I usually use my Silent Sundays to deliberately disconnect from all media and technology, and often walk in the hills near our home. I sometimes begin these sacred days by posing the question, “What do I know?” Then I let the encounters of the day draw the answers forth from the flow of experience. I am aware of others who are likewise choosing quietude on this day. A sacred web of connection binds us together and I believe we amplify the homing signal in the tumult of the world. Here are some notes from my Silent Sunday Journal:
Sunday, May 5, 2014
On this day of chosen silence, I walked into the high country in the Siskiyou Mountains near our home. The Siskiyous are an old mountain range. They sit at a crossroads between three eco-systems, rich with biodiversity that appears nowhere else on the planet in the same way. The rhythm of walking appealed, as I had a sore back. As I wandered down the trail I was overcome by a definite feeling that the earth (she) wanted to communicate with me. So I gave her a choice of languages, asking, “What do you want me to feel, see, smell, touch, hear, know?” She answered in her own time. First came an impression of sound as a message. These mountains are precariously dry due heavy drought this year, yet I found a rare tumbling, creek. I heard the rushing water and the birds singing their hearts out in the surrounding willows and lupine. I was quite sure she wanted me to experience the preciousness of water on the planet. Then my eyes snagged on a dried piece of moss on the trail—a brilliant chartreuse color! It had fallen out of a stately fir tree standing by the path. When I looked up into the boughs that the moss had fallen from, I saw the intricate repeating patterns of the fir branches against the cerulean sky. She wanted me to marvel at her color and design. Every time the path moved out of the shadow of a fir tree and into the heat, I was overcome by the intoxicating aroma of the thick bed of fir needles on the ground, warmed by the sun. That fragrance conjures up memories of family, holidays and an at-homeness that soothes my heart. She wanted me to remember well-being in a balanced world. I enjoyed the alternating bath of warmth and coolness as I walked between light and shadow in the thin air. Such stark contrasts and playful delight! Each was relief and counterpoint to the other. She then arranged for me to trip on a small clear piece of white quartz. I picked it up. The stone was the cool temperature of the shade. I carried this piece of her in my hand, enjoying the shape and intimacy of touch with the earth. She wanted direct contact so I could feel her living presence. It then came to me that the sun on my back and the quartz in my hand would heal my back. I found a log to lean on, at an angle where the sun could seep into my bones. I intuitively sensed how to breathe to accentuate the space between vertebrae and soften the muscles, so the warmth could penetrate deeper. She wanted me to relax in her healing energy. I knew the reciprocity that exists in the great oneness of all things. I knew my call to love and protect her. Amazing what rises out of the silence and the willingness to slow down and listen… With love,
Barbara (and Peri)