There is a place close by my house that I am now referring to as a holy path.
It’s holy because I took my dad to walk in the woods with me there in April of 2024, just shy of one year before his passing in April of 2025.
It’s holy because when I go there with myself to walk the trails, specifically one trail closest to the lake, I feel connected with Mother Earth and Spirit speaks with me.
On Sunday, February 15th, 2026, while walking this path, I heard a whisper to reach out to my 92-year old aunt who I knew was waiting for God to take her to be in heaven. I left her a voice message since actual phone conversations left her winded.
I soon discovered that she had fallen ill again and admitted to the hospital. I was grateful for feeling her on this day that would become the last full Sunday she would live. God released her from her aching body on the evening of Sunday, February 22nd while I was in Paris, France watching Florence and the Machine gift us with her magical voice and presence.
Lacamas Lake where this holy path exists was named Lacamas after the indigenous camas lily (Camassia quamash). This edible plant with starchy bulbs was a vital traditional food source for Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest, including the Chinook, Kalapuya, and Nez Perce.
Chris, my husband, first took me to Lacamas Lake with his kids many years ago in 2018 when we were dating. I remember one specific day that we were swimming in the lake with his kids. His daughter Brooklyn was 9 and his son Eli was 7. It was summer so the lake was perfect for swimming. I was telling them about growing up on the swim team and how much I loved being in water. I told them that I could swim to other side of the lake no problem and since they didn’t believe me, I felt more encouraged to do it and show them!
Since then, we have spent many summer days going to Lacamas Lake to kayak, paddle board, jump off the rope swing and BBQ on 4th of Julys.
When I want to have solo time and be in nature, I go to this place that always helps me to feel more connected with myself and with nature.
Myself and nature…we are one in the same. We are always becoming Earth.
This is something that I have been learning more about through my intuition whenever I am out in nature whether it be for a walk, a hike or tending to my garden.
Last Tuesday, on October 20th, I visited Lacamas Lake because I wanted and needed solitude with Earth. As I walked the holy path, I marveled at the colors of the leaves, the yellows popping out just as the sun does for us in the summer. I noticed the fallen leaves beneath my feet and even got to bask in having some of the big yellow maple leaves falling on me as I walked under the trees.
At one point, I stopped to pick up one of the big leaves and the thought that came to me was, ‘this leaf had to let go, this leaf did not have a choice as its purpose was to exist, live, let go, die and become Earth.’
In that moment, I felt my intuition telling me that this was a teaching from the trees. You see we as humans do not get to choose between letting go or not. Life happens and the winds force us to let go just as much as the winds force the leaves to detach from the trees branches and float on into the air and onto the ground.
The trees lose their leaves and experience loss just as we humans lose our loved ones who are a part of us. The fallen leaves become Earth just as we become Earth when we die.
This insight given to me on the holy path has been so healing in my process of working through years upon years of grief that I have experienced since the age 4 when my parents separated and my family was split apart.
These stunning, crisp October days have been ripe with the quiet internal energy of yin to create emotional shifts that have been needed for me to let go. This inward pull has brought up feelings of nostalgia, melancholy and grief with deep reflection of just how much Earth and I are similar…one in the same.
On Sunday, Chris and I went to one of our new favorite places called Fresh Love. Everything they make tastes as though it was actually made with Love! There is art on the walls from a different artist each month. The art on the walls now has a spiritual and spooky vibe that’s perfect for the month of Halloween.
The owner of the cafe shared that the artist would be offering an art class there so I decided to join as I was intrigued by the name of the class called Samhain Spirit. I did not know what Samhain meant so I looked it up.
According to Samhain, this is the time of year where people who have passed away (our ancestors and souls of the dead) have a better chance of crossing into the human realm to communicate with loved ones who are still alive.
This solidified for me what my intuition already knew which is that my dad is more present as he is sending messages from the other side. Lately, I have been feeling his energy, his consciousness more strongly and I know that he is trying to help guide me towards more love, more healing, more connection, and more growth.
This notion of becoming Earth has been quite comforting for me as I feel that my dad and I are closer than I had thought we were. He has become Earth just as I am still in the process of becoming Earth.
He has paved the way for me to follow with a deep knowing that there will be so much more to let go of, so much more to shed just like the trees do.
There will also be so much more to experience and so much more wisdom to gain as I stay the path…the holy path that is now Lacamas Lake and the other holy paths that will reveal themselves when it is time for me to walk them.
Please be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see my latest offering for the cozy, cool Fall days.
For more information on the meaning of Samhain see below:
Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sow-een) is an ancient Gaelic festival that begins at sunset on October 31 and runs through November 1, marking the end of the harvest season and the start of winter.
The Thinning Veil: Ancient Celts believed the boundary or “veil” between the physical world and the Otherworld (the realm of spirits and fairies known as the Aos Sí) grew thin during this time.
Spirits and Ancestors: Souls of the dead and otherworldly entities could cross over into the human realm.
For more information on Becoming Earth, please read below:
Recently, one of my mentors shared a podcast with me called The Intuition of Earth, where a man named Tiokasin Ghosthorse shares about the relationship that we humans have with Earth.
He says, ‘We are not part of Earth, we are becoming Earth in a constant continuous way.’
‘As we are in the middle growing as we are, we are still becoming Earth even as babies and when we are at the end of the spectrum, we are becoming Earth. Dying is becoming Earth. There is no beginning or end, it is all a continuum.’
‘We are present with intuition and intuition is the consciousness of Earth, the communicative value that we are missing is intuition. Before any thought processes of humans were here, there was intuition. There is no such thing as artificial intuition, there is artificial intelligence. Intuition was here before we were, it can’t be packaged into any spiritual value, religion, science or even governments.’
‘Trees communicate through intuition, not artificial intelligence or intelligence. How much are we missing by not being present with them because we have been away from the natural rhythms of Earth. We natives practice these ceremonies of a simple recognition of acknowledging relationship. You go outside and you go into nature, you notice nature, you acknowledge nature because nature is already acknowledging us, those trees know we are there already just like a horse knows we are there already.’