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"The Earth itself thinks in myth. There is an aliveness in it. It speaks across species, a form of ecological communication that invites us into the unknown forest."
Martin Shaw
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Spring greetings, dear ones!
While the occasional snow flurry is still fluttering through the air from time to time where I reside, it is quite clear that Spring is emerging. There's a distinct sound of a particular bird call that rings out across the pines, oaks, and prairies out here that lets me know the world is waking up again after a long Winter's rest. I don't know what bird makes this call, but I do know their voice is wedded to early Spring in my mind. While this is my first Spring living in this area, I'm familiar with this sound from the past three Spring's I've spent roaming this region in search of turkeys.
When I first heard the bird call one day while soaking in the morning sunlight, my spirit soared with a fond remembering of being surrounded by pines, the promise of the rising sun to soon warm the land and melt the cold from my bones as I set out for a full day of turkey hunting. To hear this sound, a sound I identify with a place and time that sings early Spring to my soul, as the sun greeted me just outside of the place I now call home, was an exceptionally sweet feeling. It was one of those moments where you feel connected to the totality of the land; both a witness to and integral part of an experience that is held at the intersection of a particular time and place.
These moments are often found far apart and fleeting, but when they occur, revel in them. For it is those simple, yet deeply touching moments found within nature that tether us to ourselves; they call us home, to the wild within.
"We as human beings are meant to be wedded to the wild."
When I heard this sentence spoken by Martin Shaw in Valemon the Bear: Myth in the Age of the Anthropocene, a captivating artistic storytelling production by Emergence Magazine, it landed so effortlessly for me, as if I myself had written and recited these words many times before. Perhaps it's the bone memory he speaks of, that I believe we all carry in the marrow as humans brought forth by the humans who came before.
"Is it naive to say that the world as we know it won’t end if we keep telling stories? Maybe not, if we reconsider the kinds of stories we tell. Ancient stories, myths, old tales—these kinds of stories hold something powerful. Call it bone memory, call it the deep, primordial part of ourselves, call it the voice that gossips with the wild, across species and across time. If we listen, we hear it calling. If we listen, we find ourselves deep in the forest, where a large white bear holds something we all desire. What journey lies ahead if we follow our deepest longing?"
No matter how loud or faint we hear this call, it's always there. Yearning to be heard.
The man who wedded my husband and I in the wild, who is also a dear friend, sent this powerful story of Valemon the Bear to my husband recently. He knows of the power that Bear holds in our lives on a deeply personal and spiritual level, but as I listened to this story, I knew it wasn't just the personal reference that made it so potent for us. This story of Valemon the Bear is for everyone.
"For the timeless, not just the timebound."
I invite you to hear the call of bone memory, listen to this myth, and meet your wild twin under the intoxicating light of the full moon this early Spring eve.
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If you don't have the time to experience and sit with the story of Valemon the Bear now, I strongly encourage you to save this email, bookmark the link, or just keep it open in a separate tab until you're ready to listen. Maybe save it for a rainy day. He will be there, ready and waiting for you. I promise, this myth is a powerful salve for the modern human experience, and one I wish for all to hear and be healed by the medicine held within it.
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May you be wedded to the wild.
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