40 Days of Peace Day Forty
For the LOVE of Sweetgrass
Sweetgrass is best planted not by seed, but by putting roots directly in the ground. Thus the plant is passed from hand to earth to hand across years and generations. Its favored habitat is sunny, well- watered meadows. It thrives along disturbed edges.
-Robin Wall Kimmerer
Home is where my heart lies
Monet and I have been gypsyin’ around for many years now and we often get asked “where do you call home?”
The answer to that question lies in our hearts. Wherever our hearts lie is where we call home. As we learned what it means to become indigenous to a place, we’ve learned to be grateful for whatever space of earth we rest our heads, and to do our best to be loving care takers of the land, the water, and all beings everywhere we go. The Earth is our home and its our honor to be here in this very important time. We chose this time to be here, ALL of us. Its not only our responsibility to love Gaia into the Garden of Eden she is meant to be, its part of why we’re here.
Earth is a gift to the Universe. A planet of beauty beyond description. I want to live in a world of strawberries but, just as Robin Wall Kimmerer states in Braiding Sweetgrass, “I fear that a world made of gifts cannot coexist with a world made of commodities.”
“Action on behalf of life transforms.
Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal,
it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting.
As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer
“Climate change will unequivocally defeat economies that are based on constant taking without giving in return. But before Windigo dies, it will take so much that we love along with it. We can wait for climate change to turn the world and the Windigo into a puddle of red-tinged meltwater, or we can strap on our snowshoes and track him down.” We’ll need the wisdom of Nanabozho to be the light against the darkness.
This image was taken at my very favorite piece of earth, Hunting Island SC. I have spent many hours, many days here on this “bone yard beach” that reminds me of a scene in the Land Before Time. I experienced a lot of healing here. Mama ocean carried my grief away with the tides here. I buried the weight of my broken heart here in the sand. I would pack a lunch, water and my journal and spend the day under these trees on the beach letting the changing tides heal my soul.
And a few weeks ago, they bulldozed these sacred brothers and sisters to “clean the beach”. And so, my heart grieves again, this time for my plant and water relatives, the family of trees I had planned to visit soon. I didn’t get to say goodbye or thank them for taking such good care of me all these years. I grieve too for the hearts of men who are so disconnected from the sacred that they “pave paradise” without an understanding of mutual reciprocity and a world made of gifts.
“The very earth that sustains us is being destroyed to fuel injustice. An economy that grants personhood to corporations but denies it to the more-than-human beings.
Something is broken when the food comes on a Styrofoam tray wrapped in slippery plastic, a carcass of a being whose only chance at life was a cramped cage. That is not a gift of life; it is a theft.
All powers have two sides, the power to create and the power to destroy. We must recognize them both, but invest our gifts on the side of creation.
― Robin Wall Kimmerer
“If we use a plant respectfully it will stay with us and flourish. If we ignore it, it will go away. If you don’t give it respect it will leave us.”
Remember the Honorable Harvest…. Know the ones that take care of you so that you make take care of them. Always ask permission. Never take the first.. Take ONLY what you need….
Here we stand, together, at a cross roads. The earth is burning, the waters are poisoned, the soil if full of pesticides, birds in cages, slaughter houses, stolen sisters, broken promises, brothers and sisters divided by walls and opinions…. we stand at a crossroad family. What are we to do?
“I wonder if much that ails our society stems from the fact that we have allowed ourselves to be cut off from that love of, and from, the land. It is medicine for broken land and empty hearts.”
Art by Beth Moon
“Each person, human or no, is bound to every other in a reciprocal relationship.
Just as all beings have a duty to me, I have a duty to them.
If an animal gives its life to feed me, I am in turn bound to support its life.
If I receive a stream’s gift of pure water, then I am responsible for returning a gift in kind.
An integral part of a human’s education is to know those duties and how to perform them.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer
Buffalo and Sweetgrass flourish together
“Many grasses undergo a physiological change known as compensatory growth in which the plant compensates for loss of foliage by quickly growing more. It seems counter intuitive, but when a herd of buffalo grazes down a sward of fresh grass, it actually grows faster in response. This helps the plant recover, but also invites the buffalo back for dinner later in the season. It’s even been discovered that there is an enzyme in the saliva of grazing buffalo that actually stimulates grass growth. To say nothing of the fertilizer produced by a passing herd.
Grass gives to buffalo and buffalo gives to grass. The system is well balanced, but only if the herd uses the grass respectfully. Free-range buffalo graze and move on, not returning to the same place for months. Thus they obey the rule of not taking more than half, of not over grazing. Why shouldn’t it also be true for people? We are no more than the buffalo and no less, governed by the same natural laws.”
When I came to Standing Rock in 2016 I had not eaten meat in 16 years. Part of my vow to give up meat was my own personal voice and calling. I never liked it much as a child and ate it to please everyone but in my mind I was always thinking of the animal and had a difficult time consuming it. I grew up in West Virginia with farming as an integral part of our lives. I loved the animals and watched my family take loving care of all our animals and I’m so grateful for this foundation.
But, as I got older I began to understand the world of factory farming and how different it was from the farming I had experienced at home. I suffered with the animals and chose to disconnect myself from that world completely. I could not play a part in the abuse and suffering of animals.
In the very beginning of our time at camp, a grandmother invited us to eat buffalo stew one night. I told her thank you but that I was a vegan and couldn’t eat the stew. And as quick as it came out of my mouth, a bee stung me in the bum! We all laughed as she said, that’s what ya’ get! I still didn’t eat the stew. I couldn’t bring myself to do it that day. I was holding strong to my belief, even though it offended her. I just couldn’t see beyond my belief at that moment. But I would be humbled…
After we had been at camp for months, and I had come to understand the ways and traditions on a deeper level, I was invited to partake in a ceremony where we would eat buffalo heart and then eat a buffalo stew together after sweat lodge. This time, with a full heart of gratitude and a deeper understanding of how this animal sacrificed his life to nourish us, I chose to partake. I was humbled and felt more deeply connected to the sacred circle that night.
Months later, we were visiting a Lakota brother who had gotten his best buffalo out to prepare a chili for us upon our arrival. His gift to us. I chose to enjoy this gift and give thanks for the food and the family. And now, I am careful not put myself into any box that defines me. I choose to consume food that has been honored and loved in a good way, without chemicals, without abuse. At home, I don’t purchase meats because I don’t enjoy them and most of our meats are tortured. And when I am with relatives who graciously share and prepare food for me, I say Thank You for the gift and I enjoy.
I have come to a place in my journey where I surrender and give thanks for each day, each lesson, each gift. I see now, there is no end destination, no time to arrive. I am not late to any party. I am not ahead or behind. I am neither a failure or a success. I simply AM. I love who I was and look forward to shedding more of who I am not, to allow who I truly am to be revealed!
Just as Yeshua was a Spiritual BEing having a Human experience, so too are we. I have wondered often about his 40 days in the wilderness and what that must have been like. I have been without money or food. I have been lost. I have felt lonely. I have been face down in the mud crying to be rescued. I’ve wanted to give up. But, I am a seeker. Yeshua teaches us to seek our truth. This is the way to the Light.
A seeker knows there is no left or right, no right or wrong. I am neither a democrat or a republican. I am neither good or evil. The dualistic mind must die in order for us to seek TRUTH. People who try to understand Yeshua’s teachings with a dualistic mind will never understand the message he came to share. There is no magic pass to the front of the line. There will be a purging to peel away our false selves in order to be reborn into our purest Light that we are called to! You will grieve, you will struggle, you may even find yourself face down in the mud.
The good news we are all being called to restore our relationship with the Sacred.
As above, so below.
“The dualistic mind is essentially binary, either/or thinking. It knows by comparison, opposition, and differentiation. It uses descriptive words like good/evil, pretty/ugly, smart/stupid, not realizing there may be a hundred degrees between the two ends of each spectrum. Dualistic thinking works well for the sake of simplification and conversation, but not for the sake of truth or the immense subtlety of actual personal experience. Most of us settle for quick and easy answers instead of any deep perception, which we leave to poets, philosophers, and prophets. Yet depth and breadth of perception should be the primary arena for all authentic living. How else could we possibly search for God?” _Richard Rhor
I AM LIGHT YOU are LIGHT WE ARE LIGHT
Our Souls are each created as a unique expression of Light from Source~ YahWeh. The magnificent cluster of atoms that make up YOU have been perfectly arranged by the hands of our Creator. YOU are LIGHT.
Your body is Light as well as your Soul. Every single cell in your body emits light. “Your unique consciousness emits bio-photons with every thought.” _Rebecca Campbell
This is how I know, “the power that makes the body, heals the body!” Every 7 years… a new set of cells. What will you do with this knowledge? How will you nurture this vessel that houses your Soul?
You cannot deny it, YOU ARE LIGHT!
Do you know that SHINING our Light IS our most natural state of being? “When we are connected to the inner light within us we are connected to the light of the Universe.” There is more than enough room for us ALL to expand and step into our FULLNESS. Each one of us in a note in the most beautiful symphony we could ever imagine. We were born to play this song together, we were born to Light up ourselves and each other.
When we open the door to experience our gifts, when we accept our connection to YahWeh, Source of LOVE and LIGHT, we don’t need to rely on anything externally to fill us up. The Universal “bank” of love and light is INFINITE, ABUNDANT…. UNLIMITED.
There is a shift happening in the collective, can you feel it? Anything inauthentic can no longer survive. If we have not been living our purpose. If we have not been our authentic selves, who we naturally are created to be. If we are not doing the work we are called to, or in relationships that are not our truth… it is all crumbling. Anything we have built on lies and the false self is on shaky ground and it is destined to tumble down and crumbled in order for to rise up into our true selves.
It’s ok loves. You will survive these days and one day you will look back and be so grateful that you lost that house, that you got fired from the job, that your partner left… If something is being moved out of your way, its because the Divine is pushing us all towards our highest calling as our TRUE SELVES. All of this is happening to bring us HOME, as we truly are, as who we came here to be so that we can live a life in alignment with our TRUTH.
Remember on our first day together I asked you to write down
WHAT IS MY TRUTH?
Perhaps you are a few steps closer to knowing the answer to this question, or you’re in the thick of a major crumbling of the life you had built. Please don’t blame the Universe or think you are under attack from Creator ~YahWeh. We are simply being called to shed our false selves to ensure that the lives we build are the TRUE reflections of WHO are are called to BE.
Our guides are waiting to assist us. We can call on our angels and ask for what we desire and need. Our Soul knows the way and She is ready to guide us home. Now more than ever before we are called to…
BE STILL AND LISTEN
BE BRAVE AND BELIEVE
Divine Love is where we come from and where we return to always. There’s enough for us all. “When you tap into this infinite power source, you slip into the harmonious flow of the Universe and raise the vibration of the planet. Like the morning sun, when you shine your light, you stir the sleepers and inspire them to wake up too.”
Are you searching for love, for purpose, for connection, for fulfillment, for joy? There’s no need to look outside yourself, everything you are seeking is within YOU! It’s calling you HOME.
Did you know that no two stars are alike? no two grains of sands? no two snowflakes? And just like no two raindrops are alike, YOUR light is not like any other! It is connected to the whole and as this is so, it adds to the collective.
“The brightest candle cast the biggest shadow.
Moving through the shadow can be hard, but it’s so worth it in the end. We need you to shine. We need you to bear the light.
I believe in you and I know that you came here with a beautiful gift to share with the world. You hold a piece to the puzzle that is needed in this Divine time.
There is a deep inner knowing within you that is calling you. Perhaps you just feel like there is something missing, something you are forgetting, something that you need to do. You can stay on the wheel and keep doing what you’re doing, playing repeat, hitting the snooze button, eating the same things, numbing this voice that is calling to you…. OR you can choose to listen, to put on your adventure suit and prepare your mind ~ body ~ spirit for the brilliant quest that lies ahead! You can choose to keep numbing yourself but IT will never leave. IT will always be here calling you home.
There is no perfectly laid out plan for this quest. There is no map you can buy at the bookstore and I’m sorry to tell you but no superhero is coming to your rescue. Put on the cape my loves, YOU are YOUR own SUPERHERO. No ones coming to save you. Salvation IS the journey and YOU are the only one who can follow your path home.
Everyone you know if fighting a battle that we know nothing about. When we realize that we are all healing from something, imagine how empathy can help us heal each other… and the world.
Perhaps you think that everyone thinks exactly like you do. Nope, we don’t. We all have our own divine gifts, purpose and timing. We are meant to live our TRUTH and to honor and respect the journeys of all our brothers and sisters. And as we each follow our paths with love and hope and faith, we can look around and see a little reflection of ourselves in everyone we meet. “Hey! Look at her, she’s quitting her job to take that class she’s been talking about forever. Hey! Look at him, he’s eating some weird stuff over there and he didn’t want to drink a beer with us today. Hey! Look at her, she’s moving across the country to start a school..”
What if we decided to listen to each other, to see where we are on this journey and to truly honor and support each other on our paths?! How beautiful would our lights shine?
I love you
I love you and I’m so grateful for these 40 days we’ve shared together. I am learning too, that my voice is part of the collective story and it’s my gift to share. I’m not a salesperson, I am a sharing person. When we share our gifts there’s not reason to “sell anyone anything”. We can exchange our gifts, our knowledge, our TRUTH, in a good way. Mutual reciprocity, remember?
I share because I don’t want anyone to feel alone as I did for so long. I share because maybe my gifts can help you with your gifts. I share because I LOVE YOU and I don’t want anyone to live in the shadow world when I can simply turn the Light on and invite you to dance with me in the LIGHT! Then you can turn the light on for someone else, and so it goes, on and on and on, until we’re all dancing in the light together at home.
Love is our gift to accept for ourselves and to share with the world!!!
It is given freely, just like the gift of the strawberries.
We don’t love to be loved, we love TO LOVE!
Shame kept me locked in a cage, afraid to talk about how I was feeling. I swallowed my grief and it festered within me… creating dis-ease in my body, my mind and my Soul. I used to think that I had totally wasted the best parts of my life in my illness, addictions and suffering. I thought I missed out on being the “perfect mom”, I lost my photography studio, I lost my house in forclosure, I lost relationships, I lost time….
Then I realized that I didn’t loose anything! I chose this path! I came here with a purpose and my story of healing, when shared, can help so many people rise up! I have opened the gates wide open and I welcome Creator to create in and through me. This invitation led me to want to purify my vessel to allow the Light to flow more freely and fully. I want to be like the crystal prisms that when you place in your window they invite the Sun to shine through, creating millions of bright rainbows and beams of light that dance in your space. THIS is the Light I long to be! To shine so bright and live my purpose so we may all rise up in this time as we walk each other home.
“A bird doesn’t sing because it has all the answers, it sings because it has a song.”-Maya Angelou
When you heal yourself…you heal the world.
Cultivating peace within yourself.. you create peace in the world.
“The planet needs your soul’s unique tone to harmonize.” - Sera Beak
Your voice, your story, your song…. please share it!
YOU are the architect of your own healing. You can heal your body and your mind and free your Soul to Light up the world. Food is our medicine. Love is our medicine. Compassion is our medicine. Truth is our medicine. Dancing is our medicine. Music is our medicine. Faith is our medicine. The earth is our medicine.
Nothing is holding you back, except the mask you are wearing.
Take it off and let you Love Light shine!
We need you to SHINE!!!
Remember who you are and why you are here.
Live your TRUTH and please enJOY the journey!
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy.
I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand,
but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer
“Each of us comes from people who were once indigenous. We can reclaim our membership in the cultures of gratitude that formed our old relationships with the living earth. A deep awareness of the gifts of the earth and of each other is medicine. The practice of gratitude lets us celebrate cultures of regenerative reciprocity, where wealth is understood to be having enough to share and riches are counted in mutually beneficial relationships. Besides, it makes us happy.” _Robin Wall Kimmerer
I want to THANK YOU for taking this time to love yourself, to be together in the mindful intention to cultivate more peace.
I want to THANK Robin Wall Kimmerer for writing my favorite book. Braiding Sweetgrass sings my heart song and every time I read it again, I find more truth, more wisdom and I fall deeper in love with all of life.
My heart has expanded in these days and for all the gifts I am so grateful.
I love you all and want to support you in any way I am able to as we walk forward. Please reach out to me and stay connected. I am grateful to be your sister and to share my gifts with you.
You are loved. You are light!
Gratefully,
Sarah Poe
Shams of Tabriz’s 40 Rules of Love
