This evening I found myself alone at home, sitting on the couch not knowing how to spend my evening.
I got the idea of going into the woods nearby and see what it is like there in the dark. I walked over there and before entering the woods I asked for permission to enter and stated my intentions; ‘to learn and interact’. (the Shamanic book I’m reading teaches this as common protocol , asking for permission and stating your intention of being there. I find this a good practice)
I walked to an opening where I knew there is a bench and I sat down. In that open space there is a fairly large tree and I decided I would try getting in contact with it. I closed my eyes and asked for the tree’s permission. I first apologized for all the unskillful acts my species is doing to trees and nature as a whole. I tried to ‘reach out’ with my consciousness towards the tree but to no avail. How does that work? I have no idea. Do I need to be in a trance or another altered state? Then I decided to try to just talk. I started the recorder app on my phone and just started talking without worrying about the words or sentences as they form. This is what I recorded:
All is well , do not be afraid. You will get where you need to be with any means. It’s not necessary to learn any lesson in a particular order. Enjoy the ride and have fun with it.
At that point no more words came to mind, or I took back control. It all didn’t feel special or so, it’s more a letting go of control and just letting it happen. Of course my sceptic mind immediately decided that these words were made up by myself or by my subconscious mind. I remained seated for about 15 more minutes and decided to leave. I got up and thanked the tree. At the moment I did that two birds came flying out of the treeline behind me. I could see their silhouettes above me against the starlit sky. They were fairly large and didn’t make a sound, maybe owls or so? They made a circle about two meters above my head and flew back into the trees behind me. I left with a smile on my face.