Author Archives: Catherine Audette

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In light of Trees has returned once more as an outlet for musings. I am thrilled to feel its possibilities. I hope to continue the channel here, of the conversations with the Divine Spirit that moves in all of us, that Inspires us with breath of life. Initially, in the early writings, the conversations stemmed exclusively from my relationship to trees and wind. Now, I hear and relay the whispers from many forms of life.

Today's inspiration came from the writings of Robin Wall Kimmerer and from her love of moss. Many phrases are direct quotes from her book ~ Gathering Moss. I have so much gratitude for her work and perspective; she is a wise teacher. Her work inspired the following, which feels like a message from Moss to me

In "An Affinity for Water" in Gathering Moss, (which reads like a poem,) I felt parallels in my life, and with my own affinity to water~

Dendroalsia:
This mossy sponge, this "companion of trees" drips a constant flow of water down the bark of Oaks to their roots, relinquishing water when an overflow exists. The slow release feeds the earth, adding to the communal well for nourishment of all life
This nourishing flow of manna, "fills the soil's reservoir for the Summer ahead. Yet, by August, the mossy carpets begin to dry and shrivel, becoming wiry skeletons." They appear lifeless, they are actually awaiting their renewal and their time of rebirth.

Kimmerer writes that the "atmosphere is possessive of its water," and moss in turn exerts its own pull. Like a jealous lover, it holds on as tightly as possible to the water ~ in curves, curls and folds and shapes of its surface. With its form, the moss invites water to linger, reside, make a home at its core.

It made me so happy to realize, as I read this, that something else beside me is also tied to the comings and going of water. I love the blessings of a good rain, which nourishes my soul with laughter, companionship, conversation, hope, aliveness. In the atmosphere of it's embrace, I feel new life, I feel participation and joy in the web of life. And like moss, when the moisture returns to the atmosphere, it's other home, I can feel dull, shriveled and, yes, lifeless. I too, like a jealous lover, seek to have the nourishment of water stay, mist my life, my days, my dreams, my wrinkled skin with its nourishment longer. I want to hold onto these cherished moments, asking the life of water to linger, to stay. Unlike moss, I do not relinquish these moments gracefully. I do not have the knowing for this patience, yet.

This kind of impatience makes it difficult to accept the transitions of life around the medicine wheel of time with ease. Unlike moss, I can forget that the apparent lifelessness, is indeed appearances only, that the shifting of its presence is a natural cycle akin to breathing in and out, to expansion and contraction, to give and take. I practice this surrender these days as life shifts and changes; I practice surrendering to the greater wisdom of Spirit. I practice allowing, awaiting divine timing of the manna of rain to return once more.

To help the practice, I make a list of attributes of moss to emulate:
Acceptance, patience, surrender
Allowing for the vagaries of Change
Surrendering to natural cycles,
Surrendering to the ways of water,
Gratitude for the cycles of the web
Acceptance that Dessication is part of the path

Acceptance... to a deeper knowing. Moss reminds me that there exists a deeper mystery, unseen in the cycles of contraction and expansion. It is my mind that values one over the other. It is my fear that I will lose should the blessed nourishment of rain cease; It is my fear that there is not enough Here, Now. It is my fear that I will cease to exist without it's presence. It is my fear of death, that says, "no, this can't be right," that wants my timing. The amount of energy my mind uses to convince me that something must be wrong when the waters recede is exhausting!!

What if Nothing is wrong? Mooji says that believing something is wrong, is one of the tricks that the mind plays to keep us tied to it. What if I began to see the dry period as a wonderful, refreshing quiet time allowing for replenishment of a different kind? What if the quiet allows for insight into the deeper mysteries of the Whole, and the wonder at that whole? And what if that wonder frees me?
What if this practiced surrender actually frees me to experience my life more fully? Freedom earned through total Surrender. What if being like moss is a gift of freedom?

When the rains do come, one drop at a time, it is, indeed, enough to start the transformation. Even after 40 years of dehydration, One drop will transform the apparent lifelessness of moss into turgidity. Once again they will swell, unfurl, grow green and resplendent. Once hydrated they can participate in transforming light and air into sugar. Their activity restored they can participate in creating sugar for their survival, and renewal. They participate again in the giving back to the earth.
To moss, desiccation is simply a pause in activity, not a death
Desiccation is a breath, a rest
Dry periods and the change it brings are part of the whole.

I will probably always revel in the free flowing gifts of water. It is my nature to love the freedom of movement and flow, dancing ever with the moving elements.
Yet life brings needed pauses
If I, like the moss can learn to allow for these pauses without resistance what freedom it would also bring for exploration.
If I can accept changes in my environment, accept the divine timing, knowing I will once more swell to my part in the web of life with the coming rains, I will better enjoy the renewal of quiet, and the wonders of transformation that it brings.
This path would lay the groundwork for my own cycle of renewal, refreshment and joy.

I seek the wisdom of moss to accept, unfurl and relinquish all with grace. Grace in the humility of a plan much greater than mine; In a plan that is mysterious, and generous; In a plan that incorporates the blessing of the whole and allows for all dreams to come to fruition in their beautiful design

Dendroalsia: This mossy sponge, this "companion of trees", drips a constant flow of water down the bark of the oak to the tree root

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IMG_3784IMG_6755Spring is arriving in the Northeast!  And what a sensual delight. I am moved to share all the surprises that are greeting me.

Each year, I am increasingly sensitive to the changes and transformations that surround me, it becomes an endless wonder to experience the changing of winter to spring. I find that I forget the little details that comprises Spring. When they appear, they come as a surprise, much like a gift that lands unexpectedly at the doorstep.

I am so grateful for the endless gifts that seem to actively seek to raise my joy, vibration, and thoughts to delight that I will share them here in gratitude.  Please do share, what Spring surprises did you forget about?  What everyday things have you noted and in seeing it, felt like it was almost like seeing life itself for the first time?

Here is my list, so far:

Longer day light in the evening - giving me more moments to relish the softness of the season.  I forgot that the sun set after 8!! (How could I?)
Warmth on my skin

Tiny leaflets unfolding from the beech trees in graceful wonder
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Wild flowers emerging in abundance on forest floor
Red Efts (newt like animal) crawling across the moist forest floor's leaf mould-wow so bright
Green Green grass brilliantly glowing on a rainy spring morning


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Burbling Spring runoff calling for the return of the wild to our woods

0416124620_01BRIGHT Gold Gold finches -who remembers how bright their sound and feathers become in their Spring joy?
Daffodils and Tulips emerging from recently frozen ground

Spring Wind... so temptingly seductive to our senses

What captures your senses and attention?
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0422121906_01I have started a daily ritual of taking my concerns, and worries, wrapping them into a bundle and placing them at the roots of a grand tree.  I either do this on my walks in the woods, or in my mind's eye. Sometimes my bundle is given to a beech, sometimes a sugar maple or majestic oak as these are the oldest and largest trees around here.  I imagine in other parts of the world, the tree of choice may be a different yet sturdy elder: the amazing tulip tree, willow oaks, or magnolias, or the grand southern cypress trees. What do you lean on in need?  I imagine the answers are as diverse as the creative expressions are of human and tree beings.

To whomever draws me first, I gladly relinquish this bundle of thoughts.  I deliberately place it at the base of the tree. As I deposit it, I feel an immediate lessening of the inner chatter.  I sense that the tree has absorbed it. Sometimes, I feel it bringing the concerns down into its roots for processing and then letting the transformed contents flow up its trunk like the sap that nourishes its limbs, raining blessings in return.  Sometimes, I sense it holding the contents for future compost.  The various sense may depend on the contents of the bundle.  Or perhaps, it depends on my relationship to the bundle. This detail is not clear to me. Or maybe it is all about timing.

The process of surrender, as well as the process of inner transformation occurring in the tree, both feel critical to the resulting sense of resolution that I experience.  Sensing it transform to a new vibration within the tree creates relief within me. Through this internal vision, I feel re-assured that the tree has handled the concerns with far more inspiration and love than I could. I was holding on so tightly and with so much mental focus that there was no room for creative resolution, or grace; it took the love of the tree to perform the alchemy I could not. Love, breath, trust all create that alchemy of resolution.

And imagining it as a chemical process much like transforming carbon dioxide into oxygen also adds to the release for me.  The trees are already daily performing an alchemical gift to the world.  The metaphysical one of transforming our cares into a vibration and breath of life is no different. A miracle yes, and offered with love.

I try it now, taking the concern for a friend's well-being and lay it at my maple friend's roots.  I see in my inner eye that fear of the unknown, absorb deep into the tree's trunk and roots. In moments it is then transformed in some internal cellular process before proceeding up its trunk with its sap and joy.  Once in its limbs, the tree exhales its life-giving force to the world and cosmos.  A new vibration.  What once was fear is transformed into life-giving energy.

The trees don't mind this process of creating more life and offering better solutions.

A smiles returns to me, and I know my heart to be lighter and the answers more conceivable.  WIth some of my fears gone I have more room and energy for creative solutions for creative options in the rest of my day.  The visit with the trees allows for more room to breath in my world.

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Passing some grand old maples one day, it occurred to me that one of the many reasons why going into nature uplifts our spirits is that nature points to a way to live our lives: Showing us how to live in joy, how to live without self-criticism, how to live in the moment, how to live in faith and hope.  Everywhere in nature we see an essential, authentic magnificent expression of itself.  Everywhere, we have examples of life demonstrating life in faith. Each part from the microscopic to macroscopic responds to what is present, no more and no less.

For example, it would be humorous to imagine a tree worrying about its appearance, or whether it will get enough, or holding itself back from sun, water, and the nourishment from wind, sun and love. Or wondering what is the right thing to do. In fact, the opposite is true, the trees declare, in this emerging Spring, Look at me, See how grand I am, See how Wide my canopy is, Look how wild and free I am. The trees are reaching for the sun, training their branches to move into every glimpse of daylight making sometimes the most unusual twists and turns as they grow.  We see them standing at the top of the hill expressing their innate sense of beauty and grandeur.

No, a tree does not worry about not having enough. It trusts, knowing that it has all that it needs in this very moment.  And the next moment will bring more of what it needs to allow it to respond to life. And this intrinsic truth is also true for us: each moment brings us all that we need.  Even if there may be much we could worry about, or the answers to our questions seem unimaginable, untenable, ungraspable,  in truth, at each crossroad, we are given what we need for that moment.  At every stage we find the strength, the courage, the inner guidance to steer us to our destiny.  This promise is given to us, is reflected in nature, is demonstrated over and over in our courageous lives.  It is not the worst-case scenario that drops us to oblivion, it is our worry over its possibility.

Listening, as I have learned to do in the company of trees has taught me to be present in each moment to hear the inner guidance, to trust the inner voice that leads us to better possibilities than we could imagine for ourselves.

This time of unfoldment is unprecedented for most of the world.  Fighting it makes the process more uncomfortable; allowing for it to unfold like a flower of many, many petals will bring wonder and delight.

Blessings

 

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Thoughts of writing on this blog have fallen down and in between the roots of this soulful winter in which so much internal metamorphosis took priority.  Starting from the transformative solstice (soulstice) to this fast paced month of February, deep layers of thought, emotion, and consciousness have risen from within our beings to be examined, refined and winnowed.

Until now, I have been unable to articulate this process and its relation to the tree beings. Here, I hope to return to a more regular sharing of the messages from the woods.

Today, on the walk to the sunny spot in the forest, these words came to me: "as the snow softly melts, seeping into deep the layers of the earth below, slowly and almost imperceptibly it begins to reveal the ground on which we stand. As it melts, so too will clarity slowly, inevitably be revealed for all that perplexes, confounds and restricts your joy."

Then I wondered, in that moment, what in me needs to melt before this gentle clarity can bless me, too. Before it can come, and come it will in its perfect time,  what receptivity to warmth, light and hope do I require?

In the forest, snow melts gently into the cover of last year's fallen leaves.  The gentle melting of ice allows for the perfect seasoning of this fabric of botany that lives beneath the surface of leaf mould. Have you ever pushed back the top layer of leaves in a forest and seen the intricate and delicate weave of sinuous roots? Roots quickly extends small shoots into this environment gaining purchase into this realm of moisture and nutrients.  It appears that the growing tendrils savor the nourishment and life present in this layer.

This layer welcomes the frozen water that has fallen this winter in its crystalline wonder.   As in any Emoto experiment, the snow captured the essence of the energy through which it froze. (http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/water-crystal.html)   As the crystals melt, the water releases the gifts of this essence to the trees.

As I contemplate this process, I begin to see that as I seek clarity in this early Spring light, expecting to get all the information before it is ready to be released/revealed is futile.  The release has its own timing.  The forest floor patiently awaits the full release of this information, whether it be in snow melt, spring rains, or morning dew.  Slowly the truth will be revealed. Then, too, we will feel clear; like a spring morning when hope is restored and the unfathomable seems conceivable.

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I have been musing on a topic that I would like to pursue here.  I was thinking about the gift of life; it is a gift which the trees offer to us unconditionally. They offer the gift of the oxygen we breath, the wood on which we rely, and the gift of presence. Their presence alone is a gift to any community, regardless of the environment.

It is not these gifts alone that have been the topic of my imaginations. There are so many but the following have been the ones on which I have been musing:

Trees offer us Beauty, a sense of company, the comfort of a witness, proof of the ever-abiding power of the life-force that will grow no matter what the circumstances (one can find a tree growing out of stone), stillness of being in the busy-ness of life, sturdiness in a storm, a reminder to choose flexibility when necessary, and a sense, that despite what we do, think, feel, we have in our midst a constant, loving presence.

It is their love that is what I am focusing on particularly today.  I notice that after a walk in the forest, I feel aligned, once more, in my central truth, that we are love. That in our core, in our highest truth, we are all love.  It is their deep knowing of this very truth that is reflected back to me when I visit the woods.

Daily life and stressful interactions tend to shake our faith and trust in ourselves, and in our truths.  Walking among the trees reminds me of mine. In their presence, I can root deeply in the knowing of my core.  In their loving presence, I am reminded of the love that surrounds me; I can say, "I am Loved."  And those words offer such comfort.

Now, when interactions threaten to overwhelm me, I repeat, "I am loved," over and over. Soon, I find I am calm.  It is a little like what I have heard of the monk Thich Nhat Hanh who with an in-breath says "I am," and on the out-breath, "Peace."

It comes to mind to say, that to lay in the arms of the trunk of a tree is to lie in abiding love that never moves, nor fails to offer support. I bless the trees for reminding me of the support that surrounds me, for reminding me to who I am and of my truth; they remind me that I Am my highest self, when I am rooted in the Love that I am.

When we, like trees, let the Love that we are flow, we begin to transform the structures of our world.

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This prayer came from the bronze-leaved trees of the hills a day before shedding the rest of their leaves. It is a prayer offered to all trees.  Before the great white covering of the land arrives:

Thank you for teaching, in your living, of vulnerability and

Stripping ourselves bare for all to see

In anticipation of great change

And hopes of, as of yet, unimaginable regrowth.

Once more transforming the air, water, sun and earth to form.

 

I am touched by the trees' vulnerability, pride and honesty standing in their shapes.  Those of us who live in the north invariably have a moment in the year when we realize that we love this time of year when one can see the shapes of the trees outlined in the sky.  Thinking about the losing of the leaves, the color, the music they make, the companionship and the covering seems much harder than the reality of it.  Once they have gracefully, joyfully, shall I add gleefully, fallen, it is a gift to see the naked tree in its raw authenticity.

Now, is a pause, a moment between, a moment for which I am grateful.  We rest, we sense, we listen and hear, knowing that change on many levels is upon us.  It is the pause before speaking, the pause before action, the pause before knowing, the pause before transformation.  Soon the winter months of the northern country will call for a different voyage.

I wish you all a moment to notice and enjoy this pause.

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The beauty continues, in the Northeast in golds, yellows and oranges and the range of hues in between. I  have collected leaves and more leaves and again more...

Yesterday a cloudburst opened with winds that pulled, and tossed the leaves in all manner of patterns in the sky.  The trees released yet more beauty.  It is amazing that there are any leaves left on the trees at all.

I was driving on a windswept road and as I came down the hill a line of maples and oaks greeted me with bold colors, still displaying their joy and light.  I felt an unconscious reminder of the light ahead of the proverbial tunnel.  The trail of beauty before us leads us forward one step at a time, to, we find, more beauty.

After a sunset with the sky ablaze in pinks and reds, we turn a corner of the road and see more beauty in a stand of trees gifting us with yet more.  Still aglow with a light like fire.

The trees capture the light and reflect it to us, even when we may not feel it in ourselves on the Autumn days.

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 "Behind the subtle breezes that whisper through the treetops, fine and delicate energies pulse into your world from the spirit world, from an energy level not visible to your senses but as tangible as all you touch and hear. You detect these energies, taste them, feel them. They come pulsing out of the early morning air above the trees, gliding swiftly past you, lifting tiny hairs on the surface of your skin....You can not see them, but you sense them and know they are there."

   "If there were words put to these subtle conversations of nature, what message would they convey, these designs and patterns, sliding quietly into your world from a realm beyond? You watch and listen, blending with what comes your way.  Somewhere in these currents, there Is meaning for you." Ken Carey

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The most obvious impulse now in the forest is the shifting from End of Summer to Autumn. The patterns of light, design and energy shift the season, at first imperceptibly, and at last quite clearly, with changing colors in the trees, decreasing intensity of sunlight, and increasing of the colder winds blowing from the North.  I embrace the messages within this change and listen, watch and feel to hear what its meaning is for me.

I live in a country that is turning gold and red of an indescribable beauty.  I declare that there exists, this Autumn, all the colors in the light spectrum in the falling leaves. There are reds so deep and bold surely they must contain purple and blue. Yellows so alive they levitate off the ground as seen in the picture heading the quote above. One path that I took through the woods was full of yellows and reds so vibrant that I felt almost unrooted.

For sure, color, which is light, surrounds us and enriches us; color and light, forms of vibration, transmit energy as one walks the forest paths.  This increase in vibration is one of the many gifts the trees offer this glorious Fall. The gift of color is a living celebration of life. The light enfolds us from above in the tree tops, from below on the forest floor, and at times as a shower of glittering gold confetti when the leaves glide and tumble to the earth.

My friend Lynn remembers a Pecan tree telling her that "when the wind blows, the leaves surrender and dance."  Whether that dance is in the tree tops, or in the cascading colors twirling through the air, does anything describe the beauty of Autumn more eloquently? The trees are surrendering to the beautiful inspiration of the energy of the wind and dancing in release.

And so do we dance, as we listen to the wind of our soul, moving each to take the path to our own heart, where we have all the information we need.  Listening to the impulse of the energies within the day, the wind, and the sun, we are being given that information we need to take our very next step, We are blown gently, or not so gently, to walk toward that which brings us joy and laughter; even if the steps are unfamiliar. Trust that the map in your heart is sure.

Following unfamiliar steps requires a willingness to let go of cherished routines, expectations, thought patterns, or concepts. Those are the known paths and patterns. What the now asks is for us to find the new patterns and possibilities.  When we let go of the outdated leaves of the summer we dance freely in the wind of the present.  In releasing the legacies of the past we can celebrate for joy like the trees.  

The trees are dancing in celebration as they flow with the energy behind the wind.  And when we allow for the beauty of the now to move us, so do we.

 

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The winds of change blow in with the Northeast wind today.  I feel the excitement of change, and of opportunity.  This moment comes to me as the ethereal changeover from summer to autumn brings swirling leaves, soaring raptors, and new Autumn smells on the wind.  I want to be out in this energy and see where it blows me.

I feel a sense of momentousness in the elder trees as I walk in the woods these days.  There is much they would share.  They have a message for us.  

To that end, I will share here a message that was given to me from a friend.  It was a spontaneous vision that came to her.  I respect her work and will pass on her words.  When she connected to this vision, she connected to what she refers to as "Cosmic Great Beings."

There are energies channeling through the Great Beings Heart into our dimension that are a powerful force of energy that is being received by every Great Tree Being on the planet.  This light energy feeds them sustenance and gives keys or codes for drawing in more energy.  This energy aids them in their work in their specific bioregion and plane.

We can connect to this light energy and field by connecting to our hearts.  When we connect to our hearts, we will find that each Great Tree Being is tuned into this field as well. We are connected to each of them through the unified field.  Here, we are of service.  Here, we become aware of the oneness of human existence, Oneness with all of the planet.

And to bring the knowledge of Oneness to human existence is a great purpose of our co-creation with the Great Tree Beings; another purpose is to aid in human comprehension of the power of the forces of creation; and how the knowledge of Oneness activates energy in our own fields. This energy increases our ability to generate abundance with the elemental realm for the greening of the planet.

(I get the sense in listening to her say this that our difficulty in comprehending, until now, our connection and our oneness with all of life has interfered with our ability to connect to, comprehend and appreciate the power of Creation within and without.)

We who read this blog, or who find in their hearts a calling to listen to the whispers of the earth are invited to consciously and with intention join the Great Beings efforts for life-giving balance, join them to amplify and accelerate the energies that restore the resonance of the various bio-fields of the regions of the earth. This intentional focus can be extended to the life of the oceans, great bodies of lakes.

I share this message with gratitude.  I am grateful for the gift of the message, the gift of the unified field to which we all can connect in our hearts; I am grateful for all of you who contribute with your vision of a unified and vibrant planet. This gift extends to all far more than we yet comprehend.

Blessings

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