August 4 , 2010

Dear Friends,

A greeting to all as the abundance of summer blesses us with the fruits of our labors and our gardens. Here at Sweetwater Sanctuary the vegetable gardens are feeding us daily while the medicinal herbs are dried or made into oils and tinctures. The Labyrinth continues to provide the sacred container for our essences to be made and exquisite flowers bless our heart, soul, and spirit each and every day. Not only is the land working overtime but so is Mark making much needed renovations on our house bringing it into a more balanced alignment with our visions for sustainability.

>>>>>>>>ANNOUNCING>>>>>>>>

The other big piece of work that has all the kinks straightened and links connected is our new bright and beautiful website, www.partnereartheducationcenter.com. We are so pleased to announce it’s unveiling. Please take time to peruse and enjoy the healing that oozes from each page. For those of you who have been here before you will delight in revisiting us through these pages and for those who have yet to visit us you will get a sense of the profound connection that is possible on land that is tended in a sacred way. In the sweet simplicity found here at Sweetwater one’s mind can relax, one’s heart can open and deep connection with all of life can be made. We look forward to seeing you here soon and if you can make it there are a couple spots left for Plant Communication; Reclaiming Our Birthrite coming up this next weekend August 6-8.

REGISTER NOW for the GREEN NATIONS GATHERING held at ROWE CONFERENCE CENTER SEPTEMBER 24-26

Only 52 days left

CONNECTIONS by Pam Montgomery

As I deepen in my relationship with the land more and more I become aware of the healing the land and its green beings offer. This morning under clear blue skies I sat under the Mama Maple Central Prayer Tree and experienced profound peace. I was compelled to just sit and let the quiet peace seep into each of my cells realizing that this is a part of the healing that takes place in Sanctuary. As I begin my new book project which includes healing Sanctuaries, more often than not, I rely on the land, trees, elements and green beings to help me attain new levels of open heart depth perception thus enabling clarity as guidance is given. When my heart takes up its rightful place as the primary organ of perception sitting on the throne connections begin to be made with plants, people, land, water and air as I step into this ecstatic dance with life. Mark and I were so enthralled with the profound beauty of the morning we each took up cameras trying to capture this moment that for some is so rare. Ah, alas, a photo is but an echo of a real life experience of the perfection of ‘being here now’ in the moment. So much connection is over the internet and we have brought you our new website via this technology to give you a glimpse through words and pictures of what we and others experience while on the land, however,
“there ain’t nothin’ like the REAL thing baby”.

Connection – making a bond – building relationship – linking together. What is it that engenders this primal longing, this need to connect? Some scientists would say we have a genetic code imprinted in our DNA that requires connection to the natural world while others would say we are hormonally driven to bond with people and nature. As I ponder this question in a state of peaceful grace under Mama Maple it is my heart that responds not my head with that which we call ‘love’ filling the container of my being to overflowing. Then I notice that I’m not on a one-way street and that connection by its very definition requires another in order to make it so. What I’m actually experiencing is the love that is all around me – the love that is coming to me from Mama Maple and then my heart responds and a connection is made. Perhaps love is not an emotion but instead a primal force, a law of nature, the glue that holds the universe together and it is given freely by the earth, the elements, the trees and the green beings. Is it this love that is at the core of health, well-being and balance and that when we open heartedly place ourselves in the embrace of this love we heal and, reciprocally, nature heals? Today I sit with an open heart receiving a love so simple and yet so profound from Mama Maple. I return this most powerful force of love - connection is made and my indigenous soul awakens taking up its rightful place as a part of nature not separate.