A similar rarefied level of masterpiece endures in West Coast rainforest - only not in physical choreography, but on the breathing, pulsing level of plant/etheric life, as sensed by audience of the soul.
Turning to yet another art form, a visual rendition of this West Coast phenomena of etheric richness can be viewed in the works of certain painters (Emily Carr, for example).
And by virtue of its own creative arena, the rainforest is verging upon its neighbor ocean, the sea of endless heaving birth-song. And between the land and sea an intermediate zone presides. An inter-tidal realm, in which one can venture back and forth, between liquid and solid, loosening access across the threshold, and lingering in balance between ebb and flow.
Twice daily the heaving of the sea has its way, rising and falling in rhythm unerring. And, alternating, now stepping back from the constant rhythm, now moving forward into its cadence, a bigger set of “waves” washes, a respiration of a wider span.
Wash of wave can become a fascination, on a certain level of our being. When we open to it, the rhythm takes us into its mesmeric force, enfolds us in timeless embrace. Over time, the tempo of constancy, as though devised to mirror full breaths of the soul’s own pulse, spirals into an alignment of rarified synchronicity.
Within this inter-tidal embrace dwell numerous beings of exceptional bearing. Mollusk, crustacean, sea star, anemone, kelp, red laver, sea lettuce, clam, oyster, moon-snail. Some possess staunch power of adherence - mussel, barnacle, limpet. And some, like the plate-armored chiton, eluding the glare of sun, partake of night’s diatom nurture.
The power of salmon gives of itself in exceptional measure, through both abundance and quality. By its sacrifice, life continues, many-fold - for bear, wolf, raccoon, seagull, eagle, otter, mink, and a host of others. Powers are enhanced in those who honor the spirit of salmon - perception, steadfast bearing, will-power, and conveying the power of regeneration to the headwaters of the soul.
Trickster raven, mythic and pre-mythic being, audacious, mischievous, discerning, endowed with creative force, unfolds its wings. Cedar impresses its contours into the grain of the soul’s character, a soft red carving of endurance and timeless wisdom. Totem beings watch over the land and waters. Mountains rise abruptly from the sea and hold fast with deep-running fiords forming terrain that resists the “progress” of humanity’s intrusive highways. Rugged, road-free, holding wild, keeping undue development at bay.
In bygone days of prosperity and proximity to nature’s vault of knowledge - before the fall of Haida culture into the ways of warring and slavery - all manner of wisdom prevailed. The light of that time shines now from the future - although, this time, when humanity returns to the power and resplendence of nature-communion, it will be by means of one-on-one focus, well beyond the confinement of tribe and kin.
A potlatch is given in honor of nature’s generous spirit. Red flesh of cedar is honored, as is red flesh of salmon, and red of Haida, Tlingit, and Salish.
Poised on the edge of the vast amniotic birthing-sea, an ocean of genesis, the ritual of gratitude feeds back into the streaming flow of prosperity.
And across the domain of soul, dark-winged mystery, embodied by a charismatic raven, twists against the wind, turning sideways to knife its way forward. High over white cap froth it plies its way until, at length, it arrives at the crown of a grandparent tree. There it pauses, to rest a while, on that tall spruce-wise projection of the heart’s questing, high above a creek in which the tireless salmon of the soul’s will-force makes its way.
And now, raven, spruce, salmon, wave, wind, sunlight, and a thousand more - a broad range of diversity gathers. And the heartsongs of every member of the immense tableau converge in a subtle, yet powerful resonance.
A harmony presides here that is, in some mysterious way, timeless by nature, symphonic in scope, and generous beyond measure.