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FANA-FI-GAIA
August 1, 2024
12th Quarterly from the Ziraat Council
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There is One Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, the only scripture which can enlighten the reader… To the eye of the seer every leaf of the tree is a page of the holy book that contains divine revelation, and he is inspired every moment of life by constantly reading and understanding the holy script of nature.
– Pir o Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan
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Fernanda Silva
Amada familia,
I'm writing to you from Viña del Mar, in Chile, where a cold winter has brought the blessings of intense and nourishing rains.
Rivers regained their natural flow and nature has shown us her immense strength, bringing life back to places where drought had been present for many years. Joyful screams were shared in cities and towns, and now forests feel humid and filled with the winter gifts and the promise of new seeds growing soon.
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And it’s like nature keeps whispering.
Trust.
And at the same time. Cultivate yourself too.
The quote of Murshid at the beginning, feels like a joyful reminder to honor nature, Mother Earth, as holy, wise, strong, and gentle. Nature as beautiful inspiration and a guide to a journey of inner growth.
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Right now, we are passing a moment of transition between seasons. And while in the north and south we experience this in seemingly opposite ways, both journeys can guide us inwards. From the beginning of the harvest and celebration, to the wisdom of silence and regeneration, this is an opportunity to reflect on the interconnectedness of all life, to see change as a gift, and recognize the blessings that nature gives us, as well as the chance to care for the seeds we've sown within ourselves.
There is a garden within us, and for each of us, it's different. It has different colors, smells, sounds, temperatures, and creatures that inhabit it. We might relate to this inner garden - or forest -in many different ways. Some of us might be around these paths very often, caring for the trees, the flowers, harvesting, resting, and being part of the inner landscape and experience. It also could be that we don't take so much time to come around and visit. Or we might remember it exists, but at moments it can feel far away, or as if we don't have time to tend to it. This garden is like a mirror. It reflects the way we relate to life, to our mind, to our heart, and to nature itself.
| What happens when we choose to water those qualities we want to see grow in ourselves? | |
Cultivating our inner garden is a beautiful metaphor for self-compassion and growth, to know and care for ourselves a little bit more. By cultivating it, we allow ourselves to observe the movements of our minds and the flow of our emotions.
As a practice, we can connect with the purification breaths and their connection to the elements, bringing flow and rhythm to the way we live and to how this garden expresses itself.
Starting with our breath, let’s take a walk within and bring awareness to the subtle, recognizing ourselves part of nature, of the holy.
Let’s share the good seeds we’ve been cultivating! learning to be patient with our inner seasons, to what is arising and what is transforming. Nurturing earth and each other, let's connect with and honor nature as our Beloved Mother, and may our presence be an inspiration for collective change and compassionate actions.
Let’s be gentle and strong, and may we take peaceful steps upon this earth.
Much Love,
Fer, on behalf of the Ziraat Council
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Walking meditation during a retreat we guided in the south of Chile | |
Excerpt from Ziraat Reader | |
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Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Nature meditations
From Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Nature meditations page 32:
Through the silence of nature,
I attain Thy divine peace.
O sublime nature,
in thy stillness let my heart rest.
Thou art patiently awaiting the moment
to manifest through the silence of sublime nature.
O nature sublime, speak to me through silence,
for I am awaiting in silence like you the call of God.
O nature sublime,
through thy silence I hear Thy cry.
My heart is tuned to the quietness,
that the stillness of nature inspires.
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Adriluna Lunera
Meet Adriluna, Shakura. She lives in Aldeafeliz ecovillage in San Francisco, Cundinamarca, Colombia. She is part of a foundation that creates environmental films and is also part of a collective that is walking and rescuing the ancestral ways in South America. She shares us her message from the Tinku encounter in Colombia:
“The essence of our prayer here in the mountains is to remember that territories are not solely governed by humans. There exists a higher authority, and, depending on where we are, we become stewards of a specific organ of the Mother. And in this process, we are meeting once a year to embark on a nine-year prayer, a step-by-step process of remembering how we organize ourselves around the governance of Mother Earth and how we recognize our role within her mandate.
We are fortunate in Colombia and other southern territories, to have so many communities from different indigenous groups who continue to walk with an ancient memory and a close relationship with Mother Earth (Hallpay mama) and Father Time (Pachakamak). These communities, despite their differences, all walk according to a Law of Origin that maintains their connection to the territory and allows them to live by the principles of "buen vivir" (good living). Buen vivir is a broad and profound concept that recognizes, among other things, that a community is composed of all the sentient beings of the territory, which includes its tutelary mountains, lagoons, rocks and rivers... It's not just humans thinking about how to solve the world's problems. It's about humans sitting down to receive guidance from their territory. It's about incorporating other wisdoms that help us see the root causes of the current planetary crisis. As we establish a relationship with these elements, they care for us and offer us advice. We can strengthen this connection and receive guidance from the land itself as we walk our lives and find our way back to balance, journeying together as a tribe. Making a shift from the "I" to the "We."
This philosophy is woven into a project called LINAJE (lineage), which seeks to safeguard and recognize the ancestral wisdom of grandmothers who are transcending and have no one to share their knowledge with, as the young people in their communities are more interested in the things offered by the consumer society and are not receiving this inheritance. LINAJE is a small piece of this larger project, and it will tell the stories of three grandmothers from three different indigenous communities in Colombia. The ultimate goal is to build an Ancestral Library of Wisdom of the Grandmothers (BALSA) and return this knowledge to the communities with a focus on inspiring the youth from these communities.
We’re also working with the U'wa people in the creation of a documentary with which they want to urge the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to favor them in a process they are pursuing against the Colombian state for not protecting their rights. The U’was live in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy (Zizuma in the U'wa language), and have been for many years affected by the arrival of extractive projects. The U'wa people have many beautiful and pristine traditions. One of them is the Ambayá dance, or the dance of the bee. Over three consecutive nights, they cleanse all the territories of the planet in their thoughts as they pollinate and transform everything into honey, giving strength, purification, renewal, and a boost to the flow of life. Through the night they name every mountain, river and flower on the planet."
If you want to know more about these projects, or get in contact with Shakura, you can use these links!
https://www.instagram.com/adrilunalunera/
https://www.instagram.com/endemicastudios/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyzBNk12XR4
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Dear family, for those of you who understand spanish, please go and check “Radio Semilla” a podcast you can find on spotify and is shared by the network of Seed Guardians in South America. In it you can find interviews made to members of our family! like Douglas Stevenson, Arjun Calero and Holger Hieronimi. The podcast goes over a variety of themes, related to eco-social regeneration, life in community, spirituality and many inspirational stories. Let’s support the continuity of these amazing projects!
Spotify Link to podcast of interview with Arjun Calero https://open.spotify.com/episode/0WtJc1jLOiVoPjbSw6eG44?si=790f540b7d0941c2
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From the Ziraat website
Following the guide of the elemental purification breaths practice, taught by Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan (Link to the practice), let's take a moment to breathe together and gently tune into the wisdom of nature.
Starting by feeling the temperature of the place we are right now, noticing the sounds, the colors and the atmosphere of the moment, let’s close our eyes (or soften our gaze) and transform into loving gardeners, tending to our inner landscapes. Taking our time to pass through these breaths, and connect with nature through the elements and its qualities. Allowing the earth, water, fire, air and ether to purify and harmonize us.
Without forcing the flowers to flourish faster, we can connect with our natural rhythms and embrace our diversity, tuning into our hearts to allow our pure essence to manifest and guide us on this journey. What a blessing!
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Our greenhouse here in central Chile, we used recycled materials to build it and added a photo of a city as a reminder and inspiration to turn our cities greener. My niece Raffaella and nephew José León are behind me eating some leaves | | | | |
