The Golden Glow of Quiet

Life has been so busy lately that at times I find myself longing for a moment of quiet peace, a short measure of silence with my bóveda, a breath of communion. This morning was no different. I woke up, and after finally gathering the energy to move my body out of bed, my first feeling was one of, "I need space." I need space to sit and, rather than think, to let my mind be still.

As the coffee was brewing, I shuffled my Raven's Prophecy deck and pulled: Hermit.

I looked at it for a moment and just thought: Yes! Yes, to the Hermit in general.... but this depiction is so welcoming and precise in its reflection of what I hunger for: the golden glow of quiet. A lantern burns within the heart of an ancient tree, providing a secluded place, a protective and natural embrace.

This image reminds me of a book I cherished as a child, My Side of the Mountain, about a young boy who escapes into the hills and lives off the land on his own. He has a hawk companion, he learns to tan his own hides using the natural tannins in fallen oak trees, and he lives inside of a massive, hollowed-out tree. This is the kind of experience I always wanted to have as a kid, and I would lose myself in that story.

Now I am blessed with some new and wonderful opportunities in my life that also bring a higher level of "involvement" and attention and "noise." I don't have the choice to ignore it - it is my job to face it all head-on. And so it becomes even more important to intentionally carve out a space in my own proverbial sacred tree to steal away to from time to time, to recharge, release, and recenter.