Deaf Pagan Crossroads

This is the first in a series of posts I am writing about my experiences at Kirby Cove. Be sure to check back here at the Crossroads often, as I continue to write and post my thoughts related to this sacred site and the lessons it had to teach me.

This past Saturday I finally got a chance to actually get out and see a little of San Francisco… namely a very special place called Kirby Cove.

Kirby Cove nestles in the foot of the Marin Headlands just west of the Golden Gate Bridge. The steep, mile-long trail down to the cove descends through a grove of eucalyptus, cypress, and pine trees leading down to a small beach where one can stand and look out over the waters of both the Pacific Ocean on your right, and San Francisco Bay on your left. In addition, you get a beautiful view of the bridge itself.

I wasn’t there alone. Accompanying me was another Virginia – Virginia Anderson, who goes by “Ginny” and is also known as Freyja in the Pagan Community. I met Ginny when I attended her workshop at PantheaCon, entitled “Circling San Francisco Bay,” in which she talks about the many spiritual places that exist in the Bay Area.

Indeed, Kirby Cove is one such place…and it was for this reason that Ginny suggested we go there.

Based upon the positive vibes that I had gotten from her during the P-Con workshop, I had contacted Ginny asking if perhaps we could meet. I was still struggling with some of the issues which have been haunting me since I first arrived in California (see my post on such - “Meeting With the Stag” – here at the Crossroads), and seeking some healing.

It turns out that Ginny is an ecopsychologist who holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University, and has also taught and counseled at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology (among other places).  Along with such academic credentials, she also taps into a vast knowledge and experience with shamanism, feminist spirituality, meditation and trancework, myth and ritual to help people gain a better understanding of themselves.

Ecopsychology – which also goes by such names as psychoecology, environmental psychology, green therapy, earth-centered therapy, shamanic counseling, and nature-based psychotherapy – is the connecting of psychology and ecology. It bases its concept on the idea that while the human mind is shaped by the modern social world, it can be readily inspired and comforted by the wider, natural world…because this is the arena in which we as human beings originally evolved.  Ecopsychology explores the different ways we can link and bond with nature, and the importance of doing so. For this reason, most ecopsychologists take their therapeutic practices out of office buildings and into the open…meeting in woods, parks, gardens, grassy meadows, and the like.

Ecopsychology has to do with the fact that we are more than our separate selves.  All life is inter-twined; everything we need comes from the Earth itself – and human beings are an integral part of that web of life. Most peoples’ lives take place in cities, in offices, away from any direct contact with the natural world; any resolution about our place in the scheme of things is only second-hand unless we actually walk on the earth, touch and smell, feel and learn how to experience the web of life directly.

~ Ginny Anderson

It was for this reason that Ginny and I were at Kirby Cove – not merely because it’s a beautiful place to spend a Saturday afternoon; but it was also an important and powerful place to begin a journey of self-exploration…a journey of healing…a journey of experiencing that web of life.

After navigating my way north on Highway 580, over the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, and through the quaint little town of Sausalito, I arrived at Golden Gate Recreational Area, where I met Ginny…who was quite relieved to see me, having worried that I might have gotten lost and ended up on the Golden Gate Bridge heading towards San Francisco (an easy thing to do, if you’re not careful!) It was a blustery, somewhat chilly day so I was happy for the warm, waterproof jacket I had brought along. All bundled up and wearing my hiking boots, with a backpack slung over my shoulder, I joined Ginny in making the trek down to the cove itself.

As we began our hike, I paused to look out over the view, which was gorgeous. Ginny pointed out that the hilly cliffs overseeing Kirby Cove were much like the thighs of the Earth Mother, spread wide open:

Parted for what purpose? Maybe to participate in the life-sustaining birthing process…

Arise and come into me, for I am the soul of nature, who gives life to the universe. From me all things are born, and into me all things must return.

Or perhaps simply to engage in the ecstatic joy of celebrating one’s sexuality, as a direct expression of the life force…

Let my worship be in the heart that rejoices; for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.

Click here to go to Part Two of this on-going series of my Healing By the Bay: Examining the Layers