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Come out and play!

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Have you kept yourself in the glow of your computer screen too long this year? Are you glued to the couch, too comfy in your recliner?

We the nature spirits of your land, invite you out to play! Let our shifting and dappled midsummer shade mesmerize you and bring you into the present moment and release your worries. Let the sailing clouds on a deep blue sky enchant you.

Tree swing

Let the flowing and sparkling water of a nearby stream fire your imagination and light up your childlike enjoyment of the simple things in life. Sail a paper boat, watch a large leaf float downstream, skip stones, drop rocks in the water and watch & listen for the splash…

Go to the playground and swing, climb a tree & observe everything above & below you, create a bouquet of wildflowers some might call weeds. Go barefoot. Twirl around until you get dizzy and then rest on the grass. Smell the clover. Watch for lightning bugs after dark. Take a moonlit walk.

Pure joy!

You are too serious! Leave your cares and worries behind and come out to play!

A healing practice

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First, gently allow your body and mind to relax, breathing deeply, letting yourself sink comfortably into your chair or bed or mat…

Now, imagine the crown chakra at the top of your head, gently opening and beautiful liquid-like golden light from the divine pouring into and through you like water.

Grandmother Cottonwood

Feel it pouring down through the energy center, filling every cell of your body, every organ, every nerve and blood vessel, every bone and muscle, every ligament, every skin cell…every microscopic connection between cells… Imagine the beautiful light filling them all effortlessly with its cleansing healing power.

Imagine and see and know this amazing healing light filling you from head to toe displacing and sending all heavier energies away, letting them drain through your feet into the Earth for recycling.

Now when light reaches your feet, pause a moment to enjoy the feeling. Then let it begin to fill your aura from your feet to your head, permeating every particle of your energy with liquid golden light.

Allow this light to assist in weaving your aura together in a beautiful tapestry that draws in life affirming energies and filters out all incompatible energies and those that belong to others.

Now, sit with this light and let it circulate from your head to your toes slowly and thoroughly throughout your entire body, then from your feet to your crown through your aura.

This is the light of the divine. Feel it, know it, experience it. Let it heal you and bring you peace.

Grandmother Cottonwood, summer moss

When you feel complete with this practice, give thanks, then tap your cheekbones, the center of your chest and rub the bottom center of your feet near the big toe joint. Let yourself come back to the here and now.

Silver Maple Seeds

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Once again billions of tiny winged seeds flutter in spiral descent to the earth where they will either take root and grow, or die to become food for the soil or the seed eaters.

Silver Maple Seeds

Millions will take root and reach briefly to the sun, only to be eaten by hungry creatures, mowed down, shaded out, flattened, deprived of water or air…

Their lives, their existence become a blessing to this earth. Their joy at living and fulfilling their destiny, however briefly is immeasurable, and strengthens the web of all life in ways unfathomable to human intelligence.

A few who take root will develop over many years into massive friendly shade trees lining the streets of towns, gracing woodlands and riparian zones, providing shade to humans, shelter to those buzzing and winged insects, flying birds large and small, and tiny fur bearers.

Silver Maple Bark

They will send their roots deep into the earth to hold the soil and anchor their massive trunks and crowns, drawing nourishment and life giving ground water into themselves.

Silver maples grace our world with their interlacing branches, providing cool shade on hot days, a solid place to lean and connect to the Earth. A place to know peace.

Every seed, every seedling is a complete miracle, unrepeatable by any manufacturing process devised by humans. Each one, a mystery.

Message from the stones

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Dear ones, you may think we stones have no hearing, no voice, no awareness, but there, you would be wrong.

Our awareness exists at much lower and heavier vibrations of energy than yours. Our energy is dense and compact. Our energy particles interlock and overlap in ways that create great mass and weight.

Cairn – various stones

Like all things, we have what you call a spirit, an awareness you might say.

Time as you know it is meaningless to us. Our life cycle from creation to the point of breaking up and dissolving and then forming once again into solid stone is measured in hundreds of thousands of your years, perhaps even longer. Millions of years.

We are in this for the long haul! If you want to learn patience, study the stones.

We have seen Earth’s history unfolding, we have felt the vibrations of war, of peace, of major human migration, climate changes, and times of peace and plenty.

We are the ancient ones. If you wish to communicate with us, tune into our frequency. We can offer you our wisdom.

We are eternal, we support your world, your lives, and all life on this planet with our strong foundation. We provide the bedrock on which all life depends.

We are happy to do so. We take our job seriously!

Like a tree

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Like a tree you can send down your roots and draw energy and nourishment from the earth, trusting in your ability to feed your body, live in the light, and anchor your spirit.

Like a tree, you can grow toward the light, straight and true, with no deviation to the left or right, trusting in the life-giving light of your true purpose to guide you and inform your growth.

Like a tree, you can reach out toward the heavens, connecting with all that is, trusting that you are one with all things, trusting that your roots will hold you.

Like a tree, you can send out new growth, trusting in the process of life to bring you energy, creativity, and soaking in the sustenance of light that is your birthright.

Like a tree, you can develop your seeds for the future and scatter them when they’re ready. Trust that these seeds of love, kindness, connection, hope, seeds of possibility and creativity and ongoing life will take root and grow where they are most needed.

Maple seeds

Like a tree, you can experience seasons of rest, seasons of regeneration and growth, seasons of letting go, trusting in the great rhythms of nature, trusting you are where you need to be.

You are more like a tree than you can imagine!

Please be aware!

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Why so many food wrappers plastic bottles, grocery bags, random papers, and unknown pieces of junk in the woods?

Please be aware of your waste and the effect it has on others, including other species. Those that must remain rooted, especially.

As the wrappers and junk degrade, the elements used leach into soil and water, our direct source of sustenance, and indirectly, your source of sustenance. For we are all connected!

Grandmother Cottonwood, morning sunlight

We trees and rooted beings take up our nutrients from the soil, but we can’t sort out the harmful from the healthy.

Plus, think of this! it makes our surroundings and yours ugly, toxic, unpleasant. I did not sign up for this life to act as a dumpster!

Wake up! Trash in the woods is just a tiny part of the disrespect for our home planet and unawareness of the connections between all living things.

When humans pollute and foul their own nest, poison their own air and water, they do the same harm to those life forms that support their very existence on this planet.

From the trees that shade and shelter you, that hold the soil from erosion, the tiny insects that buzz and pollinate your food supply, those that become food for the birds, those creatures of tooth and claw that keep other populations in check, those rooted ones that filter the air, those soaring birds that clean up the dead carcasses of fallen animals, those mammals that graze and ruminate – we all depend on each other.

Kingfisher

Whether you know it or not, we will all survive together, or we will go down together.

Take a walk

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Step out into the sunshine! Feel the sensations and rhythms in your feet, ankles, legs, knees, hips, spine, shoulders and arms, neck and head as you contact the Earth and move forward.


Grandmother Cottonwood

Aim to pay attention to your body, your breath, your beautiful surroundings and let those swirling worries, fears and the self argument go for now.

Leave your phone at home. You’ll be fine without it for an hour and you will confound those corporations that want to track and catalog your every move…

Breathe in the golden morning air. Feel the rhythms of your breath and blood, the movements of your body and your head balancing on your neck, the swing of your arms as you move forward, the beat of your heart, your feet contacting the earth and rolling forward, stepping out in rhythm. This is life, dear ones.

Feel the harmonious movements of your body slow dancing to the beat of your heart.

Immerse yourself body and spirit in nature around you. Can you sense the subtle energy of the trees, their protective branches sheltering you? Can you feel the solid earth beneath your feet and toes; The soil full of life supported by the living bedrock of our Earth deep below; the deep rooted grasses, sighing in the wind; Song birds calling, moving from branch to branch, wings flashing; Larger birds of prey soaring and circling higher above the trees, soaking in the sunlight….

Prairie grass

Now, if you walk by flowing water, the stream moving down toward the big river eventually merging and becoming one with all waters. This sparkling creek water dancing as it passes; carving out steep banks over the years, bringing trees down in late winter floods, creating sandbars, depositing silt and gravel, bits of shell, Holding life within its gold and silver waters.

Rediscover the ancient and simple practice that heals and calms- walking in nature.

In memory of a brother

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Betty’s note: Recently, my youngest brother, Steve died unexpectedly. I hope Grandmother Cottonwood’s words will resonate with those of you who’ve lost a loved one.

Now that a loved one has left his body behind and his spirit has crossed to the light, we must grieve this unimaginable change, this shattering of expectations, hopes and dreams, this kind and loving presence in our lives, now gone, this ground of the known universe, this brother that has been with us since earliest days.

Steve’s kindergarten picture – 1967

In the blink of an eye, the measure of a breath, the beat of a heart, our lives have changed and we are forced to let go, to allow his spirit to continue on in a new form, in a new dimension, one that is not so easy to wrap our minds and hearts around.

His physical form has left the building, but his spirit, the expansive peaceful part of him that is love, that is eternal and indestructible, lives on.

You and Your Device

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Beware! Does your shiny sleek blinking device deceive you and keep you from the life you might otherwise be living?

Your every move, every word cataloged, categorized, tracked. You become a subject in a huge experiment.

The world created and projected within your little object into your brain is meant to addict you and lure you away from the everyday world of feeling what you feel in your body and heart.

Do these examples describe you or someone you love?

Your device can pull you away from knowing at your core who you really are, your connection with nature and true connection with other flesh and blood human beings.

Empty nest

The costs can include forgetting how to truly listen to another, forgetting how to feel real empathy and compassion for others, not knowing how to navigate boredom through creativity, forgetting how to relate in intimate ways with those around you, and an ignoring of the reality around you.

Factor these costs in when you tote up price of your phone and service.

Does your shiny device scream “Look at me! Pay attention to me! I am more real than your so called reality. I can solve all your problems so easily! I can make you feel better with the swipe of a finger, a touch on a screen.”?

If any of this sounds like you, please reevaluate your relationship with your sleek and shiny device.

Make sure you are the master of your device and not its servant.

The next great adventure

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When this stage in our spirit’s journey draws to a close and the indestructible part of us moves on to our next great adventure, we call it death.

When the physical body stays behind as the spirit becomes one with all-that-is we call it death.

Think about these questions when someone close to you dies…and when you begin to accept you will not last forever…

Will the death of someone dear limit and diminish your life forever? Or will it fuel your life’s passion and purpose?

You have a short time here while in your body. How will you spend your precious and limited time?

Will you spend more heart to heart time with those dear and beloved ones who will not always be with you in physical form?

Will the death help you rearrange your priorities in life to those that really matter to your heart and satisfy your soul?

Will you learn to communicate with the spirit world and expand your awareness beyond the physical world, beyond the world of logical and linear thought, into an ocean of light and expansion and oneness with all things?

Sunset, cloudy March evening

Can you see death as a period at the end of a sentence in the never ending story of the spirit; as a pause, a transition before the next great adventure?