Chigüiri-cosas

Continuing on the theme of visiting with spirits and ancestors, in New Mexico I took this picture with this story.

The photograph shows my friend Erin who is pregnant. That sort of other-worldly light and the bright ray, it felt like a moment of a pause in time, when maybe the spirit world or the baby on her way was reaching out to us. So much of pregnancy, birth, and early motherhood involves crossing over or being right on the edge of that line between the other world and ours. At least in my experience.

Next, a visit to the Muir Woods redwood grove.

These are our ancestors with their tops reaching the golden sky and their roots firmly in the damp earth. Our guardians. Ancient beings standing strong around us as we grow up to the heavens and our children grow down to find us.

The understory is dark and shadowy with golden rays filtering through here and there, making this feel like a place in between our world and that of spirits. A meeting place between our side and theirs.

As I’m having these thoughts, ambling along with baby sleeping on my chest, I run into a sign that says this:

The Spirit of the Forest
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
–John Muir, 1890