The Oaks Dream Radiant Life, The Sacred Well Provides

Beneathe her loamy rich and fertile skin, her frozen fragile salty skin, her cracked clay and pock marked skin, great trees weave their vast web. Roots intertwine, relentlessly faithful to life, even as species are lost, even as the luminous skies are poisoned, the waters depleted, the soil broken, the mountain tops removed. Even as we kill one another over finite resources and rigid ideologies. Even as we continue to dessicrate the fabric of life with systematic haste, she dances. With boundless invisible mercy she provides sanctuary to all. With wild delight she shares from the bowl of her great unselfish bounty.

As a child, the trees cradled me at great heights. I could see beyond the neighborhood. I could see the small farms and fields to the west. I could see the strip malls being constructed in the east. I could quietly witness the world in the safety of trees.

As a young woman, the onset of menarche brought even wider vistas. I could see how our lifestyle in the west contributed to the destruction of the Earth and the Wisdom cultures of the Earth. I could see what happens when a culture places profit before the health & vitality of the land and the people. And so I turned to the Earth, that I might learn how to turn with the Earth. How to honor creation? How to grow the heart and soul in a culture that only teaches to the head? How to seek forgiveness for the acts of genocide that my forebears committed in order to secure land throughout America? How to contribute to one's community and generate a livelhood without causing further harm? How to cultivate a life-sustaining culture that honors all life? How to lift up and honor the deep brilliance in our children?

As a woman, I walk with the strength and enduring joy of an oak. I draw strength and solidarity from the roots of our common ancestry---from the ancient celtic oak groves, from the dryside pines and streamside willows. I gather the whispering tall grass prairie up through the core of my heartwood and weave a brilliant skirt of high mountain wild flowers around my waist. I have faced many great sorrows and setbacks, and yet this deep connection to the soul of the Earth keeps me dancing. I sing mercy. I offer sanctuary. I spin with wild delight, regardless of the circumstances we face, and share from the the great bounty of which we are all a part.

In the face of such great global challenges and opportunities, I draw creative strength from the common well that exists within my soul, our collective soul, the cosmic well of pure beginnings and infinite potential. I kneel within the quiet ecology of my soul, where life's roots reach and mingle in the clear water---and I drink.

Beneathe our white sandy skin, our night sky skin, our dusty red skin, our golden furrowed bark and gray wooly hide, we are truly one, and never alone. We share silent wisdom in the night and draw forth nourishment to do what we've come here to do, to say what we need to say to bring an end to war and needless suffering. To meet the basic needs of six billion human beings without compromising the integrity of Earth's whirling body.

As children, as young women, as women leaders in full blazing bloom, as grandmother moon, we stand in strength, solidarity and unwavering respect for the miraculous beauty of life from the inside out. As women, we stand as a community of far reaching trees, a forest of unbroken reverence---our roots work their way under and through the sea and soil and sky like a life-honoring radiance. Our ancient loving wisdom catches in the heart of everyone and everything within the sacred song of life, as we gather at the well, and drink.