We Are Alive!

We introduce the new Fight Like An Animal-adjacent project Defending the World Tree: A Journal of Animist Awakening, from Severed Branches Press, and describe the ceremony we are trying to spread. Using our Jan. 18 Day of the Forest Defender event as an example, we discuss ways to transmute grief and trauma into collective agency. Then we complete our examination of the structure and nature of revival movements, and their fundamental role in shaping societies throughout human history. We examine case studies with widely variable outcomes—beneficial, neutral, and tragic—from Europe to Africa to North America, relying on the classic 1956 paper “Revitalization Movements” as a guide. From the catastrophic absurdity of the children's crusade of 1212 to the Shawnee Prophetstown movement whose legacy lives on today, we see how cultural revivals can mobilize great energy, but still require coherent political strategy. Finally, we end with some punk rock revival preaching.