Good Morning Mountain!

Every celestial body has definitive root characteristics. The root characteristic of this particular planet is that it is a receptive womb. Planet Earth is female and produces a mothering, nurturing base. Gregge Tiffen (Learning Without Experience Is A Bell Without A Clapper – September 2008)

Eight years ago (seems like lifetimes in these times of rapid, intense change!) when The Pivot was still The Zone and Thursdays were ‘blog days’, I wrote a post reflecting on our roots, the very nature of our planet home, and who we be in the matter of living here. It’s a theme I return to often in this chaotic time.

This week on a journey of exploring vulnerability, my relationship with being vulnerable (and my willingness to own my vulnerability), I was guided back to that post to revisit and remember my deepest knowing about Mother Earth, the root of who She BE and the opportunity before us to return to living true to our roots. Today, I revisit and bring forward my sense of who and how we are called to BE in this time.

The visual beauty of the earth here in the southern Rocky Mountains where I’m blessed to live lies in stark contrast to the visual appearance of the devastation over these years. Forest and urban fires, hurricanes, floods, drought, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions have ravaged the earth, impacting millions around the globe. We humans have fomented heart wrenching, deadly, ecocidal conflicts around the globe, and we continue to wave the false banner of ‘might makes right’, ignoring the very root character of Mother Earth.

It’s all too easy in this time to be overwhelmed, to feel hopeless, and to conclude that there is nothing we can do to turn the madness around. That is the very thinking and feeling that it is imperative we turn around, individually and collectively. Living true to our roots, nurturing the Mother and her magic within is key to making our way through the chaos and dissolution of this time and of returning to our senses.

Here in these sacred mountains, it’s easy to experience the nurturing touch of the Planet through my senses. Some days the smell of the pines is so strong that I can taste it. To touch a tree is to feel its strength and at the same time its vulnerability. The gentle flow of a mountain stream has been one of my favorite sounds for decades – long before I moved to these mountains. And the landscape – from the valley floor to the top of the soaring 14,000 foot peaks – is a visual feast every day, every season. Here, even on the coldest, windiest days, I feel the receptivity and nurturing that is the way of Earth.

Likewise, that same root – receptivity, mothering, nurturing – is present in the midst and wake of disasters. Beyond the sense that something old is making way for something new, we witness some of the best in ourselves. Neighbors help neighbors. Strangers help those in need, both up close and personal as well as from afar. The planet herself begins her own regenerative processes. These expressions represent the best of living true to the root characteristics of our planet.

And that - living true to our roots - is a requirement. It is necessary if we are to ever have a chance at creating lasting peace among all peoples of the planet. It is necessary if we as a species are to continue to inhabit Mother Earth. Returning to our roots, our very nature offers all Life the opportunity to regenerate as Mother Nature is designed to.

A sturdy pine does not grow from roots of tender grass. Only grass grows from those roots. Here are the root characteristics that I believe we are meant to live from and embody:

  • We are meant to have dominion – loving, nurturing, receptive dominion – over the planet. We are not meant to dominate the planet or one another.

  • We are meant to be fed from the abundance that the Earth provides. We are not meant to be gluttonous or to attempt to nourish ourselves with fake food or man’s laws disguised as laws of the Universe.

  • We are meant to manifest and to understand that everything we think, say and do manifests. From that understanding we can align ourselves with the true nature of the planet. We are not meant to suffer, rather we are meant to learn.

  • We are meant to adapt, to embrace change as a natural characteristic of the planet. We are meant to evolve. We are not meant to keep things, including ourselves, as they are or to try to return them to something that we or they were in the past.

As you go about your week, consider the nurturing roots that Mother Earth gifted you with when you came to the Planet. Are you aligned and living true to your roots?

Good Night Mountain …