Let us turn to the West: the place of oncoming darkness, the place of the departed spirits and of letting go; the home of Bear and night-time dreams and the season of Autumn. We thank you for your gifts of Mystery and Transformation.
~ from the Seven Directions Prayer* (This prayer has many versions, source unknown)
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My daughter, three years old and fearless, loves nothing more than wading along the shallow shoreline outside our house. Holding hands, we walk barefoot upstream quietly in the water, stepping delicately over stones. Besides the water sounds, there is just immense silence. We stop and listen to the water. She asked me for a story; I did not have one. Listening, she turned in delight and announced, "Daddy, this water is talking." In listening to the river a kind of silence prevails, broken only by the rush of water over rocks. Such a silence is more like faint echoes, each a series of dim reverberations. They continue in you, distant yet familiar.