Dear Ones
Thank you for being here. For all you are doing to care for, nurture, listen to and celebrate life in all its forms here on Earth.
The story of the Being of Nature who has come forward to speak with us this time comes from a reptile. I am also reaching out to you, asking if you would like to share how to become more involved with Voices for Change through sharing your insights individually and, or through a small group. Just follow the 'share your insights' links. Thank you.
The Story
I wasn't expecting to do other than walk through the reptile area as I made my way from one Indonesian mammal to another. But there again, I had put out the invitation for any creatures - beings of creation - who find themselves living in the zoo I was visiting to make themselves known to me. Yet again I am shown to let go of any expectations and do what I am here to do: listen.
Drawn to a glass-fronted tank-like cage (because that is what all these enclosures essentially are - cages) I can't initially see who is there. Then I do. This striking creature meets with me eye to eye. Again I don't know the gender of who I am greeting, but I feel maybe 'him'? What do you sense?
Having greeted this lizard, and not knowing anything about his origins or his species name, I immediately feel welcomed to communicate. It is almost magnetic as I was walking through, the draw to double back to this enclousure, to stop. It was as though this one had been waiting for me.
So I pose to Lizard the intention of my visit, which is to ask 'animals' if they have anything to share with me about the state of the natural world, as well as the human world's relationship with nature.
Lizard is direct and clear in his reply:
"Pretty shit, isn't it."
I look at him more closely and see him as he is, in a tank as opposed to freedom in the wild.
I ask in more, in my sense awareness of heart I ask in more deeply. He looks straight at me and replies:
"It's the metals, isn't it. You go for the metals."
I see in my inner vision the whole of mining and the destruction to the natural environments and wildlife that brings. I see it as an unfolding movie in my inner eye.
So I ask Lizard: "Do you have a solution for us?"
He hops to a higher branch as I hear him say:
"Go onto higher levels (of frequency, thinking, being)."
This is about a consciousness shift, which in turn leads to a practical shift.
I ask him if there is anything else.
His direct reply is:
"Simple enough. Do it."
I thank him and tell him I will share his message. To which he replies:
"Good. For my compatriots, the others."
('The others?' I initially wondered at that for clarity - and yet it was clear that Lizard was referring to all inhabitants of biospheres and ecosystems who are affected by mining.)
So our chat was over. I thanked him and turned to the board beside his cage to read more about him to assist my understanding of this communication. It turns out this beauty of a reptile is a Malayan Sail-finned Lizard, Hydrosaurus Amboinensis. Gosh. That sounds ancient. That is some ancestral heritage he is embodying with this Earth we inhabit. I know absolutely nothing about Malaysian metal mining. Something to web search about later. Which I do. And I invite you to do also. Of course, it is not just Malaya - it is mining across the globe that our attention is being drawn to here.
What I absolutely do know is that I have just been marvelled by the visual wonders of light and colour of this being, and his clarity and perception and quick mind. And his absolute understanding of the impact of human activity on biospheres. I am still, several months after this encounter, in awe of him.
I hang around his tank a little longer. As I move on, I wonder at the use of this term 'compatriots'. Any insights from you are welcome.
So the question is: what is it we are actually hearing here? What is this message? My human intelligence to problem solve seems to pale in comparison to this lizard.
Unpicking the Story
This is a toy called a 'Beast Machine'. Totally resourced from extracted raw materials. A birthday gift from my four year old grandson. Because I like 'green' apparently. I'm filled with joy and gratitude. My grandson has chosen a present from the well of his own happiness. Yet also, the similarity of this toy to this month's creature, this Sail-finned Lizard, has a flip side of unease.
It is a car so will need energy to make it move. As a toy that's my hand pushing it along. In our 'real' world our 'real' cars need minerals both to make and move them. To meet the demands of the 'climate crisis' we extract even more minerals for wind turbines, batteries, cargo transportation, communication. Which means more ecosystems are lost or at risk of being lost. What to do? We have to go to a source other than the one that created the 'problem' to find a 'solution'.
Let's listen to Sail-finned Lizard once again. Let's not go down the human road of remorse, guilt, shame, blame and all the rest. Let's go to a 'higher level'. What do we get?
This little toy says - 'I am your worst red-eyed fears and your light-hearted fun all rolled into one. I am a means of pretend play transportation. I am given with heart and in whatever form I have been remolded into, I am forever the minerals of this Earth. Look! I am still 'green'!'
We don't need to keep extracting. But we do. Metals are, as far as I know, infinitely recyclable. And I suspect that until we are able to fully incorporate 'higher level' play into our being, we will keep making toys to entertain us like this.
It is kind of interesting that the 'beast' of this machine depicts a creature who is as ancient as could be. A lizard morphed into plastic and propelling itself on little wheels of an illusionary high-octane vehicle.
I look back at what Sail-finned Lizard has to say: "Pretty shit isn't it."
You know, it is. Why should we expect to be entertained by viewing a wild creature trapped in a tank? Why? How dare we?!! What on Earth - or within Heaven - makes us think we have a right, any right, to trash the wild, to trash nature, to uproot and cast aside homes and habitats, to trash in any way this planet, home of all of us, for any reason what so ever?!
Is there something a-miss with us as a species? Or are we just missing the true point of being alive?
"Go to a higher level" says Sail-finned Lizard. "Simple enough. Do it."
This isn't airy-fairy talk. It is practical, pragmatic stuff. Shift our consciousness. Shift the way we think and do. Thought before action. Get that into our sails and see where it takes us.
Shift our consciousness, our thinking, our frequency and the practical will follow.
Finding a way into a 'solution'
'Simple enough'.
Is it?
Elemental. That's what.
The whole of our embodied development so far has been based on our human dependence of 'resources' of materials from Earth. Using elements of Fire, Air and Water for extraction and remoulding and all the rest of transforming a chunk of rock into jewellry, goods to cook with, a car, a lithium battery, a wind turbine...the list goes on and on with all our 'stuff'.
But is this the true alchemy that Sail-finned Lizard is talking about? I think not. There is something rather amazing that occurs when we sit ourselves in the hub of the elements.
We can create a ceremony of honour and acknowledgment of the essence energy that sustains natural life without human intervention of mining and manufacture. When we do this we can sense how the balance is among the elements. When you do this how does it feel? When you sit in a quiet space aware of the four basic elements, one in front of you, one behind, one on each side of you - in what ever order feels right for you to envisage them - what are you aware of?
As well as these four elements there are other points we need to be aware of - the ground we sit or stand on, the very Earth of this planet we live on. The space seemingly above us where we perceive source of creation to be. The centre of our being, the heart core of us where all that is, is. Take your time - or maybe it needs no time - just be in this awareness.
I feel that here we will each gain insights into what is being asked of us by Sail-finned Lizard. And I feel that pooling our various nodes of light - our in sights - we can not only see things from a higher perspective, we can see what if any action we can take to meet these challenges we face.
The alchemy of our actions here is rather like being a blacksmith in the forge of life.
What does Sail-finned Lizard say to you about meeting the perils of metal extraction? (The photo is of the actual lizard I met with in the zoo).
It would be great to come together as human compatriots to share our insights, whether through email or online chat. Please feel free to contact me with your thoughts. This is an evolving space here on Voices for Change, and your voice is as important to the listening as any other.
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