By the shore...

Integration

“I hear lake water lapping by the shore.

I hear it in the deep heart's core.”

William Butler Yeats

Greetings from Lake Martin, where the day is dawning overcast and cold—Spring is a feral cat, one day here, the next not. The lake, gray and flat with nary a loon in sight. Probably already headed north. My friend, Susan, is here staying in the little house so that I have the main house all to myself, except for Ace, the big white poodle. He's not so white now, having gone all native with lake living and wallowing in the dark earth. He's sporting a tattoo of boat-glue on his side which will have to grow off. So much for Parisian fancy—Alabama will get dirt under your manicure no matter who you are.

This place, as always, is dope to me. I could sit for hours and simply stare out at the lapping water, brainless. Thoughts gone with the loons. It's good to have a place of clarity, especially in these days of cluttered house and busy life—I need to spread a blanket on the ground and come back to earth. Do you do that from time to time? Move so fast that you feel as though half of you is flying overhead, tethered only by a thin string? At any moment, your string may snap and your airy half fly away on the breeze?

Coming back to earth is a physical journey for me. I must get as close to the source as possible. It started last week with moving my books and altar to the basement, and continues now by putting myself at water's edge. Before its done, I'll have to dig in the dirt a while. Once I'm grounded, body and soul, I'll return to the busy world repaired.

I wonder this morning, where is your place of integration? Do you travel there by car, or go in you mind only? A journey is a journey either way, but grounding usually requires contact with mother earth. And silence, and solitude—so difficult to find in these days of 24/7 everything. I hope you do, and that this blog encourages you to go there today, and bring all your scattered pieces back together. We have so much more to offer when we're whole.

                                               In the spirit,

                                                  Jane