Northwest Regional SingPeace! Earth Gym Quest
"CRAFTING A CULTURE OF PEACE"
Cultivating the Earth Soles
SingPeace! Earth Pilgrimage for Peace & Global Harmony is welcoming groups to Questing Camps at Asherah, a lovely retreat site on on South Whidbey Island. The Gulf oils spill brought home the need for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel consumption. Since the SingPeace! wagon needs a tow to move about the country, we've chosen to wait upon viable alternatives before making the journey.
In the meantime, growing in my mind and heart is the vision of bringing folks to Whidbey Island for a questing experience. As you may know, I have been training since December with the Barefoot Sensei, Mick Dodge, who has recently created a dojo (traning hall) on Whidbey Island. My goal from the beginning was to make the "Misty Mountain Quest," a journey that Mick, as a "foot fitness outfitter" guides into the Olympic Rain Forest. The quest, taken this summer, has brought me into a refreshing new relationship with the Earth. Life "makes sense;" it has been enriched and simplified since my return.
Additionally, I attended "Singing Alive," a summer harvest of sweet harmonies shared in community with singer/songweavers from our northwest region. I returned home feeling: we must keep these gatherings going throughout the year! Why not invite groups from around the region to participate together? Why not as often as once a month? These could be overnight or weekend events, with perhaps a longer gathering during the summer months. Mira Gulum said, "Yes!" to hosting them at Asherah.
Why not combine the Quest with the Song? They go together, after all, because from the "question" arises a heartfelt response that yearns to be shared and brought into harmony with others of our "tribe." Inherent in the song crafting and sharing of our songs lies a potent path to peace.
Our Earth Gym practices are all about crafting and weaving back into the earth: crafting the soles, crafting the sticks, the cowhide sandals and moccasins we sometimes wear, weaving with trees, toning with stone, finding our comfort zone in diverse, natural environments.Toning our bodies, minds and spirits, renews our relationship with ancestors, tribe and land. These six comprise a holistic practice that "makes sense." Training with the trees, the mountains, the river stones, the earth, water, fire, wind, until we recognize our unity within them. "ME" becomes "WE" and we find our way home.
Starting at Asherah as a "base camp" on Whidbey Island, we will quest and explore on foot to the east, west, north or south, asking the Earth to "teach me." Returning to camp to voice some aspect of that experience, we can try sounding, harmonizing, "Crafting a Culture of Peace."
At present, I am scouting to find out if any of you whom we've met on the SingPeace! and Earth Gym journey would like to participate. We need to hear from you!
For now, I will leave you with the poem crafted following my Misty Mountain Quest:
Blessings of the Misty Mountain Quest
In this Misty Mountain home,
Earth, tree, water, stone,
Sound in me an ancient tone,
Finding my comfort zone.
Rainforest mystery
'Mid giant majesty,
Soft-draped moss-strewn tapestry,
Finding their weave in me.
While in my hammock lay,
Bubbling river songs relay,
Dip naked: cool water, root, limb and clay,
Finding among them new ways to play.
In the misty morning air,
Kingfisher, eagle, songs we share,
Touch each stone and place with care,
Finding "stone family," I weep there.
Spot a lichen-coated driftwood shaft,
With saw and knife blade, a calming craft,
"Hoh H2O," my rain stick staff,
Finding a friend to foot the path.
On a Misty Mountain Quest
Exploring my comfort zone,
apart from the rest,
Winding upriver, silt-lined glacial pool, a test,
Finding my dance, in pure waters I'm blessed.
In a circle of sharing we are all bound
To story our quest, hidden secrets we've found.
Pulling food from our packs, we offer around,
Finding tribe among humans on this sacred ground.
In these encounters, I ask the Earth to"Teach me,
"Listening to understand with honor, humor, humility.
Heart open in a land unbranded by human greed,
Finding my home amid nature's ecstasy.
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