In Australian aboriginal culture, it is believed that there are two kinds of time. There is our ordinary, everyday, linear time. And running parallel to our reality is Dreamtime, the source of all creation. Everything that is comes out of The Dreaming, and everything returns to it in the end.
For me, this part of the year is a kind of Dreamtime. The earth is frozen, and there is nothing green or living. But the very air is changing, gathering strength, as if the earth were taking a deep breath before singing the first note of a sweet, new song.
Now is the time to dream of spring blossoms, and to order seeds for the summer garden. Time to imagine the earth beneath the snow, to see in the mind's eye what it could become. Time to note the spots where savory wild mushrooms grow, and where the sleeping wildflowers are that need protection from the mowing blade.
The aboriginals say that the human spirit was the last to leave the Dreamtime, after all the plants and animals, coming as a caretaker for the others. And that when a baby quickens in its mother's womb, it is receiving the spirit of the land on which his mother stands. The child is forever bound to that land as its guardian, and the land is his dreaming, his spirit's home.
Humans receiving the spirit of the earth, choosing to be caretakers of all creatures, living forever within the Dreamtime ... It's a beautiful dream, don't you think?
For more thoughts on the natural world, visit Nature Notes and Signs of the Season at Michelle's blog, Rambling Woods.
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12 comments:
That's a beautiful post!
I wish more humans would stop, think of this and live it!
What a beautiful post. You got me I dont know what to say
Thanks you made my day
Bye Bye Ed
Gorgeous.
How long did you have to stand there to catch that water droplet falling?
Nicole, thanks. I think the world would be a different place if we all felt this way about nature, instead of seeing it as something to be dominated, conquered, and used.
Ed, I'm touched. I do wish you had a blog, or at least an email address so I could visit with you.
Sally, I have to admit I blew the better part of last Saturday trying to catch icicle drops. Never got a clear shot, out of a couple hundred frames. LOL
I loved this post. Beautiful dream indeed. The icicle is also very beautiful.
MyMaracas I do have a email address morton52h@aol.com
I like the idea that winter is dream time. I always look forward to January and February thinking I'll have more time to read, Sadly, it doesn't always work that way because non-dream time interferes.
Great shots of the icicles!
I enjoyed this post!
What a lovely notion. Why is it that some of the oldest cultures have some of the most wisdom? I love this and I was going to ask you how you got the drop falling. I tried and I couldn't even get a decent icicle photo. Love that...
Your comment on my feather post really made me think. I have been really agonizing about the hawks in the yard so I did some research and called a rehabber friend of mine and I think I have some better information to go on. The emotional battle will just be ongoing ... sigh.. Michelle
Great post on Dreamtime. Awesome capture!
Love that icicle and sky. It would be beautiful even without the tiny drop falling.
Carver, thanks - glad you liked it.
:-)
Thanks, Ed! I'll add you to my address book.
Stine, I know what you mean. Left to my own devices, I would spend January in front of fire reading, emerging only to take the odd photo or two. How I would love to retire...
Michelle, the icicle drop was mostly luck and a lot of thrown away shots. I experimented with the focus and exposure, then put it on burst and aimed at a particularly drippy section of ice. I still don't think the focus is sharp enough, but it's as good as I got. And yes, it seems mankind once knew how to live on the earth and we have forgotten.
Eileen and Leora, thanks! I appreciate your feedback. I wasn't sure how this topic would go over.
A beautiful image.
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