Prairie of Coneflowers @2014 Bo Mackison
“When I look in the mirror, I see a woman with secrets. When we don’t listen to our intuition, we abandon our souls. And we abandon our souls because we are afraid if we don’t, others will abandon us.”
~ Terry Tempest WilliamsLook at the prairie.
See the coneflowers?
Look in the mirror.
See the secrets?
Look into the shimmering souls.
Listen to the whisper of intuition.
The whispering shimmers
unleash the secrets, the words, the truths.Awaken the soul.
Purple Coneflowers © 2014 Bo Mackison
“What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. … In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.” ~ John Lubbock
Purple coneflowers. One of my favorites. Since it will bloom from June through September, there are usually pockets of these purple beauties in the prairie during any summer visit. My favorite part is the spiny center, that red rusty cone.
The species is even named for its distinctive center – Echinacea means hedgehog in Greek. Evidently the center disk looked like a hedgehog to the plant naming folks way back when.
Prairie Pause © 2014 Bo Mackison
There was a day when the wind blew free and strong off the Gulf of Mexico and onto the prairies.
These vast grasslands offered no trees or mountains to stop the breeze and it blew from what is now Texas northward for 2,000 miles to the Arctic forests of Alberta.
The wind whipped the mighty land of grass into undulating oceans of green.
It blew dust into the eyes of a million buffalo and grizzled hair of the antelope. It whistled and whirled through a thousand prairie dog towns and rocked meadowlarks on their slender perches.From the lands of the Blackfoot, Hidatsa and Pawnee to the domain of the Cheyenne, Kiowa and Comanche, the wind blew and the sun shone above. This was the prairie.
Then the ocean breezes carried Europeans to this new land. A million square miles of grassland became a million square miles of checkerboard grain fields and grazing lands.
The wind erased the last trace of the wandering buffalo and the native Indian who followed it relentlessly.
Today, the fences of zoos confine the former denizens of the grassland, and paved highways pass through the sterile lands of Indian reservations.
The plants of the prairie today can be seen only in forgotten corners of grain fields, along unused roadsides, or in a tiny tract of a university arboretum.
What the prairie farmer could not plow he used for his cattle, which ate the tender stalks of the tall grass and allowed it to be replaced by weeds and dust.
The wind still blows free, but it finds a different land today. The prairies are gone.
~ Richard Nelson, from The Prairie Primer by Stan Nichols, Lynn Entine and Evelyn Hines
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And so begins my prairie explorations. Photos are from Pope Farms Conservancy, one of the prairie restorations re-establishing a few parcels of prairie land. I am grateful for the mighty efforts of the dedicated Friends of Pope Farm Conservancy — through their efforts my imagination grasps a hint of the former grandeur of the prairie oceans, I am provided with a tantalizing taste of uninterrupted prairie — one for which I will forever yearn.
Coneflowers Along the Path © 2013 Bo Mackison
“We may run, walk, stumble. drive, or fly, but let us never lose sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way.” ~ Gloria Gaither
Not every path winds through a garden of purple coneflowers, a beautiful sight to enjoy. But every path has its own appeal — sights to see, places to visit, people to greet. Today’s journey may be a stroll through a garden or a walk up and down the aisles of a grocery store.
Today’s journey may be a cross country flight or a walk in the neighborhood. Today’s journey may be a journey in your mind from anxiety to calm, from boredom to engagement, from disappointment to acceptance.
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are. ~ Anne Lamott
Though life’s journey encompasses years, one expereinces those years in months, weeks, days, moments. How are you going to spend these next precious moments?
The JOURNEY card offers inspiration for contemplation, journal writing, perhaps an art activity or a daily practice. How does it inspire you?
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is creating the set of Prairie Wisdom Cards, second in a series of cards based on natural habitats, and used as inspiration for exploration and self-discovery.
Garden Party – Vintage Coneflower © 2013 Bo Mackison
“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in–what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.” Victor Hugo
Coneflowers have quite the joyous attitude, the dancing ballerinas of the prairie. And I love the thought of prairie land at my feet, standing amidst coneflowers swaying in a soft breeze, while stars twinkle in the far beyond.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Her exhibit, Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography, is at the Alicia Ashman Branch Library Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin and runs through September 5, 2013.
