The other morning, I stood there at the water’s edge in the gentle rain. Willow trees drooped around me and raindrops danced on the waters surface. I breathed in the peaceful earthy scents of wet trees and earth as I gathered inspiration for my writing, quietly listening out for wild stories and earth whispers. My heart came alive in a special way and in that moment, I understood so clearly what John Muir meant when he said….
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” ~ John Muir
Where do you go to witness beauty or gather inspiration? And where do you find your peace and healing?
We’ve had a week of torrential rains since the new moon in Pisces. The Earth is soaked and I’ve been losing myself in the magic of early morning nature walks when the rain is still soft and gentle. Dreamy mists, cool breezes and the wetness on my skin, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve found myself pulled into a place of ‘leaning in’ and deep listening to the whispers between the raindrops.
I will always love the way that raindrops – free, full and falling little universes of their own – make my world stop. How they call me out of mazes in I’ve built in my mind and invite me stand in stillness and flow with grace all at once. Traces of yesterday are washed away in an instant and all that remains is this breath, this moment in time on a great journey to unknown places.
Grasses and trees wear raindrops with such pride, glistening boldly with the lustre of such lush wet adornment. I’ve always wondered if they experience what I do…do they feel the pull of sacredness?
And do you? Do you hear the quiet whispers between the raindrops, the one that invites you down the path to presence?
“I always wanted to live in Vermont, and because I always get my own way, this is where I settled. The first thing I did was plant daffodils ~ over a thousand. The road was impassable, so I carried them in by backpack. And my rhododendrons I brought in through a foot of snow in a wheelbarrow.”
~ Tasha Tudor
photo by Richard W Brown
What makes a woman carry a thousand bulbs on her back up a snowy cliff to plant a dreamy field of daffodils? And what makes her wheelbarrow loads of rhododendrons through a foot of snow?
The idea of it takes my breath away, because the vision that inspired her to do so must have been so grant, wild and almost otherworldly.
Photo by Richard W Brown
Delicate flowers and the wildness of Nature clearly resonated deeply with Tasha Tudor, so much so that she gave them centre stage in her life. Her profound passion strongly influenced her home, the way that she lived and her work as an illustrator. As it turns out the magnificent garden that Tasha Tudor nurtured into being was something quite extraordinary – vast expanses of flowering beauty like a picture straight out of a fairy tale world – and she, the hands and heart behind the master creation was just as extraordinary a person too.
Photo by Richard W Brown
When I see the pictures of Tasha Tudor’s garden and read about her life, it reminds me just how the wild essence within propels us towards extraordinary things. There are seeds and visions in our hearts so full the big things that are possible. There are yearnings and whispers that pull us towards so many things deemed unimaginable. Too often we dismiss them because they don’t fit the mould of what we’re told is reasonable or acceptable in modern day terms. But is there really any real reason why you cannot allow the pull of your wild soul to propel you towards extraordinary things?
Photo by Richard W Brown
What would happen if you said yes to planting a thousand hope-filled bulbs in the wild flowering meadow of your own heart soil? How much would be possible if we gave the brave stirrings within even half the chance that we give the voices of doubt?
Jodi Sky Rogers 