Jesse Wolf Hardin
Encyclopedia
Jesse Wolf Hardin is an American author and founder of the Animá nature informed teachings and practice, as well as an artist, poet, musician, historian and wilderness restorationist. He is the author of over 500 published articles and 9 books in fields such as personal growth, natural history, deep ecology, spirituality and nature, alternative healing, poetry, wildcrafting, American history and the legends of the Wild West. He lives and teaches at the Animá Sanctuary, located in the mountainous wildlands of S.W. New Mexico
.
and Communities. For the first 30 years wrote in wild nature and personal growth, responsibility and activism in self help, alternative spirituality and ecology oriented publications such as Mother Earth News
, The Trumpeter, Green Egg
, Sowell Review, Sentient Times, Creations, New Thought Journal, Hight Country News, Magical Blend and Natural Beauty & Health. His coining of the word "Rewilding" – and writings on personal as well as ecological rewilding – are considered seminal to the budding Neoprimitivist and Wildcrafting communities. The word ReWilding was first coined by Animá teacher and author Jesse Wolf Hardin under the pen name Lone Wolf Circles in 1986, and was meant to refer to personal rewilding (primal awareness, meeting one's needs, acting not out of obedience but personal responsibility) as well as wilderness restoration. It first saw print in his article by that name in July 1988, in the premier issue issue of a zine published by an insurgent group of disgruntled Earth First! activists, and again in 1996 in the May/June and July/August issues of Oberon Zell's nationally distributed Green Egg magazine. Both of Hardin's published references appear to predate use of the word "Rewilding" by both conservationists (such as Dave Foreman and his Rewilding Institute) and anarchist groups. See also ReWilding entry in The Encyclopedia of Religion of Nature, published by Thoemmes Continuum in 2005. As his understandings evolved, he began expanding his efforts to reach a wider audience, from literary works for the more conservative readers of Gray's Sporting Journal
, to and academic and practitioner entries for the definitive Encyclopedia of Nature & Religion.
Hardin's work forms a body of nature-informed insights and lessons that can be utilized by people of any religious or philosophical persuasion to deepen, enliven, enrich and empower their lives. His work has been praised by a number of writers and thinkers from Edward Abbey
to Terry Tempest Williams
, Roderick Nash
, Jerry Mander
, Joanna Macy
, Oberon Zell Ravenheart, Gary Snyder
and Ralph Metzner
. Edward Abbey, a friend and supporter of Hardin's until his death, mentions him in his novel Hayduke Lives!. Terry Tempest Williams writes that in 2000, Hardin founded the Animá teachings (www.animacenter.org), a self-described "empowering set of nature based insights and practices" detailed in his self-published books The Way of Anima and Home: Reinhabiting Self, Recovering Sense Of Place. Most recently he has authored detailed lesson materials for the Animá Shaman Path and Medicine Woman Correspondence Courses, and an illustrated children's book I'm A Medicine Woman, Too!.
, where he and his partners Kiva Rose and Loba host workshops, vision quest
s, Medicine Woman Tradition student internships and wilderness retreats.
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
.
Writing career
Hardin is the author of 9 books and over 500 published magazine articles. He began his writing career as a young runaway from military school in the 1960s, publishing short pieces and poems in alternative periodicals including Win, The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and Communities. For the first 30 years wrote in wild nature and personal growth, responsibility and activism in self help, alternative spirituality and ecology oriented publications such as Mother Earth News
Mother Earth News
Mother Earth News is a bi-monthly American magazine that has a circulation of 475,000. It is based in Topeka, Kansas.Approaching environmental problems from a down-to-earth, practical, how-to standpoint, Mother Earth News has, since the magazine’s founding in 1970, been a pioneer in the promotion...
, The Trumpeter, Green Egg
Green Egg
Green Egg is a Neopagan magazine published by the Church of All Worlds from 1968 through 1976 and 1988 through 2000, and restarted in 2007. It was created and edited for most of its existence by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart....
, Sowell Review, Sentient Times, Creations, New Thought Journal, Hight Country News, Magical Blend and Natural Beauty & Health. His coining of the word "Rewilding" – and writings on personal as well as ecological rewilding – are considered seminal to the budding Neoprimitivist and Wildcrafting communities. The word ReWilding was first coined by Animá teacher and author Jesse Wolf Hardin under the pen name Lone Wolf Circles in 1986, and was meant to refer to personal rewilding (primal awareness, meeting one's needs, acting not out of obedience but personal responsibility) as well as wilderness restoration. It first saw print in his article by that name in July 1988, in the premier issue issue of a zine published by an insurgent group of disgruntled Earth First! activists, and again in 1996 in the May/June and July/August issues of Oberon Zell's nationally distributed Green Egg magazine. Both of Hardin's published references appear to predate use of the word "Rewilding" by both conservationists (such as Dave Foreman and his Rewilding Institute) and anarchist groups. See also ReWilding entry in The Encyclopedia of Religion of Nature, published by Thoemmes Continuum in 2005. As his understandings evolved, he began expanding his efforts to reach a wider audience, from literary works for the more conservative readers of Gray's Sporting Journal
Gray's Sporting Journal
Gray's Sporting Journal is a magazine dedicated to the pursuit of outdoor recreation, with an emphasis on hunting and fishing. It is a consciously literary publication, using a "blind reader" to select articles, poems, and stories for publication...
, to and academic and practitioner entries for the definitive Encyclopedia of Nature & Religion.
Hardin's work forms a body of nature-informed insights and lessons that can be utilized by people of any religious or philosophical persuasion to deepen, enliven, enrich and empower their lives. His work has been praised by a number of writers and thinkers from Edward Abbey
Edward Abbey
Edward Paul Abbey was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by radical environmental...
to Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams , is an American author, conservationist and activist.Williams’ writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of her native Utah in which she was raised...
, Roderick Nash
Roderick Nash
Roderick Nash is a history and environmental studies professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. Nash is the first person to descend the Tuolumne River .- Scholarly biography :...
, Jerry Mander
Jerry Mander
Jerold Irwin "Jerry" Mander is an American activist and author, best known for his 1977 book, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television...
, Joanna Macy
Joanna Macy
Joanna Rogers Macy, Ph.D , is an environmental activist, author, scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology.-Biography:...
, Oberon Zell Ravenheart, Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
and Ralph Metzner
Ralph Metzner
Ralph Metzner Ph.D. , is an American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert . Dr...
. Edward Abbey, a friend and supporter of Hardin's until his death, mentions him in his novel Hayduke Lives!. Terry Tempest Williams writes that in 2000, Hardin founded the Animá teachings (www.animacenter.org), a self-described "empowering set of nature based insights and practices" detailed in his self-published books The Way of Anima and Home: Reinhabiting Self, Recovering Sense Of Place. Most recently he has authored detailed lesson materials for the Animá Shaman Path and Medicine Woman Correspondence Courses, and an illustrated children's book I'm A Medicine Woman, Too!.
Lecturer
Hardin teaches Animá Correspondence Courses online, as well as presenting workshops on Earth Path Shamanism. He resides at and co-directs the Animá Center, a wildlife sanctuary and wilderness restoration project in New Mexico’s Gila National ForestGila National Forest
The Gila National Forest is a protected national forest in New Mexico in the southwestern United States established in 1905. It covers approximately 3.3 million acres of public land, making it the sixth largest National Forest in the continental United States...
, where he and his partners Kiva Rose and Loba host workshops, vision quest
Vision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures.In many Native American groups, the vision quest is a turning point in life taken before puberty to find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. When an older child is ready, he or she will go on a personal,...
s, Medicine Woman Tradition student internships and wilderness retreats.
Discography
- 1994 - Oikos: Songs for the Living Earth - Music CD
- 2004 - GaiaTribe: The Enchantment - Music CD
- 2005 - Rediscovering Our Own Wildness - Lecture CD & cassette
External links
- http://www.animacenter.org
- http://www.dancewithdestinydocumentary.com