Jackie Stewart | Earth Pathways Showcase

Diary 2020

To venture into woodland is to leave ordinary reality behind and travel into the wild unknown of our innermost selves. Woodland reawakens the parts of us that have been tamed and silenced by domestic life. In fairy stories, woodland represents the uncharted terrain of the unconscious. It can be hiding place or sanctuary, but more often it’s the place of transformation where the protagonist faces their fears and emerges stronger and wiser. Woodland takes us on a journey into the unknown to discover the deep knowing of the untamed self. When we venture into woodland, we are invited to unhook from our over-active minds and open our senses to a wilder wisdom instead. Woodland teaches us to walk more slowly, listen more deeply, feel more keenly, and sense more subtly, so we can taste the extraordinary magic in each ordinary moment. Our innate sense of magic, mystery and wonder is restored, because woodland reawakens the ancient wisdom that lives deep in our souls. After time in woodland, we re-enter the world again, changed. Because now we have leaves in our hair, a new light in our eyes, and wildness has been restored to our souls.

Come to the Wild Woods © Jackie Stewart 2018

Each plant contains multitudes. Messages to be discovered, conversations to be had, qualities they embody and reawaken within us. Each plant extends an invitation from its heart to yours so you can experience its essence and hear its wisdom. We are here on this beautiful planet at the time of the Great Remembering, when our unconscious connections with plants are coming into our consciousness once again for deep knowing, wild medicine, and soul-affirming integration. There was a time when we intuitively knew how to connect with plants to receive healing, wisdom, emotional and spiritual nourishment. Now the time has come to remember and reawaken our inner knowing. Now is the time to rediscover the depth of our connection with the plant realm. Now is the time to make our unconscious connections with the green world conscious once again. As we deepen our connection with Nature to absorb its messages and medicine, we inhabit our bodies and our souls more fully. This is how we become integrated and whole. This is how we find our way home. We are being invited to reawaken our ability to become a bridge between plant consciousness and human consciousness to experience the wild magic of the world. This is ancient knowledge, seeded deep in your bones – ready to be reawakened through the gateway of your heart.

The Invitation From the Plants © Jackie Stewart 2018

The collective wound us humans are now ready to heal is the old story that we are not good enough. I believe that when we heal this wound, capitalism will crumble and the new world we dream of will be born. Feeling that we’re not good enough is so deeply ingrained that we spend a vast majority of our time trying to prove that we are. It secretly drives us to push, strive and succeed. We try to do more and achieve more, even in our leisure time. We need to keep busy to feel successful; we have to prove ourselves over and over. But that old story is fuelling an outdated paradigm that no longer fits the new world we’re here to co-create.

When I was sitting up on the rock opposite our house, watching the birds ride the thermals with freedom and joy, I felt a rising certainty that we change the world every time we rebel against playing the game of busy. We will finally release our impulse to keep busy when we truly believe that we are already perfect and loveable, instead of trying to prove that we are. Realising that we’re already good enough is an act of creative rebellion in a success-motivated capitalist world. This is how we co-create a new paradigm that thrives on self-acceptance instead.

An Unexpected Act of Creative Rebellion © Jackie Stewart 2018

Deep listening is an art that Nature invites us to reclaim so we can live with greater presence, compassion, respect and belonging upon our animate Earth.

We practise deep listening by slowing down and using all our senses when we are in Nature. Deep listening increases our capacity to hear our inner wisdom and guidance, and inspires us to act in ways that respect and honour Nature.

There is an inherent call and response between us and the rest of Nature which gets activated when we practise the art of deep listening. We are in living conversation with the Earth, so listening with all our senses means we can be true allies.

What attracts our attention in Nature is inviting us to pay heed because it has resonance, meaning, messages or healing impulses for us to act upon in service to the Soul of the Earth.

By cultivating the art of deep listening when we are in Nature, we become more present, awake and available to all of Life. And we, in turn, become more fully alive.