Neptune's Dolphins

 

Nothing is lost but stored in the memory of the earth. Wendell Berry, the American poet, wrote, “The earth under the grass dreams of a young forest, and under the pavement, the earth dreams of grass.” In wandering, people move into spiral time (and experience) and then into deep time. (Note 2.) Valters Paintner writes, “we allow ourselves to arrive fully in a sacred place both body and soul, and ask permission to be and receive the gifts offered.”

 

Fabiana Fondevila in “Where Wonder Lives” lays out a mythical landscape with landmarks for people to wander in. She plots a route for a journey from “The Jungle” to “The Ocean,” recapturing an element of wonder at each stop. Each place has a theme to focus on. Following her route will aid a person to let go of their rational mind and embrace wonder.

 

The Route and Focus:

 

The Jungle: Re-wild Yourself

The Garden: Awaken Your Senses

The River: Let Your Imagination Flow

The Mountain Top: Tell a New Story

The Swamp: Embrace Your Shadow

The Village: Deepen Your Relationships

The Fire: Reclaim Your Rites

The Lighthouse: Focus Your Mind

The Ocean: Open Your Heart

Wandering in this mythic landscape will restore a person’s place in the Spiritual Ecosystem. (Note 3.) At The Jungle, you go outside into nature to experience it in its fulness. While there, learn the names of birds, clouds, and trees. At The Garden, among the flourishing flowers and vegetables, you safely experience Nature with all of your senses. The Jungian psychologist James Hillman noted “we have lost the heart’s response to what the senses bring to us.” The Gardens is where you find it again.

 

At The River, you free your artistic impulses and create. The Mountain Top is where the ancient myths come alive. Embracing the mythic vision, you find your own story. The Swamp is a necessary step because your shadow lives there. The Swamp may be dank and dark but it is fertile and life creating.

 

After reuniting with your shadow, you enter The Village. Now, your whole self can be a part of the Web of Life. At The Village, you form relationships with others. Outside The Village, lies The Fire where you enter sacred time and space to meet the Gods.

 

The Lighthouse governs the mind. Fondevila writes, ‘the guiding light of consciousness returns you to the only that is truly safe: the present moment, in which life happens.” At The Ocean, you become anchored in “the deep and abiding power of love.” Arriving at journey’s end, you start over with a renewed sense of wonder.

 

At this moment, Valters Paintner suggests “statio,” “the practice of stopping one thing before beginning another. It is the acknowledgement that in the space of transition and the threshold is a sacred dimension, a holy pause full of possibility.” Prepared, we then can enter into what comes next.

 

Notes:

Note 1. Peregrinatio (peregrination) is the “leaving of one’s homeland behind and wandering for the love of God.” First practiced by St. Augustine of Hippo, it later became a part of Celtic Christianity. By wandering the landscape, the person returns home changed, and connected deeper to God. For Polytheists, it can be a practice to deepen their relations with the Gods.

 

Note 2. Deep time is the unfathomable immensity of the past and future, as defined by Valters Paintner. I experienced deep time at Great Falls Park, Maryland where the Potomac (an ancient river) speeds over the narrow Mather Gorge. The roaring sounds of the river over the falls put me into a trance where I viewed a scene from the Cretaceous Period.

 

Note 3. The Spiritual Ecosystem consists of the interactions and exchanges between of the Gods, Ancestors, Humans, Other Beings (Lars, etc.), Plants and Animals. It includes the visible and invisible worlds.