Anastasia: New Heroine of the Russias
by Kostya Kovalenko
by Kostya Kovalenko
We are taking the opportunity of this tribal issue to bring to our Western readers the remarkable phenomenon of Anastasia, a new heroine who offers hope to the people of the former Soviet Union.
Unlike the others who speak to us in this issue of the Spirit of Ma'at, Anastasia did not grow up as the member of an indigenous tribe. But she is not a product of modern civilization, either. Instead, she grew up ''in the wild,'' totally naked in the forests of her beloved Siberian taiga (arboreal forests), on the banks of the River Ob. And so she is an emissary directly from Nature, and we wanted to include her story in this magazine because her very existence is one answer to the question we have been asking our indigenous contacts: How can we heal ourselves and the Earth?
Anastasia, Who Is She?
Unlike the others who speak to us in this issue of the Spirit of Ma'at, Anastasia did not grow up as the member of an indigenous tribe. But she is not a product of modern civilization, either. Instead, she grew up ''in the wild,'' totally naked in the forests of her beloved Siberian taiga (arboreal forests), on the banks of the River Ob. And so she is an emissary directly from Nature, and we wanted to include her story in this magazine because her very existence is one answer to the question we have been asking our indigenous contacts: How can we heal ourselves and the Earth?
Anastasia, Who Is She?
Anastasia is a recent phenomenon in the spiritual life of the former Soviet Union. As well known as she is to almost every man, woman, and child in the Russias, she is totally unknown elsewhere. Through her partner, former businessman Vladimir Megre, this 28-year-old woman has produced five out of nine planned books, all of which are best-sellers in the Russias.
Millions of readers in Russia, Ukraine, and other countries love the Anastasia books, their heroine, and the way of life that she is proposing.
Anastasia's advice, to those who can do so, is to return to Nature, build a family farm, and live there in happiness. The tools she suggests for bringing this into reality are thoughts and images of a better and more harmonious life. She feels that the traveling bards and storytellers will carry these ideas throughout the Russias. She aims at no less than changing civilization as we know it.
Dolmens and Balls of Light
Anastasia's books started an interest in the Russian dolmens. These are widespread stone structures most of which can be found in the environs of the Black Sea. Each dolmen is distinctive, but they all share the post-and-lintel stone structure and the existence of a hole in the side which is too small for most adults to go through.
Anastasia claims in one of her books that, 10,000 years ago, her female ancestor, her ''pra-mother,'' went into eternal meditation in one of these giant stone structures, with the intent of preserving for the future the dying art of communicating with a baby through breastfeeding. The book also says that there are similar dolmen structures on other continents and that these have been located, but there is no data yet concerning where they are.
Many people feel strong energies near the dolmens. Some see unusual balls of light, and these have been photographed (see photo at left). Women -- for the most part unclothed -- love to make pilgrimages to the dolmens and to the now-booming resort area near the city of Gelendgik on the shores of the Black Sea. Ogonek, a Russian illustrated weekly magazine, published an article about these pilgrimages.
An analysis by M. K. Teshev of the coals from a fire at the entrance to an underground dolmen has dated that Russian megalithic site at 2320 B.C plus-or-minus 40 years. (See information here from a Russian megalith site.)
The stone slabs which comprise a dolmen are huge (one stone can be a rectangular piece weighing several tons). Scientists have not agreed upon the origin or purpose of the dolmens, but Anastasia claims that they were constructed for a special sort of death. A tribe would build a structure for a person of wisdom. While one side of the top cover was held up, this person crawled inside, where he or she was to live in meditation until death. Anastasia claims that the soul of a person who died in such a special way stays forever near the dolmen. Such a soul will not reincarnate. Instead, through this sort of passing on, the soul acquires new dimensions of knowledge and makes this knowledge available to dolmen visitors.
This is how Anastasia's "pra-mama," who lived many thousands of years ago (Vladimir Megre mentions a date of 10,000 years), preserved for all women the sacred knowledge of how a breastfeeding mother can communicate with her child.
Many of the Dolmen structures were ruined in the centuries and years before Vladimir Megre published his story. The most severe ruination occured in the 20th century when farmers used the stones as building material -- this is described by Gurdjiev in his book "Meetings with Famous People". But since Anastasia's revelations, the Dolmens have become places of pilgrimage.
Like the light seen at the dolmens, there is a ball of light that seemingly looks after Anastasia herself. Since childhood it has protected her. Supposedly it once prevented a government-sent expedition from taking Anastasia by force from the taiga to Moscow for scientific investigation. It is also said that, when the Gelendgik city administration refused permission for the first Anastasia conference to be held there, a ball of light paid a visit to the city's cabinet members. After that, good cooperation between the city and the pilgrims was ensured. A melted piece of glass in the city's administration building still testifies to what happened then.
Some people say that there is no Anastasia, that she is only a thoughtform. But whatever she is, the people of the Russias feel her presence, and are strongly attracted to her message.
''A Space of Love''
Stories of Anastasia
I. A Little Girl Lives Alone in the Forest
Anastasia was born and lived her entire life (except for several short railway trips to cities) in her taiga home, a Siberian cedar forest on the bank of the River Ob. Her parents died when she was little, while trying to save a mysterious "tingling cedar" tree. Although she was so young that she could not even walk yet, she went on living by herself in her mother's ''Space of Love.'' She was occasionally visited by her grandfathers, but the dedushkas did not come to teach. Rather, they tested their purity by asking her questions about different things, like why a bug is colored in a certain way, and as she grew older, about more existential issues.
Living by herself, Anastasia was served, loved and protected by taiga animals -- squirrels, bears, wolves. This would be seen and documented by the man whom she would meet in the taiga, and who would be the father of her child.
Anastasia was born and lived her entire life (except for several short railway trips to cities) in her taiga home, a Siberian cedar forest on the bank of the River Ob. Her parents died when she was little, while trying to save a mysterious "tingling cedar" tree. Although she was so young that she could not even walk yet, she went on living by herself in her mother's ''Space of Love.'' She was occasionally visited by her grandfathers, but the dedushkas did not come to teach. Rather, they tested their purity by asking her questions about different things, like why a bug is colored in a certain way, and as she grew older, about more existential issues.
Living by herself, Anastasia was served, loved and protected by taiga animals -- squirrels, bears, wolves. This would be seen and documented by the man whom she would meet in the taiga, and who would be the father of her child.
II. The ''Rape'' Scene and the Ball of Light
One cool, sunny day in Siberia, a man wandering along the banks of the Ob River met Anastasia, whom he had seen once before. The man, Vladimir Megre, told Anastasia that he was hoping to find two old men whom he had encountered the previous autumn. The old men had hinted to Vladimir that they possessed certain secrets of the cedar tree. This message led him to spend the following winter researching the tree's properties. Megre had come to the forest in hopes of speaking to the old men again.
Anastasia told him that as it happened these two old men were her grandfather and great-grandfather. She agreed to guide him 25 kilometers through the taiga to where her elder relatives lived.
After walking about five kilometers, they stopped for a rest. While Vladimir drank his brandy and ate the snacks he had brought, Anastasia removed her warm and heavy outer garb (a coat, shawl, skirt and boots) and hid them. Now this lovely young woman with blond hair, big, grayish-blue eyes, and smiling lips, covered only by a short slip, lay down in a sunny spot with her palms turned upward toward the sun.
The air temperature was only 12 degrees Centigrade and this woman was lying there half naked. Vladimir, a Russian businessman who considered himself a man of the world, assumed that an invitation was being made.
Vladimir approached Anastasia and attempted to hug her. She made no effort to resist him. He became more forceful. But before he could go further, he passed out, remembering the words, "Please don't. Cool down."
As he came to, he noticed that Anastasia was waving something away. Later he would learn that this was the ball of light that safeguards Anastasia throughout her life.
Vladimir told Anastasia that he felt teased and cheated by her undressing. She responded that she was uncomfortable in clothes and didn't like to be dressed; that she covered herself only when she is going out of the woods, to see people. Using the kind of learned vocabulary one would not expect from a taiga dweller, Anastasia explained why she is never cold. "The organisms of those who cover themselves with heavy clothing -- of those hiding from both cold and heat -- lose more and more of their ability to adapt to the changing environment. I never lost this ability. That's why I don't really need clothing."
What happened next is discussed in Vladimir's books, which some consider to be truth and others call fairytales. Before we look further at these books, let me tell you a little background about our two characters and how their paths crossed.
III. For Love of a Cherry Tree
When Michael Gorbachev rose to political power, one of the first things he did was to grant city people small pieces of land for dachas. These dachas were usually just large enough for a small cottage, five to ten trees, and a small garden. The idea was that people were to grow food for themselves. Vladimir received a small dacha and had planted a cherry tree on the land. He cared about this tree and this created a link between him and the tree. Those who received the land and cultivated it are called "dachniks.''
According to Anastasia, the plants we link to ourselves through our love create our own ''Space of Love.'' For Anastasia, this Space is the clearing in the woods where she lives all her life. For urban dwellers, this link can be with the flowers on their windowsills. For others, as for Vladimir, a Space of Love is created on their dachas.
So Vladimir had planted a cherry tree on his dacha. And, as this story goes, in the spring during which Vladimir's tree first produced cherries, Vladimir ate only one of them. The taste of this Siberian cherry wasn't as good as the taste of the cherries he bought and brought with him from town. But still, he caressed the small tree and even kissed one of its leaves. The tree wanted to give something in return, but it couldn't, as Vladimir hadn't eaten the remaining cherries. So the tree's unrealized wish hovered in the space until Anastasia felt it and responded.
This was 1994, before the ''rape scene.'' Hearing or feeling a ''call,'' Anastasia actually found Vladimir, visited him -- and fell in love. Such love towards a man was a new feeling for her.
And so when they met again the following year, when Vladimir went in pursuit of the secrets of the cedar trees, Anastasia took her unknowing loved one to her home, the personal Space of Love that had been prepared for her by her parents. It was a forest clearing, where all the plants and animals bathed in her love and cared for her in return. Squirrels, responding to a movement of her hand, brought her taiga food. Cracked cedar nuts, dried mushrooms, different berries were and are her daily diet. Anastasia spends no time for "eating"; she thrives on bits of taiga food taken every now and then.
Vladimir saw that one of Anastasia's sleeping places near the homes of her grandfathers was an area covered with tiny cedar branches. He slept there -- and awoke to discover that he had been sharing the nest with a she-bear! Anastasia had asked the animal to join her sleeping guest to keep him warm. Vladimir refused to spend another night in the lair unless Anastasia was next to him. On that night, they conceived their child.
IV. Anastasia's Child
The next year, on Vladimir's third visit, Anastasia showed him their son, also named Vladimir. She asked the father to be quiet, and pointed at their baby, which lay under the front leg of Megre's old girlfriend the bear. The baby had woken up soiled, and the bear was wiping its small bottom with her tongue. In this way, Vladimir got the message that nobody needed the diapers he had brought with him from the city.
Then, to Vladimir's surprise, when the bear left to do whatever bears usually do, a she-wolf took over the care of the baby.
Later, Vladimir saw another spectacular wildlife scene. An eagle (a friend of Anastasia's grandfather) took the baby into the sky to see the earth from above. It was the last flight of this bird who once had carried the small Anastasia aloft as well. The old eagle died shortly after safely delivering Anastasia's son to his mother. Everybody present considered it a nice death for a bird.
The next year, on Vladimir's third visit, Anastasia showed him their son, also named Vladimir. She asked the father to be quiet, and pointed at their baby, which lay under the front leg of Megre's old girlfriend the bear. The baby had woken up soiled, and the bear was wiping its small bottom with her tongue. In this way, Vladimir got the message that nobody needed the diapers he had brought with him from the city.
Then, to Vladimir's surprise, when the bear left to do whatever bears usually do, a she-wolf took over the care of the baby.
Later, Vladimir saw another spectacular wildlife scene. An eagle (a friend of Anastasia's grandfather) took the baby into the sky to see the earth from above. It was the last flight of this bird who once had carried the small Anastasia aloft as well. The old eagle died shortly after safely delivering Anastasia's son to his mother. Everybody present considered it a nice death for a bird.
V. Anastasia Affects the Bigger World
What does this young woman do for the whole day if she needs to think about neither food nor clothing? She participates in the life of the bigger world. One of two of her main areas of interest is the dachniks - the people in the former Soviet Union who grow plants on their dachas.
Anastasia writes: "Today, the society you live in can learn much through communicating with the plants grown on dachas .... For instance, working on their dachas, people feel better. For many people, dacha life becomes a way to live longer. They become kinder people. It is dachniks who could bring into society an awareness about the malignancy of technocratic civilization."
Her tool in this task is her "beam." With the aid of her beam, Anastasia can connect with a particular person and see, hear, and change what's going on around this person. She can put helpful ideas into a person's mind, like plant-growing secrets into the mind of a dachnik gardener, or into the mind of a doctor the best way to treat a sick person. She had performed the latter feat when Vladimir became sick in the city after their second meeting.
Her grandfathers possess this beam, but Anastasia's has become many times stronger than those of her grandfathers. This, the dadushkas say, is because she has discovered love.
What does this young woman do for the whole day if she needs to think about neither food nor clothing? She participates in the life of the bigger world. One of two of her main areas of interest is the dachniks - the people in the former Soviet Union who grow plants on their dachas.
Anastasia writes: "Today, the society you live in can learn much through communicating with the plants grown on dachas .... For instance, working on their dachas, people feel better. For many people, dacha life becomes a way to live longer. They become kinder people. It is dachniks who could bring into society an awareness about the malignancy of technocratic civilization."
Her tool in this task is her "beam." With the aid of her beam, Anastasia can connect with a particular person and see, hear, and change what's going on around this person. She can put helpful ideas into a person's mind, like plant-growing secrets into the mind of a dachnik gardener, or into the mind of a doctor the best way to treat a sick person. She had performed the latter feat when Vladimir became sick in the city after their second meeting.
Her grandfathers possess this beam, but Anastasia's has become many times stronger than those of her grandfathers. This, the dadushkas say, is because she has discovered love.
VI. The Future of the World -- Anastasia's Dream
When Anastasia wants to accomplish something, she says, she dreams of it in much detail and with a joy in her heart. In such a way, she dreamed of conceiving a baby with Vladimir and it happened.
Anastasia is dreaming a plan to change the Earth. According to her plan, everything is going to start in Russia (she mentioned Ukraine and White Russia as well). Every family will be able to obtain from the state a one-hectare piece of land which they will own, but without the right to sell it. The family will make a family estate there for the generations to come. Everything is going to be on that one hectare -- a building, one-quarter to three-quarters of a hectare of forest, a pond, fields, and a fence made by trees and bushes.
Since according to Anastasia it's possible to raise plenty of agricultural products without using chemical fertilizers, the family will be able to feed itself and even sell the ecologically pure produce at market. And they will have plenty of time to think about the really important things (Anastasia calculates that an average person in Russia spends three hours daily watching television, but only 15-20 minutes per life thinking of God). Anastasia says that if you sow things properly, the plants will regenerate the soil by themselves, just as they do in the wild and everywhere else where man is behaving himself.
As was his habit, Vladimir questioned Anastasia's thinking. So another coincidence happened to convince him. Near the ancient city of Vladimir (as in Megre's first name), he was shown two pre-revolution (i.e. the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution) estates that were laid out in the way now proposed by Anastasia. He was surprised to learn that, although the land in the old estates wasn't chemically fertilized, all the products grown there (for example, apples and hay) were considered the best in the region. Photos he took of the apple trees are displayed on the cover of the fifth Anastasia book.
The base of the new Russia's wealth, Anastasia claims, will be those private estates where people will live happy lives and children will see Nature all around them. Anastasia sees schools in about 150-200 family settlements -- a new kind of school, based on love and openness. Megre found a prototype of such a school run by Shchetinin. Kids love to be in this live-in school that they built by themselves. By immersing themselves into the building of a school, they learn all the math they will ever need in just a year or two.
Most of Moscow's population, Anastasia says, will leave the city and settle in the country. Russia's capital will be left to foreign tourists, who supposedly will come in masses to see the new country, drink pure water from clean rivers, and eat freshly-picked vegetables. Anastasia believes that the rest of the world will follow Russia in the forthcoming eco-revolution.
VII. Elder brothers of Anastasia
In the very beginning, Anastasia mentioned that her plans of changing the world were approved by ''Them.'' She never directly explains who They are. Instead, she says that the founders of the world religions are her "elder brothers" who are now getting ready to channel all the energy accumulated in the thought-form fields of their religions into the new-world creation dreamed of by Anastasia.
Anastasia also dreamed of Vladimir's publishing nine books about his experiences with her and about her ideas -- books that would catalyze changes in Russia and in the world. Vladimir could not believe that he would write a series of popular books, and when reading them you can tell that he isn't a writer. But still, the books contain the magic presence of Anastasia. So Vladimir has became one of the best-selling authors in Russia. His fifth book was just published in a batch of half a million copies.
Megre's books have made a big splash in the former Soviet Union and also in Germany. Many people feel an attraction to Anastasia's vision of the future. Her followers are growing cedar trees from nuts. They talk about living in the country and about new ways of bringing up their children. Four of Megre's books are now available in German, and a fifth is due for publication in January. Megre says that he has about two million readers, which is a low estimation because his books are passed around -- people want to share with others this touching, wonderful, magical story. This story that holds the promise of a different future -- a world where man will live in harmony with nature and not limit himself with the tools of technocratic civilization. From living in this manner, a person's mind will be much stronger and more powerful than it is now.
In Closing. . .
This whole story sounds like a modern-day fairytale. Or maybe ''legend'' would be a better word; one can't prove or disprove this story (sitting in the warmth of one's chair). I found that this story resonates very well with my heart and it doesn't sound unreal for my mind.
Personally I would love to live in such a world, one full of love and joy. It doesn't matter for me whether Anastasia really exists, as many people feel, or if she is just a powerful image created to make money, as the unbelievers claim. We are powerful enough to change even without Anastasia -- if not the whole world, then at least our own lives and the growing up experience for our children. We always can choose to live in the world of love instead of the world of fear.
For the Playfully Serious Gardener
Here is Anastasia's advice on how to grow a plant from a seed.
Before planting, put the seed or seeds into your mouth under your tongue for no less then nine minutes. Next, put the seeds between your palm for 30 seconds. While doing this you need to stay barefooted on the ground where you are going to plant the seeds. Then open the palms, take the seed close to your mouth and breathe on it the air from your lungs. Warm the seed with your breath and it will learn what's inside you. Keep the palm open for another 30 seconds for the seed to see the heaven's bodies and it will determine when to sprout.
After that you may put the seed into the soil, but do not water it for three days, so that your saliva remains on the seed. Do the planting on the favorable day for the particular plant, according to a moon calendar.
When the sprout comes above the ground, don't remove all the weeds around it. Leave in the vicinity of the seedling at least one of each kind of plants. Some will protect the sprout from diseases, while others will provide it with additional information. Later you will need to communicate with the plant and to touch it at least once at a full moon.
Anastasia claims that the produce grown in such a way could heal any disease, add extra years to one's life, help get rid of unhealthy habits like smoking, drinking, and drug use, and can bring peace. The best effect, she says, is achieved when the produce is consumed within three days of harvesting -- and the sooner the better.
Anastasia also discusses the importance of having bees on every dacha, dacha wake-up procedures, and her views on food consumption. She tells of a need to sleep under the stars at least once a year - preferably around your birthday. This timing is hard for me, as I was born in January.
On Children
Anastasia's second main interest is in working with children. There are few details on this topic in Megre's books, but it is clear that Anastasia is preaching the important new-age ideas. For instance, she reminds us that it is the parents who should learn from the kids. Anastasia has dreams and visions of the future that show her how the children are going to change everything. They will start destroying weapons purely with thoughts -- an action leading to a disarmament race, because world nations don't want their arsenals of ammunitions to explode. Anastasia sees children changing the face of St. Petersburg, replacing every second building on Nevsky Prospect with a cedar tree park.
And she has interesting views on education, based on the fact that she herself never speaks ''a language.'' She told Vladimir that she speaks with him not ''in Russian'' but in his language, using the words best understood by him. Similarly, she talks with other people using their own language, be it French, English, or any other.
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