Forest

  Well as I write this I'm in the midst of trip to Vermont. If you've never seen the forest land of the American Northeast, you owe it to yourself to do so. The landscape is radically different from the scorching summers I've gotten used to in Texas. Hemlocks, shag-bark Hickories and elegant birch trees coat the area like a fabric of green lace. Clear, cool brooks run through nearly every gulch and under every bridge.
  What has happened to our species, that we are callous enough to abuse such an enduring peace of natural beauty? I've often thought that the most important part of my Pagan practice is constantly increasing the scope of my awareness. Some days, that means trying to talk to rocks. Others, it means researching local ecological action groups. Most of the time it involves a practice of connecting to myself. Wherever I am, I stop what I'm thinking, take in a cleansing breath, and take a deep look at my surrounding. Just that simple ritual has transformed my experience of life. The change wasn't instant, it wasn't easy, but now I look back on how I used to approach life and feel such surprise that I had such staggering tunnel vision.
  Surely, this practice of breath won't solve all of our problems. Corporations still manipulate most of our food supply, pollute our environment and we are still occasionally their willing accomplices. But possibly, if we all made becoming aware of the all the life surrounding and supporting us, we could slow and reverse this onslaught of universal cruelty.