The Story of The Spiralynth
October 2021 – on-going
Media: Conkers, leaves, rake and movement.
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK.
In the paddock, beneath the giant outspread branches of the tree we’ve come to know lovingly, respectfully as ‘Big Momma’, I slowly gathered myself against the cold and wind. My intention, to complete the Sisyphean task of raking up the leaves in the paddock.
Slowly, slowly, placing one foot in front of the other, I started to reach out and pull the leaves and conkers towards me. With each stretch of my arms and step to the side, I soon fell into a natural, almost hypnotic rhythm.
Reach out, pull in, step to the side.
Reach out, pull in, step to the side.
Reach out, pull in, step to the side.
Rhythmically I worked my way around the base of this huge maternal tree that watches over us here at the farm. I’m not sure how much time had passed, when I first paused to look back at my efforts to gather and contain nature. When I did, I was captivated and overwhelmed by what was emerging. A beautiful circular line, a trail not made by my hand or efforts, but somehow revealed by them. Something started to emerge in me.
Instead of trying to change or alter what I was doing in a more practical and efficient manner, I simply let go and allowed this natural pattern, nature’s rhythm, to unfold through me. Here in this moment I sensed I was being invited to share a language long ago forgotten but somehow known to me all along. ‘Slowly, slowly’ I told myself ‘listen to what you are being told, what is being revealed. Don’t play with it. Allow it’. So it was that hour after hour I found myself circumambulating around and around ‘Big Momma’. Hypnotically reaching out, pulling in, stepping to the side.
Reach out, pull in, step to the side.
Reach out, pull in, step to the side.
Reach out, pull in, step to the side.
As I continued with my task I became aware of a subtle vibrational shift in my energies. A deep sense of oneness and connection not only with my physical movements, rhythms and actions but with a sense of growth and emergence. I felt deeply connected to the ground beneath my feet; the wind upon my face; the sights and sounds of nature. Coming to a fuller understanding of how directly connected I am to the timeless rhythms, patterns and energies that surround us. There are times when we can feel, sense, see and allow the natural flow of such rhythms to embrace us and be part of our world. Yet so often we remain unaware or ignore them, wanting to create or force something out of them for ourselves, of our own.
From time to time I would stop and pause looking in wonder at this path, a pattern that was growing and emerging around me, allowing me to look at the rich layers of our world from different perspectives. Noticing patterns that repeat internally, externally, within nature, within me. I found myself smiling at the obvious impermanence of what was emerging knowing that for all my joyous effortless efforts and discoveries, what had emerged would soon start to unravel, spread and be scattered by other forces of nature and eventually return to the earth.
At the end of my journey I gathered stones and rocks placing them intuitively at the beginning and end of the ‘Spiralynth’ wanting to encourage others to think about and reflect upon where their own journey began and where it will end? But perhaps most importantly what happens along the way?
Now for a short time while the path is still visible. As I watch others walk this path and journey around the ‘Spiralynth’ I’ve become fascinated by how others engage with, and perceive this experience. Some are playful, some walk slowly, mindfully; some stop and gaze, others sit for a while. Perhaps, as for me, Big Momma speaks to them – showing her timeless growth and sharing her seasonal letting go. Sharing something deeply and inherently known, yet somehow forgotten.
Photography Contributions:
Kerrilee Barrett – Julie Atwell – Juliet Adams – Tamara Russell
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