This painting was born from a place. A place I’ve come to know as a medicine place.
I didn’t always think of it that way. But one day an old neighbor―who has lived all his long life on this land―stopped by for a visit, just as I was about to hike there, up the ridge behind my home.
We chatted for a bit. I asked him when the land was logged―something I’d been curious about. “Oh, back in the 60s, I think.” Then he added, “That’s a good place, back there.”
And suddenly it struck me that it is indeed a good place. Something special is happening there. Not just for me, but for anybody who really knew the land.
His affirmation opened a new door to my perception of place. And I realized that this one particular spot had been the foundation for much my imaginal work. Sketches. Poems. Paintings. Stories. What is happening there? What makes it special? What makes it stir my imagination? It’s not a waterfall or an amazing view. Just a little nook in a ridge where the plants grow.
I’ve lived here coming on seventeen years. I’ve hiked this path countless times. I’ve witnessed it come alive with powerful medicine plants: bloodroot, blue cohosh, black cohosh, wild ginger, mountain mint, wild yam, wood nettle, ginseng. Now I know that walking in this place is medicine in and of itself. That all these powerful plants bathe me in their energies. That this place itself is medicine.
This runs contrary to our scientific understanding of what makes medicine. Namely, that medicine is a substance with compounds that act upon our bodies in a specific way. But this is a mechanical way of looking at the world, and understanding how we fit in it.
In the emerging world view, that is actually indigenous and older than human memory, all things are alive and conscious. We are enmeshed in the fabric of the Earth, connected to everything. We are constantly touching the world and likewise being touched by it. If medicine is more than just active compounds we put into our bodies, then what is it? A network of consciousness affirming our wholeness? A re-weaving of our energy so that it is in harmony with Life?
If a place is medicine, then what is happening? Where are your medicine places? How have they inspired you, nurtured you? Can we, in reverse, nurture places with our own energy by visiting them regularly with deep and heart-placed intention? What would that look like?
This painting, Bear Mother Walks the Mountain Awake, began in this medicine place. I began by wanting to honor this place. To honor the Bear Mother. And I came to the canvas as a seeker.
What is my place here, Bear Mother who walks the Land?
You know things I cannot.
Can I slip into your skin for the space of a breath?
Can I walk the Earth and embody your Bear Wisdom?
You are the Medicine Keeper!
You are the Guardian!
O Bear Mother
I want to awaken
to the Song of the Mountain
O Bear Mother
I want to be part of the Song
O Bear Mother
I want to awaken
I want to awaken.