Mushrooms, Miracles, and Becoming Porous

Mushrooms are communicators. Connecting through the vast, underground network of mycelium that stretches beneath the soil, it serves as a complex web of communication for the whole forest. This network is a living conduit of nutrient dense linguistics. Through its mysterious ministry, the spirit of the mushroom becomes our guide in connecting to the Divine, the deep well of energy that links us to the vastness of existence. The Divine, (whether we call it God, Goddess, the Universe, Source) is an infinite reserve of wisdom and creative life force energy. 

This connection to the Divine is more than a link to something greater than ourselves; it is the lifeblood that sustains our spiritual well-being, the ancient rhythm pulsing through the hollows of our bones. When we are tapped into this energy, we might feel that we are filled with purpose, clarity, and bolstered when facing life's challenges. However, when this connection weakens, we may feel disoriented, drained, and disconnected from our true path.

The pursuit of and reconnection with this energy has the power to transform what once seemed impossible into the possible, and what was once resisted in fear, into a trusting surrender. It is a return to the essence of who we are, a reminder that within us lies the capacity to co-create the shape of our reality. Contrary to our cultural belief system, it is not about having, possessing, achieving, or gaining anything that re-establishes this connection. 

Restoring our longing for the sacred will resacralize our life. 

Doesn't it change things, to think of a mushroom not just as a small thing on the forest floor, but as a being, as an encounter? To see the forest itself not just as a collection of trees, but as a gathering of wise elders? When we can open a window in our mind, the light of wonder will pour in and we are bathed in Divine energy. 

One way the mushroom does its work is by breaking down all that is dead and decayed and alchemizing it into nutrients for new growth. Making porous the barrier between all things, so the most essential can continue, while what is not needed is released and recycled. The mushroom has this same pedagogy when we avail ourselves to its teaching. All we have to do is open ourselves up to it. 

Cultivating this porousness is soul work, retraining the modern mind shaped by separation and dry logic, and remoistening the riverbed of the soul with curiosity. It’s not about figuring things out or explaining away the strange small miracles, but about building the capacity to not turn away from them. And maybe even, to move closer. 

It’s about unarmoring the heart and becoming more permeable (and of course, more vulnerable), to recognize the rich entanglements we share with other lives. That the boundaries between things are not as solid as they seem, and to become willing to take a risk so that something that might otherwise pass us, might be invited in. 

There is power in such porousness — a heightened ability to become receptive to the unseen and be in sacred conversation with the images, symbols, and dreams that are guiding you from beyond what is known. The more porous we become, the more we can hear the voice of the Divine. 

The question is one of fidelity. How to keep your heart open when the world gives you so many reasons to harden it into protective armor. How to listen for and abide in the guidance of the Divine, whispering to you through the filtered light of trees. To surrender to the power of compassionate curiosity and offer the fullness of attention that leaves us so wide open, so easily undone by the beauty of specks of dust caught in a sunbeam. 

Einstein said there are only two ways to live: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is. 

I far prefer a world where everything is a miracle, even on the days it takes conscious choice rather than a natural one, to believe that the sunset, the dancing fireflies, the full orange moon, and the mushrooms, are whispering with the voice of the Divine directly into the ears of my heart, singing a song of hope and belonging. To wrap myself in a cloak of stars, and become one with the night, where everything is connected, and everything is a miracle.