(Both photos, pictured above, were taken in ‘het Hunebed Centrum’)
It has been a little while since I last wrote as part of this series. Lots has been brewing and taking shape ‘behind the scenes’. I was living and still am living in a space where it isn’t much about sharing yet. Instead it is about taking my time within this process, feeling, processing, doing research, listening, learning, being outside and drawing.
In part two of this series I ended with the questions; Why do I find the connection to Mother Earth so important? Why do I believe we should celebrate and honor her? Why do I want to bring this damaged connection to the forefront? Why do I believe this Ancient Wisdom is of such high value and importance for everyone? I have been thinking about these questions a lot these past two months or so and this is my answer…
I recently read somewhere that women naturally take in account the future of (their) children and grandchildren. Like the Native Americans say “for 7 generations after herself.”* This got me thinking, maybe it is because I am a woman, maybe it is because of some other reason… But what it comes down to is that I find it of extreme high importance to take care of Mother Earth for future generations to come. In order to do so I feel we have to reestablish the connection we have with her. The state Mother Earth is in now, is on all of us. We have lost the connection and the realization that she provides everything for us. Without her water, her food and a balanced ecosystem, it all, including us, goes extinct. It is all so extremely out of balance. We got used to only taking and hardly or never giving back. Tell me, would you only take from a friend and never give something back in return? And if so, when would that imbalance reach its breaking point?
I have been thinking about all of this for a while now. Trying to connect the dots inside my mind. Asking myself questions, doing research, becoming quiet and listening. Looking around me.
It is all coming together bit by bit. If there is anything I could do during my lifetime it is to help people reconnect with Mother Earth. I believe there is nothing more important because without Mother Earth all the other pressing, important matters will not have a future for us to be able to change them.
I have been trying to come as close to myself as possible. To ask myself what it is I need for the connection with Mother Earth to grow deeper and stronger. To maybe within my own answer, find an universal answer. The universal answer is taking shape. It is a process. What I am learning is that the answer can be found way closer to home then I ever could have imagined. As I have mentioned in previous parts of this written series is that my connection to the part of Mother Earth that wraps around us here, did not really exist. I have been working on and with that connection for this past year. To reconnect, to get to know her again, to move with her again. And I feel this goes for many of us.
A thought, an idea has been growing inside my mind. As I started to build on my connection to the LowLand I live upon, which shaped and created me, I learned she (also here; note to self) holds so much Ancient Wisdom. Instead of traveling to far away lands, I learned my medicine lies right beneath my feet. What I want to do is share the knowledge of local medicine, of the local ancient wisdom to reconnect with Mother Earth because really it is vital for her and for all of us living upon her.
*Source reference: 13 Moons Agenda
A personal footnote I wish to add:
A lot of us look for answers, a certain something outside ourselves in far away lands. Far away lands can come in any and all forms. For example real far away lands, material things, drugs, alcohol, dysfunctional relationships, video games… you name it. It is when it takes a shape of addiction. Constantly trying to find that certain something outside of oneself. My personal something was trying to find an anchor that connected me to Mother Earth. To make sense out of nonsense. To find an anchor inside my deepest void of vast nothingness.
I traveled to far away places that seemed to hold some kind of truth. A deep knowing of what truly connects us; Mother Earth. But it always felt off. It wasn’t my history, my ancestral heritage nor my story to tell. It made me feel upset with myself for a while. I wondered, I really had to travel such great distances to realize how lucky I am, how fortunate I am. To realize where my connection lies? But I have been learning there are moments in life when you physically have to move away from the place(s) that made you ill in order to heal. (Ill in any and all its forms.) And right now I am learning, living and experiencing that one must also come back to further heal, to reconcile with what once was and to be able to let go of whatever it is that needs to be let go of to grow, to connect, to bloom.
IJsselvrouw 