Reflections on Empty, Open Space
Through the summer, my eyes have instinctively been drawn to open spaces within the woods. As a great blessing, my porch faces a grove of trees perched on a hill. There is one particular opening amongst the branches & leaves that constantly invites me into wonder. How fantastic that if we wished, we could choose to enter those spaces and reveal a whole other world ~ the true ecosystems of life on earth. Within the forest shows the lushness of life, how a protected space is what truly allows for a home for all beings.
The fact that this fixation and focus of my consciousness has existed for months now has not escaped me in the importance. There is a deeper meaning for my soul to see and understand here.
Recently I read that in Ancient Greece they considered listening to the wind rustle the leaves of a sacred oak to be a divine oracle. Priests & priestesses would gather by this tree to simply listen and open to the guidance of next steps in life from what moved through. Something about this is so integrally human. I remember sitting under the maple tree in my grandparents’ front yard, my grandmother marveling whenever there was a breeze that blew through. There is so much revealed when we simply are and allow space for whatever is meant to open. When we strip away all of the noise and chaos that is a dead construct created by a certain consumptive greed apart from true humanity, there is a genuine space, quiet, an allowing for what is true to show. If I had but one wish, I would wish for every human on this earth to remember the value of sitting and being beneath a tree for a little while, just to breathe and be grateful.
There is a large magnolia tree that sits on the property where I live and the way the branches & leaves hang is a poetic invitational archway to my place of restful meditation and napping. Under that canopy are so many other plants, birds, insects and a vast diversity of species that rely on that shade day and night for shelter, food, protection. As I sit with myself in this empty, open space, I am bearing witness to the vast density and buzzing array of energetic impulses through thoughts, feelings, sensations that are normally humming in the background. The more I sit in this quiet opening, the more room there is to breathe, to see, to be in the home within me.
The importance of trees is so great. Druidry is centered around their importance, their existence as bridges between the cosmos & the underworld. They teach us so many lessons on this life journey and they truly help us remember how it feels to have a safe shelter to be and to listen. When we afford this space to ourselves, there can only be room for deeper clarity, compassion, understanding and truth.
The calling to write in reflection about this came all of a sudden and, as always, in beautifully divine timing with the Sacred Sound, Silence & Stillness Retreat coming up this weekend. The value of safe space to simply be & open to divine guidance is truly great. I always look forward to the opportunity of spending this time in kindred company.
