September New Moon: Village Wander

We just moved. Not far, maybe 7 miles. From a luscious rural neighborhood farm set against red rocks and mountains with easy viewing of the cosmos, to a lovely central location in our quite bikeable town—denser, loud, close to people, the library, the grocery store.

Though the move is not far, there is a way I feel we are starting anew. In a new community. Perhaps it is also the moving away of dear friends, and the quick succession of growth phases of an almost 2-year-old, that makes it feel like a move to a new life.

It is from this place that I offer you this wander:

Find a place on the land where you feel the presence of a village. This land could be within the edges of your own property or somewhere else you might go often. How do you know/feel this is a village? What qualities come forth in your village? How far do the edges of the village extend? What might it feel like to belong to this village? Where is the play of the village—the courtyard of the village where the children come to gather and shriek in delight, insight joy and mischief all at one.  In times when our travel may be stymied, can you get to know the village at your feet, above your head? Who are the healers, the warriors, the domestics, the busy bodies, the old ones in the rockers?

Dearest, this is an invitation to wander to your village. The ask of this wander is to find a village place you can revisit often, can you become a well-known traveler to this village? This village of other beings with gifts to offer. Go and spend time here, more than once.