special place, created space, wild magic of nature~~

i was standing there on the mound as the sun set. an orange glow sprinkled through the leaves onto my shoulders, illuminating the place i was standing. i looked down at the ground and saw the sea shells i put there. it is now a sacred place, full of woman’s wisdom, full moon magic, special intention. it was a place i have released my soul and i feel its magic as i stand there.

the wild oregano, thyme, wild mint.. none of it can be contained here in the suburbs. these are wild ancient herbs that grow up from the earth after tapping roots down, gently, firmly, branching beneath the surface of the earth. this is now a magical space. i have created a magical space and from that initial act of creation, it creates itself again and again. the echinacea, soft pink petals, spiky brown centers; medicine root taps beneath. the wild columbine, standing tall, spread branches with seed carriers fronding out. the wood sorrel, the strawberry, the daisy, sweet sweet flowers of life. all contained here on the hill with sacred transported rock and stone, sea shell fragment and full piece.

this is a woman’s space, this is a healing place. this is a created place, now with a wild face. 

Day 5: a place of health, ease & rest

There is bright sun. It is morning sun in the summer. I have arrived to the platform just in time. The platform at the nearby nature preserve, the platform that sits in the middle of the wild field. There is a mowed pathway to the wooden platform. The path is full of black eyed susans, lavender bee balm, young poplars, raspberries and, as I make my way, a red tailed hawk soars across the field near the adjoining tree line. I’ve brought my journal, a book, a yoga mat and my hat. I’ve put my sun screen on and I have an extra shirt.

It is very breezy out in the middle of this field above the plants on the platform. The sun shines through the surrounding forest creating the most lovely orange glow. Being in this space allows me to feel easily thankful and I breathe deeply as I do upward & downward dog, bend over and touch my toes and reeeeach! for the sky. I practice yogic breathing exercises and expel all the stagnant air in my body. I remember many things as I do these exercises and I am again amazed at the shifting realities of consciousness – how a change in setting, posture, stretches and deep and slow or shallow and rhythmic breathing can change thoughts, perceptions and feelings- in a term, they can change reality. The air is so fresh and I’m able to deeeeeply take it in after the breathing exercises. I feel renewed, as if I am a new person with new thoughts, a more flexible body, surround and filled by a lightness without and within.

I feel the soft yet hot morning sun glaze over my skin. I adjust my pose so my face isn’t directly in it and I continue breathing and stretching until I lay on my mat for some deep relaxation, to feel how my body has changed after all of the stretches and breathing. As I lay there in silence, the birdsong plays in my ears, along with the rustling of the cottonwood tree’s leaves. The field is a place of much activity and yet, unlike a busy city, it imparts a sense of peace. A playful rejuvenation.  This field is a tonic and I give thanks again that such places exist in the midst of cities and towns, sometimes, as in the case of this one, right off the edge of the highway.

prompt: “Write in different places – for example, in a laundromat, and pick up on the rhythm of the washing machines. Write at bus stops, in cafes. Write what is going on around you.”

 

fashioning rockets, haiku

he lights the stove hot
outside the shack black and white
experiment there

how sweet are your green leaves & hanging fruits

fresh beautiful solomon’s seal

sea of spring wildflowers: virginia spring beauty

in the way

We hold out for the hope of something yet unknown. Or we stumble upon it and remember what is possible. It is like the unexpected surprise of the every-time glory of fire flies in a field. Or the way the sun sets casting light through a window. These are the gifts of life that we cannot originate. We can only put ourselves in the way of them. It is my treatise that homesteading is a similar act filled with similar gifts (and of course challenges, but there are already enough reasons not to do it – it is time to write for the reasons to do it). It is my knowledge that the act of homesteading, apart from being filled with many nameable gifts, will also be filled with many unexpected surprises that can only be known by immersing oneself fully in it.

Listening to an interview with Lynx the re-wilder the other day she says, and I have certainly felt this too, that when taking a wilderness trip you must give yourself a month to get a week of purity. That is, two weeks in the beginning spent immersing and letting go of whatever you carried into the wild, one week actually being present, and the last week spent on the anxiety of return to the past life. From the surface, it looks like a month in the wilderness, yet once lived, how much of it actually feels like time in the wilderness?

All along the way, there is only so much one can plan and know. There is only so much we can envision. Then we must simply put ourselves in the way of it. Then there is the unexpected surprise of life that we put ourselves in the way of. A starry night with shooting stars. Priceless. A home without the buzz of electricity. Deeply soothing. A forest walk finding a myriad of natural treasures. The meat of life.

 

Philippe Petit between the world trade center towers

I just finished watching Man on Wire, a documentary film about a French man who walked across a tight wire between the world trade center towers in 1974. He encourages to live life on the edge, never repeating, never living from the past, but on the edge, as an act of artistic expression in itself in the moment. It takes such a leap to homestead, also.