A Family Christmas
Last year I started a tradition for myself. Since I have no family near where I live and Christmas is such a family time, I hike a long trail on Christmas and think of everyone I meet as my family. Last year, it was the Appalachian Trail from Newfound Gap to Charlies Bunion and back. This year it was the popular Alum Cave to LeConte Lodge trail.
Not too many days ago Alum Cave trail was covered in ice above the bluff, but warmer temperatures created no need for micro spikes, even though I carried them just in case. Technically a challenging trail, it is five miles from the parking lot in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the Lodge. The first almost half of the journey is a very popular destination—to Alum Cave Bluff. So, the parking lot is almost always full and the trail busy below this area. There is an elevation gain of 2661 feet from the trail head to the Lodge. It’s hard. Even below the bluff, it’s challenging and only gets more so past the bluff. But enough of the technical details.
There’s usually a good many solo hikers on Christmas Day. I especially feel compassion for them because I understand being alone and wanting to do something fun and beautiful to enrich my life on a day that can be challenging to be alone. So, I’m not alone. They are not alone.
On yesterday’s hike, it was a global family I met. Many languages were heard…English, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and others. Solo hikers, couples, and large families shared the trail. There were Christmas sweaters, Christmas hats, jingle bells, new shoes and boots (evidenced by lack of muddiness on a very muddy trail), and a sense of joy and happiness with everyone. No matter what holiday people celebrated or the spiritual tradition they followed, everyone shared this season of light with smiles.
Folks ascending from Alum Cave Bluff to LeConte Lodge are often tourists and don’t understand the challenges of the steep, rugged, rocky, strenuous trail. They start later in the day and with shorter, winter days, don’t realize how dangerous that can be. Temperatures drop, the sun sets early, and cell phones aren’t dependable lights for a descent through rough terrain in the dark.
On my way down yesterday, I started at 12.30pm from the Lodge. It wasn’t as crowded yesterday, but there were several people hiking up. Many of them stopped me and asked how far it was to the top. I always take time to chat because many are not prepared. One young woman had a large water bottle but was shocked to learn there’s no water available during the off season as guest services are shut off. So she’d have no water coming down the five miles. She was trying to decide if she should try to make it to Myrtle Point, an observation point past the lodge. We discussed her options and resources. A young couple asked me how far it was to the lodge and if could they make it. I asked them questions about their provisions and the important questions: do you have a flashlight and water? They wanted to know why about the light. By then, it was nearing 2pm and they were an hour away from the Lodge. That gave them 2 hours to get down the trail. It takes me 2 ½ hours to get down the trail and I’m very familiar with it. I asked them if they were prepared to hike down in the dark. Gently, of course. But they were my family, so I wanted them to be safe.
And so, the afternoon went as I descended through clouds. Saying hello, wishing folks a Merry Christmas, and enjoying my family Christmas hike.
There’s the family we are born into, the friends that become family along the way, and then there’s the global family that isn’t defined by boundaries, languages, spiritual practices, or rules. We are one human family.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the family of trees and rocks and creeks that we are all part of. So to those large hemlocks, spruce, and fir trees that remind me every time I’m on this trail to slow down…I love you and am glad to be part of your family. To the rocks that glisten in rain or snow, thanks for being part of my family. To the mountains, who provide life for all of this beauty…I’m so grateful to be part of your family. The red squirrels who chitter and chatter, I love you brothers and sisters. To the ravens that call out as they soar between ridges….I love you winged ones. All the deer and bears that are shy and usually hide, I know you are there and am grateful to be part of your family. To the grasses and flowering plants, the rhododendrons and mountain laurel, thank you for letting me sit at your table of abundant beauty.
The morning began with a dream that awakened me long before sunrise. In the dream I was traveling to the mountains and a young woman was present. I invited her to ride. She needed to come along for some reason so we rode in silence and arrived at a music fest somewhere in the mountains. Some people I knew were singing on stage and I was invited to sing with them and asked her to join. I said, just be yourself and let light shine through you.We sang together and later, I saw a video of myself–in the dream–and couldn’t believe how my face was pure light, as if I was channeling pure light through my singing and by simply being myself. Later we sat at a table with musicians I know and she was there with me. The fellowship was amazing.
I stopped and did a live video on social media of the intense line of orange reflecting off of the smooth sand, saturated with moisture. I saw how the turbulence washed away shells and left a smooth surface where light reflected was even more beautiful than the light itself. I said, My hope is that I can be swept clean and light can reflect off of me and through me this day and every day. Setting that intention was powerful medicine as the experience unfolded.
A dolphin leaped out of the water just as the tip of the sun slid above the horizon. I couldn’t make that up in my wildest imagination. As the words WOW!!were coming out of my mouth the sun rose. That WOWturned into OH MY GOD! You wanted that first glimpse of sun!
A great blue heron was standing in the rising light of the sun. The beauty was stunning and I felt a thawing of the frozen tears and October snow that has been heavy on me over the past week.
Buddy and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and as I was walking I thought, right about now we’d be in Montgomery with the moving truck following behind. A tinge of sadness arose but then I heard, But wouldn’t it have been sad to leave myself behind?
The macro lens wanted to play amongst the azaleas. Admittedly, it was my love of abstract flower power that called me to these amazing bloomers. While there I connected with many bumblebees. They are now an endangered species….so many of our pollinators are dying. So my meditation was to simply connect with them, send them love and thank them.
As they buzzed around me and feasted on the sweet nectar–while gathering pollen–I repeated the mantra, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you sweet pollinators.
They brought me into the present moment and from there I found gratitude and peace.
On my final day in Ireland a gift was given in meditation. A cave was my point of visualization and in this amethyst cave I found a black zippered case. A Grandmother being was with me and said, “Once you open it, you can never go back.” I unzipped it and removed a small harp. “This is the gift from Eriu and you are now a trusted carrier of this wisdom. You have to carry it forth.”
I had absolutely no idea what a harp meant but she told me, as the meditation ended, to research the meaning and the significance would unfold.
After the meditation ended I went to my laptop and began researching the harp and Ireland. Coat of Arms….King of Ireland 13th century….high status among musicians in Ireland historically….in 17th century traditional musicians were outlawed or under control…harpist accompanied poetry recitations…became the resistance to the Crown and England….banned at end of medieval period…legend of Dagda, protector of people, had a magical harp that played itself….Queen Elizabeth I banned harps and harpists and even executed them as they were suspected to be the focal point of causing rebellions among Irish people against the crown….motto: It is now strung and shall be heard. 
That message echoed throughout my consciousness and today, as I write this, it is especially meaningful. Yesterday, during a session with my life coach, we discussed the deep work of allowing my self to be seen for who I really am, to cease hiding my light and strength and allow my beauty and the beauty I offer the world to be fully seen.
The same message came to me months earlier when I was in Ireland on Inis Mor. I was standing in the prehistoric fort and a modern-day fencing pipe stood facing the Atlantic Ocean. The wind was fierce that day and it played the pipe. The low notes of the pipe reverberated in my body and I was reminded that we are like flutes…the more we clear out the inner obstructions, the more beautiful our expression as Spirit moves through us.
Resistance to an old, repressive authority was symbolized by the harp. By gathering together all of who they were, the Irish played their ‘harp’ and let England know that independence was theirs. They claimed their right to live in freedom instead of oppression.
The Grandmother reminded me of my right to freedom from the old, inner oppression. From birth and experiences of life, I organized my thoughts and behaviors and direction…we all do this and all through our lives we have opportunities to unlearn the unhealthy, deadening patterns. Once freedom is experienced, returning to a fear-based life is not acceptable…but the journey out of fear can be challenging.
As much as I love Ireland and appreciate the raw, elemental beauty perhaps the greatest gift I received there was the symbol of the harp that reminds me to gather in all of who I am…the fearful parts, the strong parts, the gifts, talents…and allow the Universe to move through me.
When I play my low Celtic whistle, the mellow tones remind me to be an open channel for Spirit. When I sing or speak….or photograph nature….or write….or just sit and do ‘nothing’ it’s about being fully present with all of myself and letting that be enough. Because it is enough and it’s wonderful just to feel wholeness and to embrace the journey of the Pilgrim who goes out into the world seeing everything as sacred, including the self.
John O’Donohue said, in A Celtic Pilgrimage, “Always in a pilgrimage there is a change of mind and a change of heart. The outer landscape becomes a metaphor for the unknown, inner landscape.” Traveling into beautiful landscapes reflects to me the beauty of the soul. It reminds me that we are part of nature…we are nature. There really is no separation. Travel is sacred to me because it is a reminder to reflect inward to that precious journey of the soul.
The journey to wholeness is perfectly summed up when John O’Donohue said, “If you enter into the dream that brought you here and awaken in its beauty in you, then the beauty will gradually awaken all around you.” Beloved Eriu, Beloved Ireland, you showed me beauty that awakened me and gave me glimpses into the beauty of the soul that still shines through the eyes of my heart. It is time to shine….the harp of my heart has been strung and now must be played.