A medieval principle of kinship invites us to imagine that all of nature….as well as we humans here in the temperate northern hemisphere…. is settled deeply into midwinter. As we wait, we feel rising anticipation for the return of the light and the coming of springtime warmth. In the time preceding Solstice, week by week, each of the realms is honored and recognized as kin, as we wait together. In this vein, I offer you ~ week by week ~ a poem honoring mineral, plant, animal and human. These are from my book A Litany of Wild Graces. If you’d like to hear these poems, go to the Sacred Earth Thread’s videos. If you have young children, look for stories of the realms of nature on the Family Life Thread ‘s videos. I hope these offerings bring you warmth and light.

Mineral

Minerals are stardust
coalesced in deep space

messengers of light

shot from Sagittarius’ bow.

Luminous arrows travel

through a new sun’s orbit.

Pulled by love’s gravity
they shape the intelligence of light

into Appalachia’s igneous core.

Electromagnetic signatures ray invisibly

from caves’ palpable dark.

Woman-in-mountain is our sister

breasts twin peaks
waist a deep valley
hips rising smooth

long thigh bone a treeless ridge.

Her timeless gaze
illumines evening’s blue ridge.

Her minerals tumble
through our blood
like stones
carried in highland freshets

come to rest for a time
in our shoulder blades, ribs

then flow on
to nourish sacred ground.