In Memory of Walene Monson James
March 20, 1926 – August 8, 2012
March 20, 1926 – August 8, 2012
Walene James was 86 years old when she passed away in the morning in her home in Spirit Lake, Idaho with her daughter Ingri and husband Paul James by her side. Although her body died, her Spirit lives on in her vision for a vaccine-free world now beginning to manifest as more and more people say “no” to the vaccine religion.
Walene will be remembered as a passionate visionary who prompted people to open their minds, thinking outside the box, through her books, articles, radio interviews and lectures.
Walene was a retired English teacher who also had a passion for music and the arts. She won a music scholarship to attend the University of Utah where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in English. She continued her education at UCLA where she received her teaching credentials. She was a high school English teacher in the Los Angeles city schools for several years where she earned a reputation for inspiring her students through exposure to poetry and great English literature.
In 1973, she moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia where she authored three books: Handbook for Educating in the New Age (1977); Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth (1988, 1995); and The Vaccine Religion: Mass Mind and the Struggle for Human Freedom (2012). The first two went into second printings. Walene was also the founder of Vaccination Liberation, a well-respected all-volunteer association that helps thousands annually obtain legal exemptions to vaccine mandates (VacLib.org and VaccineTruth.com.)
Walene was particularly known for her brilliant and innovative writing. Many big names in the vaccine awareness movement have noted that it was her second book, Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth, that compelled them to put fulltime energy into “the most important health freedom issue of our time”, as Walene would say. A few of these are Neil Z. Miller, Sherry Tenpenny, and Viera Scheibner.
One example of her brilliant mind on the vaccine issue is her use of the term “stupefactions” with the first stupefaction being “the medicine I take won't work unless you take it, too”. Walene further elaborates about the idiocy of herd immunity and the concept of this “one size fits all” mindset in her last book, The Vaccine Religion, where you can read about all eight stupefactions as applied to the absurd thinking processes of vaccine zealots.
Walene was also an activist who promoted home birthing and frequently spoke out against water fluoridation, forced vaccination and infant circumcision. In 1955, she was a leader in the effort to prevent fluoridation in Santa Monica, California and became the 75th member of the National Health Federation, the leading health freedom advocacy organization in the country. Walene wrote several articles for their publication, Health Freedom News, that usually focused on the vaccine issue.
One article that was quite popular was titled, “Getting Off the Disease Scary-Go-Round: Seven Enlightenments and Their Application” and was one of Walene’s several attempts to wake people up on the fallacy of the germ theory of disease. She comments that “[t]he medical model is essentially a military model. We speak of ‘fighting’ disease, ‘waging war’ against cancer and ‘battling’ heart disease. We refer to our immune system as our defense system, our security system, our ‘protection’ against hordes of vicious viruses, marauding invaders, unseen enemies, voracious adversaries. T-cells have been called immune troops, foot soldiers, killer cells, helper cells, and suppressor cells. Immune processes have been compared to military maneuvers and the manufacture of weaponry. Are the images and rhetoric of war compatible with the creation of health? Are they compatible with a healing attitude or presence?”
Walene compiled several charts illustrating her uncanny ability to bring a spiritual dimension to the vaccine awareness movement. These charts can be found in her last two books and on the internet. They are --
1. Two Theories of Disease: The Germ Theory vs. the Cellular or “Terrain” Theory
2. The Germ Theory vs. Experimental Data: Koch’s Postulates vs. Contraindications from Experimental Data
3. Old Versus New Immunology
4.Two Approaches to Healthcare: The “Ugly” Solution vs. The “Beautiful Solution
5. Education or Indoctrination?
6. Old Outer-directed “Disease-scare” vs. New Inner-directed Healthcare
7. Twin Mythologies [polio and smallpox]
8. Mindfulness vs. Mindlessness
9. Two Human Species
10. Violent vs. Non-Violent Healthcare
Even though she created these charts 10 and 20 years ago, they are actively used by writers today. For instance, the quarterly magazine, Pathways to Family Wellness, is reprinting her first chart, Two Theories of Disease, in their Winter 2012-2013 edition.
One of her more famous quotes is, “Liberating ourselves from the nursery of non-think in which blind belief flourishes is to begin the journey, not only to freedom, but to maturity.”
Walene, who left the Mormon church as a young adult, made a huge impact on the direction of her younger brother’s life and gives us insights on spiritual philosophies that formed her astute mind. In memory of his sister, Norman Monson wrote to his older brother and the rest of the family the following: “Undoubtedly, the most important impact on my life was Walene expanding my thought boundaries and spiritual insights. Paving the way for the exploration and creation of new religious ideas and understandings was Brewster Ghiselin, one her favorite professors at the University of Utah and author of The Creative Process. Through accounts of many creative geniuses, it highlighted the importance of an open mind and the need to drop the struggle for a solution when it’s clear the mind can’t figure it out. It described the process leading to the ‘aha’ experiences of various well regarded creative innovators in diverse fields. The common prerequisite was to abandon all efforts to solve what had been an intractable problem. With the mind empty and still, the solution suddenly appeared.
“Walene’s first influence in getting me to think outside the box began when she told me about Duke University’s JB Rhine’s work on ESP (Extra Sensory Projection). I immediately went to Wilson's Bookstore, her favorite bookstore in Salt Lake City, and bought a copy of his book. I also bought other books on paranormal experiences, even having some success myself with astral projections. It wasn’t long until she was guiding me to read other, more spiritual books.
“Certainly, Walene's long and passionate interest in health and education and the flaws she found in the conventional wisdom, about which she wrote and lectured, are well known. What you may not have known was the depth and extent of her spiritual beliefs that led her to reject Mormonism.
“The lesson Walene seemed to draw was to reduce, if not abandon, rigid attachment to mind-limiting beliefs, particularly those of her family and the local culture. She replaced them with new beliefs discovered as her own Truth. Ironically, many were held with rigid attachment, but at least were outside the box.”
Walene had memberships in several environmental groups and endeavored to live a holistic lifestyle in which yoga, eating organic foods and supporting farmer’s markets were an integral part of her life. She abhorred the concept of war; her writing reflected the absurdity of the war mentality while advocating for peaceful solutions to our world's problems.
Ingri Cassel, Walene’s youngest daughter, also recalls moments in her childhood where her mother imparted knowledge to her that pointed her in the right direction – turning to God for answers. Ingri Cassel carries on the work Walene started as the director of Vaccination Liberation.
“When I was five years old, I went to an optometrist and was prescribed a pair of glasses. I was quite near sided with stigmatism. One day I lost my glasses and was quite upset since I knew they cost a lot of money and we didn’t have the money to waste on glasses that could be found. I finally told my mom and she taught me how to pray sincerely, with pure intention and conviction, knowing my prayer would be answered. I followed her instruction with complete faith that my prayer would be answered and the glasses found. Soon afterwards, I developed intense nausea without the need to throw up. I felt I just HAD to lie down in the back yard on the cushioned lawn chair that was covered with a tarp to protect it from the weather. I went outside and lifted up the tarp and there were my glasses! I was stunned. The need to lie down vanished and I realized I had witnessed a miracle and the answer to prayer since I most definitely did not leave them there. This is just one example of when my mom gave me wise counsel that has served me well throughout my life.”
Ingri closes her memorial to her mother:
“More than being my mother, Walene was my mentor and peer, both of us sharing the same passion advocating for human freedom. We loved the same music and loved sharing the same “paradigm shifting” books. As the director of Vaccination Liberation, I have my own style communicating the “VacLib” message but have adopted many of her brilliant alliterations when I talk. Walene has been my inspiration to dig deeper for the truth and to see the bigger picture. Walene taught me that what is most important in my life is my relationship with God and to always seek His counsel through prayer when I am troubled and need His guidance. I will always treasure the memory of my mother Walene, and her spirit for making me the person I am today.”