Dan Hessey

Dan Hessey is a wonderful friend of Windhorse Farm. He visits us from Boulder, Colorado and has been known to teach awesome programs at the Farm. He was last here a few weeks ago for a gathering of earth stewards. He shared this description and poem with me today.

“I wrote the first draft of this poem with frozen fingers as the sun rose, having spend the night under the full moon in a sleeping bag in the woods next to the stream at Windhorse Farm.  I felt that the ink was mixed from my heart and the sky, and all my confusion, sadness and aspiration welled up to meet the paper. “

In Deep Woods

I rest against a moss-covered rock-bench before dawn.
It reminds me of a lime velour banquette in a cheap hotel.
Before me lies a dense lattice of untidy trunks and
Branches withered by striving, dark and dumb;
Above, the green canopy awaits the sun.

Hidden codes impel this arbor up,
No eye, no ear, not feeling. All
Elbow and jostle for a portion of bright sky; and as
Greenland’s icy mantle melts, our little brook prattles on.
But soon this forest shall be gone, gone, completely gone.

Star-swept sky, cure our knowing, for
Such sadness cannot be well-borne by us.
You, your head-pennants catching the rising sun, beaten
Silver helm and crystal mail shining, riding a snowy mare,
Wielding the pure spear, bearing the perfect sphere!

Unknowable heart of the senses, Earth’s secret soul:
Cleanse our despair, heal us, show our being whole.

Dan Hessey
Windhorse Farm
April 18, 2011

Phil Cass

Phil Cass has become a dear friend of Windhorse Farm in the last few years. He first coneected with WHF through his work with ALiA. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Laura. He visits often and we are always excited to host him.

“Over these few years of my times at Windhorse I feel like I have made a connection with the woods there unlike anyplace that I have ever experienced on this earth.  In fact I don’t think I knew of connection to the natural world before coming there.

It was my first meditation walk in the Windhorse Farm woods with Jim when as we approached the Kami Shrine the woods all of a sudden just started to pulse with this iridescent green color that was almost overwhelming to me.  There was an energetic to that place coming from the earth that I had never experienced before and now experience every time that I am there.  I remember thinking to myself “What is going on here?”  At first I thought that maybe I was just tired or this was a product of being in a contemplative space, but I have come to know that if I am still and fully awake when I enter that space the same thing happens.  This has been a powerful learning for me about my little place in the context of all that is alive.

I had another magical moment in those woods last winter.  I was there helping Tim Merry and Sera Thompson with a project for Public Health.  We had a four hour solo planned in the woods for all of the participants.  It was a cold, snowy and overcast winter day.  We decided to split the group up into four groups and Jim, Sera, Tim and I each took a group out into the woods.  We had established “our grounds” the day before and had set a camp fire in each space so that if people got cold during the four hours they would have a home base to come back to.  After some orientation everyone was set loose for their solo.  They were asked to contemplate the question “what is my work in the world”.  After my group had left the camp fire I spread a tarp out on the snow and began to sit meditation and hold this same question for myself.  I had been sitting for about 2 hours when the message just bubbled up in me “you are doing your work in the world”.  I began to smile and then noticed that a sun beam had appeared right before me and just as quickly disappeared.  I was a bit stunned because there had been no sign of sun in the area that whole day.  I have thought of that moment so often and when I am wondering what am I doing in this world I remember that experience.”