Mysterious Nature

This month, I had the honor of guiding two lovely women on a forest bathing walk in celebration of the summer solstice. 

At the beginning of the walk, one of the women shared that while she enjoyed the forest, she really loved the beach and being by the ocean was a big stress reliever for her. 

Towards the end of the walk, as we sat in a circle, drinking tea, I invited both women to choose a small gift bag out of the several presented to them.

I said, “I believe the one you choose is the one you are supposed to have today.”

In this case, that statement couldn’t have been more true for the woman who loved the beach. The bag she had chosen contained a small tumbled crystal called Ocean Jasper. 

Coincidence?

Maybe. 

But wait, let me share a few more... 

At the tea gathering after a walk in May, a woman named Robin pulled the Robinia tree card from the Tree Wisdom oracle deck and recognizing her name in the tree’s name exclaimed, “My name is on this card!”

A few weeks prior to that, during a private forest bathing session, my guest was sitting on the edge of the field and her view reminded her of a trip she had taken with her mom who had since passed away. As she thought about her mom, she glanced to her left and saw a red cardinal sitting on a branch watching her. The cardinal is a bird she associates with being a messenger sent by her mom’s spirit and here it was, showing up right at the moment she was thinking of her mother.

After another especially enjoyable walk with four delightful guests, I was replaying the experience in my head as I drove home. I thought about every aspect of the walk, of how much fun it was, and how much I enjoyed it.  I glanced at the license plate of the car in front of me and read “LOV L1FE”.

And there was the time I was driving up the mountain on my way to Magic Tree Sanctuary and I was thinking about a photo I had seen of an altar my friend had created with crystals. She had decorated it with feathers and I thought how much I would like to have feathers to start an altar of my own. When I arrived at the cabin and got out of the car, there, lying in the grass was a hawk feather. 

Experiences like this have happened far too often for me to think they are just coincidences, yet I don’t think it’s possible to know what they are exactly.

I like to believe that it’s Spirit, God, Universe, the Otherworld (whatever name you choose) communicating with us and when we are in nature we become attuned---our thinking minds quiet, our bodies relax, and our vibration is raised enough that the veil that separates us becomes thinner and communication becomes easier. For me, nature is the portal to this Otherworld, and synchronicities, meaningful coincidences, are one form of communication. So, I try to pay attention and be in a listening space. 

You may have your own ideas, and I expect that you do.

It’s a mystery for sure and only something we can dance around with.

Forest Love,

Julie

I like coincidences. Seems like when you have a coincidence it is a clue to how the world all fits together, even though things may look to be wide apart. ― Marilyn Oser, Even You