids liked all that hokuspokus. :rolleyes:

There seemed to be some good ideas in the books somewhere, which touch on some homeopathic concepts, like how everybody should be growing their own food. There is the concept that if you plant seeds for your own food you have to put your own saliva on the seed. That way the plant will automatically develop its properties more beneficial for you in specific. I guess you blend your own DNA in it.

Then again all new age cointelpro will have something interesting and/or true to sucker you in and then brings along all the other nonsense.

From that website:
"When you read Anastasia—you can feel this energy "opening your heart" and "rearranging your brain cells", and the result for thousands of readers has been a desire to start rearranging their entire lives—and all their priorities!"

Right. All you have to do is read the book and miraculously you are saved. No learning required.

Then there are all these "feel good" quotes from readers. Every single one is a red flag.

I cannot confirm that I witnessed any change that would indicate that the Miss's brain cells have been rearranged in any beneficial manner. Nor could I detect in in her a desire to start rearranging her entire live and all her priorities in a way that improved her or anybody's life. :(

Actually from this one-reader sample I can only report that the books may have deepened her sleep. :zzz:
 
Thanks Carcosa. And I just want to add here that it seems "The Ringing Cedars Series" has websites in UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and many other websites all promoting how these series of books will change you forever!!

By the way, over here in New Zealand, it will set you back about US$150 to get all 9 copies of the 2nd edition. :cool2:

Added later: Apologies Fifth Way, didn't see your entry when I posted mine. Thanks.
 
[quote author=Carcosa]
This blogger wrote two interesting (and very funny) reviews of the thing:
http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2007/03/babe-in-woods.html
[/quote]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

This was hilarious! I needed that!
 
When I first saw all the plants displayed on the Ringing Cedars website the first thing that I thought of was hallucinogenic mushrooms and "spirituality.”

Then I noticed (from wiki) that the : “Cedar (Cedrus) is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae”

And further from wiki:

“The family Pinaceae (pine family), is in the order Pinales and includes many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces”.

Then there is this,from:
_http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Amanita_muscaria.html

about the Amanita muscaria mushroom which is an hallucinogenic and can be found under pines.

“In the Bay Area, Amanita muscaria occurs under pines, especially Monterey and Bishop pine. Fruitings occur in early winter, and can be spectacular, with large groups or rings brightening the woods. The Fly Agaric shares the pine habitat with the much sought after King Bolete, Boletus edulis. Some mushroom hunters thus use Amanita muscaria as an indicator species.”

Just kinda wondering if all this a veiled attempt to sell 'chemical spirituality,' sorta like David Hudson's 'white powder' which is the very inversion of real spirituality based on Gurdjieff's conscious labors and intentional sufferings (transmutation and transformation of the emotions) which is the basis of the birth process of the soul.
 
OMG!!! It's the Anastasia stuff in English!

This is a hugely popular Russian New Age-type series. I have read two or three of the first books soon after it came out, in Russian. It's all completely fictional. It reads like a bad romance novel. I mean, a REALLY BAD ONE. It totally stupefies me that people seriously believe this stuff.

A lot of things like this came out in the 90-s. After Soviet Union had collapsed, people found themselves in an ideological vacuum, combined with dire economic situation and social unrest. In this environment, the most primitive religious, pseudo-esoteric and New-Age movements took over. Missionaries of all kinds descended from abroad, homemade cults sprang up too. Folk pagan rituals, magic, eastern religions, -- all claimed their followers, and the official Russian Orthodox Christianity had a revival as well.

Looking back, it seemed that people were pretty much ready to believe everything and anything, the more absurd the better. There were mass healings broadcasted in prime time, one guy making passes with his hands, another "charging" water to be used against any sickness -- just put a water jug nest to your screen and you will have an ample supply of cure-all. You can't make this stuff up.

"Anastasia" ended up being the more enduring franchise of that time period. It offered the idea of going back to nature and setting up sustainable communal living, based on organic farming and thoughtful relationship with your environment. This grassroots movement is very active even among people who don't buy into the rest of the story. Russian country-side is
in a very bad shape. This movement is helping to revitilize it, which would be very good.

Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing to these books, they are a waste of time and money.

I feel bad for all those people who read this and assume it to be representative of some profound "Russian spirituality". It's akin to considering Danielle Steel to be the essential English Language\Western literature. BTW, Daniele Steel also was hugely popular during this time, it was the first paperback franchise to be translated and mass-distributed in the 90-s. Anastasia and DS books would be sold together on the same street book stands. Same kind of cheap fiction.
 
It seems that it is very "return to nature" oriented, a return to a simpler
lifestyle (for us common folks of course.), it is also very communities
oriented.

There are references to the dark ones (them again !!/no explanations) but it
really reads like a story for pre-teens, "Twilight" is probably more
entertaining than this.

The eight book also describes this :

"The book also paints a vivid image of America's radiant future, in which the
conflict between the powerful and the helpless, the rich and the poor, the city
and the country, is transcended, leading to significant transformations in both
the individual and society.".

It seems totally remote from reality as it is.

Ana-sthesia for everybody !!
 
PepperFritz said:
Sounds like it is the Russian equivalent of The Celestine Prophecy....

It's funny that you should say that, Pepperfritz, because that is exactly how I'd have described it!! :lol: I bought the first book a couple of years ago to see what all the hype was about and I couldn't make it past the first few chapters. I found the style of writing unbelievably bad, it just seemed incredible to me that anyone could actually read much more of it. Like the Celestine Prophecy, there are a few interesting ideas, but the style of writing and the tone of the author just make for a nauseous read.

Hildegarda said:
It reads like a bad romance novel. I mean, a REALLY BAD ONE. It totally stupefies me that people seriously believe this stuff.
I agree, it comes across as Megre's wet dream. I hadn't read anything this bad in years.
 
It is most interesting that so far nobody bothered to explore the positive results that this movement may produce.
Just imagine if a large number of people moves back to the land, takes care of themselves and ignores politics and government.
Also the economic consequences are astounding. Large international corporations will have no customers.
Forget the spiritual mambo jumbo and concentrate on the sociological consequences.
Is it not the goal of your efforts to produce sovereign individuals who can think for themselves and can manage their lives without
manipulation and the artificial dependence on jobs?
To build a house you start with the foundation. Once the material needs are taken care of you are truly free to explore the inner world.
 
I thought of it as Russian new age COINTELPRO, allowed to promulgate to leave a bad taste on anything Russian.

Daniel Andreev's "Rose of the World" is much better.
 
Leo40 said:
It is most interesting that so far nobody bothered to explore the positive results that this movement may produce.
Just imagine if a large number of people moves back to the land, takes care of themselves and ignores politics and government.
Also the economic consequences are astounding. Large international corporations will have no customers.
Forget the spiritual mambo jumbo and concentrate on the sociological consequences.
Is it not the goal of your efforts to produce sovereign individuals who can think for themselves and can manage their lives without
manipulation and the artificial dependence on jobs?
To build a house you start with the foundation. Once the material needs are taken care of you are truly free to explore the inner world.

Leo, I wish it were that simple.
 
Leo40 said:
It is most interesting that so far nobody bothered to explore the positive results that this movement may produce.
Just imagine if a large number of people moves back to the land, takes care of themselves and ignores politics and government.
Also the economic consequences are astounding. Large international corporations will have no customers..

And that is probably why land is SO controlled!

Just because noone has gone into detail here about the positive things that could result from a back to the land approach does not mean that noone has explored that. Are you aware of the barriers to living this way? The vast majority of land is "owned" by a very small number of powerful people who have a keen interest in keeping things that way. In the UK living on the land freer from the system is almost impossible unless you are rich. Land is heavily controlled. I know many people who have been fighting the system to live this way for decades and are still not permitted to do so. It is not easy to constantly have to move on, live in hiding or constantly be under the threat of having to uproot and go. In other places, guns and money get the upper hand with regards to land. Perhaps in some places it is possible to live like this, but wherever I have been I have seen the opposite trend - people being forced OFF the land. I'm not sure whether Ringing Cedars goes into details about any of these issues, but to ignore the battles for land and the violence that often accompanies it is to not see the whole picture.

Leo said:
Forget the spiritual mambo jumbo and concentrate on the sociological consequences.
Is this wishful thinking? (I'm not being sarcastic, this is a genuine question to anyone reading this). I say this because, as far as I can see, life for most humans on earth has been a story of increasing control and degradation of the natural world, a move from hunter-gatherer societies to settlement and control of nature by man in the form of agriculture to industrialisation, GM, etc. To free ourselves of this seems to me, extremely difficult. It is not just the political controls in place externally but also those internally. It also seems to me, that whilst humans may have learnt many things, there has also been an enormous loss of knowledge with regards to nature and natural processes.
 
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