“The Great Summons of our time is to find our way home
to our true nature in the living body of earth.”
Joanna Macy
The gift of this nature-based teaching—part of the “bare bones” of the School of Lost Borders’ ceremony—was given to us by our founders Steven Foster and Meredith Little ( authors of The Four Shields: The Initiatory Seasons of Human Nature). There have been many nature-based teachings throughout indigenous cultures worldwide. Nature was home, church, schoolroom, play ground for all to learn about life and how to live in communion and cooperation with each other.
The world today is in a great crisis, borne of a deep, collective separation of nature. Will we heed the call towards healing—towards remembering that all things are connected. In the words of Chief Seattle: “What ever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth”.
Nature has a way of teaching us right relationship with our own humanness, both inside and out, when we open to different qualities to be found in each of the four directions: The south: the qualities of the physical body, instincts and emotions. The west: the qualities of intuition and introspection. The north: the qualities of standing in our own truth. The east: the qualities of that which is greater than us and the divine within.
During our time together we will look to disprove the ‘lie’ that we are separate from nature, and from each other. We will strive to re- remember our place and our belonging in all of creation as well as our connection to one another. We will learn from observing nature, the seasons and the life cycles. We will begin to re-orient to the natural world by looking closely at the clues and patterns of the natural blueprint that surrounds us. We will learn through our senses and feelings how the cycles, rhythm and flow of nature reflect our own natural flow.
This week’s experience will be helpful to those who are in training for nature based work, those who work in counseling, life coaching, or anyone living in this world working towards wholeness.
We will begin our days with check-ins, teachings, and discussions. The afternoons and one of the evenings will be spent alone in nature for 2-3 hours with a suggested mission. Late afternoons and early evenings we will spend sharing stories of your experiences when out alone.
For enquiries please contact Silvia Talavera at [email protected]
