Book Corner: Sacred Earth. Sacred Soul
What I’m learning about myself and our property from the book Sacred Earth. Sacred Soul by John Philip Newell and from our own personal earth mentor – a pre-Civil War oak we call, “The Old Woman of the Woods.”
Dave and I have been working outside a lot lately. We misjudged our property line and need to move some plants and trees. While we’re at it, we’ve dived into landscaping our yard with raised beds, wildflowers, etc. Today, while Dave was planting a tree, I went to sit with the pre-Civil War oak we call, “The Old Woman of the Woods.”
There’s something about this oak tree that feels sacred. She was hit by lightning. Ancient cultures believed that oaks were sacred and that anything struck by lightening was sacred. The Old Woman has a double dose of sacred and everyone we take to visit her senses it.
As I put my hand on the oak’s trunk, I looked to an area to the North of her where a bunch of brush and trees were. In my mind’s eye I saw this space cleared with a little amphitheater in the woods. The ground rises a bit going from the Old Woman toward the back part of this area. Beyond is a walking path. I saw a little clearing with a couple rows of wooden benches in a semicircle facing the Old Woman — as if she were the stage.
I saw people sitting: learning, listening, and being inspired. Perhaps they were having church. Maybe they were listening to a nature lesson or a class. Whatever it was, it felt spiritual, inspirational.
After planting the tree, Dave came to join me. I told him what I had seen. Instantly, he liked the idea and said he could see it too. We immediately set to work. I uprooted a bunch of invasive privet tree saplings that were covering the area. Dave took a huge twisted muscadine grape vine and maneuvered it so that we can eventually put a grape arbor on the backside of the amphitheater.
There’s one thing I know about myself … when I have a vision of something, I am propelled to act. I usually know what to do to get started. The clearer the vision, the more I know what needs to be done. The wonderful thing about Dave is that when I share my vision, he sets to work immediately alongside me and brings his skill, knowledge, experience, and wisdom to the project – making it manifest faster and better than I could do it on my own.
The same thing happened last August when I stood by the Old Woman with my hand on her trunk. I had a vision of a wildflower spiral cut into a crown beard patch to the North of the Old Woman. I shared my vision with Dave, and he immediately took rope and started marking it off. Within less than a month, our Wildflower Spiral was a reality.
Today, as I sat on a chair pulling privet and tossing broken limbs into a pile, I felt a sense of the future. It was a future where I was a “wise old woman” myself. People were gathering to learn the wisdom of the earth, the mysteries of God, the healing powers of nature. I was a calm, assuring presence who (together with Dave and this property) offered a place of peace, safety, healing and refuge.
The more I pulled the invasive privet from the earth around the Old Woman of the Woods, the more I felt as if she were tutoring me in how to become a Wise Old Woman. Then it struck me, she wasn’t instructing me so much as she was showing me who I am… who Dave and I are together… and how we can serve others. I felt a sense of love, wisdom, peace, and connectedness in my core. I felt how I would feel as this person. I felt that I was already this person!
Today, by the Old Woman, I not only saw another feature to our property, but also I saw myself – a vision, understanding, and more than anything, a FEELING of who I am. I saw who I can be:
- a student of God and nature, always learning and being open to new ideas and concepts
- a calm, wise, confident teacher
- a peaceful matriarch inspiring others to see the sacred in nature, in themselves, and in others
- a loving, wise woman who people gather around and who gives them a sense of belonging and helps them see their own greatness
- someone to talk about the mysteries of life with, or ask which herb to take for an ailment
- a trusted advisor to come to for insight and answers
- a woman who helps others connect to our Savior Jesus Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things in them.
The experience reminded me of a paragraph from Sacred Earth. Sacred Soul. by John Philip Newell. I’m listening to the audio book version and really loving it – especially since it’s read by a narrator with a delightful Irish accent. Sacred Earth. Sacred Soul is a beautiful explanation of Celtic Christianity and their ancient beliefs about the sacred nature of everything — the earth, nature, and the human soul. As the author explained the ancient philosophy of the Celts, this line stood out to me:
“Oaks were especially sacred to the druids. They established their communities by great oak trees and in oak groves. The word druid simply means ‘oak knower’ or ‘bearer of oak wisdom.’ It was a way of knowing, like the ancient oaks which reached deep into the ground with their roots and high into the air with their mighty branches, connecting heaven and earth.”
John Philip Newell, Sacred Earth. Sacred Soul.
Over the years, I’ve noticed there are certain spots on our property that are what my friend Christi Turley Diamond calls, “thin spots.” These are spots where the veil between heaven and earth is thin, and inspiration flows more readily. The Old Woman is one of those spots. How appropriate that the vision today was that of the Old Woman of the Woods as a gathering place where people will learn about God, nature, their own potential, and the divinity in everything and everyone!
I love that as I’m listening to Sacred Earth. Sacred Soul, I have this beautiful place to apply the concepts in a very personal way. Many of the ideas in this book ring true because we’re already living them in our daily lives.
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