Monday, December 13, 2010

5 DAYS OF CLARITY

During my daily swims I often find myself wondering what the creatures are thinking as they come close and look deeply into my eyes. I haven't yet learned to speak "honu" (Hawaiian Sea Turtle), or "seal" or any of the other languages out there in the ocean realm. But recently I had 5 days in sequence where I suddenly felt like I heard what they were saying, and it was SO powerful.

One of the delicious new things in my life is a practice of sacred council. A group of friends gathers in a circle, and a question is posed. In the last council the question was "What is Healing". Then each person gets to address the question through the use of a "talking stick". Whoever holds the stick may speak without interruption, so all others in the circle are just listening. It creates a beautiful and intense focus. I have attended a few of these councils now and they are always juicy!

Near the end of my swim each day is an area by one of the channels to the open ocean where the water gets deeper, about 15 feet, and the honu come and go through the channel so it is a wonderful place to encounter them. They often will swim up to me and circle me, but on the first day of this sequence a council was formed! I had stopped swimming as one approached and it stopped as well, just off to my right. Then another came and stopped to my left, and two more moved in diagonally and stopped, all facing the center of the circle we had formed! I realized the council had formed, but what was the question??? We all hung there for awhile, and then they began to disperse, and I found myself saying "wait, I didn't hear yet"!

The next day in the exact same spot one approached me and swam RIGHT UP TO MY FACE, looked in my eyes, and stopped for a moment. Then it swam off and the next came and did the same thing! And the next, and the next. I know they are trying to tell me something, but what?

On day three I have just had a conversation with a friend who talked about singing to the dolphins and how they LOVE it, so I thought I would try singing to the honu and see what happens. So I get to the magic spot and one swims up to me and I start to sing, and it literally JUMPS away from me in the water! I swear it frowned at me, and swam off. Thinking maybe that turtle was just crabby that day, I decided I would try again, and as 2 more came up to me I began singing again. The exact same reaction! But this time one of them turned to look at me as it swam off and this is what I heard: "What do you think I am, a DOLPHIN?" I started laughing SO hard inside my mask. I finally heard something! And then this revelation came. Turtles are completely silent creatures. Dolphins and seals and whales all make sounds and songs, but not turtles. O.k., so I will communicate in silence with them.

Day 4, and a HUGE ancient honu about 5 feet in length swims right up beside me and touches it's shell on my arm while it is looking deeply into my eyes. Then this enormous question washes over me: "Why are you doing this to my Home". I just started to cry. All I could say was "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Whether that question actually came from the honu, or from my own heart doesn't really matter. Because the answer is the same. I don't know why we are doing this to the ocean. Because we can? Because no-one is stopping us, and we aren't stopping ourselves. We are still dumping toxic chemicals down the drain every day, throwing plastic away every day, burning oil every day, eating seafood even though 90% of fish stocks have been depleted. Because we can. That is why we are doing this to the turtle's home. And the seals, and dolphins and whales. Because no-one is stopping us.

Day 5, and in the same spot there is a SEAL just laying on the bottom motionless tucked up against a coral head. I've never seen a seal do this before, and as I get closer I realize with horror it has what looks like a rope around it's neck. My first thought is it has been tangled in fishing gear, which often happens to the seals, and it has become stuck on the coral head and can't surface to breath. HELP! I have no idea how long it has been there already or if it is even alive, so I dive down to get a closer look, and it opens it's eyes. YES. So it is still alive. Then it begins to slowly move away from the coral head and I realize the rope is not attached to the coral. It swam right up to me and as it got closer I could see it was in fact not a rope but a scar from a rope that had been there, deep and black. And down the left side of it's body was a series of propeller scars from a boat strike, probably when it was entangled and couldn't get away. As it looked at me with those HUGE eyes, I heard a new question: "Do you see what you have done". More tears. Yes, I see. I see.

The addendum to this story came the day after I wrote this down to put it in a blog. Two honu came up to me, one nuzzled right up under my belly, and the other put it's front flipper on my right hand. This time I felt like they were thanking me, and this thought appeared: "We need you to speak for us. We don't have a voice."

I'm sure my experiences with these magnificent creatures are not done, but these are my 5 days of clarity where I finally heard. So I will speak for them. I ask the questions of you that they asked of me.
Why are you doing this to their Home?
And do you see what you have done?

Thanks for listening, and caring.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

HEAL THE EARTH

Well here it is folks. My first original song ever posted to Youtube! Sung for all of Creation.
Bring back the Sacred!
A sense of Holy we must renew.
May it be so.
Thanks for listening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmmaOYfBPF8