The air quality in Madison was in the moderate range today. Most of us were breathing easily for the moment. Questions remain about whether the levels will be up again tomorrow, but in my mind there are bigger questions. Questions that I asked myself a few days ago as I looked out over Lake Mendota and couldn’t see across the lake. It was nothing, but a smoke screen. All that had been there had disappeared.
I found myself wondering about the trees and if we might listen to them, be purified by them, start following the true path as a society. Northern White Cedars, a centerpiece of the Boundary Waters, with some trees having survived over a thousand years are a sacred species to many. Many believe their smoke to be protective, to purify and clear, to ground, connect, and heal.
As these trees are burning, I wonder and I ask if we might feel the healing admist the poisons and if we will respond to what they tell us. Can we, do we have the strength to follow the sacred? It is, without a doubt, time to hear the trees and feel their strength if we are to survive.
