
Sister Kate is not your average nun.

In truth, she’s not a nun at all – and she’s certainly not average. She's the founding member of the Sisters of the Valley, and her order subscribes to a higher power. Her vows are not ones of Catholicism, but of servitude, activism, and spirituality, and her rituals are guided by the cycles of the moon.

Born Christine Meeusen, Sister Kate attended the University of Wisconsin and received her degree in Business Education, later working as a business analyst for companies up and down the east coast.

She’s now the head of a thriving medical cannabis company – set to net more than $1 million in sales alone in just their third year of operation.

However, the industry is risky and is a legal grey area. Despite the hurdles the Sisters of the Valley face, they persist with what they describe as the desire to help and heal not only those who purchase their products, but the economically desolate region they inhabit - and the nation as a whole.

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Sister Kate, second from right, passes a joint to Sister Freya, as the group convenes for a new moon ceremony in which they will celebrate notable events in their community and bless their monthly marijuana harvest at their bungalow 'convent' in Merced, northern California

The moon cycles are the rotations by which the women live their lives, and operate their business. They plant and harvest marijuana plants by the cycles – beginning a batch of medical cannabis on the new moon and harvesting its hemp on the full moon

The Sisters’ abbey is a one-story building that sits on a small one-acre farm in the Central Valley of northern California in the town of Merced, about two hours south of the state’s capital of Sacramento.

Sister Kate lives there herself, with her plants, and whoever of the seven other sisters, ranging in age from 23 to 58, who wish to join her. The number often fluctuates as women come and go, and two more Sisters from Canada recently took their vows so that they can expand the order (and marijuana growth) in Toronto.

She employs locals from the Merced community who were ‘made to feel like “throw away people”,’ Sister Kate says, to help farm her plants in an effort to help stimulate the area which has struggled substantially with crime, addiction, and unemployment. Most recent statistics find that 31 percent of the area's population lives under the poverty line, and unemployment rates nearly double the state average at 10 percent.

‘I’ve never seen a place so economically depressed in my life,’ Sister Kate said. ‘I realized what I really needed to do was design a line of products that could be sold around the world and bring outside money into this area, and bring jobs to these poor people.’

Thus began the Sisters of the Valley.

The moon cycles are the rotations by which the women live their lives, and operate their business. They plant and harvest marijuana plants by the cycles – beginning a batch of medical cannabis on the new moon and harvesting its hemp on the full moon.

The Sisters’ abbey sits on a small one-acre farm in the Central Valley, about two hours south of the state’s capital of Sacramento

Pictured is Sister Evee, 23, who lives with Sister Kate at their abbey in Merced, California

The Sisters of the Valley take vows of servitude, activism, and spirituality, and are seen here performing a prayer ceremony on their marijuana garden

Sister Kate employs locals from the Merced community who were ‘made to feel like “throw away people”' to help farm her plants in an effort to help stimulate the area which has struggled substantially with crime, addiction, and unemployment

Every full moon, the Sisters host a ceremony which is open to the public and has grown to include 40 to 50 people in recent months as news spread of their movement.

The ceremony includes a celebration feast and fireside rituals, attended by adults and children, which sometimes go until 1am, Sister Kate says.

‘We celebrate any birthdays, events, births, anything special that happened in the lives of our tribe,’ she continued. ‘In the summer they go late because the children don’t have school, in the winter we’re more strict on getting everyone out of here and a good night’s sleep.’

‘First rule of ancient wisdom: don't make your people sick,’ she later added.

One such ceremony was held by the balmy July moonlight, and all seven sisters were in attendance. The two newest members from Toronto, Sisters Claire and Stephanie, said their vows – which include life-long pledges to servitude and activism for the people, ecology for mother earth, chastity (or privatizing sexuality) and living simply.

‘The donning of the habit infers a standard of excellence,’ Sister Kate proclaims in a synopsis of her coven. Together they take on the mission to create the products they believe embrace all of these vows – which are blessed with the lighting of sage and recitation of various incantations.

Every full moon, the Sisters host a ceremony which is open to the public and has grown to include 40-50 people in recent months as news spread of their movement

The ceremony includes a celebration feast and fireside rituals, attended by adults and children, which sometimes go until 1am

Together the Sisters take on the mission to create the products they believe embrace all of their vows – which are blessed with the lighting of sage and recitation of various incantations.

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The products that the Sisters of the Valley produce are blessed by the unique combination of beliefs they possess – which Sister Kate characterizes as an overlap between local Native American tribes and ancient European traditions of the beguine women, who were historically unmarried independent women who pioneered feminist and liberal ideologies.

Most popular among their products is their salve, which Sister Kate calls the ‘Burts Bees’ of their line. It is made from with coconut oil, hemp, beeswax, and has essential oils added such as lavender, calendula, and vitamin E.

‘It’s the thing I think we have zero competition in the market – we were very deliberate in taking the advice of herbalists to come up with our formula,’ Sister Kate said.

She estimates that about half of their monthly income, about $50,000 a month, comes from sales of the salve. The primary feedback she’s heard from customers is that it has helped them wean off of their pain pills.

‘We were aiming for a muscle and joint reliever – but what we got is something that puts migraines away, or prevents them - that people are rubbing on their temples so they don’t have to take sleeping pills at night. That cure diaper rash, skin cancers and hangovers – someone wrote us recently and said: “If you rub it on your forehead when you have a hangover it’ll make it go away.”

‘My own mother says if she remembers to put it on her knees when she wakes up in the morning she doesn’t need her cane, but if she forgets that by noon she’s using her cane.’

In addition to the salves, they also create cannabis oils made from liquid coconut and hemp, and tinctures, which come in a plant-based form and alcohol form.

Most popular among their products is their salve, which Sister Kate calls the ‘Burts Bees’ of their line

In addition to the salves, they also create cannabis oils made from liquid coconut and hemp, and tinctures, which come in a plant-based form and alcohol form

The products that the Sisters of the Valley produce are blessed by the unique combination of beliefs they possess – which Sister Kate characterizes as an overlap between local Native American tribes and ancient European traditions of the beguine women

The foundation of the Sisters of the Valley emerged from years of discussion following an enlightenment experienced by Sister Kate when she joined the Occupy movement in the fall of 2011.

After Congress declared pizza as a vegetable in an effort to make school lunches more ‘healthy’ for children – Sister Kate, then still Christine Meuusen, decided that if those distinctions could be made, she would go from a businesswoman to a nun. This move earned her the nickname of ‘Sister Occupy’ by fellow protesters.

Her self-described ‘15 minutes of fame’ led others to be interested in joining her unique style of resistance, something that at first surprised the mother-of-three.

‘I’m a self-declared solo activist nun. I’m very annoyed with the system. But people are wanting to formalize it and join me, so it was very deliberate,’ she said.

Because there was a concentrated effort to ‘formalize’ her movement – it began a path of soul-searching, and attempts to decide what she wanted to project moving forward.

Sister Kate said: '‘Our guiding question is – what would our ancient mothers do? But we also say, what would our ancient mothers do if they had the internet and the post office to get their medicines everywhere?’ - she is pictured rolling a join in the Sisters of the Valley abbey on July 9, 2017

The foundation of the Sisters of the Valley emerged from years of discussion following an enlightenment experienced by Sister Kate when she joined the Occupy movement in the fall of 2011. She is pictured left protesting, and right at the July full moon celebration

‘We didn’t want to be a religion because traditional religions are picking the pockets of the poor people, they’ve got their own class system, they’re all male run, they all have some corruption in them so no - we don’t want to be a religion - we don’t want to identify as that,’ she said.

‘We’re not affiliated with any religion and we never will be.’

When the topic of creating a non-profit organization arose, that too was shot down.

‘The NFL is a non-profit. The whole concept of a non-profit has been abused in this country so it no longer means anything,’ Sister Kate continued.

Thus became the decision to be founded with the inspiration of thirteenth century sisterhood, the beguine women.

‘We call ourselves beguine revivalists,’ Sister Kate said.

Her unique methods of protesting drew many to her mission, prompting a period of soul-searching for Sister Kate in which she had to decide in what form she would pioneer her ideas of resistance and healing

Eventually Sister Kate decided to emulate the Beguine women, who were 13th century independent, mostly single women who pioneered plant-based medicine and provided jobs and housing for the impoverished

‘The beguines actually were either burnt at the stake or shut down because they wouldn’t turn Christian. They didn’t affiliate themselves with any one religion. They grew hemp, they made medicine, they grew plant medicine and they were the first organized nurses in the castles across Europe,' Sister Kate continued.

‘They believed in women having private property and women having businesses. So instead of living together in an abbey, they wore uniforms like we wear, they dressed alike to be identified by their enclaves and they would cluster their houses together and work together. And do common farming of hemp together and make medicine together. They made housing security for poor women – they brought them in, trained them, cleaned them up, gave them honorable jobs and took care of them.’

As modern-day beguine women, the Sisters of the Valley aim to promote their ancient vision for caring and bettering the poor through plant-based medication – while also taking advantage of the connectivity that has been forged by centuries of advancement.

‘Our guiding question is – what would our ancient mothers do? But we also say, what would our ancient mothers do if they had the internet and the post office to get their medicines everywhere?’ Sister Kate continues.

As modern-day beguine women, the Sisters of the Valley aim to promote their ancient vision for caring and bettering the poor through plant-based medication – while also taking advantage of the connectivity that has been forged by centuries of advancement

The use of medical and recreational marijuana is legal in the state of California as of November 8, 2016 when Proposition 64 was passed. However, there are a number of varying regulations surrounding the usage of the plant, and in particular, the selling of it

WHO WERE THE BEGUINE WOMEN? The Beguine women established themselves in 13th century Europe as communities of like-minded, often single women choosing to live in poverty. Many of the original beguine women were of upper-class or high born families, but chose to live a more simplistic and altruistic lifestyle. They built 'beguinages' - tightly walled areas on the outskirts of large cities, which held up to thousands of beguines. What remains of these beguinages can still be found in Belgian and Dutch cities. They did not take life-long vows, but valued manual labor, abstinence, and independence. Many entered the textile industries to support themselves and their communities, or served the sick as nurses, or performed manual labor on farms. Many entered the textile industries to support themselves and their communities, or served the sick as nurses, or performed manual labor on farms. Advertisement

However, as Sister Kate points out, they are not allowed by the FDA to refer to their products as medicine. Likewise, they are not allowed to publish the testimonials for their products publicly, or use the word ‘healing’ in their marketing.

Despite the hundreds of people who have written the Sisters describing the success they’ve achieved with ailments using their salves, oils and tinctures, their production process lies within in a realm that can best be described as a legal grey area.

‘It’s very confusing – and it shouldn’t be,’ Sister Kate says.

‘But the international law says that if you have less than .3 percent of THC you’re then hemp because no one can get high from it. Then they put you in the category of hemp. But we are not growing industrial hemp. If we had to grow industrial hemp we would have to do 10 acres to get a handful of CBD – and everybody that thinks we’re growing hemp gets angry at us because that’s a wasteful way of getting to CBD.’

CBD (cannabidioil) is a compound found in the marijuana plant that is said to have therapeutic properties, as opposed to THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) which produces the signature psychoactive 'high'.

Although the Sisters’ farm is in northern California, thought to be the state most liberal in terms of marijuana legislation, there is still little knowledge about CBD and even less about how to characterize it within existing laws.

‘We are not growing industrial hemp – we grow medical cannabis,’ Sister Kate continued.

‘If international law wants to call non-psychoactive cannabis hemp then I can’t fight with them on that – for legal reasons. So we’re medical hemp I guess, and that’s not a thing.

‘We just happen to grow strains that have been developed – mated and mated generation after generation – high CBD to high CBD, low THC to low THC, and there’s been like 10 or 20 generations of plants bred so that the THC is practically non-existent but there still is a little bit of THC. And those are the plants we use.’

The confusion surrounding what exactly the Sisters are making has caused a host of legal problems for them in the nearly three years since they’ve been in business. They first established their products on the online sales platform Etsy, but were kicked off for violating their drug protocol. The group has also been forced to move farms on one occasion.

The use of medical and recreational marijuana is legal in the state of California as of November 2016 when Proposition 64 was passed. However, there are a number of varying regulations surrounding the usage of the plant, and in particular, selling it.

Proposition 64 allows for a maximum of 12 plants to be grown for medical use, and six plants for recreational use. Strictly prohibited, however, is the growing of said plants with the intent to sell it.

The Sisters have since hired lobbyists to represent them and aid in guiding them through the process of becoming legal – because their current processes lie somewhere against and within the county and state laws.

The Sisters' political adviser Will Skaarup of the Canna Group maintained that what the women are doing is in fact legal - although they don't yet have a permit from the county for their business.

'What they’re doing now isn’t that legal to the extent that the sheriff would love to arrest her, but hasn’t been able to,' Skaarup said. 'They’ve had a couple of visits from the deputy sheriff, but they have not grown more than they’ve been allowed. The product that they make is rendered inert – the FDA recently approved it to put in beer.

'She is legally engaging in non-psychoactive commercial activity because her products don't contain THC. The legal standard is .3 percent and she's tested .1 percent. She’s totally fine there.

'What we’d like to do is allow her a permit to grow her own product under very stringent conditions and there would be requirements – because we understand that the county cares about people.

'I just keep repeating that this is to help epileptic children and veterans and seniors, and wouldn’t get a fly high.'

Skaarup added that due to the passage of Proposition 215, which exempts patients and caregivers using medical marijuana from criminal laws, the Sisters are permitted to grow psychoactive marijuana as well to smoke - not just the low THC strains they use for their products.

Given the anticipation of restrictive laws on marijuana legislation with the Trump administration, the Sisters now have their eyes on Canada. Sister Claire, from Toronto, took her vows over the weekend with the hopes of expanding the order in Canada

The Sisters have since hired lobbyists to represent them and aid in guiding them through the process of becoming legal – as their current processes lie somewhere against and within the county and state laws

MEDICAL MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION IN AMERICA Laws and attitudes regarding cannabis have changed dramatically over the last 20 years. In 1992, no Americans lived in states with medical marijuana laws. By 2012, more than one-third lived in states with medical marijuana laws, and fewer viewed cannabis use as risky. Today, 29 states and the District of Columbia have laws permitting doctors to prescribe cannabis to patients for medical purposes. Eight of those states plus the district have also legalized the drug for recreational use. That means almost a quarter of Americans (more than 20 percent) now have access to recreational marijuana, and more than 60 percent to medical. California's vote is one of the most important moves in health and politics this election. The state, home to 39 million people, is the most populous of the nation, and has an economy bigger than France. With California joining Oregon and Washington, the entire West Coast is a haven for recreational marijuana. Massachusetts and Maine are the first East Coast states to allow recreational use, though a smattering of their neighbors already allow medical use of the drug. Advertisement

‘Gosh, we’re activists, so we’re very anti-lobbyist. So it’s very strange for us that we had to hire our own lobby firm to try to get a permit to do what we’re doing here.

‘We’ve been running this business now for over 2 years, and we have no legal permission to do what we’re doing. And we’re supposed to have a condition use permit from the county and the county doesn’t know what to do with us. We’re cannabis – but cannabis businesses have been outlawed. But we’re not in the THC business so they won’t shut us down, but they haven’t gotten us a permit yet.

‘We’ve been battling our lawmakers for so long that if I start talking all they hear is ‘wah wah wah,’ she says in a voice eerily similar to the parents in Charlie Brown.

‘They don’t listen to me. So we had to hire our own grey-haired old white men to work with these grey-haired old white men to get us a permit here. And that hasn’t happened yet – but no one is messing with us or hassling us or trying to shut us down either.’

Once they were visited by two officers from the county sheriff’s department, an experience that Sister Kate retells with a sense of bewildered fascination.

‘I said to them – they were both like 38 or 40 – “you’re too young to have this kind of attitude towards cannabis plant! You’re too young to be stuck back in that old paradigm! I say your children are going to be putting it in your grandchildren’s cereal to prevent autism, and ADHD – your children are going to be using it as an herbal vitamin.”

‘And they think I’m crazy! If they want to solve crime - every 14 year old boy, and girl for that matter, should be given a cannabis plant to grow. Mom should be saying – here take care of it, treat it organic, smoke what you grow. The act of putting your hand in the ground is a healing act. I believe that if our children were involved in the earth with their hands and growing things that were their own, even if it’s cannabis, they’re not going to go do Oxycontin and molly and heroin.

‘It’s an opposite act. Putting white, pharmaceutical stuff in your veins or up your nose is an opposite act to me of tending mother earth and plants. And if more of our children did that, we would be at less risk. It’s not the cannabis plant that’s killing our children – it’s pharmaceutical drugs, it’s a drug epidemic, a meth epidemic - and texting while driving.’

The Sisters' political advisor Will Skaarup of the Canna Group maintained that what the women are doing is in fact legal - although they don't yet have a permit from the county for their business

Sister Kate's son, who was formerly a meth addict, son now works with her on the farm, and has been clean for three years while adhering to a healthy exercise and nutrition routine. He also smokes marijuana, which Sister Kate feels has played a role in his successful weaning off of methamphetamines

Sister Kate says she herself has experienced the healing powers that medicinal marijuana possesses, after her own son was placed in a recovery center after developing a drug addiction in college.

‘He was introduced to molly as a party drug and came back to me as a meth addict. He’s actually been clean three years now this week – I don’t think he’ll ever touch it again.’

Despite not being affiliated with a religion, she crosses her chest in the sign of the holy trinity as she continues.

‘I think I got very, very lucky,’ she said.

Her son now works with her on the farm, while adhering to a healthy exercise and nutrition routine – as well as smoking marijuana, something he’s always been allowed to do, which Sister Kate feels has played a role in his successful weaning off of methamphetamines.

‘It’s not just the cannabis that I attribute to his good solid recovery – but the fact that he also tends flowerbeds and grows outside. His hands are in the soil most of the year. And I think he is getting stronger and building a bridge between himself and that horrible experience,’ she continued.

Prefacing that it ‘sounds crazy,’ Sister Kate also says that the women never mail products individually. If someone orders just one item – they’ll always receive something free, so that their precious cargo has a companion

As they await their legal fate, which Sister Kate believes ‘will only get more ridiculous’ with the introduction of proposition 64 to California state law – the Sisters of the Valley face another hurdle: their finances.

It’s not making money that’s the problem. In fact, they have increased their profit in sales by a twelve-fold in the last two years. In 2015, they made $60,000 in product sales alone. In 2016, that number skyrocketed to $750,000. This year, they’ve already made half a million dollars in sales from January to June.

However, because their business is deemed ‘high risk’ – credit card companies charge them eight percent, and withhold an additional ten percent of profits that Sister Kate claims they can ‘release whenever they want’.

‘We don’t feel any richer,’ she says. ‘We have one credit card processor that owes us $66,000 and another processor that owes us $40,000. It’s a very difficult industry to be in the way we’re doing it, because we’re insisting on using the post office and MasterCard and Visa and shipping internationally – so we have many challenges.’

Prefacing that it ‘sounds crazy,’ Sister Kate also says that the women never mail products individually. If someone orders just one item – they’ll always receive something free, so that their precious cargo has a companion.

‘We believe our ancient mothers would have hand carried any medicine to the patient, because they all lived within a mile of eachother.

‘We are using the post office to ship our medicine so our rule is that if somebody buys one thing, they get a free thing with it to keep it company. You can imagine, two women are in the same apartment, one woman buys five things and spends $300, one woman buys one thing and spends $50. Which woman gets the free gift? The woman who buys one thing - because we won’t allow our medicine to travel alone.’

A life-long rebel, Sister Kate has no interest in conforming any aspect of her life, especially her business, to societal standards.

‘It’s kind of anti-capitalist, and because it’s anti-capitalist it confuses people, and we like that,’ she said.