A Note from Erin
Hello, beautiful human!
It’s been a while since we’ve written. We’re thrilled to report that our little one has gotten his first vaccine and will soon return to in-person school which will allow us to be more regularly in contact. Some beautiful things are in the works over here and we look forward to sharing them with you soon!
What you’ll find in this newsletter:
Some fun links and resources.
And a short missive, right here:
I recently had a birthday and turned 48. The turning of the calendar has brought a few more silver wisdom hairs, a need to wear readers at night time, and deepening clarity on my work and my calling, which has everything to do with love. Love in the form of a gorgeous weave that includes somatics and embodiment, deep ecology and intimacy with the natural world, mindfulness, and soul.
I’m so grateful for the chance to age, as humbling as it is. To be honest, I’ve felt like an old person trapped in a young body for much of my life – a few more silver hairs feels juuust right. I keep noticing that what seems ordinary is truly not ordinary at all. The loved ones who are still alive, whose bright eyes I get to look into, whose voices I still get to hear. The pigeons wheeling around the city skyline, catching the afternoon light. The goldfinches at the feeder. Tiny miracles. Not extinct. Still here. Water in the mountain creeks still running. A meal – plentiful food and a safe place to share it with friends. Nothing to take for granted. The sound of a raven’s throaty caw. A sip of hot coffee. A new book. A hot shower. Everything is a gift. Nothing lasts. As Rilke says so beautifully, “Praise, dear one. Nothing belongs to us. Let us disappear into praising.” Amen. May the precariousness of our situation on Earth reawaken our reverence, curiosity, and lavish praise of what is still here. It’s not ordinary at all. And so fleeting. To lean on Rilke again, “Ah, the impermanence that haunts our days is their very fragrance.” Ain’t it the truth?
As I’ve been walking in the wilderness over these past few weeks, I keep repeating Martin Prechtel’s words to myself, like running my fingers around a Mobius loop: “The people cannot be healed until the land is healed. The land cannot be healed until the people are healed by the land.” Today, how might you, we, any of us, enter this kind of relationship with place? To heal ourselves, to heal the land, to let ourselves be healed by the land?
Embodying reverent curiosity and a willingness to be permeable to beauty offer a beautiful gateway to the kind of relationship Martin invites. And those qualities are so easy to lose unless we water them with our attention and devotion. Let’s do it!
I just completed the 9th of 10 weeks with my
Embodying the Great Turning course and hot damn, how I love this work. I’m utterly lit up! I’m head over heels in love with the people in the circles and the profound territory of this work. We’ve been communing with ancestors and future beings, listening to the voices of the more-than-human world, sharing our grief and love, and exploring how the times are calling us to respond,
all while deepening our grounded embodied presence, sense of humor, and deep compassion. I’m so grateful to be spending my time in this territory. More opportunities to join will be coming soon.
We’re finalizing details for our 2022 teaching schedule and we look forward to sharing more soon. (Anyone want to go retreat at Ghost Ranch in September? Email me to be on the waiting list!)
Tomorrow (Friday the 19th), I’m looking forward to my monthly gathering – this one being a
Community Grief Tending Ritual, co-hosted with my lovely and amazing friend
Francine Bonjour Carter. She’ll be sharing a potent fairy tale (in her beautiful voice and swoon-worthy French accent no less!) perfect for this time of year, offered to support us in welcoming grief to the table.
Please join us if you’d like to land in a gentle community circle where you’ll be fully welcomed; your grief and sorrow honored and held with gentle care. No experience necessary, no pressure to show up in any particular way. Our griefs and sorrows are not ranked or compared, and certainly not fixed. Simply honored and witnessed with care. We’d love to welcome you just as you are. This is offered entirely by donation and in turn, donations are passed on to Treesisters. We offer this as one facet of soul activism and a gift from our hearts.
Details and registration are here. With love and praise and reverent curiosity,
Erin
