Our INNER NET is sure.
February 16
Deep Silence
Keeping Watch in the Hickory Nut Gorge of western North Carolina
these twenty-four solemn Sabbath hours,
A Wild wind knocks out the "Internet"
While the INNER NET of Presence
Is Stillness
A Silence that Heals
Blesses
All Beings
Everywhere.
From Midnight to Dawn
All is well.
As Light breaks across the mountains
I stir the fire, carefully banked the night before
as Brigid taught the ancestors, so it would last the night
The Cardinal comes, banging against the window
his usual early morning call for black oil sunflower seeds
then his mate.
I walk down the mountain, past landslides that rendered the hillsides bare
during the hurricane here, --now four months ago.
I gaze up and up, wondering at the bears and how they fared...
The "kindness of the elements" is known
as I climb back up to the hermitage where I live
I listen to the trees, the sleeping moss friends below, the sounds of the river singing
Feeling such strength
and yes----JOY!
The Cherokee and the Catawba were afraid to cross through this gorge
knowing where two streams meet is a sacred sight-
They would send their Holy men and Holy Women (the Cherokee was a Matriarchy)
to perform rituals here, and then they would be safe to cross.
The Hickory Nut Gorge is a Cross
and I'm in the middle of that cross
formed by Reedy and Grassy and Hickory Nut Creek, the Middle Fork, and the Rocky Broad River, all descending from the Eastern Continental Divide.
Lifeforms live here that aren't found any where else.
The Green salamander is unique and as I pass them they now sleep in the crevices and boulders here.
At home light fades to night
I pray aloud
The Lady's Prayer, grateful for the Mystery that keeps us all, always, in the surety of the never failing INNER NET of Being.
Our Lady, who lives at the heart of all form,Hallowed be thy name.
May thy Queendom come, May thy Will be done That heaven may come to earth.
Please allow me this day To drink from your sacred, silver spring
And forgive me my forgettingAs I learn through your Grace To return all non love with Love,
And take me by the hand And lead me step by step Into the patient valley of your Heart
For yours is the earth, my body and my life For ever and ever.
Amen
Breathing in your experience, watching light breaking across the mountains, stirring the fire with Bridget watching over, cardinal calls that lead us into a wander down the mountain...
"listen to the trees, the sleeping moss friends below, the sounds of the river singing
such strength and yes----JOY!"
Pausing sacred with you at the Hickory Nut Gorge Cross, another breath, a breath of wonder in this Eastern Continental divide that through your words dear Dr. Martha, I wander with you, as you and it bring a joining of the rare life forms, green salamander dreaming, reaching far into the pacific west coast....imaging echos that continues, rippling it's nourishing light.
And from that surety of inner net, your words like honey flow, the Lady's Prayer, set in a blessed and golden glow. Breath in again and a full heart.