The Sanctuary

Because we all long for sanctuary, especially right now, I invite you to see through our eyes the place we call The Sanctuary. Here in this reading, may you find a calm peace that refreshes your own spirit of Light. And may you be inspired to discover a place of refuge and safety right where you are. For in every one of us there is a Sanctuary waiting to be created.

For Daniel

who has opened my heart to the deeper world of this sacred place

even as he has opened my eyes to the ways of the wild things here

Last night creaking trees called.

Called me to write their story, what they see, what they know.

“Tell the old stories,” they sighed, “the ones that go back

before Time was measured by your kind.”

This hillside valley, a deep ravine really, is a gathering place for Energies.

A center where the flow of Nature brings gentle peace

on breezes that shift with each cycle of Time.

Winds that send shivers of music through the chimes,

bell tones curling around us.

There is resonance here,

an invitation for melodies of the present to join harmonies of the past.

A Place to gather Earth’s audacious music ~

hummed by every plant

trilled by every bird

sung in colors of changing seasons.

Our corner of land is small really ~ yet boundless.

The deer who feed at our Deer Altar wander across imaginary land lines,

where ancient paths meander still.

Other inhabitants of this woodland, too,

Rabbits Raccoons Possums Squirrels Chipmunks -

not mindful of human borders -

jump our walls and amble under our fences.

And despite all efforts, this land continually reverts to itself.

Returns to its own wildish beauty.

Shaped by us,

but not tamed by any means.

Deer nibble at my mother’s cherished Iris. I sigh.

Squirrels devour seed from the feeder. You chase.

Bluebirds watch for bountiful insects.

Robins pull up healthy worms.

So glad we stopped spraying the bugs away.

The little Wren surveys his Kingdom from his Castle.

We think it’s our back porch.

But he reigns here, nesting in wooden boxes under the bench,

calling to his world from the wicker chair – his throne.

His Lady joins him in their vacation place – our woodpile.

And so his song floats like a silver thread on the cool air of early spring.

Far above soar Big Red Shouldered Hawks

As the Cooper’s Hawk glides through the forest

never so much as grazing a twig or leaf with a feather.

Their flight an ancient mystery.

As the Hawk’s piercing cry echoes on the hill every bird,

Downeys

Hairys

Titmice looking like impish children with tufted heads

Chickadees chattering

And Finches – gold, red, mottled – swooping and

riding their ceiling fan Merry-Go Round,

Freezes on tree limbs or backyard feeder or wherever they are.

One Hawk honored us a few nights ago.

His huge form soared over the roof to settle in the straight pines.

We caught his dusky silhouette when a slight ruffle of feathers

revealed him for that one second.

There he stayed in his cozy roost.

And we watched until he disappeared

into Invisibility – the cloak of all wild souls.

This Sanctuary

A place for wildish things to hide

A safety in shadows and leaves

A shelter from sorrow and grief

A nest for joy and delight

A place of inspiration where Nature

unfolds

her beauty

In Hickory leaves that uncurl before our eyes in spring

and turn to glories of color in autumn

A place where Mother Earth gives us back our offerings

nodding acceptance, acknowledging our love

and welcoming us back from any journey – home.

Lessons are learned here.

Sweet lessons of the Male Cardinal, regal red, teaching its dowdy Cowbird son,

fledgling of an interloping Cowbird who laid its egg for the Cardinals to raise.

We watched as the beautiful Red Bird carefully taught the little one

“how to’s” of being Bird. Strange pair.

Hard lessons from the Crow, caught by a Hawk before my eyes.

The cries of its crow family returning day after day to mourn for their brother.

Until one day…they came no more.

Patiently, silently, we called for them and put out accustomed bread…and waited.

The day of their homecoming we thanked them with great joy

for the honor of Crow friendship.

The Cycle of Life and Death, all One

Energy of Life

Course of Seasons

Love that radiates Power and awakens Knowing

Life with its mysteries ~ Unknown Lights, Strange Spirits, Dark Energies that

shimmer across the backwoods on still nights.

We are mere caretakers, you and I. Guardians of the Sanctuary for these

our moments in Space and Time.

Accepted Disrupters, permitted to build and dig and add our imprints.

She allows this

and accepts our gratitude, our love.

But She, The Sanctuary, was here before

And will be here long, long after we

have returned

to Spirit Realm and Mother Earth’s Arms.

Heaven you call it. On Earth you say. And so it is.

And all is as it will be.

Life ... The Sanctuary