November 06, 2009

As 2009 comes to a close it is the time of season to look at the year in retrospect and to give thanks for our many blessings. With increasing darkness we move toward the longest night so it is also appropriate to look into the darkness of the year's experiences, into our own shadow, and see if we can glean any of the lessons available in them. The harvest is in and winter vegetables are being planted, rains have come gently and soon our hills will be lush with the fresh green of the new years grass. As one cycle completes another begins. Even though the darkness reminds us to look deeply into our Souls the budding grass reminds us it is also a time of emergence.

Although I have not been able to make it back to Ecuador to see my extended family, or visit the Morona reserve property, we have made progress on the project. In a collective effort that involved Ecuador (Teresa and Chris), Canada (Di), France (Laurence), the United States/California (me), as well as other advisors, the funding proposal and development outline has been completed. We are seeking $100,000.00 for the first year’s activities with a total development budget of $700,000.00. Beginning work involves building the basic buildings needed for safely occupying the site, expanding the garden area, species identification, building trails, observation facilities and other aspects of reserve infrastructure. Long term plans include a visitor’s center, education center, health clinic using traditional and modern methods, and a native plant nursery to generate the plants needed to rehabilitate deforested areas near the reserve property.

We also have a new name for the reserve property, “Reserva PakaNunka”. In Shuar PakaNunka means “low land with a lot of water”. With a lagoon on one end, a large swamp/lagoon near the middle and considerable flooded forest during the rainy season, this suits the property very well. Our activities and projects with the local communities will be organized under the name, “Proyecto Nantar”. Nantar is the Shuar name of a rock that when found is given from mother to daughter as a talisman of good luck, fertility, the garden and the family. Teresa’s grandmother, who was very important in Teresa’s life and instructed her in the methods of a traditional herbal healer, bore the name Nantar giving double significance to the title Proyecto Nantar.

With my inability to get back to the rainforest the process of writing and re-writing proposals and the choice of a few names seems a small gain against the pressures facing the forest and the People. My personal life has all but collapsed under pressures of finding an income as a do-gooder and yet I am so grateful to find inner strength and conviction. I realize my impatience is just that, my impatience, and it is coming from inside of me. I know to trust the guidance of Pachamama and to look into my own shadow for the source. This is my winter’s work. I am very grateful for the advances we have made and grateful for the opportunity to work with such wonderful people. I know that stone by stone a strong building is made and that haste makes a weak foundation. My time will come and I know through experience there will be good reason for my going.

Endings and beginnings complete the cycle and bring fullness to the year and to the seasons. Perhaps a reason for some of the emotional pain we feel is because the Sacred Hoop of Beginning and Ending has been broken, our young and our old are no longer connected and we suffer from our spirit leaking out of the gap between the two.

The Sacred Hoop that contains all of life must be reconnected at the ends for humanity to thrive and for all other species to thrive as well. Without this mending our spirit will leak out and we will enter the Great Sleep. The time is now and the need is great, I pray for us all and ask that the global awakening be swift and complete.