Friday, May 7, 2010

Taos-bound

The thick crescent moon hangs high in the eastern sky as I gather what I need for Taos. Toothbrush, drum, my moka pot for fresh espresso. It is my first visit in five years and I brim with curiosity; wonder how it will feel to walk her adobe-lined streets once again. My two best woman-friends are gone. One lives in Mexico and one south of Santa Fe. Both are, interestingly like myself, in the shadow of a divorce. One as recent as this week.

I return to speak as part of the town's, "Return to the Sacred," series and wonder how much of that title applies to myself. I will talk about sacred sites of NM and no doubt sell my last two remaining books on the subject as I lead a discussion on what makes a place sacred and move into the realm of my passion: the connection of the wild and the sacred.

I wonder who I will see as I look out at the audience. Past clients and workshop students? Women who I taught to use a handgun? An old lover? A girlfriend I used to horseback ride with? Hell, may be no one will show up on a beauty-full spring Saturday afternoon to sit under florescent lights. If there's anything that book tour taught me, it's to never be bothered by the count. Many years ago one nun traveled 150 miles to hear me read from Living on the Spine. She and I sat, I read only to her and we shared our lives in an unforgettably touching way.

Sometime during my 3-day visit I will drive into the Sangre de Cristo mountains and return to 'my' Grandmother Tree, an old growth Ponderosa pine. On this steep mountainside, under her vast canopy of long-needled branches is where I sought solace for so many years; listened for deeper voices. My sacred, wild place.

And so here I sit on the bed as dawn lands upon soul. I take the large crystal and tuning fork, ping one to the other and hold it over my heart until the sound and vibration cease. Ping, my third eye; ping, my cunt. Crown chakra opened and energized as I run a spiral out the top of my head. I save the throat for last, that sacred passage for giving voice. I am cleared for take-off.

3 comments:

  1. This is good... I'm anxiously awaiting your post Taos communique.

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  2. Did you visit with Grandmother?

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  3. Yes indeed Em. Sunday was devoted to a walk into the Sangre de Cristos to visit Grandmother Tree. It had been five years since my last visit. The forest had been cleared all around of underbrush which is good~~prevents a catastrophic fire from reaching the upper canopy of the forest; but it also means that she's much more exposed.

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