How To Touch The Moon

Have you ever touched the silver moon on a clear and starry evening?

This is what you do…

When the sun has sunken behind the hills and the sky has turned to night, then gather a small bowl of clean water in your hands and wrap your fingers around it, nice and tight. Go out into the garden under the dreamy indigo sky and feel the soft grass under your feet as the bats and night birds fly.

Breathe deeply.

Listen intently to the wild stories that the garden shadows whisper.

Look up to where mother moon is resting amongst the dancing stars and sit down beneath her. Collect her reflection on the water in your bowl and then sink your fingers into it, touching her circle of glowing light. Feel her wetness, so soft, cool and fluid. Feel the light of her soothing silver magic cleansing your hands as you touch her in the water. Cup your hands to gather her moon-drops in your palms and then wash them over your face. Let her healing flow over you and through you as you exhale, release and let her clear away everything that you are ready to let go of.

You are moon-touched, dear sister, because this is how you touch the moon.

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New Worlds and Seed Pod Dreams

What if seeds were dreams? What if they were little gifts born from the hearts of seed pods, like ideas patiently moulded into masterful creations?  

I’ve long know the value of seeds, but I hadn’t given much thought to the pods carrying them until recently. When I gathered a collection of seed pods for my autumnal sacred space, I attuned to their deeply grounding energy in search of wild words to guide me through this season. I was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of wisdom impressed in their tiny brown bodies.

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Story makers, writers, artists and seed pods are very much alike, because all are creators. Seed pods begin empty. They begin open and receptive to an idea and they allow that idea to settle within them, slowly taking form. The pod understands that for a seed to be birthed, it needs a vacant incubator. So, the pod becomes a space of stillness where the creative energy of its heart-inspired idea or dream is transformed into a miraculous creation – a seed.

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The innate wisdom in seed pods knows not to rush the process because patience and stillness are integral to forming new worlds. What seed pods do so effortlessly doesn’t come as naturally for some of us. We don’t always know when to do or work, when to rest or when to allow things the space to unfold at their own pace. The masculine values ingrained in our society encourages us to constantly drive ourselves to breaking point. It’s taken me a long time to find the right kind of balance in my own creative process. When I’m not writing, I still have moments where I feel so unproductive and push myself to work harder or faster. But the reality is that sometimes what my words need in order to take form and come to life is for me to be a silent incubator of wild stories and to allow my ideas the stillness or space required for their evolution. Life Coach/Author, Martha Beck, pinpointed this concept quite aptly when she wrote:

 “During the times we think we’re being “unproductive”, the seeds of new worlds are germinating within us, and they need peace to grow.”

These insights really struck a chord with me. So, I’m letting them sink in. It’s good to have such grounding touchstones anchored somewhere in my consciousness because they become wise guidance for me to draw on when I lose my way.

Sometimes empty seed pod seem so bereft when their seeds have long deserted them to pursue a journey of their own. They reminded me that whether seed pod or person, it isn’t always easy to release dreams that you’ve carried deep inside of you, stories crafted from your own blood and tears. It takes courage to open up and launch these seeds that are so much a part of you into a wild and unknown world. We feel vulnerable. Yet, at the end of the day, our gifts, inner treasures and creations are meant to be shared. Like the seed pods, we have to trust and flow with the process. Each seed has a path and will of its own and when its time has come, the pod has to open up and let go. We have to make peace with our vulnerability and summons our inner strength to launch our creations into the world, and when we do, we are not left feeling bereft because the gift that we share are not lost, but offered. They offerings from a sacred place, from the profound creative force of our souls. So offering something so precious to the world leaves us feeling proud, fulfilled and free.

The seven wild words that I received when I meditated with the seed pods were:

 Release, Trust, Stillness, Incubate, Gifts, Open Up, Share

Following my seasonal practice, I’ve strung them together to create a new mantra to meditate on during this period:

“I allow myself the stillness that I need to incubate wild gifts in my heart. I trust enough to open up and release my gifts into the world because they are meant to be shared.”

Nature never ceases to amaze me. Her wisdom is boundless, her lessons never ending and I’ve discovered so much in a handful of seed pods. This autumn, as I work with my wild word mantra, I am open to the new worlds that the Earth’s vibration may light within me.

Equinox blessings to you. May the shifting seasons light new worlds inside of you too. 

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The Medicine of Dappled Light

Some days it doesn’t take much to restore myself to balance, just a quiet walk amongst the trees. There is medicine in their dappled light. There’s a kind of therapy to the enigmatic tree shadows and soft sunlight dancing together on my skin.

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It doesn’t take much to stand beneath their tender creaking branches and to close my eyes while they breathe healing over me. I forget the curative potential of simple things like this when I’m swept up by life’s complex currents, lost in the ever present pattern of busyness or bogged down by expectations, demands and the pressure to survive. But it doesn’t take much to step aside from it all for a moment, to feel the vibrant earth under my feet and let the scents of damp soil and rain soaked trees seep into my pores.

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Every day, Mother Earth reminds me that healing doesn’t always have to be hard. It can be as easy as taking the time. It can be as simple as making the space. It can be as effortless as being open, showing up and allowing something beyond myself to pour a restorative balm into my soul. It can be as crazy, yet uncomplicated and peaceful, as walking slowly between ancient trees – standing people, wisdom keepers and great restorers of the burdened heart – and just breathing in the unassuming medicine of their enchanting splays of dappled light.

When you find yourself in a sticky moment, overwhelmed by life’s challenged, would you be willing to go into their presence and rest your heart in their midst? Just for a little while. A small dose of shinrin yoku may be just the thing to guide you back home to the peace of your inner essence.