#10 Lu ䷉, #11 T'ai ䷊, #12 P'i ䷋, #13 T'ung Jen ䷌
On Monday, 25 May, I walked Lu (Treading). Treading on the tiger’s tail. Lu pairs the highest and the lowest in the hierarchy, father (sky) and youngest daughter (lake). Our powerful creative selves permit my our joyful, playful selves. Our higher selves recognize our lower selves. How do binaries not erase us? I can stand on my head and watch as my serious self invites my lighter self and she is not offended. But my spirit and my lizard abhor one another and are both ashamed.
I felt strong walking off, committed. Content to be walking. I smiled. Wantastiquet and Daniels and Bear met me easily. I took breaks at Mine Ledges, Moon Ledges and Bear Bench. I ate banana bread sandwiches with cream cheese spread and pineapple pepperoni pizza. Garlic croutons.
I walked 25 miles to Tupelo Swamp in Horatio Colony Preserve. Mile 15-25 is highland swamp. I was hoping to make the viewpoint at the top of the hill above Highway 12, thinking there might be some air air, but I didn’t make it. I quit at 9:30pm at interpretive sign #16 where I was eaten alive all night long by mosquitoes.
I did not bring a tent as there was no rain predicted and I wanted to save the weight. I did not bring bug spray, as I am obstinate. I brought a net hat, a sleeping bag and a ground cloth. I did not sleep for the buzzing sounds, but waited and waited for dawn.
I did not bring a tent as there was no rain predicted and I wanted to save the weight. I did not bring bug spray, as I am obstinate. I brought a net hat, a sleeping bag and a ground cloth. I did not sleep for the buzzing sounds, but waited and waited for dawn.
#11 T'ai (Peace) Earth over sky
At dawn on Tuesday I walked north to a stream where I collected twigs for a fire for tea and smoked the mosquitoes out. I ate a pot of noodle soup. This took one and a half hours. My tea meditation is a miniature version of “chop wood, haul water.” I fed the stove to heat stream water as I was out and needed to hydrate. I would fill my water bag in Keene, at the co-op, 4 miles east. As soon as I departed Horatio Colony and was on the Cheshire Rail-Trail, the world was bug free and at peace. Peace! Earth over Sky. I would not know for 4 days about George Floyd.
The rail-trail is lined with flowering honeysuckle, yellow and pink. People out walking, bicycling, horseback riding, playing golf. New Hampshire is 93% white and 1.7% black. There is space to walk and read and think, and breathe. Heaven places itself under earth. Things only seem to be in accord. Flow and flower.
#12 P'i (Standstill/Stagnation) Earth over sky
I stirred at 5am as two men crested the summit cap of Monadnock, “Sorry we woke you,” followed by two women with music lightly playing. Others were already on the summit, awaiting sunrise—kids, adults, dogs. As the sun rose up, I gathered my things and descended. I wanted to get in some miles before the day heated up. It was forecast to be in the 90s. I reversed my steps and turned off Royce Trail to a sweet island in a stream near highway 12. I spent 2 hours there making tea and miso soup before hiking over Gap Mountain and into through Troy where I filled my water bottles and got another ice-cream cone. I took a stream bath along the way to cool down. The long flat rail-trail to Keene is flat and, as before, I saw very few people along the way. Only two pairs of cyclists. Forest workers, in massive trucks, were still felling and hauling fresh trees. Who needs toilet paper?!
After a 33-mile day, I rolled out my sleeping bag in Pisgah State Park in a grassy spot where two trails meet near a beaver pond. The bug repellant and long sleeves and bug hat did nothing to protect me. It was too hot to be in a down bag, but where else could I go? I adjusted myself and my garments continuously into every possible position to deter the bloodsuckers, but could not. I could not sleep for the noise of them. I could not sleep for the heat. Then a snort from the woods. A buck. Sorry. I am here and I cannot move though I cannot sleep. Please find another way. Another snort from the woods. This trail provides access for the deer coming to drink from the lake.
With a hint of light in the sky, I got up and walked, unhappily, west through the swamps, fending off the mosquitoes. The repellant and long sleeves and bug hat did nothing. Nothing. They bit through my cotton dress. To stop for one second to adjust something, sip water, take a photo, drew the mosquito cloud wafting behind me forward. I washed in every stream, lowered my head between cool wet rocks, my whole body in small pools. My skin was glistening with sweat again in minutes. Not until I was out of Pisgah on Bear Mt, 6 miles from Brattleboro, did the mosquitoes quit. With the elevation and breeze, they abated. I sat on Bear Bench and Moon Ledges to snack then hiked east over Daniels. I didn’t bother with Mine Ledges and went straight over Wantastiquet into Brattleboro. The mountain azaleas covering Wantastiquet are blooming. Rosy skirts!
I arrived home to a world, not different, not new, but flaring and hopefully preparing to change. Flowing towards heaven. Heaven on earth. How can I do this work and report about it given George Floyd, given every black body that is looted in America? How can I do this work and report about it given police violence perpetrated on peaceful protesters protesting police violence and the violent murder of George Floyd and so many other black men and women in America?
After returning from Greensboro, NC to Brattleboro, VT in March 2020, after beginning to undergo my own anti-racist training, after working on the LOVE LINE, 2020, how can I now not continue and walk the I Ching? I am grappling with this?
