Reconnecting With Nature’s Widsom

Returning to life in the forest has really reawakened Nature’s call to us. Just the call to return to the forest has great significance for us. The forest is connected to creation and growth energy, free of controls and constrictions. We are visited daily by Crow (“The magic of creation is calling”) and Deer (“Gentle luring to a new adventure”) among others. Besides being awe struck by our daily nature adventures, the pot of creative juices has been well stirred. And, one of the fruits that bubbled to the top was a new blog, called Nature Wise, sharing information about the wisdom Mother Nature has to offer.

For thousands of years, people have connected with Nature’s wisdom to gain knowledge and spiritual fulfillment. Nature offers us healing, wisdom and an opportunity to connect with the sacred.

We are blessed by nature. It touches each of us in personal and special ways. “From the elements to the animals, from the plants and trees to stones and minerals, the natural world is one of our most powerful sources of spirit, wonder and wisdom. Every tree has its own magical story. Every plant has healing and every animal has spirit. Every cycle brings opportunity for change and growth. Familiar and exotic fragrances that tease and delight fill the air. The songs of birds awaken and soothe. The colors of plants, flowers and trees stir emotions and resonate subtly with our body and mind. And the appearance of an animal causes our spirit to soar. Nowhere does the spirit of the Divine manifest more clearly than within the natural world.” (Animal Speak by Ted Andrews)

In the past shamans, priests, and priestesses were the keepers of Nature’s wisdom,  the sacred knowledge of life. They were connected with the rhythms and forces of nature. They understood that everything was alive, and all life was connected to each other and to Spirit through the “Web of Life”.  They were walked these threads that link the invisible and visible worlds. They performed rituals in animal costumes to symbolize a reawakening and infusing of oneself with their energies. Rituals and celebrations were held in accordance with the natural rhythms of the seasons to awaken greater fertility and life. To them, every species, every cycle, every element . . . every aspect of their environment had the power to remind them of what they could manifest within their own life.

As modern shamans or those walking a shamanic path, we maintain this same sense of connectedness to all life. We journey to other realms, other dimensions and are able to learn from all life forms – plant and animal – by communicating with their spirits.

Over the years, we, as a people, have become disconnected from Nature, her life forms, her elements and her cycles, and the wisdom that they have to offer. Nature is the source of the most primal energies and inspirations. Within Nature are most of life’s lessons and most of life’s answers. There are teachings about life, death and rebirth. There are teachings of creativity and the development of survival skills, applicable to our modern world. Nature can reveal to us ideas for solving problems and accomplishing tasks that seem impossible. Through Nature we can learn respect, nurturing and trust in ourselves and our perceptions. Nature is a reminder of our greatest possibilities and our greatest potential.

Reconnecting with Nature begins with changing our perspective about Nature. It begins with recognizing that everything in Nature is alive and can communicate with us on all levels. Reconnecting requires us to open eyes and ears, our hearts and minds at all levels to experience the wisdom offered. It can be helpful to look at Nature through your “child eyes”, being intrigued by the smallest things and experience the surprise and wonder at what unfolding before you.

When we pay attention to and acknowledge Nature and her elements, we are honoring their collective and individual essences, opening up and attuning to them. We can then use that essence to understand circumstances in our own lives more clearly. We can share in the power or “medicine” of that element. These Nature elements can be symbols of energies that we are manifesting and aligning with in our lives. Their characteristics and activities can reveal information about our own innate powers and abilities.

From Nature-Speak by Ted Andrews
Click on photo to enlarge

It is our goal with this blog to offer some basic information about the characteristics of Nature’s elements – Animal Guides, Tree & Plant Wisdom, Moon Messages, Seasonal Cycles and Stone People – to help you begin to decipher her teachings. Please note that these posts are guidelines and information and should NEVER supersede your own intuition and/or understanding. Nature’s teachings are individual and touch each of us in different ways. Learning to follow your own intuition is one of Nature’s wisdom teachings.

We invite you to follow along and join in on our blog, and to experience the natural world around you, and re-discover Nature’s wisdom and yourself.

Nature speaks to all of us – when we choose to listen.