How I Fell in love
Becoming Artemis
I am jungle girl. Forest fairy. The girl with the horses and the wild hair who never wear shoes. I live in the jungle. It is humid and hot, the mosquitos are buzzing, the rain is pouring. Why did I fall in love.
Photo Credit @elenadelucastudio
Sometimes I think my mood is too intertwined with mother earth’s mood. I feel her. She wakes up in a rage explode into fiery burning days. And then at night when she opens up, when she cries, she cleanses, it rains so hard it is deafening.
I know why. This strong urge to feel free. Run out of my head, my shoes, everything that holds me back ties me in. I get stuck in mind, spiraling swirling thoughts, an endless storm of impressions out of control. I put my bare feet on the earth and I am here. I can be.
I fell in love with the wild beaches filled with driftwood and froth, the pink sunsets and playa grandes black sand. Falling asleep in my jungle house listening to the waves crashing in against the reefs, waking up before dawn to howler monkey roars. I fell in love with riding barefoot and bareback along the beach, sweaty, smiling, covered in sand and ocean salt.
I am Artemis, galloping fast and breathless under the full moon, one with my favourite horse, laughing as she throws her body into jumps of joy. The silent scream for the untamed. Take me home. I need to feel her, the realness of her under my feet. Grass, gravel, finely grinded ocean sand. Jungle mud. Anything.
I am uncontained, free. I walk down these roads until my feet are tough as paws.
A jungle sister used to say this is the heart of the earth. The moon, the stars, everything is more intense. Closer. It is her presence. She is pulsating, breathing. Through the roots of the ancient trees. The sweat dripping down my forehead. I feel her. Here more than anywhere else. The night crickets so so loud you can feel the sound vibrating through you. The most fundamental kind of healing. I am in love and there she is. Standing in the edge of the cold woods I am from. The woods the jungles melting into one. This darkness, this light.
Everytime I sit on a horse with an archery bow in my hand I feel her. Artemis awakening within. Her infinite power and fearlessness. But then I get off my horse and I forget. I need to be reminded. Feel her hot breath. Her calling me in, slowly unfolding under my skin. Howling to the moon, walking silently in dusk on invisible animal paths. Her sharp glimmering eyes looking straight into mine.
I am jungle girl, forest fairy. I run barefoot through the night, I carry a bow. I am Artemis.