On my way to the Medicine Spot I noticed a subtle yet profound change in the ‘energy’ of this place.
–––
Normally as I walk the ancient holloway, past the many stone age monuments that mark this track through the venerable oaks, the birds react to my presence in a gentle way. This is a sign of acceptance within the ecology of this place.
They will fly up over over me and land in a branch some 4ft above my head. They do not fly away with their alarm calls triggering the birds in the next territories and so on in an expanding avian ripple of consternation.
Yet today as soon as I stepped upon the old track I noticed an intensity on the edge of their songs and they were higher in the trees, way above their normal perches.
One could almost feel an anxiety in the air, it was transmitted through all the levels of both the animals and the plants.
In our deep nature connected past this would have triggered the same cautiousness in me too, I would be aware and ready for whatever was around that corner where the birds were directing their attention.
I knew through listening to the language of the birds that something had happened. I felt it 5 minutes before I arrived at the center of the disturbance.
As I arrived in the Medicine Spot I saw that someone had been working with clearing saws, ‘cleaning’ the brambles back and emptying the stone basin at the foot of the spring. Nothing dramatic maybe, but for the birds and other inhabitants this was a major change.
All around us a great story unfolds on a daily basis and the lexicon of nature is rich with meaning.
Photo: Goldfinch. Courtesy of the author.