A Cree Indian prophecy states that when the Earth has been ravaged and the animals are dying a tribe of people from all races, creeds and colours will put their faith in deeds not words, to make the land green again. They will be called Warriors of the Rainbow, Protectors of the Environment. We are living in a time that has been prophesied by ancient cultures all over the world. According to the Mayan and Hindu calendars we are at the closing of a 5000 year astrological cycle and shifting into a transitional phase of recognition and transformation. The Incan Eagle/Condor prophecy says that we have entered a time when the Eagle people (masculine energy, science, mind) could unite with the Condor people (feminine energy, spirituality, heart) to find balance. The Anishinaabe prophecy tells us we are in the Seventh Fire, which is a time of great danger and great potential - a choice between two paths.

Whether you subscribe to this kind of world-view or not, there is no question that we live in a time of rapid change and great uncertainty about the near future. The prophecies speak of the potential for us to enter a new era of human consciousness, based on care and cooperation. But they only speak of a potential, not a certainty. Perhaps this is necessary in order for us to choose the right path. We have becomes so muted by a hierarchical structure that celebrates success, while perpetuating disempowerment, that it is easy to feel insignificant. There is a tendency to think that it is not our place, not our responsibility, not even in our power to make a change.

But there are those who say change is in our power, and they are speaking up now. The motto of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) movement is “we are all crew”. They say don't wait to be told what to do, but the guiding principle of this movement is that any action must be non-violent and part of a regenerative culture. It is beautiful to see positive action, borne out of deep despair, which realises a new positive culture in the midst of a broken one. Similarly, Clare Dubois, founder of Treesisters is aware that regenerative culture starts now, before we have “fixed” the problems we face. The Treesisters movement is about giving back more than is taken. Those who donate monthly to this global tree planting project receive a wealth of spiritual and emotional support for their personal journey of empowerment. Clare talks a lot about alchemy – the transformation of base elements to a higher material and this is the essential message in times of despair.

The environmental lawyer Polly Higgins also realised that a groundswell of change, coming from ordinary people could create the cultural climate needed to instate an international law of Ecocide. This law will hold individuals to account for environmental and cultural atrocities and act as a preventive measure once in place. In the months before she left the Earth, Polly initiated the Earth Protectors movement. A way for ordinary people to become conscientious protectors for our planet and to state their intent to put Ecocide into law. The logo of this movement is that of tree, human and Earth combined. It says we are all one.

Like the CND logo that captured the imagination of the previous generation of peace activists, these symbols go beyond language. The extinction symbol has been a powerful tool for this international uprising. It looks like a sand timer – a reminder of how little time is left, as the sixth mass extinction unfolds. But the symbol itself has other layers of meaning. Like opposing forces, yin and yang, it calls to mind the idea of balance. In fact, there has been talk of the symbol being shifted onto it's side at which point it becomes the rune Dagaz: which represents transformation, clarity, breakthrough and awakening. This rune has been used to describe the balance between light and dark, as night gives way to dawn.

It is often said that the darkest hour is before the dawn. I’ve always wondered about that. How do you even define the dawn? The first, dim smudge of light that nudges the black when it’s still cold, quiet and still? Is it the creeping pinks, blues and violets that seem to be there one minute and gone the next? Or is dawn the moment when the Sun finally emerges - blazing and glorious - an unquestionable absolute? Dawning is change in motion: a continually shifting palette that tells us things are different, but indivisible from what went before. The change is imperceptible, but captivating. It's a time of possibilities.

We have been in the dark for a long time now, sleep-walking into great danger. It may be that we have slept too heavily and too long. But I feel a sense of dawning. There is a waking up beginning and the early risers are getting ready for the new day. Many of us are still in the depths of our comfortable slumber. Others feel rudely awoken and are furiously pulling the covers over our heads. But there is no use trying to deny it. Bleary and confused we may be, unprepared and hesitant no doubt. But the dawn chorus is getting louder. It is time to wake up.

In December 2018 I found myself plunged into a state of profound grief, following the IPCC report findings and the Extinction Rebellion's Declaration. At some point around this time I stumbled across a poem by Uther Miraiam called Apogee and I so needed to hear his words. He described how things have to reach their most extreme extent before the balance is tipped and things start to swing back the other way again. It felt true and terrifying and comforting all at once. Yes, we see all around us the monstrous culmination of the age of “masculine” power. But this is not a time to deride the male in favour of the female. We humans hold the qualities of both within us and all the negative and positive potential that comes with each. What we are coming to realise is simply that it is time to redress the full-throttle masculine paramountsy that has run amok. The 5000 year cycle has ended and the next phase is coming.

It has been called The Great Turning.

As medicine woman, Eva Cecilia Solis explains, 'It’s time for horizontal power to be built again and as women, we are the ones that know how to do that. The other was solar energy, it was vertical, it was power, right, but vertical power. It was war, that solar energy, that was the fifth age, the fifth sun. The sixth sun now it’s magnetic energy, it’s the moon’s energy, it’s the women’s energy. So now it’s the time to be in a circle again.' The feminine principle is calling to us. It is not the case that men have had their turn and now the women are taking over. The feminine principle simply invites men to sit in circle with us, rather than to strive for dominance. It calls for comradeship and cooperation.

Polly Higgins worked for decades to bring Ecocide law back to the fore. In 1998 Ecocide was all set to be included in the Rome Statute, but never made it to the final draft because of objections by several powerful nations with vested interests in fossil fuels. The rainforest is described as the lungs of the planet and it is an interesting coincidence that Polly's lungs manifested the cancer which then spread throughout her body. She died on Easter Sunday, after a week of civil disobedience by Extinction Rebellion (which saw five key London sites turned into regenerative culture camps, disrupting the status quo and resulting in the arrest of over a thousand conscientious objectors). The day she passed was one of beautiful spring sunshine – a day of rest in the Christian calendar - and the day it became clear that the XR sites would soon be taken back by the police.

That day felt like a moment of letting go, a necessary out-breath, required in any regenerative system. But more than that, it felt like an exquisite expression of the new dawn that is upon us. The Christian Easter holiday (holy day) originated from the Pagan celebration of spring. Eostre is the Dawn Goddess who, like a beacon of light, heralds new life, rebirth and regeneration. Dawn is the messenger of the truth that change is constant and that life and death, darkness and light are a continuum from one to the other, each necessary for the other to exist.

Anima is rising up, through male and female alike, rebalancing the God and Goddess that is the Earth and all the beings here present. Divinity is not outside of us. We are all indigenous to this planet, a rainbow tribe - now more connected than ever by an infinite web of physical and energetic interfaces. The internet was gifted to the world by it's creator Tim Berners-Lee and it is a tangible expression of the Eagle Condor prophecy, because it is a pinnacle accomplishment of the mind, and yet an enabler for human connection beyond previous comprehension. It lets us connect, organise and act in defiance of a world order we did not choose.

We are a hive mind now - one great, symbiotic consciousness and we are the witnesses to the miracle of life on this planet.

Stand up. Reach out. Become an Earth Protector.

Be the change.

www.stopecocide.earth