A Language Older than Words
On finding true home in soul books and nature
“The Wild Woman comes to us through sound as well; through music which vibrates the sternum, excites the heart; it comes through the drum, the whistle, the call, and the cry. It comes through the written and the spoken word; sometimes a word, a sentence or a poem or a story, is so resonant, so right, it causes us to remember, at least for an instant, what substance we are really made from, and where our true home is” - Clarissa Pinkola Estes - Women Who Run with the Wolves
Don’t you love it when you find a word, sentence, poem or story that reminds you of the substance from which you are made?
Much of the contents of this book, Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, remind me of this. It’s a book that I feel, has soul; one that speaks to a deeper knowing or ‘part’ of me that recognises herself in these words. An inner bell goes off, alerting to the fact that something containing substance is speaking.
When I was around 20, I read The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho - another book with soul that spoke to this deeper knowing part in me. The language in The Alchemist seeped into my vocabulary and my subconscious and emerged, many years later in a book I wrote, Language of the Feminine, in which I reference and write extensively about The Language of the World; a term originally coined by Coelho in The Alchemist. The Language of the World describes our connection and communication (a conversation if you will), with life, the environment and the universe itself. If I were to read The Alchemist again today, I might have different thoughts about it, but it made quite an impression on me then; the young adventurer who was about to embark on her first solo travels around the world.
During my world travels, I began to see and understand this Language of the World, of which I was also a part; particularly through the language of nature. Nature is a language older than words. It is its own intelligence that expands our intelligence - and by intelligence, I mean a holistic, ‘whole being’ intelligence which is not purely mind-based - when we meet, sink into and become it.
I meet myself in nature - in green, wild and watery environments - spending time just being, walking, listening, smelling, feeling. Nature reflects to me what I am at my core - a human-animal in its habitat. I feel this instinctual, soul self in nature with greater sensitivity. Whether in a local natural forest or seascape - I feel and feed myself in a different way in natural environments. I find my ‘whole-being’ intelligence activated when I spend time within the complex intelligence of such natural ecosystems.
When nature calls us, there is often a deeper longing to satisfy our soul’s hunger to remember and activate our wild and instinctual nature, which is to say our ‘instinctual intelligence’. To revive the spirit. To feel the earth beneath our feet, the sun on our skin, the smell of rain in the air, to remind us that we too, have natural cycles of ebb and flow that inform how, when and what we create.
There is something of ‘meeting’ myself in the words (and the energy behind them) of special books too, like The Alchemist or Women Who Run with the Wolves. There is an alchemy of sorts - a spark that lights the inner fire of remembering where a true sense of home is beyond the jobs we have (or don’t have), the money or ‘success’ we do or don’t have, the way we look - all the things that paint a picture of who we are and what we like, but that might not necessarily feed the soul self. There is a timelessness to books like these because they have the kind of substance and story that speaks to the soul. And when life reminds us of this, whether through books, songs or nature; we can find home, we can find our own substance - which is always there - and expand, even if just for a moment.
We can surround ourselves with things that speak and spark soul recognition. We can keep books on the shelves and by the bedside, we can put art and photography on the walls and keep a list of films and music playlists or photos of people that we feel that sense of expansiveness with. Reminders for those many moments in the life journey that we forget or feel disconnected from our personal, connected relationship with this life.
These are simple ways that bring us back to centre and to this timeless knowing that lives in us all.
(Maybe I’ll make a list of these kinds of books and/or films that speak to the soul in another post? Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see this and please share the books and films that have deeply spoken to you too).
If you’d like to explore the language of nature with a group of women who write, join us in Edinburgh for Women & Nature - Writer’s Walk - there’s more information on this below as well as the next two online and in-person events. I hope to connect with some of you there.
Upcoming Events
Tuesday 20th February 7pm-8.30pm
We all need regular hydration to plump up our words and imaginations which can become dried out for many reasons. Join us online for the next group creative writing workshop.
HYDRATE is for women writers in any genre who want:
to discover themselves through writing
inspiration and connection
to rehydrate the words you write
to try different writing styles
to get out a writing rut
to meet fellow writers and creatives
Click the button below to learn more and join this online workshop:
Saturday 24th of February - 10am- 12.30pm
Join us in Edinburgh for the first HYDRATE in-person creative writing workshop/meetup to help you rehydrate your writing life! (This event has been happening online so far).
We'll meet at the lovely RED BOX cafe in Marchmont, Edinburgh for a cosy winter morning of connection, themed creative writing prompts over tea/coffee and cake (optional!). This will be a relaxed hybrid workshop/meetup.
Learn more and click below to register for this online workshop (there are 15 places available).
Sunday 25th of February - 10am - 1pm
I am offering my first Women & Nature Writer’s Walk and Outdoors Workshop at the Hermitage & Braid Nature Reserve in Edinburgh. This event is for women who write (or want to), who want to get away from their screens and infuse the inspiration and energy that nature can offer into their writing.
(This is a pilot offering so for this time only, I’m offering this walk and workshop at a heavily reduced cost of just £14pp).
Click the button below to learn more and register (there are 10 places available).
with love