In 2015 I found myself trapped in a 3-hour basement meeting with no natural light. As the meeting dragged on and the air got increasingly stale I suddenly had a vision of myself in a pine forest, wearing linen, collecting firewood with the scent of woodsmoke drifting by and others around me. Shortly afterwards, I started We Are Stardust.
This is just one of many calls of the wild that have called me, and continue to call me, into deeper relationship with my inner wild – be that making mud paintings, creating adventures in the ancient forest or starting my day outside (hear more in this podcast episode).
The call of the wild doesn't only come to people disconnected from nature. It returns to you again and again, inviting you deeper into relationship with the more-than-human world.
Sharon Blackie writes about how we're living in "a wasteland of the heart and spirit" - cut off from our true belonging to the land. This wasteland isn't just in our culture; it's in ourselves.
How do you know if it's the call of the wild you've been hearing?
- Perhaps, like me, you've had visions of yourself deep in ancient forests, around campfires with wild folk, beneath starry skies...
- Perhaps you've sat trapped at your desk looking longingly at sunshine through the window, feeling the urge to run barefoot on damp earth...
- Perhaps there's a beyond-human being you keep noticing - the soaring Red Kite, glittering spider webs, the old Oak's tangled roots...
- Perhaps you've had the urge to paint with mud, make marks with feathers and berry ink...
All of these are nudges that the wild is calling you.
The trouble is, they are so easy to ignore in the midst of the rush of life. But each time you ignore them because you "don't have enough time/money/knowledge," you trample a little more on your inner wild soul - knowing something profound is missing while knowing you're still hungry for depth.
Worst case, as has happened to me multiple times, your body stops you in your tracks with burnout or illness.
But the most heartbreaking for me is that you stay small in your earth-loving when we desperately need wilder folk in the world.
Your desire to love the earth and sky is NORMAL. We evolved for millennia in close relationship with the seasons, earth, sky, water. What feels like longing is your soul remembering its true home (and there is SO much science to back this up).
When you answer the call - when you move from longing back into belonging - the world becomes alive with wind and rain and mud and fire and that parched earth inside at the edge of your inner wild begins to flourish again.
What does answering the call look like? It starts with noticing the wonders around you, going deep in your knowledge and experience and then you let the outer wild teach you how to nourish the wild within. And you do this again and again.
As your inner wild grows deeper and stronger, you might start painting again or get to know local trees, sharing your new-old knowledge with loved ones. You may start star parties in your local communities, writing about your love of nature and sharing it with others or infusing your climate campaigning with consensus and gratitude (all true outcomes from folk in my year-long programme Rewild Your Soul).
Each one of these acts making the world a more beautiful place because you are using your gifts to tend to the Earth.
The call keeps spiralling around and around just as the Earth spins around the Sun and with each cycle more wonder and beauty and wisdom awaits.
How will you answer the call?
