Cottonwood Creek - My Teacher this Week
Listen with ears of the heart. See with eyes of the Heart. Pam Gregory
As I settle in to write this morning the day is barely dawning. Earlier I stepped out to see the Moon in her fullness as she moved to the western horizon. The stunning lineup of planets and the all the stars were giving way to dawn’s light. In the cool crispness I observed the clear sky, absent of smoke and haze present in recent days.
As I breathe in the fresh, cool air – deep and slow - I pull the afghan knitted decades ago by my grandmother over my legs and feet and invite Muse in.
Thinking of Gran reminds that I’ve experienced promptings this week to reflect on family. I, my generation, is the last of this branch of the family since I and my now deceased cousins each for different reasons chose not to bear children.
I don’t regret my choice, having been a partner in raising my stepson, now with a family of his own and continuing to hold him close to my heart despite the miles and life priorities that limit frequent contact. I choose not to create obligation or guilt, but to allow the relationship to flow where it flows. As Muse reminds me that a relationship based on obligation is no relationship at all, I realize that it is a decision that I’ve made with my heart, asking my head to follow heart’s lead in defying a culture that holds a particular definition of how ‘family’ should look.
These days I embrace Nature as my family of choice, the ‘family’ that I love and learn from daily. This is the ‘family’ I long to be in right relationship with. Muse prompts a wondering: is it possible to be in right relationship with another human while our relationship with Nature is askew?
In the little corner of the globe that I occupy and call home I want to right my relationship with Mother Earth and ALL of her progeny. This week She reminded me in Her gentle way that a part of right relationship requires asking permission.
For the past couple weeks, I’ve been gathering water from nearby Cottonwood Creek as a part of the experimental nourishing two pinon pines in the woods out back. Mother and Grandmother Pinon each agreed when I asked if they would be willing to receive. So, I began the process: bringing in water from the creek, mixing an Ormus formula, activating with frequency 528Hz tones, pouring around the tree. I’ve felt a deep connection to each tree as I engaged.
One morning this week at the creek as I busily filled a bucket and thanked the water, I realized that I’d never asked for permission to do so. It was as if the creek was speaking to my heart. The reminder brought a wave of guilt and sadness for my thoughtlessness, yet I knew that I was hearing through the ears of my heart.
I asked for the creek and the water’s forgiveness and for permission to continue. In hindsight I see that those words were more from my head than my heart as I quickly completed my bucket filling task and brought the water home.
I’ve carried this moment with me as I’ve observed with deep gratitude all the ways that Mother Earth and Nature support me with unquestioning, unconditional love. My heart sees the many ways that I take that love for granted, assuming that I have permission to walk on the earth wherever and whenever I choose and to use the resources She provides unconsciously and at will.
These are habits of lifetime and culture that I in this chapter of life I aim to shift by engaging the senses of my heart more fully from moment to moment and day to day.
I cannot know how my life would have unfolded if I’d learned early on to listen to Mother Earth in this way. As I feel deep gratitude that I am learning now, I wonder how our culture might be had we followed this wisdom of the ancients – listening to and working in cooperation with Nature. I aspire to do my part to give our progeny the gift of knowing. Perhaps this is a pivot we each might attend to in our own unique way.
Cones Birthing on the Grandmother Tree