The Call to Gather, the call to serve
I watched the sun paint the sky again this morning. I walk onto my deck and feel only overwhelming gratitude for this sacred place I call my home.
5 years ago, I was still living in Santa Barbara California where I had an amazing community of 60 or more friends and acquaintances who attended a multitude of events of The Sacred Earth Foundation and supported this work and the elders we hosted with their attendance and their finances. I couldn't imagine leaving Santa Barbara while I was living there until, one day, I was sitting in my lovely back yard filled with flowers, vegetables, and my wild blue jay who came to me each morning and sat on my hand as I fed him peanuts. Suddenly that Great Mystery just called to me and told me it was time to move on. I felt absolutely claustrophobic in this beautiful place. It was as though I couldn't bear to hear another lawn mower or car driving by.
In the deepest part of my soul, I was called to leave that paradise even though I had found my community of brothers and sisters of like heart, mind and soul. I couldn't really understand the calling at that time. For a few years I had felt such a strong desire to go to Peru. Within a month or so, I had checked into flights, planned on selling my belongings, told my roommate I would be leaving and given my landlady a month’s notice. Within that same week, my roommate found a new home and I discovered I had cancer and would need immediate surgery. I languished in a state of shock and didn’t know where I was going to live during my recovery. That generous and loving community I was leaving, along with my best friends who live in San Diego, gathered together and paid my rent and brought me food. I was able to remain in my home during the 3 months of recovery and radiation.
Just before I went to surgery one of my best friends gifted me a session with a renowned psychic. I walked into her home and she just looked at me and said,” You have to leave Santa Barbara, or you’re going to die. ” She knew nothing about me and I just stood there flabbergasted. I told her I couldn’t leave just yet because I had cancer. She then proceeded to tell me to get out as soon as possible. My helpers, angels, nawhales and spirit guides were telling her that I had lived 7 lifetimes in Peru and my soul was pining for its people. She then told me that if I didn’t choose to stay in Peru, I would live where there are bluebirds, not blue jays but blue birds.
Immediately after I finished my last treatment of radiation, I sold all I had, bought my ticket to Peru and left Santa Barbara. I spent 2 months there not knowing the language, and just followed my heart on a daily basis. I hunted for the indigenous, the elders and the teachers there and found words were not often necessary.
As before, one day I knew I needed to go and I was ready to return to the US. I moved to Colorado and lived in the home of a friend in the wilderness who worked in Santa Barbara 9 months out of the year. I spent my first winter knowing no one and living alone where no one had lived in winter for more than 13 years. I still fell in love with the place even though I had no water for many weeks and lived completely off grid. I befriended a herd of 7 wild horses who spent the winter with me and walked the land with me.
Suddenly, my friend told me I had to move out as he was returning with other friends. I was heartbroken and didn’t know where I would go. I walked into a real estate office where I met my first good friends here. I told them I had no money at all but good credit and a small income. I qualified for a rural development loan with no money down. My realtor took me to look at homes near where I had been living and the very first house I saw is my home today. We opened the wood stove to look inside and there sat a living blue bird. We put her into our hands and set her free.
Guidance is magical, the Great Spirit talks to us always if we slow down enough to hear, feel, see. I looked at many other places before coming back to this home but I knew in my heart it was only my head telling me to do my homework. I came back within the week and made an offer on this land. I know spirit gifted this place to me, that the land was calling me home because we do ceremony, we gather with our hearts broken wide open and it is a place where I can truly be of service to my community and to Mother Earth.
Being called here has been the greatest gift of my life. I have found my calling, my strengths and my path of service. I am a glass running over with joy!
