Into the Badlands pt. 1

Have you ever fallen in love with a place? A month ago today, I explored the Badlands National Park and was mesmerized by its beauty.








Being there makes you feel like you are on a science fiction movie set, or on another planet, and yet it's all familiar, anciently familiar, surreal even...



I still can't believe I was actually there. Sure, by the time my friends and I arrived there we had little to no sleep because of the long, uncomfortable drive, so we were dazed. Like I woke up from a dream to still be in a dream.





True to legend, the wind was full of singing voices. You can hear them in the corners... the narrow corridors of the mountains. The wind whipped through my clothes and hair, turning me into some strange-blowing-billowing-around-thing.









Every way I looked, the sky was talking, too. Words can't describe it. I could place the experience all into a poem, but it wouldn't sing it out right. I'd have to take you there with me. Showing the photographs, for now, is the only way for me to picture it to you.





Carolyn said, "How can anyone look out at all of this and not believe in a God?" Because God is all around you in this land. Believe or not, it's easy to get swallowed up in it.  As I walked the land, I was dancing, my heart skipping, and I didn't want to leave.  This is the place where the Gods walked.  This is where the spirits talk.  I was quite at home.



Hard not to touch, to pick up some memento, and yet leave it alone, leave it as it is, carry it precious in your heart, and praise, praise, praise this place where the spirits fly free!



I was blessed to be on this journey, one I wasn't sure would happen, one that wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for the kindness of friends who wanted to share it with me. My friend Rebekah in the photo above demonstrates just how vast the Badlands are, how you can get swallowed up in it, body and soul, and come back whole.  Thank you, Carolyn.  Thank you, Rebekah.  Thank you, Goddess, for this blessing.  It was what my heart needed, and yet now my heart aches to look back and remember it and wonder and wish to go back RIGHT NOW.  Today this is the only way I can.  The treasure of photographs...  like owning the land and being able to carry it with you in your pockets.



I was overwhelmed, dreaming out loud, totally in love, moved.







I want to feel that giddyness again. Be like a child and play. Disappear into the land, talk with the spirits, know what it is like to be alive, to take part in the larger world and have no care to return to the mundane.  I want to go back as an artist-in-residence...  live off drawing and painting the land and its peoples, record what the spirits are saying, commune with the wildlife, and keep on experiencing the thrill of being there every day and leave nothing but more beauty behind me after I leave.



I look back at the last picture and recognize an underwater panther frozen in stone, one of the ancient water spirits that once did battle with the thunder spirits for rule of the land. All over the Badlands the remains of ancient species long disappeared are evident, even if you can only see them with your imagination.

I will share more later.  There is still much to explore looking back at the collection of photographs I took during my trip.  I fell in love with the Badlands, fell in love with Deadwood, and am still in love with the Black Hills area overall.  I want to go back.  I keep going back in my dreams.  My heart is only half here since then.