The Castle and the Forest
Somewhere inside you,
there is a castle.
On the grounds of this castle, there is a garden - immaculately manicured, with orderly hedgerows, flowers with complementary colors, and spiraling paths.
And on the edge of this garden, there is an old, old forest.
This forest is gnarled. It is vibrant. It is ominous. It is alluring. It’s the type of forest that changes you. Like Fangorn forest, it is watchful. It is still, yet ever-changing.
At this moment,
inside you,
at the edge of the garden and the forest,
two children are playing.
The child in the garden is as you’d expect - hair perfectly combed, teeth straight and white, belly full of biscuits and butter.
The child in the forest is also exactly as you’d expect - tousled hair, crooked teeth exposed in a wild smile, bare feet, a tattered cloak.
They are tossing a golden ball -
back and forth,
back and forth,
from the castle, to the forest.
The Wild One Within
I borrow this scene from the story “Tatterhood” as told by Martin Shaw in his book “Courting the Wild Twin”.
Before you read on, sit for a moment between the garden and the forest.
Feel the golden ball weaving together the wild and the civilized, the passionate and the tame, the feeling and the thinking, within you.
We each have a wild one inside of us - we may feel the flutter of their presence when we step onto a mountain trail, when we’re moved by music, when gripped in the fire of desire, or even perhaps when we’ve had a few glasses to drink.
When we’re estranged for too long from that wild one, we lose our way.
We become lost in the comforts of this world.
We become overwhelmed by the scale of our challenges.
We become disconnected from the more-than-human world.
We settle.
I’ve come to believe our task in this life, in these auspicious times, is to integrate these two children inside of us. As Shaw invites, to court the wild twin.
We must approach the wild within us with reverence, curiosity, and longing for connection.
This is our path towards coherence.
Towards making the most of this precious life.
Towards offering ourselves fully to the people, projects, and moments most meaningful to us.
We must find the courage to throw the ball to the wild twin in the forest, and trust that they’ll throw it back.