For the last few weeks Ive been sailing around the Great Barrier reef with my son and his partner in their catamaran that they recently purchased for a dollar. (thats another story) I didn’t bring any sacrament as I wanted to use this time to integrate the experience of oneness I have felt in ceremony. The Great Barrier Reef is a string of hundreds of islands and coral reefs that stretch off the eastern waters of Australia for a few thousand miles. I set off around the middle region, sailing southwards, to avoid the cyclone season.

Our second  anchorage was a sheltered bay with a small island headland. I said and set my intention with nature and all of creation that I wanted to connect deeply and feel the oneness with all of life. I often like a little erb to take me out of my thinking mind and open me to the energies of nature.

I paddled to shore and soon connected with a grove of pandanus palms. I touched my forehead to one of them feeling their combined energy and ancient connection with that space. I could feel them acknowledging me, acknowledging them. They felt grateful for our connection and that a human wanted to connect with them on this level. I remembered the special connection and reactivation I had with a pandanus palm days after my first encounter with Toad about four and a half years earlier.

I continued up the headland where a grove of Norfolk pine trees have taken a foothold on the rocky island outcrop. I touched my third eye to a large tree connecting to the group consciousness of all the trees in that region. I could feel their majestic energy and their ancient connection to that space.

I made my way to the west of the island as the sun was setting. I could feel the sun calling, or maybe it was just me wanting to connect. The sun was about 20 minutes from setting so I could look straight into it and drop in as I have done for years now. I felt my cloths as a filter, blocking this connection so I stripped naked so there was just me and the sun. I let go into the state of oneness, into that no mind state that the sacrament shows us. I merged and connected with the sun, feeling its cosmic rays soaking into me, grounding me into the island headland and sending me soaring at the same time.

Our next anchorage’s was a rocky island bay. While walking along the beach, which was really just large ground down rocks, I noticed something that looked like a fossilised tree root weaving through the rocks. I determined it may be a raised river of limestone made from coral and a fresh water creek over thousands of years. I started feeling the energy from the rounded rocks covering the beach as ancient entities rolling, rumbling and rounding on the beach over time. I started stacking some of these round shaped rocks on top of each other and found I could balance them with an uncanny ease. The rocks seem to be talking to me and allowing me to find their symmetry.  I laid on the hot rocks feeling their energy then gazed and connected to the setting sun. I let go into the light of the sun and could feel the sense of I, dissolve, similar to what I feel with the sacrament.

The next stunning anchorage was by a white sandy beach with fringing coral reef. I dived over with my free diving gear on and started to enjoy the diverse colourful reef fish. A tiny bright orange fish about an inch long swam right in front of me and began riding the slip stream of the glass on my goggles. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing right in front of my eyes. It soon disappeared. As I sat their contemplating if this fish was intentionally wanting to connect with me I said to it with my mind “ Ok I see you, if you really want to connect come back and do that again. I started to swim and swish there it was again. This fish seemed like a representative from the fish consciousness that had come to connect with me in a way that I would have to take notice. It soon swam off. I was left wondering if what just happened was a common occurrence for these little fish and I questioned if I just construct this greater senecio of connection in my mind.

Later that day during another dive I was chasing and playing with some colourful fish when a small purple dotted stingray came shooting straight underneath me and stopped dramatically between me and the fish. It had a huge and powerful energy. It seemed in a defensive mode as if to say, are you hassling my fish friends and why are you here. I stated with my mind that I was just playing and I meant no harm. It automatically did a strange side ways swim just using the very tips of its wings. I followed the ray sending it my love and clear intention that I meant no harm. It then took off at lightning speed like a ufo. I was left completely stunned like Id just met sting ray energy for the first time. It was like a warlock of the sea and energy guardian for those who could truly feel it. This encounter left me seeing stingrays in a totally different light and wondering if others had felt this specific expression of stingray energy.

  

Our next anchorage was at Percy Islands, in a small estuary surrounded by mangroves. I paddled through the majestic mangroves on my kayak to a clearing where I walked and then saw 2 sea eagles circling above me. I stopped and faced them with my arms out sending love and connection. They circled me for a while and could feel them seeing and acknowledging me. I reflected to a previous journey where I felt I was having a deep focused moment with a kookaburra only to see him dive out of the tree and grab a lizard in his beak. I recognised that my challenge is to allow my thinking mind to get out of the way and allow whatever is wanting to come through to come through without any thought or judgement. So I considered, that rather than the eagles connecting with me on a deep spiritual level, they may have been just been catching a thermal above me and that was all it was and I was ok with that.

It wasn’t long till I was back in the clear waters following and playing with colourful fish. When free diving you are constantly aware of being a visitor in other beings territory. Fish are constantly aware of you, making determinations if you are a threat or friend. So I constantly sent messages out there that I was no threat and I just wanted to play. I could feel some fish relax a little when my intentions were clear. I would sometime chase them then turn around as if ignoring them and they would follow me. This dynamic shifted occasionally when I saw a coral trout or similar tasty fish and thought of them as food rather than friends.

We had a nice 10-15 knot northerly so we set sail for the Duke islands. As we past the first deserted island we spotted some deer grazing on the hill. Deer are not native to Australia and were introduced during early colonisation days by the Navy along with goats on Percy island. I paddled to shore on the kayak around sunset and straight away could feel many deers eyes upon me. As I walked closer to a group of 3, sending them my love and desire to connect the elder deer made a barking sound as if to say he was not interested to connect. Rather than force myself on them I took this as a message to just leave them alone. I walked along a beach and up the headland where a large buck spotted me and I could see he was a bit nervous about this intruder on his island.

We were about 30 meters apart. We both froze. This was a big buck, with a large, multi pronged antler and a body weight about 3 times my own. If it wanted too, it could charge, ram, stomp and most certainly, kill me. After having that thought, I realised it was fear based and I quickly let it go. I trusted and wanted connection not separation and knew there was no room for fear in this equation. It let out a loud barking sound that I read as a warning to the rest of the heard that there could be danger present. It also felt like a message to me, to look out and not to do anything threatening. I dropped deep into full presence, that moment, usually in transition between worlds, where I feel connected to everything and know that telepathy between all beings is possible. I let my mind relax and let go of control and thought. We were in a steadfast gaze, locked into a deep awareness of each others energy in deep presents.

Without thinking about it too much, I dropped into opening and allowing unconditional love to flow from me to the buck. I could feel the consciousness of the dear and how it perceived me though its eyes and instinct and felt its full present in the moment. I felt to open my arms to the big buck to make a gesture of opening. My mind was still present. I felt the deer perceiving this action as me making myself bigger and more threatening so I brought my hands down into prayer position then held them over my heart again allowing unconditional love to flow. We held a steadfast gaze for what felt like 5 eternal minutes. I could feel it had never met a human like me before and it was a little confused, yet I did sense that it could feel my intentions and relaxed a little. He eventually broke our gaze and ran up and over the hill.

I walked up the hill to enjoy the sunset and allow its last rays to enter me. I sat on a rock facing the sun and began to consciously breath and drop in. I let the sun know that I am open to receiving its high vibrations. Then a message came into my mind “I am always sending you high vibrational frequencies yet your body is still too dense to receive them. You need to clean your temple and still your mind so you can receive them.” I was a little shocked at the clarity of this message and from where it seemed to come from. I made a vow that I would do what was being asked. I thanked the sun for its existence and the juice it gives me and all of life. I reflected on the sun being a physical expression of the creative force we experience with Toad and could feel other sun worshippers through time.

I walked further up the hill to see the most beautiful beaches and headland I think I have ever seen. Gazing at its wonder I heard a deer bark just behind me. I followed it a little to see a herd of about 20 deer. When the big buck barked again and everyone looked up, I was just sitting on a rock sending love. Some were intrigued by my presence yet I felt the message was received that I am no threat and after a quick look, most of the deers just continued grazing.

Ok, so what is my conclusion from all this? There is another reality  out there that some of us have experienced for fleeting moments with the sacrament. It is an experience of being one with the creator and all creation, to a depth that no-one could imagine. Nature in its magnificent presence can show and offer us keys of understanding. This expression of creation is all around us everyday yet most have adopted a consensus reality that is designed to limit and even deny our connection to source. Through stilling the monkey mind, cleaning our temple, opening our heart and consciously choosing love, we can experience this connection everyday. Toad/5 gives us a glimpse of this  connection, now it’s up to us to do the work to keep the channel open and be the best expression of a human being we can be.