This is What the Land Told Me
written by: Kristi Derkacy
In a place called ‘nowhere’
but who remembers Her own Name
in her native tongue,
the leylines meet and converge;
an exchange of memory and seed,
energy and change
is passed along here
in the veins of Mother Earth’s body.
And I lay down here
to try my mind at remembering
who my Ancestors were
how they walked
how they talked
how they did Joy
and gave praise
and what their Magick was.
Like a call and response
on the rise of
a forgotten song,
this is what the Land told me.
She said:
‘Do not worry about how you will walk;
you carry the grace and gravity
of a million stories.
From this, some days
your shoulders will stoop,
your heart may close.
So it is when
past, present, future
converge in one Spirit.
You don’t remember our language
but it remembers you,
and it calls you by your ancient Name,
Holy One.
The Grandmothers may speak to you in dreams
but mostly they will speak in laughter,
in one long dance,
in the feelings that you get
while you traverse the Earth realm.
Joy is with you,
Daughter of Daughters
for as long as you have
a prayer in your Heart
and the Poetry in your Soul.
As long as you weave voices
and blend narratives
and make art with words,
you will know this Joy.
It will spread out over the Land
and touch each piece and part.
And our praise will echo back to you
in the form of a million voices.
Some will be strangers—
moments when you lock eyes
and see the Spirit of another,
times with your Divine Lover,
healing in the eyes of your Children.
The old bonds will break
and ease will come
and we will dance.
Our magick moves on a breath;
on a gentle wind
in the scent of flowers
in the red caps of medicinal mushrooms
in the worlds you speak
in the touch you give.
Your touch is sacred Magick
and you’re have all of us
and our Earth Mother,
Oldest Ancestor of all,
in your Love,
in your Heart,
in your Presence.’
When I rose,
I knew I had traveled deep;
past the rocks and the bones,
past the sacred waters
and the heat and life-giving fires
to the core of the Heart
of our Matriarch Eternal.
And from her,
I rebirth again,
sweeter and wilder,
more blessed and beautiful
than before.
And when I looked at my hands—
all the veins that carry
the blood of my Blood
and the DNA of memory,
I saw a map of these leylines,
from which I was not separate
but part of an ancient continuum
‘Now you know,’
the Land told me
‘and like me,
you will never forget.’
- This is What the Land Told Me - June 19, 2025
