The Oath of Ancestors

I am a child of the universe
I will never stop defending the unborn elders
I will act brilliantly in the future, because I acted sufficiently good in the past
I will never serve the hungry empire
I am a parent to the universe

– From the Ars holistica

The Oath of Ancestors is a central Song of Seven prayer. The Ancestor’s Oath shares a place in the Song of Seven similar to place held by The Lord’s Prayer in Christianity. The Ancestor’s Oath is said privately by adherents immediately upon waking as a daily ritual. Adherents are also known to use the first two lines of the oath in a manner similar to the sign of the fish (the Icthys) in Christianity, in order to identify themselves as adherents in a manner that only other adherents would recognize. The Oath is described as a simple high level encapsulation of the ideology of the Song of Seven, a statement and reaffirmation of an adherent’s purpose.

Seven Seeds shall I plant
One I shall plant for myself
One I shall plant against my family’s poor harvest
One I shall plant for the rabbit
One I shall plant for the rabbit that the coyote shall eat
One I shall plant for itself
One I shall plant against poor harvests yet to come
One I shall plant for life on earth and generations yet born

Seven Seeds

Recommended Reading

• The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan
• Fruitless Fall, by Rowan Jacobsen