Here is a New Year’s invitation for you:
I invite you to introduce yourself to someone new.
Someone Other-Than-Human.
Someone older than human (which, by the way, includes: animals, insects, plants, rocks, water, air, etc.).
Greet them as if….as if they were human; as if they are your “Kin.”
It would go something like: “Hi, my name is _____. I live right over there. I have passed by you for a long time without introducing myself.”
Tell them a little bit about you – your family, or where you work or go to school.
Then ask, “And what about you?”
……then listen, with ears and eyes and heart.
You can end with something like: “I’m glad to meet you in person now. I’ll see you later.”
Nature is alive, all around us.
And we are all intrinsically woven together in this amazing, complicated, and interactive tapestry.
We breathe out, and the green-leaved plants breathe in our carbon dioxide. The Trees breathe out, and we inhale their life-giving oxygen.
A raccoon dies in the woods and gives life to carrion-eating birds and insects. Burrowing mammals and insects open the pores of the Earth to allow water to flow in, and roots to take hold.
Fire takes out dead and crowded understory, allowing open space and new growth to feed deer.
Mushrooms and their intricate strands of underground mycelium connect trees to trees, feeding them through the EWW – Earth Wide Web.
Our Ancestors, some recent and some from long ago, understood and danced in rhythm with the undulations of seasons, weather, habitats, and our Earth Kin. Not just surviving but THRIVING with the “next Seven Generations” in mind.
They kept a range of balance between taking and giving back. This assured an overall abundance that has lasted many millennia. They lived by a protocol of “reciprocity”. First by Giving, then Asking, then Receiving if given permission. In that way, there was always enough for now and for the future.
They lived “as if”…..as if all of the “Other-Than-Human” communities living on and as part of our Earth were kindred spirits – our “Kin”. Because, as many human communities have described it, they are “All Our Relations.”
So go ahead and introduce yourself to someone new, someone Other-Than-Human.
Then thank them for being part of your life, our lives, as long as we have walked this Earth.
Perhaps this reclaiming of a personal relationship with our kindred Earth relatives will help us begin to restore a much-needed balance in our collective lives, for now, and for our next generations.
Blessings to you in this brand new year!
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