Mother Earth / Father Sky. . .

Photograph by Angel Gisondi

“So let’s make our steps clear that the other may see”

“If I should Fall Behind”

-Bruce Springsteen

“Sacred relationships…are a bitch,” he said; the laughing one – a child of Coyote.  This was accompanied by a mischievous grin, a twinkling eye, and an offer of advice if my wife of less than two months and I should ever hit a rough patch.

We’d gathered together in the small but welcoming one-room building for a potluck after a sweat at a lodge appropriately named “Open Heart”. It was a particularly strenuous lodge, and everyone was tired, hungry, and grateful for the brevity of the blessing and the generosity of the menu – there is, after all, no food like sweat lodge food.

As the meal and the afternoon wore on, a cake was brought in celebrating not only one of our group’s being awarded Teacher of the Year, but the joining of Marie and me as well.

The outpouring of affection has really been something to observe.  So many have wished us well, hugged us nearly to the point of breaking, and shown their love with cards, gifts and other gestures.

On one level, the joy expressed is that of a community coming together in love.  But on another, there’s something that just feels right when the Masculine and Feminine impulses come together.

I’m not talking about sexual preferences here.

I’m talking about something much more deeply-rooted than that.

We incorporated the sacred pipe into our ceremony.  We stood together on the Medicine Wheel, she carrying the bowl, and I the stem.  Grandfather Eddie accepted these symbols from us – symbols of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine – and joined them together that the prayers of all might be carried to the Great Spirit on Eagle’s wings, wrapped in sacred smoke.

And so Earth and Sky came together.

At the very center of instances such as these, there’s a balance that resonates almost beyond words – an essence of pure Creativity that neither pulls nor pushes.  It simply exists, and for the good of all that is, that is enough. . .