Healing our Mother

There were 8 participants in the Global Earth Exchange in Palisade, CO this year. We started our ceremony by honoring the 6 directions – south, west, north, east, earth and sky. Each person told a story about the wounded place on the earth that hurts them the most. One talked about the clear cutting of the forests in Oregon. One was most concerned about global warming and how the oceans keep rising in temperature and how it affects the animals and the melting of the ice caps. One was concerned about the mining and how it was a double edged sword, providing jobs for people and fuel for humans to use but also hurts the earth. One talked about a local trail that is next to private property and the owner cut down all of the vegetation and put up a hideous blue fence. One talked about the fires in the forest near Durango and what lovely memories she had from that place. She also recognized how fire can be healing to the land with new growth and vegetation. One talked about how low the water is at Lake Powell and how the mussels are out of the water. However, two new species of birds are in the area eating the mussels and the lower water level has uncovered Indian ruins so there is good and bad combined. One person talked about the ocean and the huge island of plastic that is floating around and killing and poisoning the fish and other ocean creatures. And last, one person confessed to being a hypocrite because she is definitely concerned about the environment but also uses the things that the earth provides and things that are produced by our inappropriate use of the land and water. Her hope is to come into a better sense of balance with it all. Each person brought a piece of fabric or ribbon or yarn to be added with our RadJoy yellow yarn and we made a RadJoy bird on a very large old tree stump on my property. We read poems about the earth and all put our hands on the tree stump and realized that the tree still provided life for other plants and some small insects and animals. The poem that we all felt connected to was this from the Wild Woman Sisterhood at aimhappy.com “The mountains are my bones The rivers my veins The forests are my thoughts And the stars are my dreams The ocean is my heart Its pounding is my pulse The sounds of the earth write The music of my soul” This was a wonderful celebration! We gathered together with fresh salad ingredients for a meal together after our ceremony.