by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, February 2022
First published by Kosmos
Walking in the wetlands I encounter a family of river otters playing in the water, then sliding their sleek bodies onto the land, they tumble over each other in the sand, as a blue heron watches nearby. In their primal world there is neither truth nor falsehood, just life present, unfractured. Once, long ago, we walked in this landscape, were part of this ecology of place... Read More
In this piece I reflect on the limitations of language to describe a pathway to a living future. If we are to read the signs that are already around us we need words born not from our rational mind but the deeper rhythms of the soul and the land. Listen/Read More
A simple spiritual teaching is to live in the moment, the now. Rather than being caught in memories of the past or thoughts of the future we are attentive to the present moment, allowing us to be more aware and participate in life moment by moment. What is less understood is how this quality of presence can open a doorway to a different way of being, of sensing and feeling, that can help us to find a way back to a place of belonging and balance. Listen/Read More
What does it mean to live at the end of an era, and how can we hold the light that is left in this time of rising darkness to find our way towards a living future? We have to hold the threads of love that connect us, and the acts of care and generosity that express this love. Listen/Read More
by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, August 2021
First published by Parabola
We waited through the Winter of the pandemic, wearing masks, hiding from our darker fears. And then Spring came—apple blossom pink, pear blossom white. The wisteria falling lavender-blue over the garden shed, and then the jasmine, a wall of bright white, filling the evening air with sweetness. Here was another story, each year returning, and longed for as the garden comes alive with colors and fragrance… Read More
by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, June 2021
First published by Resilience
Sometimes at night when sleep escapes me I walk along the road beside the bay. The cars are long gone, and there is only the sound of the wind and the egrets squawking in the nearby wetlands. Early this morning I encountered a family of deer watching me in the long grass, before they vanished into the silence. Then I found the blood moon eclipsed through the trees, an elemental mystery that reaches deep into our ancestral memories, before our consciousness was obscured by science and reason. Read More
Summarizing these stories I am trying to turn our attention to a way to walk through this dying land without losing our way, to travel through these seasons from Winter to Spring. We have to tread carefully, walk with awareness, and return to values that support life, that recognize that all life, all creation, is sacred. Listen/Read More
by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, March 2021
First published by Dumbo Feather magazine in Australia
What is the world into which you are walking, and what is the landscape you will pass on to your children and grandchildren? Will it be alive with the truth of the Earth or the false promises of technology, the distortions of social media? What are the stories that will guide you, the communities that will support you? Read More
by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, July 2020
First published in Parabola
The present pandemic, which in a few short months has wreaked havoc across our world, is most likely caused by an imbalance in the natural world, as loss of habitat and biodiversity is not only driving animals to extinction but directly causing animal viruses to spread to humans. In response our leaders are using the images of conflict: “We are at war with Covid 19,” we keep hearing; it is an “invisible enemy” we need to “vanquish.” But although this virus is disrupting our lives, causing sickness, death, and economic breakdown, it is itself a completely natural phenomenon, a living thing reproducing itself in the way nature intended. Are these images of conflict and conquest appropriate or even helpful? Do they help us to understand and to respond, to bring our world back into balance? Read More
by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, May 2020
First published in Parabola
Watching the sun rise over the wetlands, the mist fading, even here in the midst of nature there is the strange stillness of a world in lockdown—waiting, wondering, anxiety, and fear its companions. I am writing these words in the time of the great pandemic, when for a few brief months our world slowed down and almost stopped; when as the stillness grew around us there was a moment to hear another song, not one of cars and commerce, but belonging to the seed of a future our hearts need to hear. Read More
