On Monday, I watched a cloud of red-breasted robins descend on my little woods, filling the trees, the air, and covering the ground. They flicked at the leaves on the ground en masse, the dozens of tiny bodies sounding like a 300 pound bear walking through the woods. I had time to watch them, and saw how their russet bellies matched the leaves. And as they flew, they were just like the leaves, with the added animation and sovereignty that come with heart and lungs and wings.
The next morning it snowed and froze hard.
Any lingering weeds now spent; frozen, limp, and done for the year.
I can relate.
Not the whole of me, but parts.
Some of me is like the conifer revving its engine to pump essential oils through its needles all winter long.
That part of me is ready to work on my business instead of in it, ready to read a thousand books by the wood stove & embrace new insights and ideas, ready to dive into inner realms.
But other parts are done for the year. Done and done.
So I let those parts go like the leaves falling to the forest floor, like the weeds frozen and limp.
And rather than mourn what was but now isn’t, I notice was is.
I celebrate the whole of the perennial kingdom, settling into the absolute unshakable faith that these parts will resurface with gusto like the peonies and honeysuckle and morning glories will half a year from now.
This shedding, this faith, this focus on what is? This is The Wisdom Keeper’s specialty.
This archetype helps us shed what’s no longer relevant. She sees our white-knuckle grip on permanence, and lovingly peels our weary fingers away one at a time. She holds our shoulders while we sob and watch it escape like a long-caged bird flying over the sea.
This season, The Wisdom Keeper invites us to release the clutter of the summer garden so we can appreciate the single red cardinal perched on the stem against the snow.
Or a cloud of red-breasted robins that would have been hidden by a plumped out canopy.
Let The Wisdom Keeper archetype help you see what is instead of focusing relentlessly on what isn’t.
love & hot tea,
kv
