Backbone Forming

I have been wanting to post a reflection for some time now but kept putting it off because I was not given the words to name and claim my experience. It was also because of some hesitancy on my part. You see I've largely been a passive person in life and this has often kept me from living from the depths of my heart.

And so a big part of what has happened to me (and is continuing to happen to me) during my time thus far at Wilderness Awareness School is that I am becoming a more assertive person and my fear of what other people might think is taking more and more of a back seat to honesty... with myself and with others. So in terms of the next post, I will be forthcoming in my reflections and really try to name my experience.

The other thing that it will likely do is confuse or fluster those folks who have a strong Christian worldview, which is more than okay with me at this point, as I have watered down my experience thus far by trying to pander my language to make it user-friendly to Christians. That being said, it is important to remember that I've not given up on the church, I've just walked away from it for a time (think John the Baptist). I've often wondered how many prophetic voices we aren't hearing because they aren't in the church. And maybe that is where I'll find my voice...

Awakening Old Powers Within

Bird Language is one of the 6 core studies that we are learning at Wilderness Awareness School.

Where You Are

A poem that was read to us during our orienteering class.
It is entitled "Lost" by David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

Mad Crazy Adventures

Just a list of the things I've experienced with WAS (which has a new website to check out!):

- made a bow drill kit from materials harvested off the land (yes, I have gotten coals)
- learned the 5 voices of the birds
- learned the different shapes of bird alarms
- tracked some great mammals that aren't present in the Midwest
- spent a week at the Oregon Dunes for a tracking expedition
- trailed a raccoon for almost 2 miles!
- bushwhacked on my hands and knees for nearly an hour
- saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time
- learned plant taxonomy and herbal & medicinal uses
- made or tasted Oregon grape, rose hip and western red cedar medicinal tinctures
- spent a day harvesting wild edibles
- spent a day learning to prepare and cook the edibles we harvested
- made some mullein tea that kept me from getting bronchitis
- bashing rocks and primitive stone tool working
- sword tossing and Jedi mind tricks (awareness activities)
- skinned a raccoon
- made a primitive fishing spear
- having a secret spot that is all my own that I visit up to 5 times a week
- made a great network of friends and folks affiliated with WAS and a ton of other things that I am forgetting or are too deep to get into right now

We are halfway through the first semester and it looks to be an epic second half as well.... not to mention the fact that I get to spend time with my beautiful wife!!