There was a restless urging to visit the mountains, the familiar mountains of home.  There was a desire to consciously experience the forest, the streams, the wild in a new way.  The intention was to embody the elements of the landscape, tune to an awareness vaster and timeless.  With curiosity I engaged this well-worn trail in Ceremony through sacred song. 

I communicated to the Earth Keepers, the Ancestors of the land, the Wisdom Keepers, and Pachamama my intention.  I allowed sacred song to hone my mind, body, and spirit to the consciousness of nature.  First, I sang to the Earth, mother that holds and nourishes me.  With joy her expansive loving embrace wrapped around me.  The forest glowed softly, the moss and ferns inviting, the birds sweetly singing.  Rich, deep, solid peace flowed through my body.  The mind eased, the muscles relaxed, the spirit lifted.  With grace and compassion my heart opened like clouds parting for the sun.  I arrived in the present.  The trail unfurled before me, new treasures emerging, gifts of simplicity, being.  Magic shimmered at the periphery of vision, tingled at the tips of the fingers, giggled in the small streams, and teased the palette in the fresh aroma of rain on cedar.

Next, I sang the sacred song to the waters, the rivers flowing to the sea.  Honing my mind, body, and spirit to the natural flow of the present moment.  Easing into the space of letting go; letting go of expectations, ideas, the notion of past or future, any perceptions of knowing.  Each stream crossing a meditation, a gateway that opened to the now.  This present moment experienced embodied with heart.  The song of the water amplified awareness, reverberated through the valley and my body.  The cadence of water over rocks a purifying force.  Vibrations rising, purging the mind of fractured thoughts, unnecessary obsessions, contrived purpose, and the false evidences appearing real.  Threads of contemporary reality would emerge and dissolve, the detritus of flooding carried downstream.  The mind would surrender to the song, lilt lightly on the infinite of present awareness, then wildly cascade over a steep boulder into the contrived mind story…”what if,” “I need to do,” “what about.”  Another current would catch the mind, seamlessly merging being with the present.  Emerging and dissolving, ebbing and flowing, a dance of the presence.  Each stream crossing opening a new threshold of awareness, imparting wisdom and understanding.

            As the trail steepened, moving closer to the lake destination I began to sing to the Apus.  Calling on the Wisdom Keepers of the highest mountain tops, honing myself to the wisdom of the mountain.  Again, consciousness shifted, transformed, embraced a depth never experienced before.  Awareness exploded, cast beyond the forest, trail, streams, to Elephant Peak, Eagle Peak, St. Paul Peak, Lentz Peak, Dad’s Peak and more.  The guardians of the valleys, the draws, the ridgelines came to focus.  Their enduring presence, the longevity of their journey, the transit of time from eons ago to now.  Only now there was a deep seated knowing of the mountain within.  Storms come and go, weather erodes rock, water carves the landscape, trees take root, animals create paths and yet the mountain resides in stillness.  The concept of time began to morph, some moments speeding up, punctuated with expressions of AH HA.  Other times slowed, crawled, paused, highlighting the simple beauty of shifting shades of green, the multitude of leaf shapes overlapping.  Witnessing a daddy long-legged spider navigate the maze of leaves, feeling, sensing each step.

            It was as if the mountains strung pearls of wisdom along the trail.  Tidbits exploded in the awareness honed by sacred song.  Pebbles dropped into the pool of consciousness rippled outwards transforming dimensions.  Emerging from the center of stillness, St Paul Peak, radiating exuberant joy and gratitude.  Honoring the mountain, bountiful gifts of support and protection.  Meditating with the mountain, sensing, feeling uplift, growth, towering, the grounding, solid, stable, enduring, resolute, reaching for the sky.  Melting with the waters, flowing with the waterfalls, letting go, letting go, surrendering.  Sojourn to the lake.  Settling, resting, balancing, peaceful, serenity in being.  Again, rising with the mountain, ascending, growing.  Then melting, flowing, descending.  Coming home, being, witnessing, the lake.  Cycles, cycles of life and death, being and doing, conscious and unconscious.  Yet, always in the now, here, the present.