cycles of life

Life’s end

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As my physical remains crumble into dust and become food for the Earth, for the insects and worms, I enrich and feed the soil that once fed me. The decay of my physical being nourishes the soil that sustained my long and prosperous life. The rains, snows, ice, the freezes and thaws have begun to break down what is left of me.

Grandmother Cottonwood’s stump

My spirit, the energy that supported my physical being continues, as bright, as strong as ever. Now the “I” that was focused and centered in the once living tree experiences an immense freedom, an expansion, a lightness, a joy in knowing my oneness with all that is.

Gone are the days of knowing the baking heat and withering drought, chill winter winds, eroding washes of driving rain, the threat of lightening and high winds.

I loved my life in the form of a magnificent cottonwood tree in spite of harsh weather, boring insects, men with bucket trucks and chainsaws. I lived a beautiful life, connected intimately with the web of all-that- is.

My spirit endures!

And now from my new perspective, my spirit observes the manifestations, the ebb and flow, the dance of life on earth with deep gratitude and great love for all beings.

I have a new viewpoint on the web of life, or the web of spirit, if you like. For in my new reality I know without doubt that all things are one.

Cycles rhythms and seasons

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I sleep in the dark winter months after letting go of my cloak of golden autumn leaves, waking as my sap rises in spring and my buds unroll to soak in the sunlight…. It is my yearly cycle of life, death and life again. This is who I am! I am at peace.

Observe the age-old cycles of the moon, from full brilliant light to complete darkness, then back gradually to full light again. Each phase of the moon is necessary to the next, an integral part of the whole pattern.

She teaches patience, timing, renewal, shining brightly, allowing herself to rest in darkness, then rising and shining again.

Almost full moon

Do you as a woman resist the time of blood each month, call it a curse? Do you fear the change of life, fear that you will be finished, washed up, that you will be invisible, a dried up husk?

Do you as a man fear the time of life when your physical strength diminishes, when you slow down?

We are all creatures of Earth’s rhythms and cosmic cycles, each species with its own patterns and timing. You too have your seasons of growth, death of the old, rebirth, and regeneration.

Your ever present breath, like waves on a beach; your constant heartbeat, your rhythmic footsteps; your patterns of waking and sleeping accompany you all your days and nights on this earth.

Let your rhythms soothe you, let the breath and heartbeat carry you to sleep at night. Let them calm you when you are anxious.

Let your footfalls and the easy swing of your arms grace your day as you move about your business. Can you slow down and pay attention to these subtle movements within you?

Dear one, this season you find yourself in is your reality now! You are precious as you are! You are as you are meant to be!

When you know this, you will learn to live in harmony with the cycles and seasons of your life, large and small.

Waves of emotion

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My dear beloved ones, do you flow with the rhythms, cycles and seasons of your lives, or do you resist them and run your life by the clock, the work schedule, the calendar, or the convenience of others? Life is so much easier when you allow yourself to be as nature in her ageless wisdom created you.

It feels wonderful to ride the wave of your life as it rises, crests and peaks in periods of well-being, happiness and maybe even joy…

The wave you are riding may at times dip downward into the shadows, into a place you may not have been before. Perhaps the wave takes you to a place of darkness, of strong emotions, grief, or illness.

Can you remain steadfast as you pay attention to the energy that wants and needs to move through you? Can you be still and allow yourself to feel what you feel? Can you focus on your breath and heartbeat as you feel?

(Ask for help from a healer, therapist or friend if you are feeling overwhelmed…)

In time you will rise back up into the light, renewing and recharging yourself, rediscovering your passions, reinventing your life – like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly!

It is in the nature of waves to rise and fall, then rise again.

The cycle of life comes around once more as day follows night. It can assist you in letting go of the old tired ways of being, washing through you, clearing you of the unhealthy patterns and feelings you’ve held onto. Know that, like the moon, you will move into the light once again and shine brightly!

All this is life, dear one. Hang on for the ride!

Have you been touched by frost?

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Late autumn frosts come with lace edged beauty, cruelly cutting down grasses and wildflowers, insects, tender life forms. But frost cannot destroy those living perennial roots deep underground that sleep in their dark bed of soil.

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Frosty wildflower leaves

If you have lived more than a few decades on this planet, you have known the icy fingers of frost. You have experienced the tender green shoots of life frozen by loss, hurt, trauma, betrayal…

When you fear all is lost after a freeze, life springs again from your roots, sending green shoots and leaves toward the light.  New life and growth and inspiration gives you new energy, new hope and courage to reclaim your power.

If your heart still beats in your chest, your roots can gather strength and you will live fully once again.

Dear one, you must have patience and allow the season of winter its full due. Take heart. Winter is a season of life, a part of each soul’s journey no matter where you live.

If you’ve been touched by frost, let yourself rest, conserve energy, let your roots gather nourishment and strength . Come spring you will feel and know the new growth within you, unfolding, reaching toward the light, inspiring you to live fully!

Letting go

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The season of letting go has come around on the cosmic wheel once again. I will soon release this year’s crop of golden leaves that soaked up the sun and fed me all summer. It is the time of the waning year, the waning moon. Time to let go.

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Grandmother Cottonwood, golden leaf

I must release my beautiful crown of leaves that shimmered in the breeze through sunlight and shadow, moonlight and midsummer heat. They will not needed during the cold dark months.

Releasing, surrendering, letting go – good practice for the final act of letting go that all living creatures must experience – a rehearsal for death, the great transition.

I bow to the cycles of life and death, to the inevitable. I make ready for winter, withdraw my attention from outward things, pull my awareness inward, down to my roots as my sap cools and subsides.

I will soon be ready for my winter’s rest, my dreaming time. There will be nothing to grasp hold of, no responsibilities, nothing to do or be or have, no agenda, no leaves to maintain. All the trappings of summer – released.

I may seem inert, even dead to those who pass by, yet deep inside, in my roots, below the surface of the soil, my inner hearth fire embers glow, ready to spring into life once again after the long winter nights give way to spring.

Change

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You stand on the forefront of great change. The very earth beneath your feet, the atmosphere that permeates your world are all shifting. You have heard the tired old words about change – that it is inevitable. These words, while tired, are true.

Even great cottonwoods fall, as the earth is washed away from their roots, the wind rises, lightning strikes. The great tree, reduced to splinters. The physical body, living creatures, trees, are all subject to the eternal laws of nature.

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Grandmother Cottonwood

All things come into being, all things die, all things are transformed into the earth beneath our feet; food for rooted things, reminders of things and loved ones past. Even the stones will wear away to sand and dust.

Do not weep over what has been. Set yourself firmly in what is now. Embody your life now, even if it is not what you hoped for, dreamed, of, planned. Gather your courage, heart and strength to live in this world as it is now, created from the ever changing web of all things.

Your higher self alone is unchangeable, the one true constant in your life. Some call it spirit, or soul.  While all around you changes, your spirit, the core of your being remains steady, rooted, strong.

Nature and time

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You divide what you call “time” into even increments. You measure the immeasurable with clocks and watches, shiny addictive devices. You live by the schedule imposed from outside yourself. You order your lives according to the numbers and commands of the little gadget in your pocket or on your wall.

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Waxing moon and sycamore

You allow your ideas, beliefs, bodily needs for food and drink, rest and sleep to be ruled by a pale and ineffective substitute for the real thing. Do these ideas and concepts and gadgets run your lives instead of the sun that bathes our planet in life giving light? – instead of the cycles of nature?

The more “civilized’ you are, the farther you are from the seasons, rhythms of nature, of sun and moon, and dawn, noon, evening, dusk, planting, reaping, nesting, fledging, aging, death, and rebirth..

You have been created to order your days and nights according to the nuances of sunlight and moonlight, and the needs of your body. This is the wise way of all nature.

Your bodies – all living things are minutely attuned to this light – the angle of the sun, the length of days, the quality of brightness, the position of the sun, moon and stars in the sky…

There is no match for the wisdom of your bodies in concert with the natural world. Work within the wise ways of nature. Become a student of her cycles, her life giving energy.

All time is now, dear ones. There is only the infinite now. It is where you must attend your focus. Pull your mind from past and future, from the pull of your devices, and live in the light, for you will only be balanced, focused and centered in your power in the here and now.

It is the eternal present where the true richness of life unfolds.

Winter solstice

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Dear ones, those of us rooted in the north now notice the low sun dipping ever more to the south, day by day inching toward the horizon. Perhaps you at the so called top of the world are already plunged into darkness.

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Grandmother Cottonwood low winter sunlight

Once again we have faith and we know as the ancient ones knew that our sun, the life giving sun, will soon be reborn and with its resurgence will come spring – new life – and summer once again when all growing things rejoice in life itself!

For now, during the darker time, the short days, gather in, rest, sit snug by the fire. Go inward and make plans. Cease your endless striving for a time. Under the frozen ground life is whispering, renewing itself.  It will return in its own true time.

Now at the solstice it is time to rest, renew and rejoice in the cycles of life and death, light and dark, rest and action. You too are attuned to these primal rhythms.

You are light. You are dark. You are sunshine and shadow. Embrace the whole of you, the whole of all of life.

Non-permanence

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Nothing in this universe is permanent but our indestructible spirits.

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Purple poppies

All is in constant flow and flux. What you call a stone is made of minute energy particles coalesced into matter, yet on a deeper level, permeable. On an even deeper level, nothingness.

Somehow, we are in a place where we perceive matter in solid form. Yet the pattern of non-permanence is shown to us in our cycles of life death life. All living things come into being, then must decay and pass away.

All landscapes erode, all cloud formations dissipate, all musical tones die away to the ear, bedrock becomes sand, and yet all deaths give rise to the new.

The upstart cottonwood sprout will surge ahead and surpass me some day as I enter my season of decline. Our parents will pass on, our beloved shade trees will succumb to age, our favorite pets will cease to exist on the physical plane.

Yet, the fabric of existence endures, as new rock is formed deep in the earth, as new clouds form on the horizon, as our children mature, bear children and become parents. This fabric is woven strong of spirit.