I CARRY . . .
I carry bear teeth & claws, even wear some around my neck. Eagle talons, too. A hawk tail, pheasant skins, and turkey tail fans, beards & wings adorn one wall. Snake spine – the individual vertebrae – found deep in the woods, bleached by the sun, impart power & energy; I string them on necklaces. My keychain & bowl are gently carved and drilled deer antlers.
On a wooden box on my bedroom wall rests a horse skull with a bullet hole under its left eye socket, a gift from a friend which she found in the forest. Jars filled with pennyroyal, yellowroot, ginseng, Indian pipe, lady’s thumb, and willow inner bark occupy a high shelf beside my baskets above my bed. Grapevine wreaths hang on randomly pounded nails and a bucket of honeysuckle vines soaks in my bathroom.
Other “strange” items in my home include deer skull plates with racks still attached, two cow side hides, three deer hides, spools of sinew and deerskin and cowhide lace, dried turtle feet and shells, feathers of all types in vases, and dried flowers from my husband’s funeral five years ago.
I travel backwoods’ trails, many days 60 miles or more, and stop at most creek & river crossings seeking fossils & other unusual rocks that speak to me of ancient Mother's birth. The stones, all sizes, shapes and colors, fill shelves, dresser tops, cookie cans and jars; larger ones I hide under tables and beside cabinets so only I know they’re there; one I wear around my neck, strategically hung from a silver chain by an old watch fob clasp. In my purse, I carry various gemstones and unusual fossils in handmade suede drawstring pouches. These stones, especially ones in which I see faces, give me strength.
I hug trees, too, primarily the eldest in the woods. Pareidolia walks with me like a close friend; each face – in windblown piles of fallen leaves, in lush & verdant moss on rocks, in the swirls of curly maple bark, in the pitted or shadowed surfaces of rocks – a friend that speaks to me of its past life as a traveler in this place.
