oregon…..
How to quantify a feeling, an experience, a people, a land……
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As many of you are aware I spent July in Oregon. I was fortunate to be invited to support a dear one in a traditional native Sun Dance ceremony. I have wanted to write something, place a mark to represent the indelible imprint it has left on my heart and the recognition I felt in my soul.
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I feel Scotland deep in my bones, the people, the contours of the land, the rough edges of the coastlines, the wildlife, the trees, the quality of the air and the seasons all feel like home. I sink effortlessly into this land, every part of my being is informed by this place and my kin, all that has been here, that is here and that is yet to come. I inhabit this land with fullness of heart. You can perhaps imagine my surprise when I stepped onto a land unknown and unfamiliar and was met with a similar feeling of familiarity, of knowing.
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Oregon brought me to my edges, it blasted through my comfort zones, stripped away the places I’ve learnt to hide, faced me with some of my deepest fears, held up a mirror to all that I am, confronted me at every turn, it was a magnificent challenge.
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The people and the landscape guided me into a prayer that was both beautiful and brutal. It held itself in a time and a place that connected to all times, all places and all aspects of our planet, a microcosm of the macrocosm. A powerful portal, a gentle holding place. An old consistent ritual that gives hope for new change, a place of community that supports the individual soul.
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It feels to me that similar threads connect native and indigenous people throughout our world, those threads are familiar to many of us that love and feel in spiritual communion with our land. The old ways are another way to bring ourselves back to our own remembering, to our place on our own land and within our constellation.
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Oregon, the ceremony, the wise and steady men, the sacred circles of women all held me in awe, shared with me a framework for beliefs long held, offered me a place I didn’t know I could take. I thank each and every soul that was part of my experience, you will forever live in my heart. Until the next time….. x
