I’ve just recently just returned from my annual solo in the woods (in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness). I am still steeped in the stillness of my week alone in the wilds. It was a different kind of experience than in years past. I was deeply turned inward. And there was a profound sense of completion.

I sent a lot of prayers out. I gave thanks. I waited and listened. And I had A LOT of conversations with the Spirits, with my deep self, with all those forces that brought me here. The messages were clearer and more loving than ever. I am so so grateful.

I had an entire lake to myself for five nights…just me and the creatures. I swam in the black lake every day. The lakes up there are filled with mystery. So dark. The sky reflects in them, going on forever. Eternity lives in those lakes. I steeped myself in it. My bones, my skin, my ears, my hair. I let mystery have me.

Before the evolution can come, one cycle must end. And then there’s the in between state where we are swimming in the mystery of the black lake. There is a deep release. An exhale. Offerings to the mystery. Gratitude. And epic levels of  t r u s t.

Before the next journey can arrive, the black lakes will hold us. They will hold our fears, our thanks, our hopes, our everything. The fertile waters hold the secrets of what is being birthed in our cells. The black water offers itself to what we are building.

It is eternity. The great mystery. It can feel terrifying to be held in this spaciousness because it urges us to drop who we think we are and recognize that we are EVERYTHING. The ego has some serious struggles with that. It feels like a death. And in some ways, it certainly is.

But the black lakes can hold all the fear you can’t. All the worry. All the doubt. All the heartache. The black lake can hold your dreams. It can coax forth the materials to manifest the vision from the far reaches of the Universe. The black lake contains it all. If you drop down into the water of your body. Float a while. It all rises. Whatever you need to know, to be. Whatever movement your body must make. Whatever truth must be expressed. It will rise.

May you swim in a black lake this summer. Real or imaginary. May you drink deep of the mystery. May you tell it what you are afraid of so you don’t have to hold it alone. May you listen. May you be held. May you wait for the answers to come.