Conversations with the Forest - My journey and a message from Manzanita

Through my work, I get to learn about ecology and the individual plant and animal species of my area as I prepare lessons and programs. This is a wonderful opportunity to spend time connecting with the other beings that I share my little part of the world with. I also have the amazing blessing of working in a wilderness area and taking a walk into the woods to commune with Nature is just a matter of stepping out of my office and onto the trail. Growing up in Los Angeles County, my world was overwhelmingly urban and I spent my youth (and my 20’s & 30's) dreaming about my future escape to a more verdant and sane world where my feet could daily tread paths of stone and soil rather than endless concrete and asphalt. Trust me when I say that I don’t take my life today for granted, not even for a second. In fact, it only encourages me to share this beautiful wilderness with you even more.

My relatively recent shift in geography has made these daily walks with Gaia possible and easy to commit to. This continuous communion has also allowed me to really explore and grow my personal relationship with Gaia. I want to be clear though, one absolutely does not have to live in the wilderness to be able to grow their relationship with the Nature. That bond begins and ends in your heart and is carried out through your intentions. You can connect with any facet of spirit at any time, even in the heart of a city. That said, there are clear and measurable impacts that Nature has on our physical minds and bodies (and of course spirits) which are positive and even healing. There are plenty of scientific studies out there to prove this. So if you have access to any form of Nature, be it a beloved pet, a local park, or even a single tree outside your window, I encourage you to sit in those spaces as often as you can and connect.

I share these aspects of my journey with you to offer context and understanding, but my ultimate intention for this particular blog series is to share specific communications and messages from Nature with you. I have been communing with the global consciousness of Gaia for a few years now and I finally got the thought recently to try and connect with individual wild plant beings and see where that goes. There are many people out there already enjoying this type of communion and I invite you to share your experiences, as we all learn and grow together. I have had fun exploring this over the last couple of months and I feel closer to Gaia and my fellow forest being than ever before. As a result of this, I now have several conversations to share with you. You will see that the channeled messages I receive are very short and sweet, but I tell you, they come with a huge impact! Gaia has a magical way of being able to do that :-). My process is simple. I sit down with a plant or animal being for a time and allow myself to become fully present before respectfully asking my question(s). Then I simply float into meditation and listen with mind, body, and soul. When something comes through that lights me up from head-to-toe and gives me the sensation of lifting-off, I know I am connecting. I will tell you the clear message that comes through first (in bold lettering – that is the voice of Gaia/plant/animal)... allowing you to take it in for yourself and see what it does for you. Then I will offer my immediate interpretation of the message as I was still sitting in the energy of the experience. I encourage you to let each message speak to you personally though. Finally, I offer a bit of natural history on the plant or animal to balance and enrich the message. I usually look up this information afterwards so that I'm not influenced during meditation and communion. Now that you know, future blogs in this series will be fairly short, as Gaia is always concise 😊.

I begin this series with beautiful Manzanita, a gorgeous plant that we have throughout the foothills of California. Manzanita's message was particularly moving to me, given our recent challenges as a national and global collective. It also spoke very personally to me.

A conversation with Manzanita

Me: What is your story Manzanita? What lesson can you share with us humans?

Manzanita: "Life and death together, dwelling in balance. Light and shadow as one"

My immediate insights: ACCEPTANCE, INTEGRATION. We humans are composed of many parts, aspects, life experiences, and all of it matters. It makes up our personal tapestry. The tapestry of you is woven from many varied threads, both dull and shiny, thick and thin, frayed and whole. They all exist in rich unison to create the fullest and most sacred form and picture of you. Embrace and integrate your shadows with your light. The multifarious nature of your personal tapestry is your greatest strength and foundation. It is the story of your life. It makes you rich, full, and real. Manzanita does not judge itself nor feel shame for its apparently dingy threads… it embraces and folds them into its beautiful bark as it grows deeper roots and larger limbs. Integration; Wholeness. When you are feeling incomplete, damaged, insecure, or overwhelmed by life wounds, let Manzanita be a totem for you. Sit with this plant, or even just a picture of it, and connect with its medicine. It has much to offer you. Gaia loves you.

Some natural history on this plant: On many older manzanitas you will see a tapestry of living and dead tissues entwined together. As you see above, the silvery dead-wood is woven throughout the brilliant red or orange bark and tightly integrated. It’s not totally known why this tissue death occurs, but some scientists speculate that the plants may be sacrificing parts of themselves during extreme drought so that the remaining parts can live on and thrive, reproducing and growing for up to 200 years or more. Rather than shedding or casting off the dead grey tissues, Manzanita beautifully and unapologetically integrates them into the whole and the sacrificed dead-wood ends up providing important shelter to insects of all kinds, which then attracts a number of birds that depend on them for survival, enriching and supporting the entire ecosystem.

May this message offer you comfort and insight.

Love and sweet blessings to you,

K. Marie