for a walk in the forest.
Step through the gateway and onto the path that leads away from where you came.
The path that always beckons, “keep walking”.
Glimpses across the gully tempt you further.
After a time, you arrive here. A liminal place, guarded by two silent sentinels.
Which way?
Both paths will lead back to the road.
One way is open. Sunlit and clear. Known.
Overhead, screeching cockatoos and parrots will keep you company.
The other is wild. Darker. Unpredictable.
This way, the deeper you go, the more silent it becomes. The wind, high above in the tree tops, doesn’t permeate down here.
There is just the sound of unseen creatures, rustling in the tangled, tunnelled network of undergrowth and the steady beat of your own heart.
Enveloped by the smell of damp, mossy earth and eucalypt, you find yourself narrowly winding around age-old gnarled roots.
Through lush fern gullies.
Past long fallen logs and tree trunk doorways, where mysterious scufflings are heard within.
Something, someone’s, home.
It’s another world.
An “other” world.
Ethereal whisperings just above the soft gurgling of water in a moss-bedecked stream, has you wondering what you hear.
Look with soft eyes. The elusive beings of this place sometimes make themselves apparent.
Sometimes.
Creatures of the forest? Or elementals? Spirits of place. Their place.
Here. Now. Autumn.
It is a time when the veil is thinnest.
Where communing with “the old” is somehow easier.
Should you choose to connect with ancestors, this, this is the time.
Magic is all around. As it once was long ago. As it should be. As, perhaps it will be again.
The wild path belongs to Samhain.
Shadowy figures flicker on the periphery of vision.
There is a call to sit silently and go deep within.
Listen. Be still.
With a quiet mind and open heart, you will hear.
Shhhh. There is nothing to fear here. Open to the possibilities. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Which path would you choose?