Cradling tree branches and preparing them for the crossing over.
Bronzing Buddha.
Building, piecing and rearranging.
Mossing.
Tying in and fastening esqueletos.
Preparing a welcoming for the others beyond the sheery layer.

www.thealtarshow.org

It is a very deep time for me.  It is very open.  Paper thin.  I can almost smell it in the air.  I can feel it in the blades of grass that rise between my toes as I walk the park barefoot.

I see it’s outlines and sense it’s presence.

It is a time…

a time that is timeless.

There is a gap in the calendar.  An opening.  And they come, they arrive in different ways.  Some float on in, some just appear out of thin air.  They joke and hold hands as they walk.  They walk from home to home.  Moving about from space to space admiring, pointing out details and remembering.

But, really we’re remembering.  We remember their Earthly energy and we offer a bridge to connect.

Our loved ones that made it from physical to the invisible-everything.

I celebrate their life.  Celebrate their existence in whatever realm it may reside in now.

I begin by gathering.

Sorting, cleaning, taking apart, piecing together again and building an ofrenda.  An altar.  A set space with intention to welcome home.

I spend a week in preparation.

We meet and talk.  Trading bits of wisdom for the upcoming lifetime and laugh at the funny human ways of planning and really over planning.  Anyways, this is what my Abuelita (Grandmother) told me in a whisper as I grinned at the moon and shivered in my burgundy shawl on Dia de los Muertos last year.  She said she enjoyed our meet ups and told me to stop coloring my canas “grey hairs” as she made her exit back into the invisible-everything.

“Abuela!  No fair!" I shouted.

And on these days it usually is a thin sky with a heavy moon and everything feels a little off…in an unexplainable way.  Yet, it feels free and open. 

Although, one must be open and free to experience its real meaning.  The deeper meaning to why I choose to honor the lives of those who treaded this physical planet.  Their stories and wisdom were neatly tucked to create a path to follow.  A path of understanding.  A path of courage to rise above and beyond.

Besides, I remember that being my wish and now I’m back to remind others.

Reminder: You are truly holy- yes, already.  Please live out your dreams.  Your loved ones paved a way, now go and pave it further.

Dancing magic.

My soles of uncharted territories linger
to outline the beauty of leaves

swaying in trees,

leaves with dreams.

Sand keeping rhythm,

while distance spreads...reaches over...arms wide,
winding love in it's steps.

Spirit flutters.

Bitterness melts.

Sacred floating at noon.

Lovers soak and dwell in
romantic recipes of enchantment.

We were swaying in trees,

when we were leaves.

Clinging to brassy branches,

twirling,

weaving textiles of zenfull states,

in mystica.

Measuring shapes in the skies
and defining colors.

Living on "complete"

and content for the sake of

dreaming leaves that dance.

From the Tree Journal  |  By: Melissa Fernandez© August 2008

My children, AKA the fae-children have been soaking up the Autumn breeze and our sunny California fall weather by crafting spaces for the fae-folk in our backyard.  Something I did as a child and encourage all children, even big adult-children to do.  For I believe, it is in this creation space that we are actually opening and allowing the spirits of nature to breathe, come alive and be noticed.  It is in the imagination where the connection is made.  Try it, you will see.

Any man can lose his hat in a fairy-wind.  ~Irish Saying

This one...
This one, taught me about embracing the falling away, the dying parts, a completion of a cycle.
She lovingly laughed when I cradled her cut limbs and dismantled branches for arms.  She said, that she understood a different meaning to this "dying thing" than we humans understand.  She was greeting it with full embrace.  She was prepared and well aware of the cycle that was nearing completion.

Melissa: Why, oh why...great tree?  I cried.
Great Tree: To present an example of all that cycles.  Here, we can go at it together.  I see you have some dead leaves and coiling branches that need some trimming.  You have a lot of green under there and a strong root, trim up!  Do away with the old, dead, and no longer useful.  All those false identities, labels of non-importance, egoic illusions, ways of believing that no longer serve you, adopted ways of being that don't quite feel right to your soul.  All those things.  Do away with them.  Let them fall away.  Cut them back.

Great Tree: Please understand, that I will rise again in another form.  Maybe a tree again, maybe a bird or human.  It is exciting not sorrowful.  Please, even do away with that old concept of death=sorrow.  Yes, big one...but it's worth a try, right?  Another possibility?  Your root is deep, but don't be a stump.  Spread your branches and let fall away what doesn't add to your highest good, your highest reach.  Question much, because in the questioning...you invite the possibilities.

Stay tuned to see what becomes of the cut down tree branches...

Sometimes I forget.
Sometimes, I need to be reminded.
Sometimes, my innate wisdom rises through like a tree root lifting the concrete that rests upon it.  And it will- it will grow through when most needed.  Shifting things, bringing it into full focus, a full realization and an awareness of the great moment of stepping into your FULL power.

Recently, I experienced that.  You see, I was trying to fill a FULL cup.  I let go a bit of my wisdom and desensitized my intuition a bit to allow another source of wisdom to enter.  But, I didn't need it.  I had a FULL cup of my own, in fact...

My Cup Runneth Over.

What I did discover is: that I didn’t have to take in something that did not feel right to my soul or speak to my spirit.  It doesn't need to come from the outside in, from some other source, from another's beliefs or way of living.  I have all that I need.  I do and so do you.  We really do have everything we need at each and every moment even though it doesn't always feel that way or sometimes it's a little cloudy.  Our connection to Spirit- to the essence that is intertwined in our veins, that one that breathes us- is our infinite supply of wisdom.

Your Cup Runneth Over.

And, when it does you don't feel the need to fill another's vessel.  You recognize their beautiful and wise knowing.  They're wisdom shines through.  And, it is from that space where we can flow.  Flow together within the same source.  This is what sharing is all about and this is when wisdom is amplified.

So go ahead and let your cup run over and bless others with the overflow.

Woman of earth.
Woman of water.
Daughter of the stars.
Woman of ash and fire birth.
Daughter of nested seeds.

I see you.

Float among wind’s graceful wings,
And know thyself
Into
Deeper
Meaning
Of the absolute nature of your breathe

Carve the mounds down,
And Rest in the creases.
Bravely, swim in the marsh of the soul.
Be.
Goddess…just be.
Climb inside, patting the heart in gentle repose.
Along the sides of your curves you drift,
Dear Goddess.

Yes you.

Woman of swift wisdom.
Woman of wild snake.
Woman of winged words.
Woman of constancy.

Flesh of fruit.
Bounty smile,
And life-giving hands.
Be within.
Be.
Goddess, be.

And into the deeper realms you are carried:
Sifting,
Living,
Loving,
Dancing,
Between worlds.

Being goddess.

Woman of the rays of light.
Woman of the winds.
Woman of the silent songs.
Woman of divine luster.

Yes…that one…I see you.

I remember.

You are remembering…you.

As Goddess.

By: Melissa Fernandez ©2010