wilderness vigil

Across time and in a myriad of ways, our ancestors of all cultures have gone into the wild to turn and retune their ear to the many-voiced landscape and living earth. To seek guidance in times of doubt and uncertainty, and to mark life transitions. They sought intimate closeness with That-Which-Animates-All. What they found was that time alone with the natural world, refreshing exposure to the elements in an unexplored place offered a personal trial, a gift and a profound shift in ones sense of self and world.

 

Our ancestors knew about the importance of these practices for supporting and nurturing individuals and community, but modern cultures appear to have forgotten their necessity for cultivating well-being and a deeper sense of belonging. Instead, many of us find ourselves strangers in our own lives, unsure of our place and value, and hungry for a connection with an enduring spirit and the dependable rhythms of the earth.

 

The wilderness we go into is not simply an encouraging backdrop for people to "work through issues". Rather it is the place where the restoration of wellbeing can happen through spending time in the knowledge of belonging, surrounded by kin. We allow ourselves to be re-calibrated, like a tuning fork, to a wider reality of not-just-human Life, reminding ourselves that we are not alone. We are reviving an age-old reciprocity with a many-voiced world. The teachings that happen here are not from the human realm. Here it is the wizened silence of an ancient Cedar that may share an insight with you, an encounter with lizard, the high cry of a kestrel overhead as a guide