With the Wind

 Today's a little chilly in Ohio, like mid 50's, with a strong wind.  I grabbed my spirit staff, a pair of socks, and my jacket, and walked to the back of the house.  We have a neighbor on the other side of the fence with a pond (the pond is by the fence, between our homes).  I went to the back and stood on the little hill, facing the pond, and greeted the Nature Spirits.  The wind was blowing harder on this side of the house, and I've been a little bit more wibbly since being diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my knee in November.  I planted my staff in front of me with both hands, and closed my eyes.

After a few seconds, despite the hard blowing wind, I heard footsteps walk up to me.  I opened my eyes, expecting to see a neighbor or a kid, but was startled by the antlers of my staff instead.  I laughed and closed my eyes again.  

I saw a crow's skull from the inside looking out.  My sight wasn't human sight.  It was crow.  A little disorienting, but not my first time shape shifting into an animal with its eyes in a different position than my own.  

As the crow, I was alone, just walking along the grass and vocalizing.  I hopped up on the fence when a feral cat came by, then hopped back down to the ground to pull its tail.  We went back and forth--me playing, it annoyed--until it left.  

I tried to fly, but the wind was too strong.

I heard someone say that I needed stronger wings and deeper roots.  

I became myself and was looking at a silvery blue feminine entity.  God or spirit, I wasn't sure.  Didn't ask, just enjoyed the company.  I smiled in greeting.

The wind blew stronger and colder.  

They said that I needed to grow my root deeper and wider.  Reach for others like me, strengthen each other.  Make it difficult for the strong winds to knock us down.  

They also said to be sure that my body--my trunk--is flexible.  To move a little with the winds, instead of resisting them.  They instructed me to release the tension in my body and my weak knee.  Trust my roots and my trunk.  

I did.  

For a few moments, I stood in silence, roots deep, trunk flexible in the non-stop strong, cold wind.

"Sacred Tree grow strong within us.  Yggdrasil, grow within her."  The entity said.

I became Yggdrasil.  I was Yggdrasil.  I was outside of Yggdrasil.  Yggdrasil was me and outside of me.  

"You are Yggdrasil, within.  At your roots, feeds Nidhogg, eating the dead and sick roots, strengthening the roots.  The Eagle is soaring in your leaves, beside Agard.  The stags feed on the bark.  And on the trunk is the mischievous red squirrel.  All to sustain Yggdrasil.  Sustaining the spirits and the tree.  Healthy ecosystem."

In silence, I was shifting from myself to Yggrasil and back again, over and over.  Feeling silvery-blue leaves growing and retracting into my fingertips.  The sooth, white glowing bark.  A tree made all from woods, known and unknown.  Deep.  Great.  Ancient.  Wise.  Observing.  

The wind blew constant and colder.  I was beginning to shiver.  

"Remember, keep your roots deep and your trunk flexible.  Go inside."

I opened my eyes and looked around.  I thanked the Nature Spirits and the entity.  When I picked up my foot, I saw with my psychic sight tiny muddy roots that didn't want to retract.  They wanted to stay, like cleats on a shoe.  So I let them.  I went back inside to the warmth, and began typing, remembering.