The easter egg concept – “hidden surprises, easter egg hunts, secret features or messages or clues, …, new life, rebirth and fertility… or the Christian story of resurrection and miracles?”
I feel this life is one big miracle! The more I really listen, really see, really taste, really feel… the more miraculous the mundane becomes. And the more perfect the chaos becomes.
Embarking on this journey in February 2024, it hadn’t yet become the adventure that was waiting for me – I hadn’t let it! I left home entangled in safety nets of my own creation, with a return ticket and a long list of “shoulds”. It is so clear to me now that it was long before I left South African soil that the easter eggs had been hidden along my path. It’s amazing how such bright and colourful easter eggs hidden in plain sight can be so difficult for us to see… or at least for us to truly see them for what they are… if we are not yet ready. My 2027 expiration date in my passports and my conversation with Jono in Newlands forest comes to mind.
Sri Lanka welcomed me with soft, gentle, open arms (and similar waves)… while my intention was to surf all-day-everyday, mother earth had other plans for me, sending me inland on a poor surf forecast. My “surprising” connection with Lachie feels like an extended easter egg hunt riddled with secret clues and messages. From the analysis of my relationship as a “contract”, to welcoming the exploration of all aspects of self: especially those suppressed in a ridiculous attempt at perfection, to reminding me that the world is big and full of endless options, to stepping out of my box and challenging my ego, to talking about the potential of working in Australia as crazy (when it is currently where I see myself headed)… so many eye-catching easter eggs that were becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Indonesia dragged me along her reefs, tested my courage, challenged my breath holds, scared me, humbled me, and grew me… with scars to show for it and no where to hide. Sometimes easter eggs can be sharp and decorated in sea urchins that will haunt your toes forever… sometimes they will wear 3 pieces of headgear at a time but more about that later. As the ocean made me peal back more and more layers of fear… the layers of fear, the core of fear, that had landed me in compromised dreams and an incorrect relationship started to fall away too. Previously ignored easter eggs were starting to snap their fingers in my ears… how could I have ignored the “is this all contextual? convenient? good on paper?” hunch. After all, the secret to surfing any wave, including and particularly the wave of life, is to BE where you are and look where you want to go… not “where you hope not to end up” and then use that as a land mark to run away from.
A moment comes to mind: star-fished on my back on almost dry reef, having just scored a fast bowly left that perhaps with more skill on my part could have ended up being a pretty epic tube… but for me was a pretty epic wipe out after a failed attempt to pull in as it curled over on the inside section. I felt so alive in the extreme rush of union with ocean but also very much exposed, vulnerable and at the mercy of her wildness as she pulsed towards me. The duality of feelings of both alignment and fear couldn’t help but make me think that there was an aspect of my life that was veering off the path I was designed for. It begged me to look at myself with honesty – to make sure that I am acting on behalf of every single part of me, every single cell, every single truth.
Once arriving in Aotearoa NZ, finally ending my relationship properly, settling into a beautiful raglan community of friends, coming home to my vipassana practice, falling in love with a beautiful, magical, sexy, silly, colourful swedish man… things started to really feel in FULL alignment – FULL power. It is as if the cosmic clock struck and I was exactly where I had to be with no where to go and no one to be. The hole through which skywoman fell becoming not only a conduit of lifegiving nourishing sunbeams but also a cosmic shower of thousands upon thousands of colourful easter eggs, to act as moment to moment guidance… reminding me of this magical path, this magical life of miracles, love, connection and deep heart-in-belly gratitude.
Travelling south from raglan has been one long easter egg hunt, with very little hunting and much more receiving. A strong sense of nourishment, of being held, of being provided for has been the theme of my time in NZ and has stayed true on this journey out of the nest that was raglan and into the beautiful unknown. With magical easter eggs scattered along the way, I am reminded of the “omens” that guided the shepherd boy in “The Alchemist” and I know I am on the right path.
Easter eggs in the form of community, womanhood, beautiful ocean waves, Koha offerings, rainbows, festivals, bright shiny people, words full of love, giggles full of connection, platonic affection, gentle touch, volunteer connections, “bad” weather, old CD’s at sunset, cacao ceremonies at sunrise, skinny dips, mountain conversations with new friends and trees, moss that whispers hello, raindrops like jewels, menstrual cycles like seasons, new song lyrics, beautiful book recommendations, reading out loud, vans in ditches, snakes rising from the earth, 7 decades complete and normalising death… and then the most vibrant, brightly coloured easter egg of all – bursting at the seems with love – walked towards me at the airport.
I guess his being there was not a “surprise” in the way one would expect. He had booked a flight and I had driven south to collect him. But the way I felt, he felt, we felt, it all felt in that moment of re-union was so intense, other-worldly, unprecedented, cosmic, psychedelic and magical… that it feels completely appropriate to describe this experience as a “surprise”… a cosmic surprise… a clue… or as Ram Das would say “the next message”.
“The next message”… from this love explosion all I can interpret is “do this”, “be this”, “love this person now”, “love this moment”, “this person, loving them, this is your next message”… what to do with this? I guess the only thing to do is to love fiercely, bravely, boldly, honestly, completely.
This month with Joakim has been just that. So much love, so freely given, so gratefully received. So much adoration, respect, wonder, awe. Like we explore the land with our feet and our hands… like we explore the ocean with our skin… I feel I am exploring his being as a whole new universe colliding with mine. The more time goes by the more I sink beneath his planet’s crust and towards his core… his heart: soft, gentle, big, kind, open, honest. No one is perfect but as he moves, grows, learns… I feel that I wholeheartedly trust that he is moving in the direction of alignment… and that is beautiful and amazing to witness. How amazing that when my heart faltered for a moment, with too much input from my mind, it took him just 2 words to reveal a life time of self-understanding and also remind me that my heart is safe to love him now, safe in love with him now, safe to be one with his heart here and now. It is my “next message” to love him and I am so grateful to the earth, the cosmos, the stars, the planets, the sun, the moon, the divine creator/creative energy that Joakim has been delivered to me, placed along my path, to love with my whole heart. That’s the curriculum and I am so grateful for it. What a beautiful easter egg.
So today on easter sunday as we part ways for a while, it is time for this particular easter egg hunt to conclude… as now our eyes have learnt to see more clearly: to see how the universe is constantly providing for us – providing everything we have ever needed up until this point and everything we will ever need. I feel so inspired and nourished by this easter egg hunt… this treasure hunt gifted to me by life. It has made me feel like a child of the earth, mothered and supported and held and fed. An now full to the brim with love, I feel primed to give back, serve and share the love, the stoke and the joy!
Happy easter.
…and now our hearts are one <3
Leave a Reply