Today is a sacred day for lots of folks.
Keeping this in mind, I kept my radar up this week for hi-vibe experiences related to reconnection… with our ancestors, ourselves, and each other.
OCT 28, 2024—Apples
I live surrounded by apple trees. Yep, it’s a Washington state thing, but we have Johnny Appleseed to thank for that, too. I love apples as snacks and in cooking, and apple trees are beautiful unto themselves, especially as they grow old.
Why is this hi-vibe? Forget all that Biblical nonsense about the apple being the source of temptation or that it’s wicked.
The phrase “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” can be backed up with solid scientific support.
Apples come in hundreds of varieties and can be used in so many ways besides as food; apple aromatherapy is divine this time of year, and you can use apples in crafts.
The goddess Venus has been represented holding an apple, and people knowledgeable in art and symbolism recognize that apples represent sexuality, wisdom, prosperity, abundance, strength, and the list goes on and on.
These reasons make apples hi-vibe in spite of their mischaracterization in old texts (which may indeed be inaccurate anyway).
OCT 29, 2024—Herbs
Here’s another natural presence that shows up in everyday life.
Again, herbs can be all about kitchen wisdom, cooking, and flavoring (oils, salts, sugars, seasoning salts, teas, bath ingredients, bundles, etc.).
Herbs are also used to cleanse and fragrance the home and many served as our original medicines before scientists came along and, in many cases, borrowed from the original compounds that herbs naturally carry.
Spiritual uses include burning for meditation, incense formulations, and tea drinking/scrying.
Why is this hi-vibe? I think immediately of the magic of herbs every time I walk out into my raised bed gardens.
Along the gravel paths that surround those four structures, Corsican mint has freely spread its low growing mats of profoundly bright-scented menthol leaves. They soften the gravel underfoot and put off a perfume that awakens and brings happiness.
And that’s just one of so many wonderful herbs we can derive so much practical use and joy from.
OCT 30, 2024—Dreamscapes
I have been having so many intense dreams of late.
What I have discovered as I journal these mini movies conjured in my head as I sleep is that, while some of them just have momentary scenes with limited action and with objects that seem surreal or disconnected—or serve as obvious evidence that I’m processing something from my waking hours—some dreams connect me with people I know. This includes some who I innately know but who I have never met before in real life.
These dreams also seem to always have a story or a message, and often the arc of the narrative is fully formed (which I attribute to having a storyteller’s brain).
They also deliver prompts that make me curious enough to jump out of bed and do some research. When I parse out the symbolism I spent the night processing in sleep, I am always–and I mean, always—delighted by what I discover.
Why is this hi-vibe? I realize that I rarely have nightmares, which is to say that my dream content generally runs positive (if sometimes eerie or intense).
I have fewer and fewer anxiety dreams, as well, and when I do, I have the ability to redirect them through lucid dreaming, a skill I’ve had since childhood.
What this all amounts to is positive, instructive messaging that, frankly, keeps me engaged, sane, and inspired. How lucky am I?
OCT 31, 2024—Skeletons
One of my favorite images of the season is skeletons. I am enamored of those old hand-drawn Disney cartoons in black and white of dancing skeletons timed to classic and lively music from those long-ago times.
I see skeletons in yards and they’re often depicted as scary, predatory, rotten. But I think the human skeleton is fascinating and kind of adorable when you capture it in animation.
Bones by themselves don’t intimidate me, they’re a simple reminder that every bit of who we are—including the parts composed of cells that eventually decompose to become minerals for the environment—matter to the whole of the world.
Why is this hi-vibe? Listen, our skeletons literally carry us around all day and do a lot of hard work.
I think they should be lionized and not demonized, much in the same way that death—symbolized as a skull, sometimes with crossbones—should not be feared but honored for its crucial role in the cycles of life.
Not all things about death are gruesome or negative or morbid; death to me is basically compost waiting to feed next year’s crops. If that’s not hi-vibe, then I don’t know what is.
Nov 1, 2024—Cemetery walks
I’m known for doing these from time to time, especially rural and pioneer and even tribal cemeteries if the public is welcome. I love the memorial sculptures, the way these spaces for laying our loved ones to rest are landscaped to give them a beautiful view. They’re full of history and visual texture, and they’re peaceable spaces.
Why is this hi-vibe? I guess I’ve already shared what I think about death.
To walk among headstones is something we should all experience (outside of a funeral gathering, I might add).
If you’ve not done it, and you are reading this today, on All Saints Day, and you have a cemetery near you, maybe today’s is the day you take your first cemetery walk.
Maybe the hi-vibe part leans into getting over cultural fears about death.
Maybe it’s about understanding that monuments to lives past are honorable and, in that way, hi-vibe.
Maybe it’s a grand reminder that we’re still alive and have a chance right now to really focus on making the best of the life we do have, to earn that headstone sentiment, to leave an imprint on the world that’s full of hi-vibe energy.
It’s more important than ever for me to remember how much good there is in the world. To that end, I’m going to try to post 5 cool things I encountered recently. Weekly? Maybe. Or maybe just occasionally. However frequently I do it, my goal is to brighten your day and help me cleanse my own timeline of all the toxicity that current events and social media can bring. With so much happening in the world, we all just need a link-love break, y’know?