I call her Mother Earth: my carbon her carbon, my water her water, my ashes her ashes. Although she is not my home planet/star and she is not "my mother", I feel a deep connection with her that I really can't put into words. For some reason I cannot call her Gaia. I speak that name and I become very chilled and uncomfortable. It feels like a construct to me that hides her "true" name.

Yesterday I was out roaming in the woods with the dogs, and I came upon a very old eastern white pine tree (known to the Iroquois as The Peace Tree). She must have been 150 years old or more. Her roots were like fat pythons across the ground. I introduced myself, and asked to embrace her. When she gave permission, I wrapped my arms around her thick pine trunk and craned my head back to see her crown. She said, "We are Star Seekers always reaching for the lights in the sky." In that moment I realized that when I look up at the night sky, the Standing People (the trees) are looking up too. It is not just souls incarnated into human bodies that are connected to the stars, but other souls in other physical forms as well.

tigger