Quail Springs: Playing in the Clay Earth, Keeping the Fire

Yesterday, a few women and I played in the clay mud.  We were preparing it for the cob, and we were loving it!

Senia, a young woman who lives here at QS, approached me with the clay straight from the creek bed.  I asked her to put it on my cheeks and arm, and we took turns, with another apprentice, Mae, decorating each other.  Then, we walked up to where some other community members are making cob fire pits for hot baths. Already there was a big tub of clay and water ready to be mixed, and I just let my fingers and arms sink in.  We then started singing:
The Earth is my body
Water my blood
Air my breath
Fire my spirit

And it became a meditation.  I felt this deep connection with the other women and the clay Earth.  Mae, at one point, just stuck her face right in, and I laughed aloud.  It seemed so audacious until Julie, another apprentice, also stuck her face and head in.  Then the three children who are visiting dove in, and last, Senia and I.  It was so beautiful and simple. 

Today, a couple women who were mentored by a Chumash medicine woman this past weekend are keeping a fire all day and night for healing.  I've enjoyed painting and reading and napping around the fire. I lounged in the hammock under the tree in the garden too.  It's a visioning day, as they call it, and so, I'm seeking my vision as I read Women Who Dance with the Wolves. 

Time for a bicycle ride up to the spring....