Global Earth Exchange Journal Entry

Today I went to the Summer Solstice Parade in my hometown, Santa Barbara.

This years theme was "Creatures".

Everyone was beautiful and we had fun celebrating the Sun.

When we got home I was very tired and fell asleep on the couch. I would have slept all the rest of the afternoon, but Eric woke me with his exclamation, "Peter is in the house!" 

Peter is the Blue Jay we rescued as a baby, nurtured until he could survive on his own, and released in our garden a few years ago. 

Peter flies back into the house occasionally to say hello, and search for peanuts. He stayed but a few minutes, then flew back outside.

Since I was now awake, though still groggy, I got on my computer and started looking for someone's email address I've been trying to find for awhile. After a few minutes I stumbled across some one else's email, the one about The Global Earth Exchange, sent by one of my beloved mentors, Trebbe Johnson. 

I thought to myself, "Oh no, I forgot all about this!" 

The Global Earth Exchange was Trebbe's idea, as part of her Radical Joy for Hard Times project. The concept is very simple. On June 22nd of each year, people all across the world go out, alone or in groups, to a place on the Earth that has been wounded, desecrated, or undergone a traumatic event. 

There they connect with the land, simply by being present, being aware of their feelings in the moment, listening into their hearts and the heart of the earth, making art (such as a bird out of the natural materials in this place... the bird represents rising above it all; hope.) Finally, the ceremony ends with making an offering. It is a way of healing the planet, healing oneself and community, all at the same time. It is a tiny step. A huge step in the right direction.

I was going to organize an event and participate this year, but life got the better of me and I spaced on it. So when I saw the email earlier today, I said to myself, "Well, it's too late to organize a large group, but I can still participate in some way." 

In the instructions, it said not to get hung up on having to do this any certain way, and to let it unfold naturally. I looked around my living room. Who could I bring with me on such short notice? Where could I find a wounded place that needed some attention? 

I went straight to my Sun Conure (little parrot) Fruity's cage. She loves to be outside with me, so I thought she would be a good friend to bring along. 

We walked outside our front door. 

And there it was. 

My own little garden. In shambles. Decimated. Torn up. Destroyed. 

Unfortunately, I did not have to go far to find the wounded place to do the Global Earth Exchange ceremony. 

My garden before today.

My garden today after a gardner tore up all the beloved Agaves 
(to make room for a new fence to be installed.)

I felt very sad and started to cry. Which feels silly with a bird on my head, but ...


I cried for a little while. Then I noticed a mouse scampering around in the devistation. I thought to myself, "At least my own home wasn't destroyed, like this mouse's house was!"

I cried for the mouse.

I also thought of the Native American story of of Jumping Mouse, a story us Rite of Passage Guides tell our questers the night before they embark on a solo fast. Jumping Mouse is the story of a little mouse that had to leave his home -- and all he held dear to him -- in order to find the "Sacred River" (which is a symbol of the Divine) and gain courage and new Vision.

Just then, my boyfriend Eric walked into the wounded garden. He saw me crying and wanted to cheer me up.
I didn't exactly want to be cheered up immediately, but I really appreciated his efforts. In fact, I recognized that he was now engaging in the Global Earth Exchange with me. It was a spontaneous occurrence. I was delighted for his company, even through my tears.

This is Eric from another day, after we saw the sunrise together.

Eric didn't know I was thinking about the story of Jumping Mouse. But he said to me, in response to my lament of the mice losing their home, "Just think, now the mice will go to the other part of the garden, and get to see a whole new part of the world that their Jewish Grandma's probably never let them explore, for fear they'd get hurt." (He knows I am Jewish, and sometimes worry like a Grandma myself, even though I have travelled all over the world and seen many glorious gardens.)

I suggested we follow the Global Earth Exchange suggestion of making a bird out of the wreckage. Eric reached down and picked up this stick, and said, "Look, it's a bird!" I also found a stick right away that reminded me of a bird. In just a minute or two we had created bird art together.

Eric's Bird

Erics and my bird together

Eric left to go run some errands. I decided to stay alone in the garden a little while longer. I remembered that my two other domesticated birds, Green Cheeked Conures Zepher and Griffin, were buried right in the garden by the St. Frances Statute. I felt a mixture of gladness at their memory, and sadness at my loss. 

Eric with our babies, the late and great Zepher and Griffin

 

The final part of the Global Earth Exchange ceremony is to honor the land by giving something back to it. 

I wanted to give something to the Spirits of the land and my birdies. I went in the house and got a handful of Sun Flower seeds. (I love the symbolism, and birds love the taste!) 

I put Fruity back on her cage with a bowlful of seeds and thanked her for participating with me. 

Then I went back into the garden to sprinkle some on the torn up ground, and that's when a new friend came to visit: a baby Blue Jay!

He graciously accepted my offering of Sun Flower Seeds.

A reminder that new life will grow from the old.

It doesn't make the loss of the Agave plants and the others any less strong.

But, it does give me hope.

And, a feeling of excitement, as I wonder what will grow in it's place.

Thanks for listening to my story!

THE END
THE BEGINNING

Amy Katz, June 22, 2013