The Grounding of a Dream

Warmth and sunshine blessed these past days, drying leaves and plants and finally the mold and mildew of the watery August. All of a sudden it seems, leaves are turning 

and cool autumn nights whisper of the frozen days to come. Just at the moment of balanced light, I step onto the path that will lead to the grounding of my dream 

and the manifestation of a vision long held. First, before I tell you of this, there are 

gifts from the land to share, small jewels of shape and color and pattern.  

The teasel has grown two exquisite meandering spirals, 

she must have heard how much I love spirals - and teasel - 

her form alone is enough to captivate me for hours. 

 

At the edge of the road is a maple tree well-loved by red squirrels,

their small entrance hole is beautifully ringed in 

rusty hues.   

Turning around, I see another entrance on a tree that 

looks as though she might someday get up and walk away. 

The beautiful windflowers offered up their petals in pink piles 

on the ground revealing their radial, reaching form. 

Late color in the garden is so utterly surprising,

I sat with this coltsfoot for a long time learning 

about purples and greens and the river-like 

meanderings of bugs. 

Afternoon light in a canopy of autumn trees is spectacular. 

One small glowing oak leaf, low to the ground, 

rivals cathedral windows, I muse. I walk from one glittering 

light show to another, all only a foot or so from the ground, 

each worthy of a small gasp. 

A few late bloomers add a touch of magenta. 

Northern sea oats dance green-gold and salmon in the 

slanting afternoon rays. 

I wander to the newly cleared bit of forest, 

full of gratitude and a bit of disbelief that 

my dream for this place will soon be manifest. 

 So long have I waited to bring my work fully home: 

to earth and ground, to teasel spirals and raven calls, 

to owl feathers and the embrace of mosses and 

hemlocks and towering oaks. 

Two years of grant writing and paperwork, 

business plans and meetings, hirings and firings of contractors, 

phone calls and deadlines, holding tight to 

strong vision and deep dreaming -

soon, 

IT WILL BE! 

RavenWood Forest

Studio of Mythic & Environmental Arts

Where I will teach many things, 

where dreams will be nurtured, 

and nature will inspire, 

seasonal turnings will be celebrated, 

and mostly, 

the question will not be how can we save the Earth, 

but 

how can the Earth save us? 

 There is a blue sky behind the gray mists, 

and some nights I'm so excited I don't sleep, 

for soon, my dreaming will find roots in the Earth, 

and a small, beautifully built cottage will tuck into a clearing

 in the forest. 

Profound gratitude is a foundation like no other.  

"Blue Sky Behind Gray Mists", watercolor, 2011