Woodsprayer

Deep breath…aaaaahhhhh….

I quietly gaze into the depths of a forest
and see nothing save beauty and peace.
Birdsong fills my ears.
A gentle breeze brushes against my cheek.

Seeing from inside the seeing,
I drink the dark riches of the woods.Would it be that every day
I could see my own face so clearly in these still waters,
And meet the emptiness–which is also my very own heart–
that is carried in the boughs of pines and in the gentle
music of crickets.
–Cass Adams in Life Prayers

I’ve had one of those bad days. A day in which I let myself down repeatedly, was snappy with those I love, was crabby and distracted and sometimes mean (to myself and to others). In short, I was not who I want to be, wish to be, or how I would like to see myself. I feel disappointed with my lack of accomplishments on my to-do list (that really needs to get done) and then also frustrated by my own unrealistic standards of what I “should” be able to do on any one day. I settled at my altar space for a few minutes and read the above in the book Life Prayers that I read a little of each day. I also have a nearly daily ritual of going down to the priestess rocks in the woods—though, on days like today, I don’t have “enough time” to do that, even though it is on those days that I really, really, need to go. So, I went. In truth, this time in the woods restoreth my soul, there is no other way to describe it.

I go down to the woods to pray. Thinking about the sacred way. And, we need this way to survive.