I hope that my words find you in a space of peace. I’d like to invite you into a moment of stillness and deep breathing.
Look at the ocean picture below and breathe in its wild healing.
Relax and be open to following the ocean’s wisdom. Does it have anything to teach you? Let your breath and heart synchronise to the rhythm of the waves…deep, slow and steady.
Listen to what it is telling you.
Which part of yourself to do see a reflection of when you watch the waves? What place inside of you does the immense ocean mirror?
What does that part of you need right now? And how can you draw the medicine of the sea into your body and soul?
Spending the last few weeks of the year (2015) at the coast made me feel that I want to be like to ocean, because no matter how far it stretches out venturing over the shores, it always washes back and returns home to itself in the next breath.
Do you know what it feels like to come home to your own full heart over and over again? To be held in its grace?
I think we all do in some way. I want to feel the thrill of that reunion in a much bigger way, though. I want to rush back into my own arms and be fully immersed in my centre, my essence, in a more complete and accepting way than I’ve always struggled to. Don’t you?
Right now, the old tides of time have washed out to sea and are long gone. New waves are slowly washing in like soft laps upon a calm shore, a New Year full of hope and beauty. And of course this newness is stirring wild dreams within, awakening visions of what I hope the year ahead will bring. These dreams are still seeds, settling into the soil of my heart and slowly taking root. I’m allowing these stirrings to unfold at the pace that they need to, trying not to rush into giving voice to them. Slow beginnings are good. They make for authentic and solid foundations on which to build.
So tell me dear friend, what is your heart calling you to this year? May these wild dreams of yours be washed in love and light.
It was 5am and I felt like I was living in a Mary Oliver poem.
Mist rose with the sun whose rays slowly climbed from the horizon. In clouds, the mist lingered over the wetland. The land was breath-taking, drenched in mystery and golden light. What hidden wildlife would we discover as we explored this piece of wildness at sunrise? The possibilities made me feel like a child again. It reminded me of waking up at sunrise some holidays while my parents still slept and sneaking off to explore the hills or watch the sun rise over the ocean. That is the side of life I’ve always loved, exploring the world that existed before everyone else woke up and then returning home changed, a heart full of wild secrets that no one else would know unless I told them.
Misty Sunrise
My husband and I stood in awe of the natural beauty, and we breathed in the misty sunrise. We took it all in – the sky, the water, the colours – taking pictures of the magical scene we found ourselves immersed in. We offered gratitude prayers and did a short grounding meditation together, aligning ourselves with Mother Nature and the intuitive soul light within.
Waterfowl called from the unseen places in the reeds. Dabchicks sailed across the water. A pair of noisy Egyptian geese flew overhead, and an owl flew homeward into the forest on the other side of the water. Then we noticed something beneath the willow trees near the water’s edge. My eyes searched the shadows under the trees.
An antelope grazing…
She noticed us almost as soon as we saw her, and then bolted through the mist, making her way back to the forest. We watched her galloping, so swift and graceful. I wondered what elusive and skittish part of my ‘Self’ she mirrored. The antelope reminded me of the shy and wounded parts of me that prefer to remain in the shadows, still, quiet and invisible. I thought of the part of me that shies away from attention and that gets spooked at the first hint of being noticed, the part of me that runs fearfully for cover into the safety of the dark forest.
I wondered many things – How do I connect with that part of myself? How will I coax her out and win over her trust? How will I teach her that the past is over? That she will no longer be hunted? That she is safe now and that her wounds will heal if she trusts me enough to nurse them? I want to help the wounded antelope in me understand that sometimes the things that ruin us are meant to be, because they are also the things that help us grow, build our strength, our gifts and shape us into who we’ve become. I want to be like the golden sunlight spilling into the wetland valley and the forest so that I illuminate the shadows.
But off she ran, away from us. We took photos of the antelope running off. Through the lens, I saw a part of myself run with her. I wondered…is that who I’d been searching for on our daily forest walks these past few days? An elusive antelope-shaped part of my own essence? I must’ve been. I know that my encounters with Nature connect me more deeply with Spirit and the Divine Feminine, just as much as they bring me home to myself. But I’ve seen more clearly recently that the pieces of wildness which I collect – the feathers, the pine cones, the nature experiences and wild whispers – do more than connect me intimately with the Earth. They are a form of soul retrieval, because they re-introduce me to forgotten parts of myself, my inner pieces of wildness.
5am Nature Walk Antelope Encounter
That’s the title of the new book I’m writing by the way – Pieces of Wildness…And since my writing process and spirituality are both so interwoven with the Earth, it has meant spending even more time than usual in the natural world lately. I’ve been taking more nature walks, hiking along trails and last week my husband and I took off to our favourite forest getaway spot. I felt a profound sense of having come full circle returning to the forest cabin where I wrote the last chapter of Wild Essencejust as I begin the journey of writing Pieces of Wildness. I’ll probably be blogging less frequently for the time being, while I focus more on writing my book. I don’t want to drop completely off the face of the planet, so I will share in this space when and as often as I can. if you like, you can find me on Instagram or my Facebook Page too, where I share pictures and bits of wild inspiration, probably a bit more regularly than I blog.
In the meantime, how is wild wisdom finding you today? A feather, a flower, a leaf? Each is a piece of wildness with a story. Each has divine light and wisdom within, and has something to teach you about your own true nature. Reach beyond the surface to draw out the medicine it offers. Let this wild wisdom guide, inspire you and heal you.
Plants are ancient healers. They came into being with a mission, a purpose – that is to thrive as a unique but still sacred expression of divinity, as well as heal and restore wholeness in us.
I imagine that when their seeds first fell upon the flesh of Mother Earth and they began to grow where she breathed love into them, this calling in their hearts was their compass as they prepared to journey towards the light. And they got to work without hesitation, growing, channelling light and life-force energy from the Divine, from the Earth, from the sun, from within and transformed that energy into consciousness, healing and so many other gifts. Each has its unique properties and offerings – medicine, beauty and sometimes merely the therapy of their presence. We take this understated intelligence for granted.
Healing plants are light-workers centred in the knowing that we are each embodiments of loving light who are connected to a greater spiritual essence.
Working intuitively with plant allies has helped me see how much they have to teach about how to stay in a state of flow, how to choose the path of least resistance, how to surrender, how to honour the Great Mother and how to be of service. When I bare witnesses to the way that they often effortlessly grow, share their healing gifts, shine and work their abundant light regardless of the strife their journey may bring, I end up with this question swirling around inside me:
Asking myself that question – How am I working my light? – inspires me to be true to what my wild essence calls me to. It reminds me of the choice I’ve made in how I want to live my life and what I want to offer.
Dr. John Demartini says that the quality of one’s life is determined by the quality of the questions that you ask yourself. I feel that he is right, because asking myself this sort of question helps me shed the imaginary shackles in my mind and brings me back to what is important. It gives me a point of positive focus
When you need direction, clarity, or a bit of inspiration, it may be worth asking yourself the kinds of questions that cut through the bullshit and connect you with the guiding light of your inner wilderness. Even when the answers a simple ones only allowing you to take small steps forwards not fully knowing what lies ahead, in my experience that light bit of guiding light help me to create a sense of harmony within myself and move from one stepping stone to the next with peace of mind.
Dear hearts,
How are you working your light?
How are you honouring your wild inner light in your work?
How can you continue to walk away from fear-based living and toward an authentic heart-centred life that brings you peace and offers healing to others in the process?
Jodi Sky Rogers 