a december saturday

This has been a strange pre-winter, both meteorologically and astrologically.  The precipitations are refusing to accept their lot in life at this time of year.......refusing to lose all sense of personal space by laying their white bodies down together in blankets of huddled and intermingled snow.  In their belligerent denial, they frantically and individually cling to whatever they can find during the gravitational fall  rather than resigning themselves to sharing the earth with the other precips.  This wintry pose doesn't seductively lure us to touch, caress, or wrestle with it some way.  It is a state in which we lower our faces as close as we can to the freeze mob sculptures, taking care not to assault it with our warm breath, and lurk in awe of the beauty created by their moodiness.
I, too, have not been in the mood to welcome this season with open arms.  I have found myself doing whatever it takes to claim my personal space, clinging to whatever corners I can find, taking on a sharp swordlike appearance in an effort ward off ........well, everyone. I'm sure I will settle into this uninvited season in my life.  Despite my harsh, bristly exterior, I am also fragile enough to be softened with just a wisp of wam breath.  

backcountry with my boy

From down below it was a cloudy, grey, stay in bed kind of day.

We just needed to rise above

South Africa.....Untamed

We spent our last afternoon in Capetown only getting our toes wet at the vast Kiirstenbosch Botanical Garden.  It was hot and we were a little road weary, but I still personally felt quite moved by the symbiotic relationship created with natural beauty intermingled with the manmade art and sculptures .

We even got to witness a wedding ceremony.

My absolute favorite was a temporary exhibition called "Untamed"  It is a liv­ing wall, a set of solar pan­els, incred­ible sculp­tures, heart defibrillation poetry and a fine example of archi­tec­ture ' by sculptor Dylan Lewis, archi­tect Enrico Daffonchio and psy­cho­lo­gist, psy­chi­at­rist and writer Ian McCallum.  It somehow was a visceral summary of what my trip to South Africa has meant to me and how it has changed me.   Being in South Africa was awake up and smell the red tea, re-member, re-connect and reflect on our part in the nat­ural order of things or we will fast lose what we have ---we are interconnected in our humanness and our earthiness.

"when we look at the world as a mirror, when we discover that our sense of freedom and authenticity is linked to the well being and authenticity of others - and that includes the animals, the trees and the land."  Ian McCullam.   This is how I would sum up my two weeks here in this part of the world in 50 words or less.

It was the poetry that really got to me.   

 'Having turned a blind eye to the fact that we are part of nature's great diversity, we have become eco­lo­gic­ally unin­tel­li­gent',
Ian McCallum

One day
your soul will call to you
with a holy rage.
“Rise up!” it will say …
Stand up inside your own skin.
Unmask your unlived life …
feast on your animal heart.
Unfasten your fist …
let loose the medicine
in your own hand.
Show me the lines …
I will show you the spoor
of the ancestors.
Show me the creases …
I will show you
the way to water.
Show me the folds …
I will show you the furrows
for your healing.
“Look!” it will say …
the line of life has four paths –
one with a mirror
one with a mask,
one with a fist,
one with a heart.
One day,
your soul will call to you
with a holy rage.

We have to stop speaking about the Earth being in need of healing. The Earth does not need healing.
We do. Our task is to rediscover ourselves in Nature. It is an individual choice. And how or where do we begin? We begin exactly where we are right now, when we look at the world as a mirror, when we discover that our sense of freedom and authenticity is linked to the well being and authenticity of others - and that includes the animals, the trees and the land.  ~ Ian McCallum

Homecoming
You have come this far...
keep moving...don't turn back.
No one holds the measure
of their own undoing....no one,
the meaning of their dying.
Hold what lives
behind the masks
of your own making...
the music of your wild name.
Know that every tumble,
every turn on your twisting path
is a dance within a living
church of elements...
a sanctuary of stars
wings, breath and bone
where the masks of your making
are undone.  ~ Ian McCallum

We have to stop speaking about the Earth being in need of healing. The Earth does not need healing.
We do. Our task is to rediscover ourselves in Nature. It is an individual choice. And how or where do we begin? We begin exactly where we are right now, when we look at the world as a mirror, when we discover that our sense of freedom and authenticity is linked to the well being and authenticity of others - and that includes the animals, the trees and the land.  ~ Ian McCallum


 Wilderness, by Ian McCallum

Have we forgotten

That wilderness is not a place,

But a pattern of the soul Where every tree, every bird and beast

Is a soul maker?

Have we forgotten

That wilderness is not a place

But a moving feast of the starts,

Footprints, scales and beginnings?

Since when did we become afraid of the night

And that only the bright starts count?

Or that our moon is not a moon

Unless it is full?

By who’s command

Were the animals

Through groping fingers,

One for each hand,

Reduced to the big and little five?

Have we forgotten

That every creature is within us

Carried by tides

Of earthly blood

And that we named them?

Have we forgotten

That wilderness is not a place

But a season

And that we are in its final hour.

the cradle of humankind

I saw first hand the fruits of humans being kind on our way to the Cradle of Humankind.  Emmy and Ansel laughed, hugged, and played cards on the 2 hour drive from Johannesburg.   I had to capture the way his arms were wrapped around her waist.

The Cradle of Humankind is a place of major significance. It was here we first became human. Here where we first stood upright on our own two, rather oddly shaped, feet, explored the uses to which we could put our usefully opposed thumbs, and experimented with more and more sophisticated grunts as we tried to make sense of our environment. Its also the place where 1.8 million years ago we first "domesticated" fire.     Little Foot is a child fossil over 3 million years' old. The poor child fell through a hole in the roof of the caves, died and was fossilized to be found in the present day. Thousands of other hominid and animal fossils have been found here, and the caves and museum are fascinating to see.  We had a guide that was both hilarious and informative.   I mentioned in an earlier post that their is a certain heartbeat that I feel here in Africa.....as if this is where the blood is recycled and sent to the rest of the world.  This is the place that we first became human.   It is a strong presence.  I was so excited to be here.   

Some tight spots.  Duane (Corey's Dad overcame his paralyzing fear of caves and came with us, never evening fainting once that I was aware of.)

. A bronze statue of Robert Bloom, the man who discovered the Australophiticus Africanus, is located towards the end of the tour. It is said that touching his nose will make you smarter.  I can't remember what you were supposed to touch to make you wiser.  I must have touched that part because I am definitely NOT smarter.

I'm not sure that we have evolved all that much

On our way home, we were stopped by a strike in the middle of the freeway.  Cars were just stopped while people danced, drank and jumped on cars.   There was litter everywhere.  Initially, it was exciting to be a part of the political process of expressing dismay through party.  It soon became scary as we could see that people were becoming more intoxicated and seemingly a little more angry.

Have we come all that far in the past 3 million years?