When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and honey locusts,
equally the beeches, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily…

-- Mary Oliver

Oh, Mary Oliver, you are so often my own soul speaking to me. Those beeches, oaks and pines are my medicine chest. They feed me and heal me . . . daily.

Lately I have had a yearning, a distinct calling, for wilderness. To be immersed in it – body and soul. To feel green, spongy moss, soft between my bare toes; to let wild water ripple over my bare skin, and to hear wind whine through tall reaches of a pine forest, letting its sweet scent, those ‘hints of gladness’, fill me up.

Is this what we call ‘spring fever’? If so, I have a severe case of it this year. I wonder if it is simply a symptom of missing ‘the fields of home’. This is my first spring living in town, no longer surrounded by forests and meadows.

Whatever the cause, I realize more than at any time in my life, just how critical a role the natural world plays in my life, in all of our lives really, whether or not we are aware. Of course it does; we human animals are a part of it just as surely as wolves, whales, wind and water. And I believe we eschew it at our peril.

I love how author/psychiatrist, Jean Bolen, sees our relationship to Gaia, our Earth mother – like the fetus in the womb of the mother. “While in the uterus we move in amniotic fluid, with all the nutrients we need to grow and thrive coming from our mother’s body. In this womb space, we are provided for and protected, much as the atmosphere protects and provides for life on Earth.”

I worry about ‘Mother’s’ health. Just how much can she withstand and still maintain her homeostasis. The chemistry and temperature of our human body has to be kept in a very narrow range of fluctuation. Our systems: circulation, respiration, digestive, hormonal, elimination, neurological, must be maintained carefully to stay healthy and well. Similarly, planet Earth has complex interactive systems. Her oceans, forests, atmosphere, soil and biosphere must also maintain an optimal physical and chemical balance to support life. This is known as the Gaia Theory from the mid 60s. Radical at the time, proposing that Earth is alive – a single living entity.

Why did it take us so long to wake up to the fact that our beloved planet could be anything else but alive? How could she possibly support all this ‘aliveness’ if she herself were not so? And knowing that she is a living entity helps us to love and honour her even more. I send daily gratitude, peace and blessings to the Earth. I believe that it’s important to both the giver and the receiver. Imagine if everyone on the planet followed this practice. Our world would transform overnight.

So as Earth Day 2017 dawns this weekend, how shall we mark it? Some kind of attention must be paid; even just a walk in the woods, quietly appreciating. It is not a stretch to be grateful this time of year, when every branch, bird and frog is bursting in an ode to spring. Feel the ‘hint of gladness’ in the air. Let go your own ‘ode to joy’. I’ve been toting a bag for litter on my walks, gathering up winter waste on the trails. It would be an Earth Day worthy gesture, but if it preempts just inhaling the magic, then save it for another day.

Our precious, precious planet Earth . . . beautiful blue marble, spinning in space, thank you for all your nurture, your nature, your magic forests, healing waters, breathtaking sunsets, and for holding us so patiently and lovingly in your womb.

And finally, from Alice Walker: Earth is our Mother, and She must be honoured in order to make our days long on this planet . . .

We have a beautiful mother,
Her hills are buffaloes,
Her buffaloes hills.

We have a beautiful mother
Her oceans are wombs
Her wombs oceans.

We have a beautiful mother
Her teeth the while stones
At the edge of the water
the summer grasses
her plentiful hair.

We have a beautiful mother
Her green lap immense
Her brown embrace eternal
Her blue body
everything
we know.