Close to its Beating Heart

It is all around us...more or less every location and zone is in sight of at least some of it..it gives us air to breathe, it contains insects that pollenise, that aerate the soil...its a web that WORKS..but we have forgotten it here in the west haven't we. We travel to work in cars, we sit in air conditioned rooms all day, we then drive home and engage in various forms of media, the television, games consoles, and computers...well a large amount of us do..many are changing, or were not wholly absorbed to begin with..and CHANGE WE MUST! I hate it when i start to feel 'preachy'..it gets boring and makes me think i am being self righteous..i will give you my position now..i have given it all one heck of a lot of thought, i have spent a lot of time in nature, and my last job (10 years) was litter picking in rural areas...BRILLIANT!! so i feel that i have one foot in the right place at least! So what have we forgotten? we have forgotten that nature deserves respect, and i don't mean dressing things up in a 'green agenda' just to make money..i believe that by now we should have moved on from that mentality.but alas we have not! all they are bothered about in power is getting powerful and/or getting rich! It stinks..their whole reality that they pump out is tainted..its not even their fault..its evolved like that over many generations..they are just simply the latest layer of the problem.So what do we do? Well....what I do is to create this nature shrine where i can sit and reflect on nature and my place in it, be close to the soil, and learn from closely observing it. It is a focal point, where i can get to know the nature in my locality..and get involved in local issues/meet up with others of a like mind..also i can write about in on here and share it with YOU..and if it strikes a cord then BRILLIANT! I want to be close to its beating heart, i want to reconfigure my psyche around it..because i see the evolved human system as deeply flawed and unworthy of our potentials and our grace as evolved humans COULD be...so i do what i do:)

The Day The Cameras Came By

Out of curiosity I viewed my nature place on Google Earth. I could see my city clearly as a passenger in a very high plane could see it..grey mainly..with little splashes of green, the curling band of the river..the countryside in the distance. I zoomed in..I could see the roads, the railways...aha! the golf course....i homed in a bit nearer...eventually I could see the green strip that was where my nature place was located..is that it?!? It made me realise just how near civilisation it was...yet civilisation seems so far away when I am there. For when I am meditating in my green space, surrounded by the circle of outward spanning nettles, brambles, rosebay willowherb, trees and of course the wood it seems I am in the midst of a remote nature...well in some sense I am, for it is not frequented, it is unknown, it is the edgelands...so near to civilisation, and yet so far! I guess the bird in the nest in the tree that is one of many along a busy road, or the ant in the ant nest in the centre strip of motorway feel similar..they are near in their way to the system and its movements, as I am in my relatively larger scale when I am hidden in my secret shrine..getting on with our nature bliss...its nice to know that even on Google earth I am hidden from the satellites as they orbit...as all they see is a strip of green and a few darker splodges of tree...one of many patches of green within and around the modern world...glad I didn't have a fire the day the cameras came by...or else my cover would have been blown:)

Where I 'Plug In'

Whenever I head out and make the relatively short journey to my hidden bower I feel a growing sense of excitement. The day eases away as i tread the secret paths and enter the undergrowth.the sun dapples through gaps in the leafy ceiling of the small wood and the air cools my skin.The rhythm is different here. A 'Clap ClAp clap' of a disturbed wood pigeon penetrates the air, the rustle of twigs and leaves as a mouse rushes away. It is approaching the solstice right now, so the trees are heavy with bright and fresh green leaves. I find it energising. Eventually I alight in the clearing. Each time I am relieved to find that it has not been discovered. The mud hut in the centre is still standing. I scoutabout, looking at the changes in the trees and bushes i have planted from seedlings...doubly excited as my 2 year old blackcurrant bush has 3 berries ripening on it...its first fruit ever! I pull up a few encroaching rosebay willowherb spears. The mass of rosebays are up to my shoulders now towards the North East of the circle heading towards the treeline in a large clump a few feet wide and deep. In a month this will be a sea of bright pink flowers, and later still, a mass of fluffy cotton like seeds...The ground in the cleared centre is hard, smooth, compacted from my numerous visits, i sometimes wonder what someones reaction would be if they stumbled upon this place! It emanates magic for sure! I settle on the dry ground, feel the evening air upon my face, and breathe deeply..this is my medicine...it is where i plug in, it gives colour to my eyes and skin, and the green energies suffuse my aura. Ahhh! the magic of nature:)