Second Communion with the Land
Listening on Election Day, November 2020
It is cool and cloudy today with a light breeze. I am below the driveway amongst cedar trees in an area I’ve never ventured in before. I slowly turn 360 degrees, back and forth many times, to ground deeply. My neighbour’s dog is outside barking; one neighbour is blowing leaves while another across the road has come outside to sit on her verandah. Nobody can see me but I am aware of their presence.
I am on a large beautiful stone. Listening, it is Cedar that wants to speak today. I had noticed a dug-out area at its base, home for some small creature.
It is the US election day. You (humanity) are looking for stability and reassurance in arenas where there are and can be none. Whatever happens there will be disappointment. This is why we, the land elements, have called you to be present to and with us during these heaving times. Your body-souls need this level of interchange beyond the fevered promises and arguments.
Feel the communion between tree-bark, slowed sap, gentle carpet of fresh leaves, patient stone, bird conversation and breeze. Feel the hushed yet vibrant otherworld continuing. Feel your body quietly rocking on the stone, silently entering this realm. Now use you heart-eye and see what you bring to this moment, to this place and the beings here.
Things have quieted. Farley, the leaf blower, even the breeze is hushed now. Coincidence? No…
Now listen again…
Breeze in the top of the trees, dog barking again, birds calling across the ravine. A car drives into a nearby driveway.
That brief moment of complete hush – that moment was the portal. Pull this back in mind and heart and glide deeper through that opening.
Rummaging through the leaves, a grey squirrel scampers up a tree and chatters at me.
Yes, you found your way. That moment lives in your body, not your mind. Your body holds the imprint, not just a memory for the mind but a living imprint. When you recall this, you bring the gift of witnessing — body to land/land to body — to the land’s core essence too.
Subtle teachings, but enough to feed you and to tune us, the land. Simple? Yes, though not simple when this way is so forgotten. Remember. Re-member.
Thank you, Cedar, squirrel, dog, leaves, breeze and quiet stone!