My New Year’s resolution is to cultivate creativity and compassion to spark more beauty in the world.
[This poem was written a number of years ago based on a close encounter I had with the wild horses on the upper Outerbanks in the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge while visiting there with my family. I submitted the poem to unpsychology magazine, an ecopsychology journal based in the U.K, in the winter of 2019-2020 …
[This post was written for unpsychology magazine, an ecopsychology journal based in the U.K, in the winter of 2019-2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was recently published in their issue 6 with the theme of connecting with the other-than-human world. The journal issue is currently available online. I’m sharing the story below for easy …
The Myaamia call them Cecaahkwa, the Sandhill Cranes, our relations They had nesting grounds here in the Wabash River Valley hundreds of years ago These sacred birds are now making their way back to their spring and summer homes This is the time of Cecaahkwa Kiihswa the time of Sandhill Crane Moon …
Learning the names and identities of the plants and trees in your home area, and how to use them for food and medicine is part of the journey of connecting yourself with wildness and a sense of becoming native to the place you live. The title of this article Stay Together, Learn the Flowers, Go …
[Photo: me, in deerskin clothing 21 years ago on my wedding day] In addition to the spiritual and human relationship aspects that I have focused on since starting the Emerge Wild blog, another way we can connect closely with the Earth is through the physical learning and practice of Earth-based living skills. These are practices …
To honor: to hold in high regard, to give great respect to. America became a nation long before it had a chance to know itself as a land. One of the most masculine and patriotic acts you can offer is to come to intimately know the land, nurture your relationship to the Earth, and …
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” ~ Rumi We have been walking around as a species for the last 200,000 years so deeply in communion with the Earth that we called ourselves human –from the humus. To listen was to live. To listen and understand became our collective story about who …
Naming the Wild “Other” Naming connects. When we name something or someone, or learn their name, we engender a connection more meaningful than if we don’t name. When parents name their newborn baby, there is an even deeper connection that is made with their child. Likewise, when a child names a pet, an intimate relationship …
What is Wild(ness)? What is wild, and what might it have to do with our authentic human selves? The traditional definition of wild goes something like this: That which is living or growing in the natural environment. Untamed, not domesticated, uncultivated, free. The word wild is sometimes used to describe a place or living being …