“Nature is the most honest relationship you will ever have; it asks nothing of you except respect. Just show up and be aware." -- Tim Corcoran, The Earth Caretakers Way

Over the long weekend, I got to return to a very special place. Headwaters Outdoor School. There a connection with land, water, air, trees, animals, and more is so palpable. So this blog takes that cue and leans towards the Embodiment Earth Archetype. Sit back and feel with me.

Acknowledge Earth Is Our Home

32 acres in Northern California. Next door neighbors to Klamath National Forest. 12 mountain springs. Gathering places to learn and be. Art. Meadows. Vistas. And the wonderful stewards Tim, Julie, TJ, and Zander.

It felt so good to return to Headwaters. After having been onsite 3 times in the first year, it had been 1.5 years since my last visit. Heck, it's been over a year since I helped Tim launch his book The Earth Caretakers Way last spring equinox.

But thankfully, time worked out to join their annual Memorial Weekend tradition where alum are encouraged to return to the land and help with work projects. I got to dismantle garden beds that had just plain worn out, move a mountain of pine needles away from buildings for fire code, and make a swimming pond out of one of many of the creeks more enticing.

But the pond is what I want to focus on because something special happened.

See, one of the things I love about HOS is that they purposefully build trails off the main path that entice curiosity. Stonework. Archways. Mandalas. Carins. Beauty. All invite you to take a look. You just never know where you may go but you're pretty sure you're gonna enjoy the journey.

So though the goal of our work party was to clean out debris and restructure the water area, I instantly noticed that the path to the pond was almost non-existent. In fact, when I had to leave a couple times, I walked past it on my way back until...

Yet what's most interesting is how I changed in that 2 hours. It almost felt like I was building a path for the larger life journey I am on. Curves and bends. Rocky bits. Stone moving. Decorating. Leading. Working together.

And my hope is that students who come this summer feel a similar call. To make even more improvements. Turn the basic carin into art. Expand the mandala. Perhaps even use the nearby poles to create an arch.

As the weekend continued, I found myself continuing to come back to this spot to just walk and sit. To write and breathe. To soak my feet and stare.

It became my new sit spot on the property. A place that you return to because it calls you. And it attunes you to natural shifts and changes.

Now back home in Oregon, it keeps me connected to the land. My job is to listen.

Discover Your Earth Archetype

"Once your connection with nature is intimate, there is no going back. You will only go further and forward, and your life will profoundly change forever. You will know the Earth as your friend, teacher, and partner in life. You will also find the Earth is a healer. " Tim Corcoran, The Earth Caretakers Way

This sense of intimacy with the planet tends to be a strength of the Embodiment Earth Archetype. It's a felt sense beyond words.

Yet every type has a level of intimacy -- a feeling of being held and seen. Just as you are. A type of love language.

What's your Earth Archetype?

Work Together in Community

Birdfoot's Grampa

by Josept Bruchace

reprinted in The Earth Caretakers Way

The old man must have stopped our car two dozen times to climb out and gather into his hands the small toads blinded by or lights leaping live drops of rain.

The rain was falling in a midst about his white hair and I kept saying, you can'ts ave them all, accept it, get back in, we've got places to go.

But, leathery hands full of wet brown life, knee deep in the summer roadside grass, he just smiled and said, "They have places to go too."