An empath's quest across ruins of the former US to retrieve a key for peace & save her people from destruction offers humanity a way forward in a world desperately in need of change.
Adult readers seeking hope in the face of instability would enjoy this book, as would psychonauts, permaculturalists, and fans of solarpunk, backpack travel, mindfulness, and metaphysical topics such as nature-based spirituality and reincarnation.
Today’s society is ancestral legend for scattered peaceful communities, continually threatened by extreme weather and hostile human factions. In this unstable world, Niwaju’s people live tucked away in the Green Mountains of the former Vermont, celebrating the seasons, developing their intuition, and centering wisdom.
Decentralized community groups use permaculture techniques, wilderness survival skills, and materials left over from The Comfort Age. Wise elders teach meditation to young ones to help them focus their energy.
Niwaju and a small group of fellow travelers draw upon their unique psychic gifts– including camouflage-meditation, super memory, and telepathy– to cross the former US, seeking a solution for peace for their people. Through actual landmarks crumbled by Collapse and being reclaimed by nature, they encounter people living off the land in a variety of ways, in a sparsely populated world.
This novel brings practical insights on survival and mindfulness that could be used today, as we navigate our own big changes.
From the spring mountains of Appalachia, through the moody swamplands of “New New Orleans”, up the wandering Mississippi River and across the plains, through the Rocky Mountains, and down the Columbia River Gorge, Niwaju's trail follows a path that could be taken today, on the Appalachian Trail, present-day highways, and rivers.
Meditation balances emotions and directs energy and attention. Latent human abilities like intuition, telepathy, and energetic camouflage are focused with training and practice, in a subset of the population.
Our protagonist transforms through archetypal interactions with herself, others, and the landscape. Each chapter has a theme of a Tarot Card, in a "Fool's Journey".
Cattail shoots, lamb's quarters, milkweed, dandelion, blackberries, and nettles are some of the plants providing sustenance on the road.
People use various sustainable technologies and building methods, using a combination of ancient knowledge and archaic modern tools.