GaeaGenesis: Conception and Birth of the Living Earth (A Love Story)

by Oberon Zell

Left Hand Press, Cincinnati OH, 2022

I have long held that someday science and religion would find themselves on the same page.  That spirituality and science are all exploring the same truths.  And Truth is not subjective if one remains open-minded and allows oneself to be instructed by that Truth.  Truth cares not whether you believe it. Facts don’t need your support to be truthful.  I can say I don’t believe in gravity, but that will not keep my pencil from falling to the floor.  Spiritual truths and scientific truths, when accepted with an open mind willing to be instructed will turn out to reveal the same Truth.

I have not met Oberon Zell, indeed I had not even heard of him until 2021 when a friend gave me his book The Wizard and the Witch. As a reviewer of metaphysical books, I was lucky enough to be selected to receive a review copy of GaeaGenesis: Conception and Birth of the Living Earth—a summation of Zell’s lifelong spiritual journey and relationship with the Earth herself.

As a long-time environmentalist myself, I have embraced the idea of the “Gaia Hypothesis” for decades.  Zell’s book brings together both a spiritual perspective and the scientific support for the concept that the planet itself is a living being, of which we are all working parts.  The biggest difference between humans and all other life forms is our free will and ability to direct and shape the greater environment in which we live.  This, Zell tells us, and I agree, thrusts upon us a great responsibility to do things mindfully, compassionately, and with foresight.  Spiritual practices that bring us in closer touch with Nature herself, help us to do so with wisdom.

Rich with illustrations, literature and poetry from the ancient world to the modern, Zell illuminates the overarching theory and myth of the Gaia Hypothesis.  His writing coincides with my own deep interest in eco-feminism—as we treat out women, so we treat our Earth—our Mother.

This tome contains both Zell’s writing writings and the selected writings of others to bring a wide-angle perspective to the reader.  The conclusions are supported by solid science and sound reason and enables the reader to discover the ancient “myths” that are really metaphors for what science is only now beginning to reveal to the modern world.

This is a long book, to be digested one bite at a time.  I suggest reading it chapter-by-chapter, then step away and contemplate, cogitate, meditate upon the material until you get the sense of its Truth. To be frank, this is the way I have been reading it and I am writing this review after reading only about a third of the book.  But if I wait to write the review after the full digestion of this material, it might be another six months or a year before this would get published. 

Instead I chose to write this initial review to whet the appetites of potential readers.  When I have read the last word and spent a few days sitting with the material in my heart, mind and spirit, I will write a follow-up review.  Stay tuned.