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i wasn't going to say anything about this.

but then, as time goes on, it feels like i am dishonoring something.  This is the cloth and the stick that i sent to Debra in California….Luring Crows.  i packaged it in a very LARGE cardboard folder, much larger than the cloth, to accomodate the stick.  it was more than 2ft square.  all kinds of feelings and thoughts were present when i was taping the stick down, wrapping the cloth in tissue.  making it secure.  all kinds of thoughts and feelings about exchanging this THING for money.  a LOT.   and in it i enclosed a short note to her telling her about what that meant to me…luring crows.

how there are crows that go overhead and have recently swooped low, seeming to be interested in the arrival of the Goats, seeming to be, just more Willing to look down.  and how i call them.  how i hang laundry on the clothes line almost for them,  how i wave and yell to them  if they are high.  and what it is i want…..is just that they might come here, for just a  moment  to light on the dead branches of the big Russian Olive, or on the fence, fence post.  Just that.  that it would be enough.

so, i put this note in with the cloth and stick and there is a great Wind doing what it does out there and i go out, to go to the post office to send this and as i am unlatching the gate, i for whatever reason, look to my right and then

up

and there,  There on the top branch of the Russian Olive is

a crow.

a crow.

i stand there and see it.  i watch it seeing me.  seconds pass and then in a kind of slow motion, it's wings raise just barely and extend, just barely and Wind lifts it up and sails it off to the right, up and in the current….the crow making no effort at all and it is gone from my sight.

i stood there.  hanging on to the cardboard envelope.  not knowing what to do.  feeling like i should fall to the ground or something, i  should DO something.

but what i did is to continue through the gate and latch it closed and get into the car and head off for the Post Office.  staring straight ahead.  continuing.  and i mailed it.  and now it's a couple days later and i think as i did in that moment driving down the road,  that That's also probably like how it is even when we are dying.  When we somehow know we are about to exhale for the last time.  and we

exhale.

we Just Go.  

and i wasn't going to write this here.  it seems so improbable.  so surreal.   But it happened. 

it was no more, but no less.

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31 responses to “~Numinous~”

  1. handstories Avatar

    “it was no more, but no less.”
    but is WAS and you DID
    this is so good.

    Like

  2. grace Forrest Avatar

    Cindy and Minka…
    i just have been talking to my granddaughter who is 24 who has
    a son who is 3. i decide, in each moment, in each sentence with
    her…what to say or not. it’s hard.
    how much, to give of what i feel/know to be ongoing in a life of
    my own and how much to withhold because of fear of being
    too much
    so…to both of you. thank you. for supporting this Reality of
    mine. it means a lot in this moment. and the moment is all we ever really have, right?

    Like

  3. handstories Avatar

    that fear of being too much is something buried deep inside, try as i may to dig it out, just seem to become more and more of myself…so trying to give up the work of the impossibility of it & learn to enjoy myself more AT THE SAME TIME it is important to protect ourselves. hallelujah for finding this safe space of community and for you and for the crow!

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  4. grace Forrest Avatar

    the crow said yes.

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  5. handstories Avatar

    the crow knows.
    x

    Like

  6. elizabeth fortes Avatar
    elizabeth fortes

    Dear Grace! Thank you!
    The numinous comes closer to all of us because of your ability to recognize its “willingness” to arrive… and you are right “there” to welcome “It”.
    Thanks!
    love,
    e.

    Like

  7. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Luring crows…you did. As for “being too much”, trying to keep the balance of who we are and how we are perceived is a lot of work. With your granddaughter, over time, you shouldn’t worry because she is coming to know, revealing layers, like peeling an onion. It began with her asking for the cloth you made as you first came to know of Jude, before even taking a class. Granddaughter felt something deep and it continues by her asking you to help find a book and it will continue as her child, her son, your great grandson grows and wants to know who he is, who he comes from. What a gift awaits as he comes to know, with each year, his great grandmother, she who lures crows. it already began when he stayed with you last year…

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  8. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    What draws me to you is what you notice,that you notice.

    Like

  9. patricia Avatar

    i’ve always thought that would be the most wonderful way–consciously knowing the last breath WAS the last one–enjoying it fully. love this tale you’ve shared.

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  10. Beth Avatar
    Beth

    Thank you. On so many levels… Just. simply. thank you.

    Like

  11. saskia Avatar

    ah, so there is yet another chapter to this cloth story; and guess what, I’m sat here at the kitchen table in front of the laptop with my men (husband and two sons) and I show them your cloth and ask them what they think of it and their comments are: that is a beautiful cloth, it’s really very good! They dig it.
    It reminds my husband of Chinese art: a small figure in a huge landscape. Well what do you say to that?

    Like

  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    for some years, i turned away.

    Like

  13. kat Avatar
    kat

    Crows walk their talk – and that is what you do, my dear. I think this one who watched was telling you that you walked the correct path with this exchange. And your work honored him and his brothers and sisters.

    Like

  14. Mo Crow Avatar

    a fitting epilogue Grace!
    aaaarrrrrkkkk! aaarrrrkkkk! aaaaaaarrrrrkkkkk! is what the crows are saying flying overhead as I write here….

    Like

  15. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    I love when you do that, Mo

    Like

  16. Linda Avatar

    i have crows here doing their thing too.
    maybe they know i am reading about crows.
    i also like the idea of just going..
    where doesn’t matter. just going.
    i think with granddaughters it is easier to talk truth to than daughters.
    she knows… you just have to say it.

    Like

  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    Marti…you keep such good track of me. i love you for that. and i think of what nance told me…Twice. on
    seperate occasions…
    “it’s none of your business what other people think of you”
    LOVE,

    Like

  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    and that’s all it is. Noticing. Acknowledging. Being
    GLAD.

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  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    i think it can be so.

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  20. grace Forrest Avatar

    Beth…thank you so much for your words. Thank you
    for leaving them for me…on so many levels.
    love,

    Like

  21. grace Forrest Avatar

    Well…What i say to that, is that i receive it as the HIGHEST COMPLIMENT!!!! two teenage boys and a husband
    are not easily won over, so to me, this makes me SMILE
    and feel really really good. PLEASE thank them for
    their words and encouragement.
    and to you, the lady in the house…how good it must feel
    to know that their ability to respond to something like this is a LOT to do with the woman who teaches them.
    so beautiful, the Whole thing…love to your family there in WaterWorld………..

    Like

  22. grace Forrest Avatar

    kat…that’s exactly it. walk their talk. yes, oh yes
    they Do.
    and that’s what it comes to…honoring. all the way
    around.
    i like it when you comment…..

    Like

  23. grace Forrest Avatar

    oh, Mo.
    Big Black/Purple/Green/Blue glistening Love

    Like

  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s their time of year to begin the Gathering….
    My daughter is used to me.
    it’s the granddaughter that needs to find her own way.
    but it’s the love that always counts, no matter

    Like

  25. Nance Avatar
    Nance

    Numinous is a word you used when you first noticed my writing of the fog…. Oh so many years ago. And yes this whole experience of yours of just going and what happens in the moment… Whether its hanging laundry or watching a crow…. Is numinous. xo

    Like

  26. Gaile Avatar
    Gaile

    Grace, this story is amazingly beautiful , thank you for sharing this moment in time.

    Like

  27. Chris Linton Avatar

    Birds are magical; this morning I was walking and a bird squawked above me so I looked up. It was a beautiful Eastern Rosella looking down at me. Pic: http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Platycercus-eximius

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  28. grace Forrest Avatar

    how long ago was that???? 10 years? and i remember the
    writing and i remember the fog. i didn’t remember what
    i’d said…
    and yes. exactly. and thank you SO much for saying this…
    laundry, watching, luring…SEEING, all of it. that is
    the Beauty.
    LOVE

    Like

  29. grace Forrest Avatar

    i am still moving in that moment. thank You for
    commenting.

    Like

  30. grace Forrest Avatar

    i looked..and oh, jeez, Chris. Australia has such
    incredible life forms. you are so lucky to live there…
    Thank you for showing this and thank you for letting
    me know that these beings are “just up there, in the
    trees” for some…how really really WONDERfull.

    Like

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