At this moment in life the weather is changing and metamorphosis is happening all around us. The trees, plants, water, and the earth echo the changes that happen within our hearts. Letting go, allowing the death to creep in through dormancy into the heart of the mother earth. Returning to the deep soil for reflection and preparing for winter to take us into the time of slow movement, rest, creativity, and focus inward.
As life shifts all around us and many demanding thoughts come in from the media bombarding our sense of peace and connection to what matters, I only know how to bow in gratitude for being surrounded by those such as you who make my life better every day.
In this moment I only have gratitude for every day that I arise on this earth to live my passion. It was not always this way for me, and I remember writing the poem below in 2012 during a time when I was ready to make the ever-pressing change the earth and my heart desired. After two years of healing and education in herbal medicine with plants, I left my job in 2014 after an autumn of releasing and letting go of all that was causing me turmoil and pain. Heading into my passion of being an herbalist, yoga teacher, and answering the call to helping others in the crossroads of their life through the modalities I have and continue to learn.
For the past three years, I have been gifted support from my family, friends, and most importantly the plants. I am so appreciative of the continued opportunities to serve my purpose offering herbal consultations, creating wild crafted herbal medicines, teaching and learning yoga under the Dharma lineage, releasing blockages from those who work with me, learning music, healing with many different plants, integration sessions of plant medicines, traveling creating community, and most importantly serving my home community of DC.
Today, with all that is going on in the world, I want to write to let you know that I love you! I am so appreciative to have this family to share my gratitude for the plants. I am finding so much solace in morning herbal teas, sacred meditations with plants, walks in the mountains, and the changing colors of autumn.
Autumn Metamorphosis
by: April Rameé
Leaves change and fall
Hearts break and split
People lose hope
As the weather turns from sunshine to rain
Those we love break down and die
With the autumn changes
Tears flow and memories of summer fade
The bittersweet beauty of autumn
Rings hard in the collective unconsciousness
Calling us to reflection
Cementing truths unbreakable
Impermanence rains supreme
Bow down to nature
For no matter where you are
Concrete jungle to remote landscapes
You are one with Mother Earth
Last time I wrote, I was off to travel through Upstate NY to complete vision quest and see my family. The journey was very difficult and amazing at the same time. The second year of vision quest, no eating or drinking water for four days, was a challenge. I felt my body burning away old thoughts, karmas, and emotions physically. There was no sense of comfort as my pain overtook every inch of my body, a complete 180 degrees from the previous year where it was so easy. Each year is a different gate of the four directions and an element following the healing of the medicine wheel. The first year is East or air, second year is South or Fire, third year is west or water, and the fourth year is North or earth.
Fire represents purification for the body, spirit, and soul. I felt this purification as my body, spirit, and emotions were greatly challenged. However, the vision delivered itself in the early evening before the last day. I am not able to discuss the vision, as it is important to hold this information close to ones heart and soul to honor the sacred creative process.
I returned home and got to work immediately on the next adventure….SOLAR ECLIPSE AND BURNING MAN!As with most things in life, I thought it would take me way less time than it really did, causing me to not write for more than a month! However, I am back! Here to continue to prove to myself that I have all the tools to travel, work, and stay connected in a good way.
The adventure begins at 12:30am on August 21, 2017! We drive non-stop, taking turns sleeping and driving as we head towards Kentucky. The plan is Hopkinsville for the full solar eclipse, which there is 2min and 40seconds of darkness. As spirit would have it though we ended up in Bowling Green, KY with no solar eclipse glasses but a kind stranger gave us two pairs and we were in the most beautiful park, crystals laid out and the purification of the solar eclipse begins. I have never in my life seen such a beautiful site! Pedro took amazing photos of the total solar eclipse. I can’t help but draw the correlation between the fire sit of vision quest, the total solar eclipse, and my 33rd year all as a way of purifying my spirit for the next part of my life where the visions are guiding my work.
Purified by the Sun,
April Rameé
Warrior of the Light & Founder of Antler Alchemy
I go off today to embark upon my second year of a vision quest. I go with the intention to commune with mother earth more, to test my spirit, and receive knowledge while being immersed in awareness and out of those moments come the visions. Am I a quester because I am searching?
I like to think I am a quester to align myself with the divine by offering my spirit through an exchange of the greatest value..my time and full attention. Therefore, I am not searching, for I already am, but I am humble enough to know there is more to discover within.
I have sacred seeds planted at this moment to offer the world. I am at a phase where they have come up and like the pre-bloom of the echinacea below, they are beginning to turn into flowers.
Photo by: Pedro Gil Rosas
APRIL…WHAT IS A VISION QUEST?
A vision quest can be lead in many different styles and traditions. In this particular vision quest I am going up on the mountain to be within a small space on earth without food or water for four days and nights. This is an intense rights of passage. However, I do not feel the lack of food or water as one might think. In fact after a couple of days I do not desire anything. I will say that last year one of the most challenging aspects was all the time and sitting with myself.
Would sitting there for 4 days.. 24 hours available for you to contemplate all of life be challenging? It is rewarding but challenging.
In the end a vision quest is a time spent away from everything where one is able to receive knowledge and messages from their higher self, or god if you will. I plan on asking for more guidance on my next offering of Plant Meditation Integration Consultations. The offering combines my knowledge of herbs, access bars, sound healing, yoga, pranayama, and the past two years of experience in integration of the realities of plant medicine to the realities of our world.
At this time I see many people diving into the wonderful world of plant medicines and the integration period is one of the most important aspects of this work. How does one have the realities uncovered be reflected in your day to day world? I aim to offer grounded guidance, tools, and therapies to help you walk your talk, ground you into your truths, a ear to listen to revelations, and the encouragement necessary to step into your dreams.
In the spirit of vision quest, I will be unreachable from July 17th-July 26th and will be slow to respond to emails until August 1st as I am going to spend some extra time integrating and my first family vacation in 15 years!
In our tradition we do not speak of our visions as there is power in keeping them sacred and to yourself, but I do hope to unleash the new offering when I return home full of vigor and guidance.
If being grounded and guided with tools to integrate from Plant Medicine or begin your journey with Western Herbs is an interest, please respond to this email to begin the discussion.
From your deer vision quester,
April Rameé
Warrior of the Light & Founder of Antler Alchemy
Photo by: Pedro Gil Rosas
Untitled Poem
By: April Rameé
Psychic transmissions through telepathic means.
Sound carries through wind and heals where words have hurt.
Traumas released and carried into the waves of the sea.
Soft petals caress the wounded body by the hands of spirit,
chosen by sacred souls on the path of love.
Reverse prayer, reverse age, reverse fear.
Walking deep into the quest, I will return soon, but never left.
The waters are the main focal point since the beginning of my flight into Bogotá. I flew over and saw the beautiful mountains but wonder where all the water is? I step off the plane and the first thing my friend asks me for is a part of the water I carry to combine with other sacred waters from around the world. Next we arrive to the Lagoon Madre Cambia to bless the waters there, I ask for permission to be on the land, and share my humble, simple plan to spend my time in Colombia with no intention other than to observe.
During a Kogi song and prayer I vision appeared. I could see and feel the trickle of two small streams of water from the top of Mother mountain coming down under the growth of humanity into the lagoon. When I shared this meditation with my friend, he mentioned that is how the Lagoon is sourced from the Mother and Father mountain in the area.
Here is the video of the music I meditated to:
Crying a greater part of the way to Playa Blanca, Colombia was unexpected. Watching as I pass miles upon miles of beautiful ocean inaccessible from the road because there are miles upon miles of concrete creating walls that no one can go around, not even rain water. Diversion of rivers, pollution of the water and in some cases there is concrete just for the sake of there being concrete. Here I am paying money to be transported on a bus that is guzzling resources and emitting tons of gas to get to a local beach that everyone can go to, however, the beach is beside me along the road yet I nor anyone in the local community has any access. The waters of the mountains and the rains are not able to get to the beach due to the blockades of concrete. I can feel the destruction of the cycles and reflect on how this is common around the world. Of course the beach on Playa Blanca is beautiful even as I watch every one cram themselves into the ½ mile portion of beach that is open to the public. The process to get there was an hour long, hot, dry and ironic scene with people drinking bottles on bottles of plastic filled with soda rather than water.
In stark contrast, I now sit atop the Sierra’s and I see the flow of the water in the river cascading down the beautiful mountaintops with non-exclusive access to the purity of the water. There are decided places where water is diverted by small pipes to lead to homes, where they allow the water to run freely into a concrete pool allowing any overflow to feed the gardens, which are providing food. While this seems to be the perfect condition I still see the plastic and the trash though, it may not be as much as most places it is still there. I see the lack of compostable toilets and wonder where the shit is going after it begins its flow down the bucket flush toilets. I see the water run off the dishes and clothes that are being washed, but what type of soap are they using, are they taking note of what they are releasing? Even in pristine areas where they continue to close off from the outside world to prevent the abuse of Mother Earth it seems to be in its own way still contaminated by abuse.
I think abuse to the earth is inevitable at this moment as many people abuse themselves. It is fucking hard. It is not pretty and easy to overcome. It is so hard to learn to break the abuse cycle. I know, I lived it, and I live it. It is one of the hardest things I have ever worked on in my life. There is so much pain and abuse it can be overwhelming. There really appears to be no end in sight, but I am here to tell you that there is always an end that starts with a new beginning. Each step we take.
I am saying nothing new and that is part of the reason why I do not even want to speak most of the time because no one is listening. I only know how to live this existence at the moment and work on continuing breaking the cycles of abuse. Are you coming with me? Are you ready? Are you ready to let go of your comforts and be even more comfortable in life than you can imagine?
I know it is hard to be happy all the time. It is weird to not feel as though you need to worry about the next day, the future, where money is coming from, where food is coming from. I know it is strange to really be in control of your day-to-day life. It takes so much work, time and effort. People ask me what I do for work and I tell them I live, because it is a full time job when you do it right. I couldn’t ask for a better job. This work doesn’t feel like work, it feels like heaven on earth. I can feel my heart continuing to open each and every day. I can feel worries fall away, and I can feel abundance in every moment. The gift of life is truly more important than anything I could ever imagine. To really live this understanding is different than to know. Knowing it is surface level and can lead to lack of real movement and depression. I have been there too and sometimes wallow there in that space of hopelessness. Understanding the gift makes it easy to shed abuse, love myself, and love the people around me in all of our faults and follies.
Message from Mother Earth:
I love you all. I love every part of you. Love me back and spend your days in my arms as I shower you with abundance. Destroy the concrete you have put over me, the hard edges you have created and allow my waters, which are my emotions to run freely back to the sources. Allow my waters to bathe you in beauty and release your abuses. Stop abusing me so you can live without abuse. Let me create the hard layers you walk upon. Of course you can use my resources to create beautiful structures and live within, but let them be ones that crumble back into my existence when you are gone. Let me show you the abundance and love you as creatures walking upon my back deserve.
Don’t you know I can devour all your trash and everything you created in less than an instant? My heart is made of fire and lava that can melt anything you have created. My waters, representing my emotions, can surge to a point of rage where I can reclaim everything you created and wash it out to sea. I can recycle the gifts you use to create the world into a new precious metal. I can devour you whole. Why not live in harmony with me so you can prosper and your children’s children can prosper? Choose the opportunity to harness the powers I yield by creating harmonious structures and life.
Heal the abuse created by “THEY”. Wake up and realize YOU are THEY! There is no person in power who has control over your life and your resources. Only you have the power! There is no fucking “THEY” there is no “I”! There are no corporations, politicians, and people with all the money. “THEY” are an illusion a source you give away your power, so you can live in continued abuse because it is so much easier to push the responsibility on someone else. It is so much easier to be a victim and to be abused than to stand up and take back your power and take back your heart and live each day according to your purpose. That is hard. And your purpose is not to accomplish anything. Your purpose is to live in harmony and love yourself. Wow! That is a fucking tough job. Let go of all the illusions do not allow yourself to become the victim.
Life happens, so there will be pain only because so many people believe in this disillusioned paradigm. Let it go and step into the shade of my trees and watch as a family of trees sway peacefully in the wind. Living for such a long time tapping into the resources deep into my earth. Changing the hard matter into fruit for those to eat and for medicines for you to use. Notice as they take the minerals from the earth and the air and transmute them into usable materials.
What do you transmute? How is your body creating harmony on the planet? Learn this and you can understand how to live in harmony with yourself and others and the planet.
