A Month of Solitude in the Woods

While Austin is working with his father in Tennessee, I am staying home to tend to our little hOMe in the dOMe.

Approximately a moon cycle of time apart from my sweetheart, this is more time alone than I’ve ever experienced. Granted, family is in the house on the property, but while I have this semi-unique opportunity I plan on taking it by the horns. 

I’ve lived on this land for a long time and I’m always with people here. Very rarely do I experience full days without human contact. In fact, this bout of separation will be the longest Austin and I have been apart since I traveled through Europe with my brother in September of 2016. Since that trip we have only had a single day apart. This month will be a perfect base for me to practice my own self-sufficiency   

Less time scrolling through meaningless Instagram posts and poorly refined knowledge-searches will help me key in on the activities I want to be doing. Artistic, creative, expansive and energy-filled. I hope to spark passion for life in my own life, reinvigorating my sense of liveliness.  Sure, I try to be conscious about how much time I spend on social media and generally doing nothing useful. It’s incredible how much time really gets eaten up by these things—even when we are conscious of it’s negative effects.  

In order to make the most of my time, I am setting myself some solid goals. I am looking to work at diving deeper into understanding my personal self and my own deepest desires in this life. I think that understanding where we came from and how our world has affected us is vital to self-growth and regeneration. Personally, this means coming to deeper understanding of the land I was born and live on, and how my namesake has presented itself in my life. 

Source: Photo by Sean Crane, Minden Pictures

This means I will take time to work with coyote medicine through independent study of local and far-reaching lore, meditation and reflective writing. I will also take time getting to know the environment around me, from the stars at the time of my birth to the energies of the present moment. I will work to deeper understand the many aspects in my natal chart through independent study of astrology, and hope to find some clarity in the connections I make through that medium. I will spend time making a working list of the plants around our hOMe, noting particularly which are edible or useful medicinally. I hope to utilize both independent study and meditation to connect with these plants and energies around the land.   

How will I go about doing these things in a productive, engaging manner?

My goal is to really focus and limit my time ill-spent. I sometimes have had-- (we’re working on breaking not keeping patterns, right?!) --troubles bringing a once-begun task to completion. I would lose willpower to get the real work done once I’ve accomplished the entertaining mental tasks. I am going to try and refocus my energies on things I truly value, and see if this switches up some of my processing patterns. 

I deeply value connection with the earth and the land where we live. My Traditional Medicinals tea quote today was from some licorice root tea, and it said “He who wants a rose must respect the thorn”. I saw this same quote earlier in the day too, alongside an analogy of the moon: If you want the moon you must sit with the darkness.  

Let's be real here: I want the moon. I hope that sweet moon sheds some illuminating light upon me in this time. With two full moons in the month, it seems like a reasonable time to seek moonlight, right? 

I plan on spending a night out in the woods as part of this self-made quest. I will hopefully be accompanied by a dog but if we are being honest I know he prefers couches. Sleeping in the dark forest instead of within the comfort and perceived safety of the yurt will help familiarize myself with the dark, and bring me closer to el farol de los enamorados.   

Source: Photo by Debbie DiCarlo

I hope to spend a lot of this time dredging out the deep chasms of soul which get so often glazed over in the trending search of higher vibrations. We must bring ourselves up as a whole, and refusing to clear out the negative energies and cycles in our lives will prohibit our self-evolution. 

In the lore I’ve read so far in my 22 years of namesake, Coyote is strong and while he cannot be beaten, he is often battered due to his foolishness. Not an easy teacher, Coyote is equated to the energy of Raven, or Loki, a trickster. Interestingly enough, he rarely recognizes his own tricks, and is often made a fool because of them.  

Coyote is teaching me not only to learn from my mistakes, but to help others learn from my mistakes as well. It is not every animal’s destiny to fall at the fate of another’s foolishness, if they have the insight to see through the tricks, or a teacher to show them firsthand.  

It’s almost like coyote is a rebellious citizen who cunningly poisons the wine of the king, but then foolishly recommends himself as cupbearer for the feast.

In J.K. Rowling’s sixth book, Dumbledore holds no fear as he gulps the Drink of Despair which protects one of Voldemort’s horcruxes. He knows that through cunning and with supportive Mr. Potter by his side force-feeding him this poison, they will succeed in destroying this evil segment of Tom Riddle’s soul. Working with these shadowy aspects is rarely beautiful, and it isn’t easy, but the rewards reaped are worth the efforts.

With Coyote ever at my back, I will drink the poison I’ve served myself in order to grow and become strong enough to serve others.

Till next time,

stay wild, be sweet

@coyoteom

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