Lessons from Nature and the Cosmos

Unless you’ve been reclusing under a rock, long before social distancing was a thing, you understand on some level that our planet is suffering. For years, I’ve been hearing the call to step more firmly into stewardship of Mother Earth. For me being in service to the earth is also being in touch with the Divine Feminine, the Goddess; She who creates life.

I tend to reject Goddess figures such as Kali, as warrior ways don’t resonate well with me. Strange, as a yoga teacher I totally get the need for the fire of the solar plexus chakra to make change, but I feel I and others respond more readily to a return of matriarchal values if approached through a few other chakras.

Perhaps all the suffering our global community is experiencing in 2020 is a call to the heart of those waking; a call to return to the gifts of the Mother. To return to a time of nurturing self and others in healthy, cooperative, sustainable ways. To bring back a recognition that we and this shared planet are interconnected; when one suffers so does the other.

And so, I stepped into the forest on my quest for clarity on March 9th; the day of the Super Full Moon in Virgo, opposite Pisces, seeking balance between head and heart. The weather was unseasonably warm, the sun shining and I knew my venture would be blessed when 5 steps onto the path I found a deer rib.

Deer symbolize feminine energy, a gentle heart, strong intuition and determination as well as being in touch with life’s mysteries.
Many things happened that day in the woods. I met guides old and new.

Here are the lessons Nature taught me:

• I learned my thoughts need boundaries like a river, lest they overflow and flood me with emotions.
• I learned to tell the difference between the angry cry of a bird from a celebratory one.

• I learned the difference between the sound of a small animal in the underbrush and the windy rattle of old dry leaves.
• I learned leaning into the sun with eyes closed can dance any number of creative ideas into my mind’s eye.
• I learned we need the seasonal winds to blow; they topple the old and make room for the new to take hold.
• I learned the cycles of Nature exist in me too.
• I learned the Hemlock will shelter us in protection.
• The Yellow Birch counsels patience, all growth comes in good time and it’s ok if my path isn’t straight as the direction I take is uniquely beautiful in my journey towards the light.
• I learned to sink into the elements when I lit the sacred offerings made of Earth and Rain, sent up to the Heavens by Fire and Wind.
• I learned there are bigger things than me in the forest, older beings and sentient ones that walk in balance with the natural world.
• I learned I’m no different from them except my mind strives to prove my existence superior.
• Lastly I learned my grateful heart is my most precious offering to this Earth and community we share.

If peace is what you crave in this time of uncertainty and fear, I invite you to step into the forest on your own quest to re-wild your heart. You’ll find yourself distanced from humans as called for in these days, but connected to all of Nature in return. When you pack your backpack just remember to bring your gratitude.