from the depths arose, a resonant reverence, singing with my bones
Weaving along the way, all sounds fall strangely silent. Voices of other wanderers fall away, the crunch of feet on the gravel quiets, and soon, all left is the pulsing of the blood by my ears echoing my heartbeat. Rounding the bend, suddenly, i am struck by the presence of Spider Rock rising from the canyon floor.
Like the mountain song that my mother taught me to hear, that same deep and resonant boom sounds from the silence at the sight of this ancient stone’s magnificence. Soon, the sounding envelopes my being and strikes deep within my bones. A wetness falls down my cheeks and i realize i am weeping uncontrollably. The resonance, still vibrating my bones, causes me to drop to my knees in reverent awe.
Growing up near glacier’s edge in southcentral wisconsin, i certainly was not (yet) a desert person. There was a longing in my heart to see the deserts of the southwest as my husband and i moved from one wet home surrounded by great lakes to another wet home along the west coast. So off we went on an eight-day trip across the country and through the desert. Little did i know, the experience at the dwelling place of Spider Woman would (re)awaken a deep love (eros) for desert wilderness and eventually lure me home.
It is here in the desert where wisdom arises. The desert-dwelling ancients from another time and another desert wilderness knew this when they wrote, Wisdom begins with fear of YHWH (yahweh, LORD, the indwelling source of the cosmos) – Proverbs 1:1. Far from being horrified, “fear” in this sense is meant to be understood as deep and reverent awe. When we enter this state of reverence, wonder, and awe, something, a mystery perhaps, lures our hearts to open. It tugs at us from within, arousing us to live in love and wisdom for that which opened our hearts.
Still on my knees, i hear from the depths of this sacred place, a faint whinny of a horse. The silence is broken. “Welcome home,” they say. i would come to learn later what they meant.
Heartbeat of the Stones, be for us the drum of justice
Heartbeat of the Stones
arising from the depth of ancient knowing
Who is heard in the cries of outrage and grief
from deep within our human hearts
Be for us the drum that lures our hearts to open
to pulse endlessly with the rhythm of justice
never ceasing until this work is through
As with most of my posts, the prayers arise from the content of the reflection which is why i have called them earthen prayers. However, this week in the United States, the Divine’s beloved, George Floyd, was killed on Monday, May 25th, 2020, by the now former (and arrested and charged with 3rd degree murder) police officer of the MPD. Protests are taking place across the country crying out for justice for our Black, Brown, Indigenous, and POC brothers and sisters. May these cries be the sacred and sounding drum that lures our hearts to open and pulse endlessly with the rhythm of justice for all who have lost their lives from the gaping, festering wound that is racism in this country.
