How are you feeling in this time in-between seasons?
Are you experiencing the ups and downs of spring as the season tries to get traction and stick around for a while? Have you noticed any changes within? Around you?
I took the picture you see on the cover of Dreaming with Apple last year. The trees were dripping with an abundance of flowers and I delighted in their beauty. I didn’t know then that it would be their last year. I didn’t know then that the Apple tree gives up all her energy in a magnificent burst right before death. A catalyst for change, Apple’s magic exists in supporting abundance, beauty, and sustains life-giving qualities while knowing when it is time to let go.
Her magic is also that of creating worlds. As we wrote this book together, Apple showed me example after example of how she helps launch new ways of being, belief, and iterations of the world in which we live today. From Hercules’ Journey to The Garden of Eden to dropping on Newton’s head, Apple works with humans and gods alike to frequently to bring about change, often through disorder and a rebalance of power.
Sound like medicine we might need to call upon today either collectively or individually?
What we believe to be true is how we see the world and, then, behave and design accordingly. Sometimes… we need to reframe. We need a different approach. What we have done before no longer works or serves where we are now or where we want to go next.
I’ve noticed this in my approach to school lately as I’m taking a creative writing class right now. As I work on my assignments now, twenty years or more after being in an academic world, I notice many changes. Aside from actually caring about what I’m writing, and giving much more focus than I could before, I’m reaching out for and accepting help.
My twenty-year-ago self was hell bent on doing things on my own. I thought I had to. I thought I had to carry everything. I had no interest in being helped.
I still remember the first time I started to allow support. It was when I had unexpected surgery on my leg, couldn’t walk, and had no choice but to surrender to the offerings of so many wonderful friends.
Now, I’m scheduling every opportunity with tutors at the writing center, engaging with community to ask for what I need, and finding the flow of giving and receiving with more grace and ease.
Help, I know now, is not a sign of weakness.
If anything, it’s strength. Four of us giving feedback to one another’s papers made all of them stronger than they ever could have been alone. It takes more than a village for sure.
Help, as Apple reminded me, doesn’t need to only come from other humans. It comes in and through in so many ways, especially when you are asking for it and listening. Creating a ceremony and asking for guidance, or help from spirit is one way, and it doesn’t need to be elaborate at all. Just some way of discerning what you want help with and then, asking. See what comes.
If you choose to read and dream with Apple, you’ll discover more about being in relationship with the plants and trees in general and with Apple in particular. Once you start to work with a plant, the reciprocity of information flows and new ways of being in the world arrive. New helpers abound for you to work with, seek guidance from, and help them too.
I had a great time talking more about this, the plants, and working in the dream world on the Time Personified podcast with Francesca Mamlin. It also launches today! Instead of feeling nervous, this time, I asked the plants to help guide me to know what to say. They did! I could feel their presence around me which created comfort and an ease of flow to share on their behalf.
If this seems a little too “out there” for you, that’s totally understandable! I like then to just think of it as my imagination. What do I imagine help feels like? What if the plants could talk to me, then what? And see what happens. We talk about intuition and building trust as well on the podcast (and in the books). So many perceptions to work with and information to explore and there is never only one way.
I’d be honored if you could read Dreaming with Apple. Her book, in particular, felt extra special and… if you’ve ever eaten an apple… then, her wisdom is for you!
I hope you feel supported in your journey at the moment and, if not, do feel free to reach out to me by replying to this email, or to a trusted friend, family member, therapist, teacher, or spend some time with the tree in your yard or down the street. You are, truly, never alone. Even if it may feel that way sometimes.
For more information, visit the book’s page.
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*The information shared in this post is not intended as medical advice or diagnosis. This post was originally published as a newsletter in March 2021.
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