“The moon asked me to meet her in a field tonight. I think she has amorous ideas.” ~ Hafiz

It’s always interesting to see how gardens develop over time, wind allowing.. in the winter months I normally consider it safer to leave small gardens standing due to freezing water. I love the idea of random people discovering something completely mysterious, with no agent in sight. This photo came about through 2 days of visiting this site.  First day was spent learning the site and playing around with different shapes.  Second day I came with intentions of expanding on the 2 balances I’d left overnight.  I was pleasantly surprised to see both still standing.

The final garden came together through a bit of struggle in order to finish before the twilight colors in the air.  Last balance on the far right was realized just as the colors began shifting into brilliance. The photo has negligible color enhancement, which is to say, the colors mixed with the reflecting garden was purely magical to experience… I went out yesterday with shear happiness and this vibration trickled into my creative process and the space around me…. It can be amazing to witness the way a purely happy, worry-free, state of mind can affect here and now.  Another perfect example of Divine Alignment… Colors, balances, variety, reflections, playfulness, timing, mood, wind conditions, EVERYTHING figured into this magical moment in time.

As I write this I’m looking out my window seeing the arrival of heavy winds.  The wind started last night just as i left the site.  No joke, as soon as I stepped out of the creek to pack up and leave after dark, the first strong breeze rolled though and reclaimed one of the six balances. I was sure when hearing the wind last night that all balances had collapsed.. None of these pictures would have been possible if I started a day or even hour later.

Following the contrary rabbit, I found myself in a funk; it was a thursday of a long workweek, and i had not been out balancing since the weekend. Several possibilities came to mind as to what stresses the rabbit might have referred to.. by the end of work on Friday, I found myself at a near breaking point.. or bursting point.  Tension was high, the creek was calling…

Unsure of my ability to balance a cherish-able moment, I arrived at my creek side spot late afternoon after work. Tension still. I sat. Eyes losing focus in meditative observation. absorbing the constant sound of water. appreciating the beauty of an early Autumn evening. I went for the roughest part in the creek to make my next balance, determined to balance against the current.  I had one HUGE rock pried up from the creek bed, tip perched six inches out of the water like an iceberg.  The balance (pictured here) was stubborn amidst the strong current. it required a mastery of patience and intuition as the waste deep current raged against my body.  Balance normally requires stillness but the creek denied such intention. Rather fitting considering my turbulent psyche. The turbulence in the water served to dampen the mental chatter more than calm. My entire body shook as I desperately realized my intended balance.  Nothing short of determined success after half an hour of burning muscles and fighting the current. Letting go through intuition defined the precise moment. Pure Bliss; water rushing, completely focused and out of focus, oneness, shimmering sunlight, zero point, and as I turned around, my eyes met those of a friend in pleasant surprise. I felt like I was glowing, along with everything else. Divine Alignment.

The sun set and home came quickly. My experience at the creek left me energized and the shift had me curious about what medicine card I could possibly choose. I shuffled and cut the deck with intuitive deliberation. The deck yielded the right-side-up Wolf card, which I found to be particularly interesting and unknowingly useful…

WOLF: Teacher

Wolf…
Teacher, Pathfinder,
Moon-dog of my soul.
Howling, Singing,
Teaching how to know.

“Wolf is the pathfinder, the forerunner of new ideas who returns to the clan to teach and share medicine. Wolf takes one mate for life and is loyal like Dog. If you were to keep company with Wolves, you would find an enormous sense of family within the pack, as well as a strong individualistic urge. These qualities make Wolf very much like the human race. As humans we also have an ability to be a part of society and yet still embody our individual dreams and ideas.

In the Great Star Nation, Wolf is represented by the Dog Star, Sirius, which legend tells us was the original home of our teachers in ancient times. Sirius was thought to be the home of the gods by the ancient Egyptians, and is still considered so by the Dogan tribe in Africa. It stands to reason that Native American peoples would formulate this same connection and adopt Wolf people as the clan of teachers.

The senses of Wolf are very keen, and the Moon is its power ally. The Moon is the symbol for psychic energy, or the unconscious that holds the secrets of knowledge and wisdom. Baying at the Moon may be an indication of Wolf’s desire to connect with new ideas which are just below the surface of consciousness. Wold medicine empowers the teacher within us all to come forth and aid the children of Earth in understanding the Great Mystery and life.

If you have drawn Wolf’s card, you may be able to share your personal medicine with others. Your intuitive side may also have an answer or teaching for your personal use at this time. As you feel Wolf coming alive within you, you may wish to share your knowledge by writing or lecturing on information that will help others better understand their uniqueness or path in life. It is in the sharing of great truths that the consciousness of humanity will attain new heights. Wolf could also be telling you to seek out lonely places that will allow you to see your teacher within. In the aloneness of a power place, devoid of other humans, you may find the true you. Look for teachings no matter where you are. Wolf would not come to you unless you requested the appearance of the tribe’s greatest teacher.”

from “Medicine Cards” by Jamie Sams & David Carson

Wolf was a necessary contemplation in the evolution of my being in these recent days. I drew the card on Friday night, 2 days before I would be conducting my balance art during a memorial service for a strong teacher in the local Yoga community. It would be a chance to balance with specific intention and offering for spirits in both realms; living and dead. The garden I created became a profoundly intimate and grounding process.  The north edge of the creek (in Lyons) was bordered by a vertical wall of red rock, which towered many many times my height. Powerful and inspiring scenery. The spacial layout of my garden was arranged to keep the eyes moving from one balance to the next and back. The elegance of my balances was intended to mirror the elegance of the present spirits. I sensed intense beauty, which flowed through me into every balance in collaboration with the local rocks.

Contemplating Wolf gave me considerable strength to perform my art for hundreds of mournful spectators. I felt my job was, in a sense, to present serenity, beauty and joy in the midst of mourning and remembrance.  Balances have a very intimate connection with the reality of death, which makes them an ideal contemplation in this context. Balancing for all of those people and participating in the rest of the memorial filled me with infinite compassion and appreciation for what I have been blessed with in this life.  Just as I may have been seeking a great teacher, the entirety of the memorial proved to go beyond what I expected to learn.  The Friday balance, followed by the Wolf contemplation, guided me toward the strength and consciousness needed to teach and to learn during the Sunday Memorial… So many people fell in love with the garden I had created.  The surrounding area was filled with happiness and wonder, as many people were deeply touched by the simple yet profound nature of the balance. As far as creating and attracting positive energy, the balanced rocks had once again succeeded. :)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- Marianne Williamson (A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles)

This post, or rather, this moment, begins a wide range of contemplation. Some new neighbors were over yesterday where we began summoning the “Medicine Cards”. “..The medicine referred to in this book is anything that improves one’s connection to the Great Mystery and to all life… Native American medicine is an all-encompassing ‘way of life,’ for it involves walking on the Earth Mother in perfect harmony with the Universe…” long story short, Each card in the deck has a certain ‘spirit animal’ pictured on it.  each animal corresponds to a section of the book. When chosen, a card can display right side up, or upside down (contrary).  I chose, not by choice, The contrary rabbit.  The message was to take a step back and re-evaluate. To center myself before moving forward.  It is hard to connect all these dots for you here due to complexity and space to write..ha. The balances, however,  have a way of re-centering me (as balancer) every time I attempt to balance. In order for the rocks to balance, I must be balanced AS WELL.  I drew this contrary rabbit at a moment when I had not been out balancing for almost a week. Stress levels were high from work. It made sense. Turns out, the balance session today after work proved to be something much needed. Time with the sounds of nature. fleeting sunlight. It was really a matter of seemingly unrelated everything happening exactly when it must as ONE, or what i like to call ‘divine alignment’.