Musing Maple

Requested by @birchwood-path some musings on the Maple.

I live in maple syrup country; maples are EVERYWHERE. Sugaring season is a big deal here, not only does it generate revenue but it's very much time for community. If you were to ask around, I think almost everyone would be able to tell of some very fond memories of the sugar-shack, the stories and jokes their friends, family and neighbors shared waiting anxiously to buy syrup. Clouds of sweet-smelling steam filling the air, kids clamoring for maple taffy. The sugarmakers patiently attending the boiling sap, sometimes giving out samples of fresh warm syrup. Maybe some would be able to recant their time collecting the sap, trudging out in knee-deep snow, praying they don't spill a drop. Long before our sugarshacks and [insert state name here] Maple Sundays the native peoples had been making syrup. One story I've been told states that during a time of food scarcity someone noticed a squirrel drinking the tree's sap. they tried it for themselves and found it unpalatable, I can't quite remember how but eventually it decided the sap will be boiled. I've heard it suggested that this or the maple's inner bark was a survival food for first nations peoples. Another story I've seen involves a young boy throwing his tomahawk at a tree, sweet sap flowed out and maple syrup was discovered.

I tend to look to things that were and are important to both the settlers and the first peoples, so as long as said thing is not especially sacred (sweetgrass for example), for aide in learning how to approach this land and rectify my ancestors' mistakes. Thankfully I have native family who I can ask if what I'm doing is appropriate or not. Maple and broadleaf plantain (blog coming soon) I work with in this capacity. Maple, I understand as a tutelary spirit. I approach them almost as would approach the guardian spirit of a place or thing- I see them as a gatekeeper. I ask to be humbled, to be taught a kinder way. To be in right relations with the land and the dead this tree {spirit} has provided for since ages ago. I seek their blessing and tutelage before and while I learn from the spirit of a native plant that I'm unfamiliar with. I see them as the lifeblood of the land, sustaining generation upon generation with their arboreal blood. Great provider, Hail! gifting us saccharine sustenance when all else is barren. In the same way community is built and strengthened around the sugarhouse so too is community, spirit community, built under Their branches.

For the sap to rise we need freezing temps at night and above freezing daytime temps. This, where I am, tends to occur late January-March. Sometimes the start of sugaring season happens to line up quite nicely with St Brigid's Feast; regardless, it's the first sign of winters wane, of the spring to come. I very much see this tree as carrier, emissary or perhaps even embodiment of the "serpent in the land" we are all so familiar with. Recently I have been toying with the idea of invoking said serpent as the "white" or maybe "clear" snake- rather than the red serpent often spoken of, due to the clear sap which herald's springs impending return. Coupled with the fiery orange the leaves turn in fall I am hoping this will work quite nicely. Especially since fire-in-the-water is important to me.

I also find maple syrup a wonderful offering to the land and the dead. In certain instances, (not all, honeyed dairy imo is required sometimes) I have found it more appropriate than honey, I'll sweeten milk or cream with it the same way one would with honey. I think of this as a fitting show of adapting our traditions to the land in a way that acknowledges first peoples and our history while giving a nod to my ancestral european trads/lore.

Guided Messages 🤍

An Innocent Reminder

If it is written in your life story, it won’t lead to planting the seed of self-resentment in you. When we neglect our roots by abandoning our true identity, we take up an identity created by the system which only makes room for more chaos. Your bag was divinely created for you, stop chasing the fancy ones the system parades as the real makoya, because it doesn’t come with the blessings, healing,…

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Music Mix: The Potter's Hand

Artist: Darlene Zschech compilation: “Extravagant Worship: The Songs Of Darlene Zschech” (2002) “The Potter’s Hand” Beautiful Lord, Wonderful SaviourI know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands, craftedinto your perfect planYou gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy SpiritTeach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyesI’m captured by Your holy callingSet…

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We are all our own #guru Although having a teacher leads us focus, in the end we are the only #teacher we need (Quote from "The Power of Silence" quoted in "The Teachings of Don Carlos" by Victor Sanchez") #shaman #shamanism #doncarlos #victorsanchez #lifeadvice #spirit #spiritteachings #castaneda #yoga #yogaeveryday #yogaeveryblessedday #yogalove #yogapractice #morningyogapractice #yogalife #yogalove (at Gold Canyon, Arizona)

At age 3, my left ear drum blew out prompting me to press my hand over that ear in pain crying endlessly, so my mom took me to the Doctor when I wouldn’t stop. Unresponsive to hearing in that ear the diagnostic conclusion was that I was deaf in that ear, but I can hear faintly through it today. The ironic phenomenon that took place at the same time it blew was the volume of spirit cranked up with pitch perfect clarity in that ear. They purposely smashed out the physical hearing, so I could hear them to do the work I previously agreed to do. No time was wasted since they initiated it when I was 3, so I’ve lived it with it for decades. All my physical senses are fainter on the left side of my body, but the spirit communication senses are louder on that side from sight to hearing, etc. . There were no labels like Clairaudience to attribute to what I had. I just started hearing many ethereal voices talking to me that were wise, authoritative, stern, yet compassionate. They’ve been my best friends and teachers I've forever known, who’ve never stopped communicating to me, guiding me gently like, “Go over there.”, so I’d go over there. It was in the predictive work they relayed that confirmed them to my skeptical analytical mind. Everything they were saying was later coming true. I’ve never heard Spirit well on my right side, they always tend to stand to my left. . . . . . . . #clairaudient #clairaudience #kevinhunter #psychicphenomena #metaphysics #authorsofinstagram #paranormal #spiritualawakening #consciousness #divinemasculine #clairvoyance #medium #mediumship #spiritteacher #wiseone #heaven #god #thelight #psychicsofinstagram #inspirational #differentfromtherest #prochecy #premonition #raiseyourvibration #highervibrations https://www.instagram.com/p/CCJr40epyV4/?igshid=uozkif8gu09d

NEW EPISODE OF WISDOM TALK RADIO! Spirit Speaks: A Conversation with Michael McAdams What if our spirit teachers, or angels, could contact us directly to help us find our way—would you listen? Really, this is a corollary question to one I ask often: will you listen to the guidance that you receive, whether it comes in the form of an inner knowing, or a synchronistic occurrence…or an inner voice? LISTEN HERE: http://bit.ly/WTR-Michael-McAdams Michael McAdams has felt a sense of destiny and purpose his entire life. Brought up in the Pentecostal church, Michael’s uncle was a fiery Pentecostal preacher. Although Michael has always felt more spiritual than religious, communication from the highest possible source has been his goal, as he enables his mind to receive information and direction that allows him to help the greatest number of people. Michael is the publisher of An Angel Told Me So, a book of the messages and teachings that Michael and his mother, Wilma Jean Jones, received. LISTEN HERE: http://bit.ly/WTR-Michael-McAdams @Michael McAdams @Dea ShanderaHunter #angels #spiritteachers #innervoice #spiritualdirect6ion #WisdomTalkRadio #energy #LaurieSeymour #SpiritSpeaks

Most people get a feeling at one point or the other that there is a lot more to the world than just physical reality.

Extra Song: The Potter's Hand

Artist: Darlene Zschech compilation: “Extravagant Worship: The Songs Of Darlene Zschech” (2002) “The Potter’s Hand” Beautiful Lord, Wonderful SaviourI know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands, craftedinto your perfect planYou gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy SpiritTeach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyesI’m captured by Your holy callingSet…

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Extra Song: The Potter's Hand

Artist: Darlene Zschech compilation: “Extravagant Worship: The Songs Of Darlene Zschech” (2002) “The Potter’s Hand” Beautiful Lord, Wonderful SaviourI know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands, craftedinto your perfect planYou gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy SpiritTeach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyesI’m captured by Your holy callingSet…

View On WordPress

Extra Song: The Potter's Hand

Artist: Darlene Zschech compilation: “Extravagant Worship: The Songs Of Darlene Zschech” (2002) “The Potter’s Hand” Beautiful Lord, Wonderful SaviourI know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands, craftedinto your perfect planYou gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy SpiritTeach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyesI’m captured by Your holy callingSet…

View On WordPress

Music Mix: The Potter's Hand

  Artist: Darlene Zschech compilation: “Extravagant Worship: The Songs Of Darlene Zschech” (2002) “The Potter’s Hand” Beautiful Lord, Wonderful SaviourI know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands, craftedinto your perfect planYou gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy SpiritTeach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyesI’m captured by Your holy…

View On WordPress

Music Mix: The Potter's Hand

Artist: Darlene Zschech compilation: “Extravagant Worship: The Songs Of Darlene Zschech” (2002) “The Potter’s Hand” Beautiful Lord, Wonderful SaviourI know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands, craftedinto your perfect planYou gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy SpiritTeach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyesI’m captured by Your holy callingSet…

View On WordPress

Music Mix: The Potter's Hand

Artist: Darlene Zschech compilation: “Extravagant Worship: The Songs Of Darlene Zschech” (2002) “The Potter’s Hand” Beautiful Lord, Wonderful SaviourI know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands, craftedinto your perfect planYou gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy SpiritTeach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyesI’m captured by Your holy callingSet…

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There are cases where some have become frustrated or disappointed with God and their Spirit team for not saving them from a challenging circumstance. Guides are experienced beings that don’t have irritation to the point of separation, but they will temporarily back away when a disgruntled human ego avoids putting in any effort to change. Spirit guides want the best for the person they're guiding, which means they allow you to endure a spell of pain and challenges if it helps a soul come to an enlightening moment on their own. They will not hand hold and cannot assist in progress until the soul takes its first productive step to make necessary changes. . This is why you often hear me say that you need to put in the hard work, which I know is ignored or scoffed at, but those are the ones that suffer the most. Like higher guides, we’re not doing this to you, but for you. Since you were also given free will choice, you can ignore it or say, “Wait a minute, I do need to change something.” . . . . . #guidance #inspirational #motivation #spiritguides #kevinhunter #guardianangel #soulconciousness #spiritual #metaphysical #philosophical #philosophy #confidence #divinemasculine #psychicwork #psychic #divineguidance #spiritteacher #spiritualawakening https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Frn15pyYR/?igshid=ldx0244updrn