From Earth to Air

This Winter Solstice rolled in with an avenging opening scene. I live in Washington State, where we aren’t shy about a little bit of precipitation, but this rain on December 21 felt like the skies opened up and unleashed a holy blow. It was a statement of a day, the type that hangs on you for a while.

I took a walk along the beach the morning after the storm had cleared. A thick fog sat heavy on the water along the shore. I enjoy these types of fogs. For a moment, they make our worlds a bit smaller. They reduce our aperture and ask us to take a look around our feet and claim the space that surrounds us, here and now.

For a good while, the beach was hardly visible. The mountains that usually flank the horizon felt worlds away. In that moment, it was just me, my husband and our little pup, navigating the fog until…the wind blew in. It came gently and cooly. We first noticed the pink glow that pushed through the dissipating thick, evidence of a residual sunrise that only a moment ago had gone unnoticed. The fog began to retreat, sliding its way along the water’s surface and twirling up into the distant pines. My world was changing before my eyes, where every minute peeled back another layer of the landscape. The wind was nothing but a mere breeze that nudged the other earthy elements along its meandering whimsical path, working its invisible alchemy.

I’ve long been a wild child of the earth. Connecting deeply to the trees, and mushrooms, and the forests that they reside in. I am deeply rooted, perhaps stubbornly so.

The raw materials of this world are my portal to a meaningful connection to our planet. A palm full of soft, dewy mossy, the sweet-musk scent of fresh cedar wood, the connectedness of mycelium. These are my allies, these are my direct line to the pulse of our world. I’ve long drawn wisdom from the way that the earth expresses herself in the physical form. These are elements that I can touch and meditate through, which have taught me a great deal about grounding, steadfastness and empathy.

These associations feel arcadian next to the swift confidence that I observed in the beach breeze. I have found peace and belonging in a world rewarded by patience and nurturing and I admit, I am intimidated by the bold influence of a decisive cross-wind.