Prayer of gratitude

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Light and dark

Light and dark

S of Ames, Iowa has asked GCW to create a prayer for gratitude and healing for the earth.

A. My dear S, thank you for your thoughtful request.

Prayer:

I open my heart to the fullness, the vastness of all that is, knowing I am an integral part of the whole; knowing that every thought I think, every feeling, every action I take affects the web of all that is and creates the world I see before me.

I know that healing the earth begins with healing myself from the inside out! Therefore, I tune myself to the joy, the beauty, the love that is at the center of my being. I feel it and let it flow through me and outward into all that is. This sacred energy that originates within me flows outward to create new patterns in the web of life, reweaving and refreshing all that once seemed broken.

I now feel in my core a gratitude for our magnificent earth, and every particle that exists in the universe including myself, my thoughts, feelings, my physical manifestation. All of me! I allow this gratitude to grow and increase, and fill me with sacred light until it can no longer be contained within me and it spills outward to fill the vastness of all that is, to the far reaches of the universe, and comes back to me again in the great circle of love that is the foundation of our being.

Shiny blinking objects

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Grandmother Cottonwood, evening sunlight

Grandmother Cottonwood, evening sunlight

A of Ames Iowa wants to know;

Q. How can we invite more people to lie under your shade, to play around your trunk instead of being so tethered to technology?

A. What do you want for your yourself and your children? Rootedness in their place in the magnificent web of creation? A heart felt connection to the pulse of the planet, happy hours, soul satisfying hours spent climbing and communing with tree spirits, blowing grasses, blooming violets, jewel like birds, rushing waters, crawling creatures going about their business letting life flow through them, never questioning their place, knowing they belong to the magnificent ball of metal, rock and earth that is held together by the energies of pure love? This is the gift you give your children when you let them play outside, and to yourself when you “unplug” and let nature teach, soothe and refresh you.

The 2 legged one has heard over and over that technology is now an integral part of children’s lives. Is this so because you want it to be so? If you do not want it to be so, then find a new way. Use new words, use your power of choice.

When you plop a shiny blinking thing in a child’s field of vision, it sucks up all the attention; all the focus; forces their brain onto a narrow band which many humans prize above all else. Is this what you want? They do not realize the enormity, the vastness of all that is lost when the brain is focused in such a way for long stretches of time. You are in danger of making yourselves small, of building little boxes that shut out the universe inside each of you for the sake of mass addiction to the newest shiny thing.

Play outside more. Leave the shiny things with screens inside. Use them only at certain times of the day. Open your awareness to the song that life sings through you that is vastly larger and more complex and fascinating and soul satisfying than anything you can buy in a store.

Urban practices part 2

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A wild place in the city

J of Ames Iowa wants to know:

Q. What urban practices (for example, having grass yards) would you like to see stopped?

Betty’s note: GCW has provided two answers to this question. The first answer appeared in the post of May 2, 2015.

A. I feel the heartstrings of all that is break when humans bulldoze the land, scraping away rich topsoil, abundant life forms, knocking over perfectly sound trees, change the lay of the land, the flow of water that has established itself through the wisdom of the web of life and eons of shifting wind, weather, climate upheavals, glaciers, storms earthquakes and lightning. FOR WHAT?

Establishing your own rules independent of the web of life, thinking your mind is wiser and smarter than the heart and soul of nature… this is a fiction some humans persist in believing! Learn to build your homes and conduct your commerce in harmony with all that is. Release the illusion that you are in control of nature, for nothing is farther from the truth.

Why are you here on this planet? What thinking, what feelings cause this obsession with what you think of as “perfection” but is in reality a perversion, a despoiling? You have detached yourselves from the web of life! This is not sustainable! You are trying to live separately and create your own rules for a system that has been perfectly balanced for eons before you came and will outlast your species on this planet. This is a symptom of ceasing to listen to the whisper, the soft music of the soil, the air, the growing things, of the sweet earth to which you belong.

I ask you to find another way. You each have within you deep knowing of what is needed to create amazing beauty and work hand in hand with nature in all her ways. Tune in to your hearts. Tune into the frequency of the magnificent web in which all things are one and learn to live in harmony. Then if you still must register a “win” on your scorecard, all that is wins too!

Grass yards

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Weeds?

J of Ames Iowa wants to know:

Q. What urban practices (for example, having grass yards) would you like to see stopped?

Betty’s note: GCW has provided two answers to this question. The second answer will appear in the next post.

A. Having a simple plot of grass harms no-one. It is harmful to the web when only grass, only a particular look, feel and texture (a fictional carpet of green) is valued above all else – when all out chemical warfare is waged on all that is not-grass. This achieves a look and texture that has nothing to do with nature’s intention.

To achieve what some think of as perfection, foreign substances are introduced that poison the water and harm the life of the soil. Must humans wage constant war? If not with other humans, then with growing things; if not with growing things, then with drugs; if not with drugs, then with ideas you don’t like…or the weather… Are you not exhausted from this constant fighting and pushing against what is?

Nature is a balanced web of diverse life-forms thriving together. Those who want the “look” might as well throw a synthetic carpet of green over the soil as some have done! Do not try this at home! This practice cheapens the miraculous process of life – deeply complex and beautiful and joyous, into nothing but surface appearance. I am here to tell you to look and feel beneath the surface of things. Slow down and feel with your hearts, listen with your entire being to the miracle of life on this magnificent planet! Learn to work in harmony with the web in which all things are one, for you too are a integral part of this glorious universe!

Tree swings and tree houses

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Tree swing

Backyard tree swing

S of Nevada, Iowa wants to know:

Q. What advice do you have for us humans? Do you mind if people hang a swing on you? What about “tree houses”?

A. My dear S, the earth and all it inhabitants rejoice with the child swinging in the shade of a loving tree. We feel the joy, the wave-like rhythm of life, the peace and contentment that sings in the child’s energy! The world needs more tree swings!

Are you not tempted to reclaim the easy freedom, the pure bliss of living in the eternal oneness of the moment as you did when you were small? Start swinging! Trees far and wide welcome all beings who come with respect and wish to bathe for a time in our energy, to climb, swing, share a hug, lean in, and even to build a house that is in harmony with our structure and exist in the ever present now that is life itself.

We wish for you to know the love that we have for you, for you to know us as friends, allies, guardians. To know the rootedness and heavenly reach, the patience, the contentment we can teach if you will open your hearts to it. Come and be with us, whole-heartedly, and we will return the favor.

Grandmother Cottonwood’s prescription for pure joy: Install a tree swing. Invite a child. Take your turn as well.

Tree communication

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Sunlit sycamore framed by Grandmother Cottonwood

Sunlit sycamore framed by Grandmother Cottonwood

D of Ames Iowa wants to know:

Q. How can someone open up to communicate with your fellow trees?

A. Choose a tree that you feel drawn to. Allow your heart’s energy to expand as you ask to communicate with it. You do not need to be near the tree. Your heart’s energy and your intention to communicate tap into the energy of the tree, no matter where it is.

Allow yourself to be filled with the images, words, feelings, emotions, or sounds that emerge. Simply be open and be aware. Listen to the whisperings and offerings of the tree with your entire being. Receive all that is given with your full awareness. You may simply receive a feeling, without words or “content”. Pay attention!

Trees wish to communicate and be known. We wish to have our reality and our needs expressed and described, for you would be amazed at the secret lives we live that you and your motorcycle roaring, cell phone talking, truck driving, mall shopping, TV watching humans have no idea exists. Awareness of our reality will expand yours and make the world a friendlier place for all!

Expand your hearts and minds. Tune into our wavelength and become aware of the wonder, the intricate balance, the world beyond your senses and imagination that we inhabit! RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSES! We are honored by your request and will fulfill it for you. We wish to have all humans know the magnificence of this earth and all creatures who form the great community of life forms that is this loving planet earth.

What is the greatest gift for our children?

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Girl and her fairy house

A girl and her fairy house

L of Ames Iowa asks:

Q. What is the greatest need of our children? What is the greatest gift we can provide our children?

A. My dear L, every child ever born needs the loving energy , the all encompassing energy of abiding love from parents, caregivers, and those who spend time in their presence. For this is life-giving energy as rain and sunshine are to a flower. It is the mirror of their wholeness. It is the blueprint for their growth as human beings.

If you take care of a child whose parents can’t provide these things, your full presence as a mirror of their inner light is what is most needed. Be the light with them. They will know it and feel it.

Have you not seen a child shy away from a person who has closed their heart? The child can feel and knows that this lack of flowing energy, this void, is hurtful to them, and they are right to turn away.

Along with the life-giving energy of great love, children need a connection- a palpable daily connection with the mother of all creatures, all life forms, our beautiful planet earth. Every child must know the earth which sustains all living things. GCW sees and feels many children in homes of synthetic materials, staring into the blue light of a moving screen, interacting with colorful “educational toys” separated from the flow, the throb and pulse of life on their home planet. They will feel like strangers here until they connect with the earth and its creatures.

GCW also sees much fear of the earth’s cycles and nature. Many of you fear the heat of summer, the cold of winter, driving snow, stormy winds. I see others who fear or dislike insects, dirt, and what you call weeds. Fear only begets more fear and becomes magnified in the minds of those who learn by example. They feel such sorrow and grief at the great separation from their home, the earth.

The gifts of love and time to connect with the earth are not expensive and they bless the giver as well as the receiver. Blessings flow to the web of all creation with joyful expansion. Bless you for your caring work!

Emerald Ash Borer

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Ash tree bark

Ash tree bark

J of Ames, Iowa asks:

Q. Emerald Ash borer: How would trees help and/or cure their fellow trees? What are humans doing wrong concerning this disease? Can we heal these trees with our healing energy thoughts?

A. As trees, we see these voracious insects as a reflection of an imbalance. The web in which all things are one reflects a predatory energy that acknowledges no reality beyond itself, that has no respect for balance, no feeling of belonging to a larger community of life forms. All creatures must consume to live, but within the boundaries of balance and regeneration of all living things.

Where in your human made world is there an energy like this? Where do you see this within yourself, within your community? Have you not seen the earth movers and the bulldozers destroy an entire meadow and wooded valley to buildings can spring up almost overnight, concrete paved over, smothering the living soil so those humans who set this into motion may enrich themselves in monetary worth? Perhaps you can think of other examples of this energy that knows only itself, that knows no empathy or compassion. These actions indicate a poverty of spirit, a misunderstanding of the web of life in which all things are one.

Enriching only oneself while destroying life – that is what the ash borer reflects to you. So many of you look on with horror as millions of trees are killed and abandoned while the next meal is sought.

Horror, sorrow, sadness, hurt and anger are reflected back to you as are love, kindness and compassion, so choose what you transmit. This is your earth. Our earth. You, each and every one of you are an integral power source in the magnificent web of creation.

You can fill the web with powerful feeling of love for all of life. Focus on life-giving emotions and joy for the magnificence of what we do have. That will be reflected back to you ten-fold.

Expanding consciousness

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K of Ames, Iowa wants to know:

Q. How can we humans expand our consciousness?

A. Simple. Stop doing those things that limit you and hold you back! You are created to expand beyond what you can imagine… That is your natural state of being, your birthright. As soon as you let go of the rope, the hot-air balloon will soar! You are primed for flight. Humans so easily tie themselves up with unhappy thoughts, false beliefs, unexpressed emotions, unexamined fears… All these are like boulders weighing you down. They keep you from the ultimate exhilaration of free and powerful expansion.

The belief that holds you back more than any other is the belief that you can’t change your beliefs!

Think of yourself as the leading edge of a wave breaking gently on the wet sand. Can you allow yourself this much freedom? Can you dive in with a joyful heart and let the power of the wave carry you forward?

Ask for what your heart desires. Let go of what’s holding you back. Ride the wave. Repeat! Trust in the power that unfolds within you, the same power at the heart of every seed, every egg, every pulse of earth’s energy. You have at your core the imprint of expansion. This is your driving purpose! Each to his or her own heart’s center of gravity. Hold yourself back, and you wither and die.

There is no end to the expansion of all that is. And you my dear, are an integral part of the whole. You are wanted, needed, desired. You belong here in this time and place. Now you must let go of the shore and fly! No arguments.

Has GCW lost her marbles?

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S, last seen living in Iowa asks:

Q. What is it like to get old and have lost your marbles?

A. By marbles do you mean little hardened blobs of accumulated knowledge all packaged in assorted colors; smarts you can take out, roll around and impress your friends with their color and shininess; or glassy balls of fossilized knowledge fit for a museum exhibit? Just wondering…

I’m proud to say I’ve never owned a marble and I don’t wish to start collecting shiny objects now! That is a hobby for crows… Besides, how can I lose something I’ve never had? The two-legged one tells me that marbles are shiny, pretty, colorful, long lasting ball shaped objects that make lovely clicking noises as they come together in a bag or bowl.

I feel for you if you have lost your shine, what you consider your prettiness, your fun, your bright bold colors and think that is what happens as you get older! Even if you define yourself by the lack or sufficiency of marbles in your life, you can go out and buy more, can you not? Or find those you think you’ve lost. Sweep under the piano, the bed. They’ll roll out to greet you again. Nothing is ever lost!

Dearest S, I believe you think getting “old” is a problem. Think of all that you’ve gained a a result of your age! You are magnificent in your wisdom and power, your passion for living just as I am! Yes, I have dropped some branches that were once a vital part of me, I’ve been damaged by high winds, an asphalt path has been paved over some of my roots, I’ve observed insects dining on my leaves, seen many companions send down their first roots, then by and by grow old, decline, and die. But I would not trade this temporary life in tree form for any shiny object that would promise eternal youth. Look in the mirror and love who you are! Love the feelings that course through your veins for this is your essence. Feel the joy! Without your marbles my dear, you are so much more fun and light-hearted!