This year while submerged in this process of creating my winter story, I remembered…
When the vision occurred that frigid winter solstice dawning in 2019, I was traversing the Bosque (a wetland) in Abiquiu NM. I had slipped into a light trance as I walked with my hands tucked into my pockets around the junipers, cottonwoods, thorny olives in a repetitive circle. The geese and cranes were wheeling overhead, welcoming in the dawn. The sound of the river in the background was a soothing murmur.
Suddenly I stopped. I was looking down at my cupped hands, entranced. A perfect miniature marbled earth had appeared in my hands. Inside the clear plastic film, the whole earth was visible and pulsing with light. Lush green trees, fields, plains, mountains, deserts, oceans, and clear waters flowed through the pristine planet. I saw a tiny wooden boat with all manner of creatures streaming out of the vessel all at once. What? An Ark?
Bewildered, I watched butterflies and bees, deer and bear, birds of every conceivable species flooding the sky and the earth, the tree studded hills, fields and forests. Experiencing a fierce love and feeling unbearable joy, no – ecstasy, I kept staring at this vision, awe overcoming all other senses – oh, the earth had become whole. Was that when I noticed that not one human being could be seen anywhere on this beautiful blue green planet, my home? Where were the people? I kept searching. Their absence jarred me… and then the images began fading. No! I wasn’t ready. Waves of grief gripped my heart. But the vision of my earth was gone. Now empty, my cupped palms were red, half – frozen. Hurriedly, I buried my hands in their pockets and walked on in a daze, dazzled, by what I had seen.
A few days previously (can’t remember exact sequence but the story is recorded elsewhere on my blog) I slipped into a room full of people to listen to an Indigenous Elder speak about what was happening on earth. In this presentation the woman sternly cautioned the predominantly white audience. “Unless we reverse the trajectory we are on immediately, humans are at risk for extinction too”. As her leaden words sunk into my pelvis, I felt she had spoken the truth. Then staring directly at me (I was sitting in the middle – why had she chosen me?) she pronounced “You will make it to 80” as the hair rose on my arms. Whatever she meant by the strange words remains an enigma.
Westerners are terminally wed to technology, power and greed, war, rational scientific thinking as well to a fantastic hubris, opening the door to massive delusion. We believe we can still conquer nature even as we continue to destroy her. Western culture doesn’t even believe that we need this planet to stay healthy because westerners have no relationship to the earth except as a commodity. As S/he sickens so do we.
Five years have passed since that vision and presentation. What I am witnessing now as this extinction accelerates killing more animals, trees plants and people, I couldn’t even have imagined then…
The extraordinary vision I had of the lush green earth and her animals is still as viscerally present to me today as it was in that moment I spent in the Bosque. So do the questions about the plastic film, the ark, and the missing people that have nagged me for five years. I never doubted the revelation I had been given. Beyond issuing a dire warning I wondered if the Indigenous Elder was including her own people. She didn’t say.
During the last week, I have answered three of the four questions by writing this poem and reenacting my winter solstice ceremony/story and then sharing it with my dearest and most beloved friend, a retired doctor and Animal Healer. When I told him how deeply troubled I was by the plastic film, because to me it seemed as if the planet I had seen couldn’t breathe he astonished me. “Of course, the planet is breathing, it’s full of living beings – animals, trees, and plants!” What about the plastic? Perhaps this was the westerner in me who could see a healed earth but could not yet feel it? Of course! At the time I was doing academic research on Forest scientist Suzanne Simard’s work on trees and the underground mycelial network, but this research was not yet embodied in me as it is now.
The fact that I saw an ark seemed crazy because I am definitely not a Christian, but what if the ark was a symbolic representation of the miracle of life emerging in all its diversity from a singularity that manifested as a boat made of trees? I remember pouring over my grandmother’s needlework of Noah’s Ark because there were a thousand wild animals in that one tapestry, and I loved the part of the story about the animals emerging two by two, although the ones I saw in my vision spilled out all at once and all were wild – The slatted high sided wooden boat was somehow similar to the one I learned to row in as a child.
When I puzzled over the loss of humans my Animal Healer asked me if it might not be possible that I didn’t see humans because they hadn’t overtaken the earth, but had survived in small bands as Indigenous peoples are still doing and may be able to continue to do. Oh, I felt such relief because this remark put the last of my doubts about the truth of Indigenous prophecies to rest. I still don’t know about westerners beyond the fact that the patriarchal system must collapse in totality before the air becomes unbreathable, the waters too polluted, but I do think it’s possible for some of us to survive, if we can develop a relationship with the earth in time to begin to apprentice ourselves to Her before it’s too late.
It’s important to add that the truth of Indigenous the prophecies was not part of my belief system at that time, but I knew the stories and had spoken with Native Elders who assured me that they were true. The Original Peoples have such an ancient and intimate relationship with the earth and her creatures, plants and fungi that they have access to embodied knowledge that westerners do not, and it is that knowing that has kept the door open for me on the question of human survival during these last five years.
The last question I had remains unanswered. I have no idea what the woman meant when she made fierce eye contact with me in a room full of strangers and made the remark about reaching eighty.
It must be said that all visions even if they have a collective element as I believe this one does are filtered through a personal lens so the reader may have insights and other interpretations that I do not. Please share your thoughts.
Nature is my religion, or it would be if I could separate myself from Her.
Recall that the root of the word religion means to link back.
Doesn’t this mean that it’s up to every one of us to begin to re-weave the Circle of Life?
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Feminism and Religion 
Dear Sara, “Recall that the root of the word religion means to link back.” Yes! A resounding, “Yes!” Your words and Frida’s image are balm and blessing.
On the first day of 2025 and on the second day too, I moved this flesh and bone that is me to the Nature Path near to my tiny apartment in my small city where my “roots” reside. My roots, my poems: my daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. I walked with and I talked with Trees and Sky. Roots and Wings compelled me to prayer and praise and to basking in the rootedness that is wording with and because of community and connecting and kinship.
For me, your writing HERe, is “eye-contact”. Is shared-humanity understanding hope’s Wisdom. And freedom’s call to remember being alone is not loneliness. “Alone” with Trees and Sky is awe-full. Awe-filling us. Linking us.
Sawbonna,
Margot/Raven Speaks.
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Margo, the first thing I need to say is that Xochitl had to have been the person that added Frida’s painting. PERFECT! She couldn’t know or maybe she does (!) that Frida is one of my favorite artists and I have a print in my kitchen of Frida holding a dark skinned woman in her arms – it’s been there for 20 years! Only Frida’s head is above ground – As for what you say all I can do is reply with a resounding YES! You knew/and know exactly what to do and this can be done ANYWHERE – Just now I am trying to encourage someone I know to leave her apartment and do the exact same thing – when we walk and talk with roots and sky we are compelled to enter prayer and praise – the calling is there only waiting for our response – As for being alone – when we are so engaged we are not only not lonely but heart filled with LOVE….I thank you for this glorious response. And XOCHITL – just in case you don’t read this – oh i know you will – but I will be emailing you directly….THANK YOU FOR FINISHING THE STORY.
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Aw, I’m so glad you liked the picture I added! And I had no idea that you also love Frida’s art work (or if I did, I don’t remember), but of course you do! You know I also have Frida on my walls in my little apartment…another thing we hold in common. ❤️
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Oh Xochitl – as I said you finished the story! No you couldn’t have known in the ordinary way about our mutual love of Frida’s work. I spent a whole semester in grad school with Frida and feel like I know her intimately – her images speak to me of what I feel. And of course I’m not surprised we share this love as well. Thank you again for finishing the story! Love Sara
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And, Margot, I also add my resounding YES to what you write. I love the resonance among us. Food for my being.
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And, Margot, I also add my resounding YES to what you write. I love the resonance among us. Food for my being.
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It seems you have been gifted with a vision of the earth’s survival, Noah’s Ark style, of some coming deluge, and who better than you, a devout lover of Nature, to be given such a vision? I too believe that this is the fate that awaits us for the preservation of Nature from the deadly over-consumption of world powers, and believe that humans will surive in pockets and bands, like your friend suggested to you, much like the Native Americans while the megalithic societies that cover the earth will likely perish. To me this is all a most fortuitous future and outcome to look forward to. Thank you for sharing your vision!
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I have no doubt that the earth will survive – after all – s/he’s managed five extinctions and will be able to begin again no matter what happens – but this visionary experience was and remains astonishing to me because it has seemed increasingly clear during the last 5 years that patriarchy would destroy the earth as we know it and humans too – even now when I live through the images I feel amazement that this scenario may actually occur. I have felt for many years now that Indigenous peoples would have the best chance of survival as long as the waters and air hold their own – but this has not been a belief – more like a hypothesis – now however the possibility has become real – remember this is only one person’s vision and each is filtered through a personal lens – but I can feel thread of something akin to hope although it it is beyond my capacity to imagine how this could come about – all east when I am thinking – I have grieved so long for the losses of non human beings while the horrors of what humans continue to do to each other – well – no words. I try to make it clear that this is just one woman’s story – but if it offers you comfort I am deeply grateful. Thank you.
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I don’t know how this huge, apocalyptic change would come about either, but a couple of ideas include a change in the earth’s magnetic field https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2269728050070712&set=a.113288445714694; a major asteroid strike; or the earth shifting on its axis. All of these seem survivable by small groups of human beings, while the social structures are wiped out.
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Yes, anything is possible – and It think some catastrophic something has to happen first – and I worry about the suffering – the young people – the animals all of it – but at this point holding a vision that is grounded in the kind of hope that survives intergenerational suffering is something – I can’t help wondering how many of us are out there – wish they would speak like you have.
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The first thing that crossed my mind about the plastic is “that’s what modern humans (at least many of us) have been doing, wrapping the earth in plastic.” I was relieved when in your vision life burst forth in all its diverse forms. The idea that maybe one day there will be small bands of humans, who know they are simply another life form among many others on the great life that is the earth, appeals to me. Yes, we do need to re-link, re-member our connection with all that is. I wonder how you feel about “making it to 80” and what it means to you. Thanks for sharing your vision and questions.
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THANK YOU ELIZABETH FOR COMMENTING ABOUT THE PLASTIC – YOU GO INTO THE BIG STORY HERE ABOUT WHAT WE ARE DOING TO THE EARTH – I WAS STUCK IN MY OWN WESTERN SEPARATION BECAUSE I AM HELPING TO WRAP THE EARTH IN PLASTIC – WE ALL ARE BY DEFAULT… SO THANK YOU FOR FINISHING THIS THOUGHT AND ATTACHING IT TO THE WHOLE – AS FOR REACHING 80 WELL THE OBVIOUS THING TO ME IS THAT 80 IS THE YEAR I WILL DIE. AND I HAVE HAD SOME HEART ISSUES AND BOTH MY DOGS HAVE ENLARGED HEARTS AND ONE ALMOST DIED DURING THE WEEK OF CHRISTMAS BUT DIDN’T….. CONTEXT IS MISSING HERE – I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THIS ELDER – AND HAD NOT MET HER SO WHY PICK ME OUT OF A CROWD OF PEOPLE LIKE THAT??? NO IDEA…BUT I AM NOT QUITE SURE THAT THIS WAS THE MEANING OF THE MESSAGE -THE REASON I SAY THIS IS BECAUSE EARLIER THAT FALL A NATIVE GRANDFATHER TOLD ME THAT I WAS A BRIDGE -BUILDER AND COULD HELP BRING AN INDIGENOUS MESSAGE TO WESTERNERS – I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS WOMAN MEANT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT –
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It sounded like she might have meant you would live until eighty–at least! I hope her intent was to reassure you. You are a bridge-builder, not only bringing the message of indigenous people to westerners, but helping humans to see as plants, birds, bears and so many other beings do, which is surely part of the indigenous world view, and also one of your great gifts, for which I and many others are grateful.
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I concur with Elizabeth. Not only are you a bridge-builder between the message of indigenous people and westerners but you are both poetic and adept at “nature speak.” Finding the messages and meaning of the larger world around us and how we cannot be separate or separated from that world. Yes, yes, I also concur this is among “your great gifts.”
And while I’m at it – at least 80 sounds right to me too.
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Wow Janet this is quite an endorsement – and I am grateful to hear another opinion on this bridge -building because vision or not – we are still telling a story through a personal lens so there are always questions… I never have the sense that whatever comes through is some kind of truth with a capital “T” What we do have is our experiences to share. I am deeply moved by your comment regarding nature speak… I really do let nature take the lead…and because I feel that I am part of this holy being we call earth it seems quite natural to share her stories… and to advocate…
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