During 7 Days of Rest & Radiant Diversity we invite participants to spend time re-connecting with nature, remembering and relearning how to commune with the trees and the plants that nourish all life. We ask the trees and the plants to remind us how to honor their infinite generosity, how to breathe with them and love them as they gift us the oxygen and the nutrients that enliven, and vitalize our cells, that offer us shade and color and beauty and scents and medicine and give a home for the many species that are a part of the interdependent web of life. We pledge to learn how to honor them and nourish them in return - to thank them and protect them as we remember our deepest connection with them and humbly listen and learn from their ancient infinite wisdom.
Honoring TreeSisters
We are delighted to honour TreeSisters for their extraordinary leadership and dedication to reforesting the planet, and reawakening Feminine wisdom in sacred stewardship of the Earth. We are deeply grateful for their generous and loving partnership with 7 Days of Rest Global Event.
As last year, TreeSisters has provided participants of 7 Days of Rest access to 7 powerful meditations with Clare Dubois for each day of the week. These meditations are accompanied by a wisdom quote from Clare that points to the fundamental interdependence of Trees with all of the elements and their essential multifaceted gifts to the Web of Life.
You can find the meditations for this year on each of the days of the week in the meditation section of the calendar, and the meditations offered in the context of last years event in the archive section of each day.
We encourage all to join Tree Sisters in regreening the Planet that all may live.
"It’s time to unleash ourselves, to come together, to rise, to ROAR, and restore this beautiful world that we love by giving back to the trees. In this journey we’ll explore our indivisibility with nature as the vital path towards ways of living that no longer dominate and devastate nature. When we plug back into our power and nature connectedness, we can make giving back to nature (including by funding trees) core to our lives."
Clare Dubois
Wisdom offering from MiraMichelle - With the Tree People
Advice from a tree
If in doubt, share.
All that you have
And all that you need
Are right there,
If you stand,
Sink your roots,
Open,
And allow.
Unravel.
You were not born,
To shun your light.
You receive, radiate and transmit.
You are embodied light.
Turn your face and your heart
To the sky and say 'YES
I am more'
Grow.
And in your growth
Let your living be safe harbour
For their lives and hearts of others
Do not define yourself by what you have,
But by what you give,
How you let go,
and how you love.
Dig deep.
For in the shadows you will find
The way back to self and source.
The true depth of your capacity to feel
Your unbroken promise to life,
And the grit
around which your pearl will form.
Say yes.
There is only being here fully.
Face all that comes your way
Whether reverent or dominant
Whether your life appears valued or not
Receive yourself.
Know that life crafted the perfection of you,
That life breathes you.
Be total.
Whether shedding your leaves,
Standing naked in the rain
Showing the bare bones of your soul
Or dropping into the long deep rest,
Give it all you have
And let each season,
Each experience,
Have its way with you.
Bare witness.
Take this stand called life
As the privilege it is,
Observe, hold space, be still,
Listen.
Allow the infinite to penetrate.
Be your own wise guide.
Know that the roots of you
Cross all time and space.
Above all
Wake up to who and what you are
So that this life can be lived as a prayer
As a dance
As a gift of gratitude
As a kiss on the wind
That sparks briefly and blesses the hearts of all
Before falling back
Into the intimate ocean
Of ultimate togetherness.
By Clare Dubois
WISDOM OFFERINGS
FROM CLARE DUBOIS FOR EACH OF THE 7 DAYS OF REST AND REFLECTION, JANUARY 1 - 7, 2019
Earth
'Resting with the trees that create, nourish and hold our soils against the erosion of wind and flood. Giving thanks for the food givers, the medicine providers, the shaders, the fuelers, the home makers - every floor board, wall and roof, for the cradle we are born into and the coffins that we depart from. For the privilege of paper and the written word, for endless mindless packaging, for clothing and clobber that once was thriving life, and for the ancient forests now coal and oil that have powered our civilisation to the point of awakening - may we give thanks to the standing ones that we cannot live without, that give us breath and that cool our world.'
Water
'Resting with the rain creators, the forests that transpire and provide the flying rivers that water our world. Blessing the rainforests that cool and cleanse, and the root systems that drain fresh water down into the aquifers that feed our streams and rivers. Blessings on the forests that sequester excess carbon so that it doesn't dissolve into and acidify our oceans, and for the coastal forests that provide the iron needed to support the forests of the sea - the kelp forests out of which so much life thrives and arises. Blessings on the trees that protect from storm surges on the coasts and the forests that guard against flood and slides. may we understand just how deeply trees are indivisible from the water of our world and bow to them...'
Fire
'May we rest in the darkness and fall into the embrace of our inner light symbolized by the Christmas tree, and may we understand who and what we have brought into our homes. May we find gratitude for every log that floods our hearts with living fire to warm, comfort and console us. Fire, our companion of ages is the gift of the forest whether today's wood, or the ancient forests turned coal or oil, fire that feeds us, warms and protects us, nurtures us and provides the energy of alchemy and transformation, birth and death. We cannot live without fire, and thus we cannot live without the gift of the trees, may we find our deepest gratitude and honour them..'
Air
'May we rest in the knowing that the trees will keep breathing with us, as long as we keep tending the forests of our world. Our most crucial partners in life, the trees that breathe in our carbon dioxide as their food and breathe out the oxygen that we need to thrive and survive. Bless the trees that filter so many gases, toxins and fumes from our air, that we might breathe clean; the trees that shade us in heat and moisten when dry. May we become more conscious of the gift of breath that we take for granted, and may we give thanks to the trees.'
Climate.
'May we rest in awareness and gratitude for the forests that are our primary partners in the moderation and stabilization of the climate. May we recognize the vital role that trees play in the hydrological cycle of our world as balancers and creators. May we honour how they guard against extremes of flood and drought, in healing our soils and sequestering carbon. May we rest in gratitude for the breathtaking gift of our trees and make a choice to restore the forests of our world as a crucial way of providing for our children. May we restore our forests consciously, deliberately, carefully and respectfully."
Biodiversity
'May we rest in the knowing that nature will always seek to bring life back into balance if we let her. If we side with her, choose to restore her by giving more of her nature back to herself, she will always move towards thriving. May we thank the forests for being the crucible of life, the womb out of which so much life emerges, the most species rich and biodiverse places on earth, and may we protect their sacredness and sanctity. May we give thanks for each species still held and protected, and for those still unknown and may we hold the indigenous custodians in our waking prayers, that they may be upheld as the sacred stewards of our most precious places on Earth...'
Web of life
'May we rest in intimacy with all of life. May we become aware of the interconnectedness of all things, and our role as creators and protectors. As we still shred the fabric of life, may we start to fall into wakeful astonishment of the miracle that we're woven into, and recognize the privilege of our own ability to restore relationship with the web of life and to live in ways that regenerate, strengthen, honour and respect the sacred ecology that lives and breathes us. May we learn from the tapestry of the forest floor how to co-exist in radical generosity, supporting each other, nurturing each other into the fullest expressions that we were all born to be.'
The Story of The Sacred Tree
shared by Chief Phil Lane Jr.
Courtesy of The Four Worlds International Institute