SISTERS OF THE VALLEY: “The Nuns Who Give Life with CBD”

How did the Sisters begin?

We were born out of the Occupy Movement. In 2011, when Michelle Obama tried to speak to Congress about how unhealthy our children's meals are (compared to other developed nations), our Congress dodged the issue so they wouldn't have to listen to a Black woman speak, and then they took their contempt to a higher level and met to declare pizza a vegetable. That was a huge middle finger to Michelle, the women, and the children of this country. That was the day I said, “If pizza is a vegetable, then I'm a nun.” And I dressed as a nun for my first Occupy event, and it stuck. I was nicknamed 'Sister Occupy,' and I had a platform from which people listened. In my four years of going around California to protest after protest, I met like-minded women who asked me to formalize a new-age order, and with their help and input, that's what happened.

Why Cannabis?

The cannabis industry is the newest deregulated business on Earth, which means there's plenty of room for women to get involved and make a difference. Second, it's healing, so women can work with a plant, in a profession, that feels good and feels right. It connects us to our ancestral mothers and to enriched, purposeful lives.

We promote plant-based medicine, listening to your body, and integrating holistic approaches to health with plant-based diets. It's not just about cannabis; the nuns smoking weed brought us worldwide attention, but we also make and sell ginger-turmeric tincture, colloidal silver, and a variety of meditation sprays and incense packs. One day we hope to have looms and be making hemp fabrics and hemp clothing.

How do the Sisters see the Cannabis Industry in ten years?

The pace of change under the current ruling patriarchy is painful. So, while I'd like to say that in ten years the world will be mature enough to recognize the dangers of pharmaceuticals and the benefits of plant-based diets and herbal medicines, I can't say that with any confidence. Deregulation means going along with the ruling patriarchy, and going along with the patriarchy is like swimming in glue; you don't get far, on the contrary, you get fast. Everything is meant to be kept for the already wealthy white people. We fight that fight every day, along with everyone else in our industry (even white people taking down other white people). It's not an easy industry, and we hear horror stories from people trying to get licensed. So much money is wasted. In many small towns, the people who have to license cannabis operators—from the local power company to the fire department—are so angry that cannabis is legal that they punish the operators by making them wait, burning through money for months, waiting, stalling. This is the current landscape of deregulation—a terrifying one. I hope that in ten years we'll see everything change. In any case, we have half a dozen enclaves established in the first five years, so I hope that in ten years, we'll have two dozen more? I don't know. I'm just following my instincts.

Nature's gift is life, and at Sens Culture we call them the nuns who give life. How does it feel to know you're helping the world become better and healthier?

Despite the hemp bans, cease and desist orders, and the loss of business banking, we found ways to continue. Although legislatures and law enforcement are a pain in the ass, we all get younger and happier as we do our work with plant-based medicine. Every sister who joins has become healthier because of this work. We don't have to tell people who work with the plants about that; everyone knows. It's a healing profession. It's a sacred calling, not just for us, but for anyone who lays their hands in Mother Earth and gives life. And thank you, I didn't know people called us that. That's sweet. We're mentally ruined to do any other work, I'm afraid. Once you work helping people, it's hard to leave your calling. It gets in your blood; you bond with your plants and your people. It doesn't get any better than that.

What is the maximum mg of CBD you have in your products, and does it come from Cannabis Sativa/Indica or Cannabis Hemp?

Our gel capsules are the most potent, with 25 mg of CBD per gelcap, plus over a hundred other healing compounds that mainstream labs haven't yet tested (the gelcaps are pure vegetable oil). Our high-strength oral drops are 1,000 mg per 2-ounce bottle. Our 8-ounce topical salve has approximately 1,000 mg of CBD, and the topical salve is our best-seller.

Regarding its origin, it's the same as asking if it comes from medicinal cannabis or industrial hemp. It comes from medicinal cannabis strains—hybrid Cannabis Sativa/Indica plants, the same medicinal cannabis plants that have been bred to be high in THC (which everyone who isn't from California complains about), except our strains have been bred to be low in THC and high in CBD.

What are the beliefs of the Sisters of the Valley?

That's a great question, and it's been asked so often that we're finally making time to finish our book, The Book of the New Beguines, which is our Bible, so to speak. We hope to have it available for download or purchase before Christmas. Here's a brief overview, though, that may be helpful to readers:

We don't pray to the cannabis plant, not even with it. The cannabis plant has nothing to do with our spiritual beliefs. We believe in a Creator God. Our belief is that there is another mystical and magical side to life on planet Earth, and no one knows for sure what is happening on the other side of that veil. So we won't argue about invisible things... we won't argue about deities, or invisible babies. We leave those arguments to the "norms" (the normal). Here, I just cut this from the book (note, we demote God and all spirituality to third place, in order to keep the focus on Mother Earth).

Basic beliefs

As is the tradition with our Beguine ancestors, we too are scholars. We examine the customs and beliefs of the 800s in the farms and castle-shops that our ancestral mothers operated, and we examine the beliefs of the ancestors of this land at the same time. We look at the twelve core beliefs of the Beguines in the castles of Europe at that time, and at the beliefs of the native tribes who ruled the land beneath our feet then.

We studied the answer to the question: “What is the common thread between these two cultures that calls to our hearts?” Where their beliefs overlapped (eight of them), we adopted those beliefs as our own.

After studying the topic, we arrived at these as our fundamental beliefs:

1. We organize our lives to be in tune with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of the Moon and the different seasons and the Cross Quarters.

2. We recognize that our human intelligence gives us a unique responsibility towards our environment, and we seek to live in harmony with nature.

3. We recognize a depth of power far greater than our eyes can see, a Creator, and a connection between people themselves and with the planet. We believe that one's pain is everyone's pain, one's honor is everyone's honor.

4. We recognize both the outer and inner worlds, the spiritual and the physical worlds, and we see in the interaction of these two dimensions the basis of paranormal phenomena and magical practices. Beguines do not neglect either dimension in favor of the other, seeing both as necessary for our fulfillment.

5. Beguines strive to control the forces within themselves that make life possible, so they can live wisely, without harming others, and in harmony with nature. This is also an essential aspect of life among the ancestors of the native peoples.

6. The Beguines, like the natives, are concerned with the past, present, and future. Both cultures venerate the ancestors who came before them and both tread gently upon Mother Earth, in reverence for its current inhabitants and future generations.

7. Beguines avoid those who seek power through the suffering of others. Beguines do not accept that personal gain can only be derived from the denial of others. They do not believe in Satan.

8. Both the Beguines and the indigenous tribes believed in treating people and their spiritual beliefs with respect. The only animosity the Beguines have toward Christianity, or any other belief system, is insofar as its institutions have claimed to be “the only way” and have attempted to deny freedom to others and suppress free will and free choice.

In summary:

1. We tune into the lunar cycles

2. Recognize that human intelligence gives us a special obligation on this planet

3. Recognize a greater power

4. Recognize physical and spiritual worlds

5. Seek to live in harmony

6. Honor the past, the present, and the future

7. To abhor the victimization of people, plants, and land

8. Respect all spiritual beliefs (except when they cause harm)

Many tribes, sects, religions, and enclaves embrace suffering. For Renaissance Beguines (our Sisters), suffering is not something anyone should sign up to experience. It is not something we believe brings us closer to the Creator. In fact, we are on a mission to eradicate suffering as if it were a colony of red ants infesting our kitchens. We approach suffering as something that gets in the way of our connection with the Creator, not something that enhances that connection.

Promoting suffering is at odds with our mission to alleviate suffering. Most native cultures, and other major religions (such as those of the Dalai Lama), believe that suffering is a necessary part of the human condition, and while we can also accept this as true, our daily work requires us to have the mindset of soldiers fighting suffering. Our Sisterhood aims to empower women. Suffering is not empowering; it might connect, it might create passion and understanding, but not 'empowerment'.

If cannabis is legalized federally tomorrow, would the Sisters be producing any THC products?

Good question. I don't know. We believe in the healing properties of all medicine, but we have a brand that's highly accepted worldwide because we're not in the psychoactive space. Good question for marketing and economics students to study and reflect on, isn't it? Our priority now is to bring the current product line to more people. We still make everything by hand and only have two of our five manufacturing sites at this point. So, we still have a long way to go with our CBD line.

What are the different roles of the nuns? And is each one specific to a particular part of the production process, or do they change?

We aspire to a quiet, contemplative work environment—like what you'd see in a monastery or convent. So everyone is encouraged to take a lane and own that lane. We don't have to talk as much. Too much chatter and noise isn't good for medicine (or for people, in this case). Any chatter or noise, we believe, disrupts the healing energies we try to infuse into every bottle and jar. To that end, I'm very attached to my office, usually dealing with future plans. My job is to mitigate risk, ensure a safe work environment, build a legacy, and lead the team toward profitability. Sister Alice manages the kitchen and the medicine. Sister Sierra manages customer service. Brother Dwight handles the outside world, sniffing out investment opportunities (our kind of strategic partnerships). Brother Rudy manages the land, agriculture, and so on. Sister Kass manages distribution. Sister June feeds us, and we have three young women who want to become sisters and are just starting out. One works for Sister Alice, another for Sister Sierra, and another for me. It's a simple setup. Ancient wisdom.

What can you tell us about the film and the feedback it has received?

I'll start by saying that if I had to go through it all again, that movie wouldn't have been made. We had no editorial input, as it was a documentary. And they told a very creative, pulp-fiction, but censored, version of my story. The movie has been widely received, and because of that, our local police were seen making fools of themselves, uprooting plants, making jokes about cancer patients, and when the movie came out, suddenly, after 4.5 years of operating here without any problems, meetings happen, hemp is banned, hemp growth and hemp product manufacturing are prohibited, we lose the bank, we get a cease and desist order, we have to move operations to a second farm outside the county, we have to pay our employees in cash for the first time ever, people quit, tears are shed, and as you can see, it wasn't an outcome I anticipated. (We only had to make the cash for a week, but still!) Have we talked enough about the movie? Please?

How many places do the Sisters of the Valley have, and how many activist nuns are there?

Different things are happening in different places as we navigate the legal landscape. In New Zealand, for example, Sister Maria is making and selling a line of Kava Kava products until CBD is legalized, which could happen as early as this year. So Sister Maria is a cross-line. She's making medicine and operating a shop under our label, but not with CBD—yet. Brother Matt in Southampton, England, however, is operating a shop importing products from our second sister farm in Northern California.

1. Butte County Enclave (California) (3 Sisters)

2. Humboldt County (California) (our first sister, still on its own)

2. Merced County (California) (6 sisters here)

3. New Zealand (Sister Maria) (our first sister, still alone, training two others)

4. England (Brother Matt) (still solo)

5. Denmark / Sweden / Belgium (Danish enclave, 3 sister plants; planning for enclave deployment and manufacturing in Denmark)

6. Mexico (two sisters, activism only at the moment, but they are burning it down)

7. Canada, Edmonton, hemp farm and works with a first sister from that region of Canada (a sister, still on her own)

8. Brazil - Sister Flora, activism and education only at this moment

ALL THE SISTERS (and brothers) are activists. It's in our vows.

If someone wants to become a member of the Sisters, how can they do it or is it even possible?

Good question. We don't have a set path. We have famous movie stars who want to be Sisters, and one of them comes to the farm to talk about a new kind of Sister, a satellite Sister, so to speak, so they can be doing their own thing and still be considered one of us. We haven't figured it all out. We have over 10,000 people worldwide who have expressed interest in joining or promoting our message and mission, but we haven't formalized all of that yet. For now, they start by coming to our farm in Merced and working with us for a week or two. That's how all our first Sisters (and first Brothers) so far came to be. There has to be a business relationship, because if they're not doing work, they're not helping the women.

If anyone wants to join, they should first go to www.sistersofthevalley.biz and read the blogs, articles, and videos to get to know us and make sure this is something they want before reaching out. Then, sign up for our mailing list at the bottom of www.sistersofcbd.com (our website) and wait for further instructions. We hope to launch a portal dedicated to the movement early next year.

What are the plans for the future?

Our plan has always been, and always will be, to grow the movement. Sales support our activism, and activism is the point. The point is to empower women through business ownership. We need to grow, grow, grow. Mother Earth is calling us. For the last fifty years (maybe more), all the right-wing factions, those clinging to unjust old ways, have been funneling money and support to the “most righteous man in town” running politically—the most Christian, the most old-fashioned, the most likely to uphold the patriarchy, no doubt! It didn’t matter if he was a crook; the churches gave him money if he was “the most right-wing candidate.” And here we are. Here we have Rush Limbaugh and Trump and Theresa May and Boris Johnson and rising fascism, and they hate becoming normalized. We need a great force of united people to counter that voice. We need a mechanism to fund the “left-wing” candidate in every election, the most progressive, the most compassionate, the one most eager to inflict major changes on our governance. We don’t have that. And the Sisters can’t and won’t do all that for us alone; we’re not that powerful or narcissistic. But we can be part of the wave.

Aside from CBD products, what other adventures and projects do the Sisters undertake?

Sister Star is an activist dedicated to changing the laws that allow organized religions to legally harbor pedophiles. But activism is part of all our lives, part of our code.

Some of us sing, and sometimes we get invited to LA to sing on stage with a professional band.

We have just finished creating a temperature-controlled artisanal yurt, where we are embarking on more jewelry, ceramics, and sewing projects.

We are planning a tour of England in the spring.

There's a big pool hall in town we sometimes go to, to play pool and have a beer. Everyone else films us and takes pictures, pretending not to notice. We don't care. Sometimes we have to leave the farm, you know?

Thank you for your time and for educating us a little more about the movement and lifestyle of what we at Sens Culture call "The nuns who give life".

We hope they continue to grow worldwide and look forward to seeing them soon in Puerto Rico. Many blessings from our team, and may the fight continue!

Mr. Sens