Back to Nature

As we gather on our virtual acreage today, I invite you to bring with you all of the items you have gathered from nature over the years. Have you discovered rocks, sticks, feathers, leaves and such from your outdoor adventures and taken them home to hold their preciousness near you? Bring them here today in your mind so we can all share their beauty. Thank you. I'm glad you are here.

Nature has been a huge gift in my life. As a young child I used to crawl through tall weeds in search of snakes and I would crouch down low when one slithered by, fascinated by its form and the way it moved. I would climb high into tall trees to see the lay of the land and the horses in the back field. Over the years I found natural treasures and took them home. About six years ago my then 5 year old nephew came to my house and shook his head in my living room as he said 'Too much nature.' I was surprised and didn't understand . . . until now.

Last Tuesday I traveled once again to a sacred site in the heart of our heartland. On the long list of items I was intuitively guided to take with me were some of my earthly treasures. I half wondered what I was going to be led to do with them and also simply trusted that I had been thinking for a while of gifting these to people because I knew their time with me was nearly done. At the first stop on our journey, I took the feathers one by one and watched them float to the earth. In the presence of those moments it was as if the birds they once belonged to gathered and rejoiced. The feathers, sticks, turtle shell, and rocks that I returned to nature were once prized possessions, gifted to me and souvenirs from travels far and wide. I have spent countless moments feeling them and seeing them in my space. What once was sacred to me called to be released back to nature.

Symbolically I felt the connection between what I have taken from the earth and what I choose now to give back. The earth is our home and my mind is meandering to how well we have taken care of her, how well I have taken care of her. We walk upon her and sometimes take for granted her solidity. It felt absolutely right for me to release back into nature what I had taken. I understand what the earth was teaching me. What I was really going for when I gathered these was to feel more connected to earth and to her beauty. Now I have that in lots of other ways. I commit to being closer to her in place of me taking parts of her closer to me.

I'm not suggesting for you to do the same but I invite you to contemplate the balance of what you have received from our earth mother and what you have given. If it feels out of balance, trust you will find the right way to bring your relationship with her into wholeness. Since last October I have spent a lot of time talking with and listening to the earth. She is so open and so grateful and so ready for change. I am in awe of the miracles that are happening in the moments outside of my awareness. Again and again I have been reassured that despite what quakes may come that the earth and all that is a part of her is well prepared.

Next week I will begin my outdoor living experience as I travel throughout the heartland camping. I don't know all of what this journey is about but one thing is clear. I was not meant to live in a box, metaphorically or literally. A house with four walls doesn't feel right to me right now. The wide openness of fresh air and wilderness is my next step. Like a turtle, I will carry my home with me through September pending further guidance. Starting June 2, I will periodically invite you to join me for what I'm calling a Walkabout based on my teachings by the Australian Aboriginals in 2000. This will include vision questing, campfire coaching and conversations and overnight slumber parties if you are so led. : ) More about that soon. I welcome your questions as they come.