On Rewilding Ourselves
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
~Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
The night before last, winter’s breath had kissed the land, glazing everything with a layer of frost that caught the silver glow of the waning moon that still hung in the early morning sky, making everything shimmer and glisten like stars fallen from the heavens. This morning though, the weather is milder but not by much. The cold morning air still nips at my face and pinches at my fingers and as I leave my house for work, the sky is still dark, the world quiet as most still lay snuggled in their beds.
Slowly, the sky begins to lighten in the east so that by the time I reach the lake, there is just a flash of brightness that plays across the placid surface of the water, deepening the shadows beneath the trees that surround it. The lake is beside a cycle track that at one time was a disused railway and at this time in the morning, there are no other people. It is perfect and even when I’m running late, I take a moment. I get off my bike and walk to the water’s edge. Sometimes I close my eyes and just breathe in deeply, letting the quiet morning wash over me, other times I just stand and watch, both brief meditations. This alone time is much needed, this time to just be, enjoying the simplicity of the moment. Time becomes meaningless in these short minutes. Sometimes it feels like it has been suspended in these moments and that minutes or hours could have passed.
All too soon though, I get back onto my bike and head up off the track and onto the roads, my heart a little lighter and more able to cope with the day ahead. I know I am lucky, to be able to enjoy moments like this, to have a roof over my head, a job I enjoy and doesn’t exploit in the way retail does or expect you to become a robot programmed to adore the services they sell as working for telecommunications does. My work now makes an actual difference to actual people, children no less, and still it is not enough. There is still so much wrong with the world, the world of man, and even for those of us whose immediate lives are safe with a base level of comfort, the problems of the world press in.
Politics and scandal affect us all. As the general election approaches here in the UK and politicians emerge to the fore even more slime covered than usual spewing promises that cannot be fulfilled, the urge to spend more time in nature, away from it all becomes stronger. And yet the decimation of natural spaces is ever ongoing. In my own town, brownfield sites with planning permission for affordable homes remain fenced off because the owners of said land wish instead to build luxury homes, all the while the green spaces in the poor areas are sold off for building. In fact just this week came the news that the affordable homes for one particular project has been dropped by the local council. People have been sold a lie to get them to support the selling off of the free to use green space. It doesn’t matter though, it’s only a poor part of town, the residents of which are the butt of jokes, are mocked and ostracised. They do not matter.
There is still much that must be fought and resisted both at home and further afield.
Sometimes it is easy to feel powerless against it all. What can we do as individuals? Winter fast approaches and so we must take our cues from nature. We must retreat inside of ourselves. We must give ourselves time and space as the cold gathers around us. We must use this time to stoke the inner fires of resistance and rebellion. We must lose ourselves in the winter landscape, enjoying the beauty of it all. There is much to be said for walking alone in nature, letting it fill our hearts, minds and souls. We must become wild again in order to regain our strength and work on ourselves before coming together with allies to fight back against the onslaught that threatens to engulf us.
Here, along this cycle track that used to be a disused railway, one where we would come as kids from the council estate and try to catch frogs and newts, but that is now a refuge for nature, I am reminded of the act of transformation, of rewilding and the power that comes from that. As we descend into winter, let us first begin to rewild ourselves.
EMMA KATHRYN
My name is Emma Kathryn, my path is a mixture of traditional European witchcraft, vodou and obeah, a mixture representing my heritage. I live in the sticks with my family where I read tarot, practice witchcraft and drink copious amounts of coffee.
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