Glencoe Valley 
Glen Nevis
This May I was so fortunate to acquaint myself with Scotland. The land reenforced by mission to align with the spirit of this magical planet. The rugged hills, craggy cliffs, tender wildflowers and countless lakes make the entire country one big national park. But this is all just Earth, yet modern life creates distinctions between what types of land and life belong where and how to label them. In Scotland, I did not feel such boundaries. I was traveling through an unmanicured continuum of earthly wonder. Even in cities and neighborhoods, humans upheld the wildness of nature. It seemed they were not threatened by the spirit of life. Their yards we cared for with intension and detail, however, they exemplified coexistence. Without micromanaging, what already grew was allowed to be and thrive.
Man often talks of nature as something he discovered rather than what created him. Something that needs to be supervised or else she will extend beyond our control, just as all free women do. Truth be told, the world does not need to be put in order. She IS in order and it is up to humans to put ourselves in unison with that order. Earth consciousness is far greater than any will of man.
Isle of Skye 
Fairy Glen
“I like nature,” is such a strange identification, but one you hear a lot today, for it is en vogue to take trips to REI and sport your gear for your next social media occasion. I believe it is actually an unconscious yearning to rediscover our roots, but only knowing how through a capitalist lens. In any case, we have come to a digital age in which we feel the need to name that distinction. Earthlings, we have been flattened by the three-dimensionality of intellectual modern life, denying ourselves of what we are.
Humans have long been taking the approach that Earth is our mother. No matter how many stupid things we do, she is there to give us more water, food, air, and more love…love that we do not even know is love because it is so essential to the cellular make up of our being. So essential that we cannot even differentiate it from our very existence. She is the estranged, abused, neglected mother that tolerates, adjusts, and gives far beyond what keeps her well, to say, “I believe in you. I trust that you can return to your truth, and even if you don’t, let me hold you.”
Family Tenderness 
Came for the castle, stayed for the coos…
I invite you to take a different perspective, where Earth is not our mother, but our lover. One we hold with ultimate gratitude and appreciation every single day, whom we would never dare harm. One we help heal and help give birth to more and more life. We are excited to collaborate with her such that we both grow brighter. A lover we stand by even when she rages and weeps. We understand that upsets are a call for respectful, compassionate attention rather than fearful threats. We are willing to get dirty. The lover we hold sacred for impregnating us with life, abundance and sensation far beyond any mindscape. The lover we yearn to dig our hands into, stroke, lick, to rest against, and gaze into with awe, for all eternity.
I do believe this is the way to trust life again and the way to deep peace. To be in love with the wholeness woven from infinite complexity. I will not take for granted all the gifts from my eternal lover, and I will do everything within me to know the abundance we have within us, and the support we have from her.
Katrina Freitag 