Spirit of the Rainforest
“Its land are high with very lofty mountains…All are most beautiful…and are accessible and filled with trees of a thousand kinds and tall, and they seem to touch the sky. And I am told that they never lose their foliage… and some of them flowering, some bearing fruit, and some in another stage, according to their nature.”
— Christopher Columbus
Shantree Kacera, R.N., D.N., Ph.D.
The tropical rainforests of Costa Rica have an allurement. There are places of peace and renewal where you enter into the majestic emerald-green vaulted and living cathedrals of trees. As you enter this sacred living forest, you are soon struck by how much diversity surrounds you. On a 50-hectare piece of land, there may easily be more variety of species of trees than all of Canada and the U.S. combined. Standing in a jungle's centre, you are amongst thousands of living beings. In the rainforest, you’ll notice that” life is piled upon life”- literally.
There are very few places on Earth where the forces of nature so actively interplay. This is one of the smallest countries in Central America, yet one of the most diverse in terrain, biota, and climate in the world. In the heart of a tropical rainforest, you can feel the magic and spirit of life that abounds. It is full of mystery.
The rainforest cathedral is rich with living lessons of diversity, allurement, fluidity, passion, and harmony. The ancient, wise elders of the forest teach us that the forest is the giver of all living beings. These people knew Earth as the nourishing Mother, educator, and healer. The lesson reminds people to walk softly, sit upon the moist earth, and listen to, remember and know a mothering power. The lessons and stories are living stories that are recreated every day with each fruit from the forest, with each sacred medicine from the forest, with each brilliant flickering of the firefly. The forest is all life. All the stories and wisdom of the forest are true—the living truth.
“Nature is the symbol of the spirit.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Year after year, I keep returning to pilgrimage into the tropical rainforests to listen. To hear the heartbeat of the earth and my soul. To watch the play of the elements of wind, sun, water, and soil. To experience the sacred. To return home and be connected to the source. The rainforests are filled with wonder, magic, newness and birth. They are the womb of the earth. In the womb, fluidity and warmth are where life begins. And where life begins is also where healing can take place with ease. Crafted by Earth’s raw materials and kissed into awakening by Spirit, we enter this Earth journey as her children.
In the last few years, I realized that for people to experience and be in the rainforest can be a source of inspiration, awakening and healing. A place of boundless love and a profound source of joy. And so began the Scared Earth Passages – an experience of “Alliance.” The purpose of these passages or retreats is to have people experience a greater alliance with themselves and with that which sources us – nature. The invitation is to be an apprenticing student with the Earth. Take an unforgettable journey to re-awaken your senses of the teachings of the rainforests. Through various processes like the “Art of Listening” and “E-sensual” exercises, you will learn how to hear, see, feel, and interpret the teachings of nature. Discover how the creative power of the elements of the plant realm has the power to transform, inspire, heal, and retard the ageing process. A pilgrimage to the RainForest will provide a learning experience and a realization that each of us is an individual cell of the body of Gaia-Mother Earth, affecting and affected by the whole. Each of us has a special place in the circle of life. Open yourself to the healing power of the RainForest of our Earth Mother.
“Any question you may ever have,
the answer you will find in nature,
if you know where to look and how to ask.”— The Power of One
Find your way back to the wilderness within you. Through the “old arts” of Sacred Plant Medicine, WaveYoga, Earth Celebrations, Water Therapy, Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine, and Meditation, you enter “The Alliance” where the vast and sacred mysteries of Nature are revealed to you. There will be time to dream in an ancient tropical forest where a cave and waterfall meet. Time will be set aside for sacred healing and purification ceremonies to renew body, heart and mind. These retreats invite you to awaken to the ‘Greening Power”, the vital force, the Spirit of the Earth that lives in every cell of your body, forever transforming and healing you. Directly experiencing an ecological flow and integration with oneself and the Earth is a feeling of wholeness and home known in its most profound sense.
The location we have decided to host our Sacred Earth Journeys is on a piece of land that has been lovingly tended and protected for over 27 years. Experience the peace and tranquillity of our “Sacred Meditation Garden”, overlooking crystal blue Pacific Ocean. Walk our “Medicine Trail” and breathe-in the aroma of the 100’s of medicinal plants. The medicine trail is unique as it begins at sea level and curves upward through a primary rainforest, ascending 150 meters above sea level.
This land is perfectly situated on a beautiful, scenic, breathtaking coast. It is a secluded haven of lush tropical terrain stretching to a private beach cove. Most of the terrain is maintained in a virgin tropical wet forest where you can discover streams, waterfalls, abundant birds and other wildlife, and majestic trees and plants. The rest of the property has been skillfully landscaped with organic tropical fruit trees and exotic plant life.
Through the beauty of the sacred Earth and the healing power of the rainforest and its medicine, we will have the opportunity to transcend the wounds of separateness. Embracing the wholeness of who we are and taking the sacred passage of the heart can be the key to healing oneself and the earth. Let the healing journey begin.
“I have a vision of the Earth made green again through the efforts of children. I can see children of all nations planting trees and holding hands around the globe in celebration of the Earth as their home and all children, all people as their family.”
— R. St. Barbe Baker