Forest Comfort

"She found out, presently, that going into the forest was a source of comfort. When there seemed no comfort she went to the lonely solitude of trees and brush, of green coverts and fragrant wild dells, and always she was soothed, sustained. She could not understand why, but it was so. She began to prolong the hours spent in the woods, under a looming canyon wall, or beside a densely foliaged gorge from which floated up the drowsy murmur of a stream. All that the wild forest land consisted of passed into her innermost being. She sensed that the very ground she trod was full of graves of races of human beings who had lived and fought there, suffered in their blindness and ignorance, loved and reared their young, and had grown old and died. No trace left! No more than autumn leaves! It seemed to be this lesson of nature that gradually came to her. Thereafter she went to the woods early in the mornings as well as the afternoons, and finally she had the courage to go at night."

--excerpt from "Under the Tonto Rim" by Zane Grey

Yes, to go at night, howling inside my mind but all ears outside with the crickets, does suggest a plan. The moon approaches fullness and my muscles twitch and twitter, ready for the transformation. I love the woods at night, know I need more of that sound & energy. The brightness of the night sky excites me past my bedtime, sings that siren song. Zane sure did know what he wrote about. I can tell because I get that eery feeling that we both lived it, universally personal and invigorating. Night hiking anyone? Maybe next full moon, the harvest moon. That one got me all revved up and transformed last Ocotober, and that's how traditions, and, um, full moon rituals, get started. So it's set, Friday October 6th we'll hike from my house to the ridge and back in the light of the harvest moon, unless you have a better plan....