WELCOME

Hello.

I am Molly. Bard. Gatherer and Caster of Seed. Woman of Earth, with shadows in my hair. Tiller of the Soil of heart, of voice, of roots. Bearer of Songs of the Silent Earth. A Guide along the way.

And yes, this life, these times, are indeed difficult and exciting times.

Sadly, as a culture, as too many professions, as human beings, we have spent too much time trying to figure out and fix what is wrong with us. What little time we have spent intentionally noticing, watering, and allowing the living life force that moves in all of us, to reach for life, as a fiddlehead fern in the spring. Too often, there has been little encouragement or guidance for stepping more and more into seeing/hearing/touching the very substances within our being that move toward authentic and mature expression of our own unique and visionary soul gifts.

What little guidance we have had to recognize or utilize the wisdom within the mirrors that rise before us: from the earth and her beings, from the synchronicities that surprise us, from echoes we sense reverberating in our own hearts, from images that inspire, feed, or carry us on, even from unexpected beings that cross our path. Living a full authentic adult life means no longer refusing, rather wholly claiming who we are, individually and collectively, as part of a larger living system of earth, of the universe. It is exciting and inspiring to live now, a time when consciousness is exploding, when awareness is deepening. It is a time when we are reconnecting with the wisdom of the earth, with the ones who have gone before us, with truths held in stone and the roots of traditions, with our own ability to know and connect on deep levels.

One thread of the tapestry in my offering is spun from earth and wind, from wilderness and flowing rivers, from tracks and tracking mystery. We come to gather up the crumbs that have been left along our paths, the golden nuggets we have held on to. We note the marks in the grass where the antelope lay and the shimmering of the young pine in the meadow. We wander on land, touch and are touched by beauty, decay, and transformation. We carry unseen staffs from Hazelwood or river stones or the ones who have gone before.

Developing and nurturing deeper connections with the Earth, with her natural rhythms, with the beings that are sustained by her are an integral part of our own recovery.

Claiming our own voice, our own power, our own place on this Earth and with one another is our own recovery.

POETRY

Woven into my work, into the paths I walk with others, is poetry as a vehicle to finding one’s place among the family of things.
Poetry so often speaks the language of the soul.
Poetry can be a powerful portal to one’s interior world, to one’s longings.
It can open to a depth of intimacy not experienced before. It can inflame, enliven, awaken, and call forth.
It is a tremendous venue for deep work.

Rising in me like sap are the words of poets, the village of wisdom keepers, the truth sayers.

Allow me to share with you, here, their words, the seeds they have scattered.

Rising on Earth Day

Today I am speaking the poem "Love This Miraculous World" by Wendell Berry, "Mindful" by Mary Oliver, "Letter to My Grandchildren and Their Children", by myself

“If the heart opens enough to tell the mind something”(Gunther Hauk) and if we start to pay attention to the intricacies of this living world, how can we be anything but amazed and dazzled and head over heals in love with this miraculous world. A queen bee lays more eggs than her weight every day. From one tiny seed, like the one that falls into your palm when eating an apple, from one seed just like that one, an apple tree grows, produces hundreds/thousands of apples in its lifetime. But that is not the end of the story, for there is not an end but a circle, because the birthing of that tree was made possible because of the interplay of the pollinators, of the rains, the decay in the soil, the warmth of the sun, the insects…the participants are endless in this web of life.

May we slow down enough to allow this Earth to break our hearts with its beauty, its mystery, and its unfathomable, miraculous life serving way. May we love it enough to raise our voices to protect it. May we make changes in our own lifestyles and choices to serve/preserve life on this planet. May we teach our children to save seeds, to cherish water, to put their hands in the soil, to care for the land that sustains them, to see the beauty that surrounds them. May we take the time to praise this magnificent, life giving Earth and offer thanks.

May we love this miraculous world as the gift it is.

Music Credit for previous offering: Peter Kater – CD: Wind, Rock, Sea, and Flame. Track: Flame

"Love This Miraculous World", "Mindful", "Letter to My Grandchildren and Their Children

by Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver, Molly Traffas spoken by Molly Traffas