Inner-Wilderness.com

Black-tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus

Looking back to early human societies and their relationships to nature can inform us today about our “modern” cultural beliefs we hold about the natural world; beliefs held, perhaps, unconsciously.

If we want to use nature as a mirror, it is helpful to think deeply about the assumptions that underlie our culture’s belief system. Throughout his various books, the mythologist Joseph Campbell examined primitive human cultures and their relationships to their food sources and how this impacted their belief systems about nature broadly. He specifically compared hunting cultures and planting cultures.

Primitive hunting cultures relied on individuals making often dangerous forays out to kill wild animals which were then brought back and shared with the small village. In these cultures, death nearly always came via violence, for the animal or for the man. Hunting cultures often held beliefs that while the corporal animal dies, the immortal essence of the animal does not, and the animal essence is absorbed into the eater. Hunting cultures often believed there was a self-sacrifice on the part of the animal to the hunter and they also often believe there was a magical, mystical “unity” between the hunter and the hunted. Success in the hunt was due to individual skill plus luck. Campbell wrote that hunting cultures often organized themselves patriarchy, with the focus on strong individuality, as it was the strength and skill of the individual men that brought food to the village.

Planting cultures, on the other hand, often held very different world views. In planting societies, the village group planted seed as a community effort. The plant dies at the end of its fertility cycle and is annually reborn via seed. In these cultures, death is seen within a cycle—a phase within life— often followed by rebirth elsewhere. Communal agriculture in village life follows a predictable solar calendar and success is built on consistent group effort, nurturing and respect for the elements. Campbell says that planting cultures are usually matriarchal, as in these societies women— who physically embody the natural rhythms of nature in their bodies— could play a more dominant role as food providers for the village.

These hunting and planting worldviews are ancient to us as a species. They are the bedrock of humanity’s social formation and have become archetypal in the human races’ consciousness. So how does this link to our individual inner selves, today? One way to think about it might be to ask yourself the questions, “What is my inner mythology?” “Do I feed my inner village as a hunter would or as a planter?” There are no right or wrong answers, only increased insight into your inner processes.

Can you identify what is the “food source” part of you—the inner part of you that nourishes and sustains you on a daily basis without which you could not survive? Once you get some picture of that food source part of yourself, you can take the next step and look at whether the rest of you relates to your food source part from the hunters’ or the planters’ perspective? Can you tell? Is there a blend? What effect does that have on how you experience yourself?

Outer cultural myth and inner individual psychology can be approached as similar models on different scales. Humans have a long and complex relationship to nature and that history informs each and every one of us…sometimes consciously and— more often—unconsciously. Let’s shine some light into the ancient parts of ourselves that are still operating within us today, make them more conscious, and see what we discover.

For a nice overview of Joseph Campbell’s lifework from which I drew many of these hunter/planter descriptions, here’s the reference:

Segal, R.(1987). Joseph Campbell: An introduction. New York: Penguin Books.

On the continuum of inner and outer nature experience, some of us are more experienced, skilled or comfortable with inner exploration and some with outer. Attending to both can lead to some of the richest and deepest relationships with nature. For those of you who are looking for someone to help guide and teach you the basics of the outer experience, Derek Young’s Outdoor Adventure Experiences is your guide.

Last year, I needed to learn about winter backpacking for a trip I had planned. Derek taught me the basics by taking me on an overnight nearby into the George Washington National Forest. I wasn’t trying to set any land speed or endurance records. I just wanted to learn how to layer my clothing, set up camp to keep warm, learn a bit about more about winter gear and how to string up my food from bears. The thing I liked about Derek’s style was that his goal seemed to be to make the activity accessible to me. He has a nice casual way of teaching some skills, if you are looking for that. Derek just wants people to get out— all ages of people. Nature activity isn’t just for the twenty-somethings.

Your inner work in nature will go deeper as your comfort in outer nature increases. No matter what your level of outdoor skills, that is where you start. So while it is great to hire someone like Derek to be a guide on fun-filled family or church trip, it is equally great to use Derek to give you a safe introduction to some aspect being in nature you’ve never experienced. Outdoor Adventure Experiences offers caving, for example, which I have not yet done, and I can’t wait to see what experiences real-life caving creates as a mirror for my inner world, especially since caves so often represent our unconscious selves.

So if you want to go somewhere inside yourself you’ve never been, mirror that with a new outdoor adventure.

Outdoor Adventure Experiences can provide: Kayaking, tubing, rock-climbing, backpacking, hiking, wild cave and water cave exploration and rappelling; some activities are available year-round.

Wow ! It continues to be turtle season! I met up with this fine creature early in the day as he or she ambled towards my backyard. It’s worth asking whether it means anything that within four weeks I have had five turtle encounters; two snappers, two painted turtles and now this Eastern Box Turtle. My husband saw a fourth one, too, laying eggs out by our mailbox.

None of these encounters generated any unusual emotion for me, (except surprise and delight, of course) which leads me to suspect that there is no particular turtle universe message being sent directly to me this time. Rather, these are just the days when turtles are actively out and about laying eggs and warming in the sun on roads. Have you been seeing them, too?

I did, however, take the opportunity to spend some time with this turtle. I thought about the common ideas that often get projected on to turtles from myths and stories over time. One common association with turtles– due to their longevity and wrinkly skin– are various ideas about how we perceive time. Turtle is associated with the peace of mind that sometimes comes with slowing down.

Because phylogenetically, turtles go so far back on the evolutionary tree— 200 million years— they get associated with ancient wisdom. Because of their shell, they get linked to ideas about self-protection, going within and self-sufficiency, What meaning would humans project about the fact that turtles bury their eggs, leaving them to grow, succeed or fail in the warm sun, never to be tended again?

As I looked into these beautiful eyes, I could feel my own strong pull towards slowing and ancient wisdom. Who has ever seen an anxious turtle? No one, I doubt! When I look for the inner turtle of me, I find an old wise woman with soft, deep eyes. She is a part of me already—yet perhaps I won’t manifest her until my later years. What can I do now to get to know this older, wiser part of myself better? Perhaps I need to do a slow turtle walking meditation, modeled on my friend discovered here today. And then when I get all rabbity, like in the famous story of the Tortoise an the Hare, I can see if I can evoke my inner wise elder to shift my perspective of time. When I need to conjure up that inner turtle essence, I’ll call on the memory of this Eastern Box Turtle’s eyes.

National Wildlife Federation

A big, good thing being talked about now is increasing awareness in “eating local, eating seasonally.” But what if we don’t have a strong awareness of what “seasonally” means? For many years now, our society has been able to get just about any fruit or vegetable at the grocery just about any time of year. Even in our agricultural community, many children probably don’t know the natural cycle well. Do you? If you are like me, you may know it intellectually, but still make choices in your life that don’t follow nature’s fundamental schedule. Those choices have a much lower chance of success because they are fighting against nature’s cycle rather than working with it.

My recent weekend at a workshop at Living Earth School in Afton, Virginia was filled with many, many good lessons, fun and community building. People came together to learn about the art of mentoring in nature education. Hosted by Kate and Hub Knott, the workshop was facilitated by Evan McGown, author of Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature.

Author: Evan McGown

Over the camping weekend, we played stalking games, ran around barefoot, sang and drummed around fires and practiced wilderness skills. We told and heard archetypal stories of world culture’s relationship to nature and we built a group mandala (or medicine wheel) out of objects we collected from the woods that held personal attraction for us. Then we used those objects to tell a group story about our time.

Catherine lights a smudge

We saturated ourselves in grasping the full implications of nature’s cycle. Try this yourself— compare the parallels in the cycles of a DAY and the cycles of a YEAR:

DAY …………………………………………..YEAR

Sunrise …………………………………………………..Spring

Mid- Morning …………………………………………..Late Spring

Noon ………………………………………………………Summer Solstice

Afternoon “Siesta” …………………………………….Dog Days of Summer

Sunset …………………………………………………… Autumn Harvest Fruits of Labor

Twilight …………………………………………………..Late Autumn/ Halloween

Midnight ………………………………………………….Winter

Predawn …………………………………………………..Late Winter Thaw

See the natural cycle playing out, mirrored on different time scales? Now, let’s compare the natural cycle of earth’s time to our lifetimes!

YEAR ………………………………………….LIFE STAGE

Spring …………………………………………………….Birth

Late Spring ……………………………………………...Childhood

Summer Solstice ………………………………………Fires of Adolescence

Dog-Days………………………………………………..Transition to Adulthood

Autumn Harvest………………………………………..Adulthood Fruits- Children and Careers

Late Autumn…………………………………………….Retirement- Empty Nest- Letting Go

Winter …………………………………………………….Elderhood

Late Winter Thaw ……………………………………..Death and Transformation-Conception

You can see a microcosm of your whole life in a day. Like the poets, we can conceptualize our life in terms of seasons. But there’s more! Since the natural cycle is a model that basically maps energy flow, we can also use it to plan activities. I am in the process of trying to use the natural cycle to lay out the order and energy flow of the upcoming workshops in July/Aug.

The photo at the top is the concrete version of the natural cycle which we laid out on a mandala- further coordinating the day cycle with the sun’s cycle, which is of course how we get our directions of north, south, east and west.

So now we are coming up on the Summer Solstice (June 21), the time of the year when our sun’s rays are the strongest and the straightest above our heads at solar noontime. The plants and trees are in their natural cycle of maximum strengthening and peak growth, adding woody structure just before they turn their attention to growing fruit. Birds and mammals are manifesting their peak adult energy scrambling around to constantly feed and care for themselves and their demanding offspring. How is this natural cycle manifesting itself in you? See how you are dancing to the tune of all nature, too?

Five Minute Fire practice!

Eastern Snapping Turtle, Chelydra serpentina

I had a nice, sit-down conversation this week with my 40 million year old neighbor who lives across the street. She didn’t enjoy the conversation as much as I did because she had other things on her mind. Mostly, she was scouting out my back yard as a place she could plop her children down for safe-keeping for, say, the next two and a half months.

I told her I didn’t think my yard was such a good spot because of my dogs. Our conversation went downhill from there and ended with me physically escorting her off my property! My wacky neighbor?…

A snapper!

These are the days (late May/early June) to watch for our road-clueless reptile friends who just can’t get it in their reptilian brains that that “nice, big, stretch of black rock” is anything but a spa treatment on which to warm themselves after a chilly night. Cars don’t compute. But, lest I sound too condescending toward my neighbors, I should tell you what the snapping turtle told me.

I looked deeply into the eyes of a being who carries the archetypal energies and instincts of her ancestors, tracing back to the age of the dinosaurs. Her soul’s purpose may seem simple, but she represents a long-term survivor in nature’s phylogenetic history. Just by her presence, I was transported back to prehistory. She told me about her slow and sensual life, mostly floating just below the surface of warm, muddy waters. She spoke to me of slow, hidden, murky, survivor processes at work.

What in the mystery had me go out just at the right time when she was contemplating laying her eggs? When looking into her eyes, I started looking for the snapping turtle of me—the seldom seen, primitive, sensual, muddy parts of me that hang out in wet ditches, swamps and culverts, only to emerge periodically to lay down new life which will link my prehistory to the future.

A Few Snapping Turtle Facts:

• Snappers like water that is, on average, twenty inches deep, and they spend almost all their time floating, seldom basking in the sun, but will travel often far from water to lay eggs once a year.
• Females retain sperm in their body many years, so they can lay eggs from year to year, even if they can’t find a partner! (more…)

Scanning a wide vista off a mountain summit naturally leads one into a contemplative consciousness. The landscape acts as a mirror of the landscape of your soul. Go ask the mountains and valleys to tell you something you need to become aware of about your life.

To make it easier, Shenandoah National Park and 9 other National Parks in Virginia , are waiving their entrance fees on certain dates this summer. Fees are usually $15 per car per day, but “free days” this summer will be June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16.

Check it out and get out into the wilds! Make use of this opportunity to partner up with nature towards deeper discover of yourself. Then come one of our workshops and learn even more about nature as mirror. More info about the fee waivers? Go to: Richmond Times Dispatch

photo by Karla Souder

It’s time for humans to have magic, fun and meaningful experiences out in the woods again! The child in you has not forgotten the awe and splendor of communion with nature. And the 100,000 year old Homo sapien in you has not forgotten how to psychologically shapeshift and become brethren to the tree and stone elders, the totem animals or stars who guide one’s life. We, too, can reawaken to latent skills held deep within us that weave us into the fabric of all around us.

When even thinking about nature, too many of us these days quickly are reminded of all the problems the world faces. Often joy, serenity and belonging gets replaced with sadness, guilt or fear. Magic as our home base slips away or gets replaced by a bittersweet quality. All that is seemingly left are problems, problems, problems. We cannot deny environmental problems are real and serious. To varying degrees all of us are coming to realize the impact that climate change, the peak in oil resources, and other environmental crises will have on us and next generations.

Register for our upcoming workshops in the Rockingham and Augosta county areas.

Or email kate.guenther@inner-wilderness.com