Storm damage

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Last week a furious wind and rain storm tore through this place destroying and damaging many in our beloved community of trees.

Broken hackberry

The sound of chainsaws is heard in the land.

Huge piles of brush line roads and streets. Centenarian hackberries that have towered over this shady neighborhood split in two, others broke at the crown. Mighty oaks toppled, evergreens twisted, silver maples torn apart, wild cherries maimed, red buds missing vital limbs…

Downed cottonwood

It is time to mourn our lost companions. Yes, this is another great loss in a year of many losses.

Broken hollow oak

The scars of this storm will last for a long time in our land, in our hearts and spirits, but we (by which I mean all living things) will endure. We will heal. The spirit of the land endures as nature regenerates and reinvents herself.

And later this fall, dear humans, after a time of healing it will be fitting to plan for the future by planting many young trees. Yes, this will be an exercise in patience. In this way you can continue to nurture and care for those who will come after you and care for the Earth.

Even after you and your loved ones have passed into the light those who are now infants those not yet conceived will one day delight in the cool shade, the towering grace, the shifting sun and shadow, the brilliant fall color, the heavenly fragrance, the spring blossoms of a healthy community of trees.

Young oak tree

Plant new trees this fall and make our world more beautiful, more livable, a true home for all.

Trees and humans

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We trees are changed by you, and you by us.

For millennia you have planted and cultivated and set aside special places for trees. You have designated places where no trees are to grow.

You have chosen and honored your favorite species, grubbed out those you dislike, created monocultures, plantations, tree farms, windbreaks, planted us in your neighborhoods for beauty stability, shade, shelter, food, fruit nuts, perhaps even companionship. You’ve introduced us into new habitats and climates.

Summer tree sunlight and shade

You have benefited from our giving natures, our need to grow in harmony with the earth and her creatures, our fruit and our nuts, the resilient building materials, the clean air and rich soil we bequeath you, fed by our decaying leaves, needles, fronds, the deep shade in summer, the home for birds and beneficial insects.

We populate your art, play roles in your legends and myths. We inspire your minds with our deep strong roots, our limbs reaching to heaven, our silver and green leaves soaking in sunlight, our friendly and loving energy, our deeply cut and protective bark.

Humans are changed by trees. You gather in our shade, go to lengths to plant and tend us, nurturing our growth with the patience of decades and generations, seeking our shelter, comforted by our beauty, choosing to live on tree lined streets and boulevards, take inspiration from our mighty old growth forests and find peace in our cool green woods. You seek out the graceful shelter of our interwoven branches and the comfort of our shade to cool your homes in summer.

Shade dappled tree

Trees give humans a model for how to live on this planet in body and spirit – rooted to the Earth, awareness centered in the body, branches reaching to sunlight and stars-

A bridge between heaven and Earth

Message from the Goddess Isis

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Align with the golden light of source.

Let yourself be changed by this light with higher healthier vibrations, greater wisdom, stronger energy and personal power, new insights into your life, less judgment about what is, a higher level of well being and flow, more room in your heart for the giving and receiving of love, a greater capacity for unconditional love.

Yellow swallowtail butterfly on wild bergamot

Become one with the light, dissolve into it, let it heal and move you.

For today, stand tall and do what source calls you to do, those activities that satisfy your soul. Your calling from spirit fits in with the great pattern of life on earth and the grand design of the universe.

You are capable of this, you are called to the work that you know as your purpose. The vibrations you offer in carrying out your purpose are required in the great symphony of life on Earth.

Bumble bee on purple coneflower

Excuses do not become you. Make up your mind, set your intention and do the work that is drawn through you!

Let your vibrations be clear, let them be strong and powerful, let them emanate from you without reserve. When this is so, you are a sun, you radiate a quiet grace, an inner power.

You doing the work you are called to do creates the future, weaves the web of life.

Time flies

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What are you waiting for, best beloved? When time flies, life is short, your days are numbered, do that which bring you joy, life happiness, contentment, satisfaction and love.

Make the most of your time here in a human body on our home, planet Earth. Move toward the light and please yourself. This life belongs to you and no one else!

You are the empress, the master, the captain, the general, the queen, the king, the boss, the ruler of your life. You get to choose how you spend your limited time. You set the tone for your life each day as you wake up and choose how you want to live, how you want to feel. Do not give this power away to others for love or money!

You get to choose what thoughts feelings words and actions you will entertain, what kind of person you will be. You have been given free will free reign the freedom to build and create a life with the raw materials of thought, feeling belief, action, intention.

Your seconds, minutes hours and days are all you have. They are numbered so spend them wisely!

More about living in the present

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Please do not cling to the past with all its delights and pleasures. Remember them fondly. Your job is to create new delights and pleasures in your now and be fully present as they unfold.

Step into your now! This is where your power lies!

Painted Lady butterfly on zinnia

You have come this far in life, balancing on the knife edge of each moment as it comes, lasts, passes into the next and the next.

Remember this: Worry keeps you distracted from your present. Fear of the future keeps you powerless to make needed changes to your life. Guilt keeps you stuck in the past.

Take pleasure in your now. Pay attention: masses of sun colored daylilies, a dramatic sky, your life giving breath as you inhale and exhale, your feet supporting your body so beautifully, your arms swinging in rhythm as you walk, shifting patterns of leafy shade on the grass, the summer landscape…an evening thunder storm…

Wild Lobelia

Make the most of your precious time, your precious life, your present moments. Live them fully!

Live in the present

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Turn toward life by living in the present.

Do you hang onto “how things used to be”? The “better” life that was, the simpler times, the happy days. Do you long for what you think of as your “glory years”?

My glory days were those sweet summer days that went on forever, when I stood tall, towering over the sweet earth, my green and silver leaves shimmering in the breeze, shading and sheltering all beings who ventured past, accepting tree hugs from walkers and hikers…

GCW in summer

But now, I exist in a new reality. Those days are past and I am learning to let go of the life that was and embrace what is. I will never forget, but I must move on with grace.

GCW stump with painted friend, the Lorax

Do you long for days past when your parents and grandparents sang in the twilight as the fireflies came out? You have these and thousands of good memories stored like a library of movie disks in your mind.

You can pull up the pictures, the memories and remember with fondness your grandparents home, the petunias in the window box, the pot belly stove in winter, the fragrance of lilacs, the soft fur of your tiny kitten… you can bring up any picture or feeling that brings you joy and happiness.

But when remembering turns to longing for a time that is no more and living in the past, it will keep you from creating beautiful moments in the here and now. It will distract you from your present moments that are to be lived fully, savored, and treasured.

Turn toward the true power of your life – your intention and action in the present moment. You thrive when living fully absorbed in this moment and the next and the next. These often mundane moments are your true life!

Embrace your reality, the truth of your present moment. And live fully!

Hidden treasures

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Dewey spider webs heavy with silver droplets. Silver nets stretching across the grassland, anchored on stalks of prairie grasses gone to seed.

Prairie spider web

Sunrise revealing hidden treasures only visible in the tender morning light. Each fragile sparkling filament shining, beaded with tiny droplets.

A fit garment for the most elegant of fairies.

Each web woven in a time honored pattern of breathtaking beauty.

Beautiful spider web

Do not blink or you will miss it. The enchantment is fleeting.

Rediscover Your Inner Child

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Just be, for a moment or an hour, like a child without a care, living in grace, enjoying all that life has to offer your senses and your heart.

Lie on the earth, soaking in her familiar healing energy. See the petals fall like snow flakes from spent wildflowers. Look up into the layered treetops. Above and beyond them the circling birds of prey riding the updrafts.

Watch the clouds drift and shift and assume fanciful shapes, then morph into something new. Watch the treetops sway and dance, hear the leaves whisper, watch the dappled shade dance across the green grass, tiny colorful birds visiting, feeding, bathing, taking flight.

In this moment you judge nothing; you fear nothing. You have no worries, no doubts, no distractions, no need to hurry. You exist in the divine grace of this moment and the next and the next.

For this moment you have no agenda. You soak in life, absorb the vibrations of nature, understanding your oneness with All- That- Is. For this moment, this hour, your being has no need of words.

Let yourself relax into this pure silence and pure grace of this moment, merging with all that is.

In this way you rediscover the heart of your inner child.

Daylilies

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Each of our exquisite flowers lasts only one day.

As the sun comes up, our buds unfold like bright stars and open to the light. We expand and blaze brightly, opening our hearts, living in the grace of this moment and the next, and the next until darkness falls.

We shine and glow. We open our hearts to pollinators and beauty seekers. We stand alone or in masses spreading slowly over the years. We live our lives under the sun moon and stars.

We sun colored beauties bloom during the long summer days. Each bloom shines for one day from our unfolding at dawn to our decline and wilting when darkness falls.

We daylily blooms must make the most of our precious short lives in the sun.

The foundation of our growth- our tough roots connecting us to mother earth. They gain strength, multiply and spread year by year. Our arching leaves soak in life-giving light throughout the growing season, feeding our roots.

We live to bloom. It is the culmination, the high point of our year. Our tough and resilient roots draw up what is needed for our elegant leaves of deep green and our exquisite budding stalks in June and July, months of long days and bright sun.

Time stands still on these days as we shine in the light of grace, fully alive in this present moment.

We open our short lived buds and bloom without reserve, each for one precious golden day.

The tree spirit speaks

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In my new state of expansion, I feel a freedom like I imagined flying would be, soaring like the turkey vultures that inhabit the wooded valley I once called home. Lighter than air. Free from gravity.

Soaring Turkey Vultures

My new perspective and existence as spirit gives me exquisite sensitivity to the frequencies and vibrations, the interconnected web of energy in all things. I feel the vibrations of the humble earthworm, the microscopic bacteria in the soil that endow fertility, the shy and gliding snakes winding their way through the prairie grasses, belly to belly with our Earth, tasting and smelling the rich soil, the dancing stream, rippling in the sunlight, flowing steadily without resistance to the river.

Prairie grasses

I see the empty place in the canopy where I once stood. I grew tall and spread my limbs wide. I felt joyful to live in my beloved home. Once upon a time…

Now I see that other trees and rooted beings will soon shoot up and claim the sunny space I left behind. taking their place in the canopy. They will soak in the sunshine, draw up moisture from the soil, spread their limbs wide. They will endure lightning, high winds, rain storms, freezing cold, wilting heat. They will thrive and survive through adversity, through lean years and fat years.

They will grow as I did, reaching to the light, sending down roots without resistance. Expanding year by year. Loving life!

Because life is worth it! Life is precious.