Today is Halloween, the time when the veil is thinnest been THIS world and the SPIRIT world. The ancient Celts called it Samhain Eve, the liminal space between summer and winter - which, of course - is precisely what the month of November is.
This Halloween, I would invite us to remain open to the communication coming not so much from PEOPLE who have passed on, but from the benevolent NATURE spirits inhabiting the landscapes where we live
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On his wilderness adventures, John Muir found close companionship, as he put it, with "rock and water spirits," with “plant people,” “insect people,” and other landscape beings. Taking a passage from the biblical Book of Hebrews which speaks of the “cloud of witnesses” that accompanies and brings encouragement to a living person of faith, Muir changed the meaning to suit his own experience. For although the scriptural author was referring to men and women of faith who had died and passed on to the next life, Muir found this cloud of witnesses in meadows full of flowers, in swarms of insects, in alpine rockpiles, and among a multitude of wild streams. For him, all of these creatures were friends, sent by God to nurture him. In fact, he even found friendship in the stars. As he once put it, “You . . . eat your crust and lie down in the mighty solitude. The great stars shine over the cliffs, one constellation after another, sweeping across from peak to peak, looking down, wondrous, near and clear, seemingly conscious and returning your gaze.”
The prophet Elijah once heard the Great Mystery speak to him in a “still, small voice” while he was seeking guidance in the desert (see 1 Kings 19:12). Similarly, Muir heard this voice reverberating in all of the many landscape features – especially mountains – that he encountered on his wilderness journeys. For example, while climbing one summer day in the Sierra, he said of the mountains that “Many still, small voices . . . are calling, ‘Come higher.’ ”
The Christian tradition refers to this still, small voice as that of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus spoke of the “Holy Ghost” as a divine companion who would guide and comfort his disciples, so Muir discovered God’s Spirit speaking in what he called “the Holy Ghosts of glaciers” which he studied in the high country of Yosemite. In fact, he viewed even transformative wilderness experiences as inhabited by "the Holy Ghost." As he put it, “Visions like these . . . saturate every fibre of the body and soul, dwelling in us and with us, like holy spirits . . .”
For Muir, it made sense to say that human beings are not the only creatures with whom one can have a personal relationship. He believed that because both God and the feminine Earth are personal, it makes sense that their personalities would transfer in turn to all of their creatures, including plants, animals, glaciers and mountains. As he put it, “The whole wilderness seems to be alive and familiar, full of humanity. The very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly. No wonder, when we consider that we all have the same Father and Mother.”
This Halloween, may we be open in a special way to the landscape spirits present all around us who want to help us along on our journey through life!
Photos: (Top) "Fingers" of rock jutting up through the mist, Emerald Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014; (Middle) Hallett Peak appearing through the fog, Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, October 27, 2014; (Bottom) Cottonwood trees glowing in last light, with The Devil's Backbone looming in the background, near Loveland, CO, October 30, 2014
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