“Just ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you …”                                

Job 12:7-8

As I sat in the gathered assembly for the 2023 EcoFaith Summit in Duluth, “The Pollinator Plot: Cross+Pollination in a Time of Ecological Crisis”, I turned to my standard practice of doodling while listening.  It helps me to remember what was spoken of, and so I can recall the speakers and discussions from looking at my doodles.  This one got a little out of hand.

As I listened to the keynote speaker, entymologist Margot Monson, one of the things I heard  was that dandelions are some of the first foods for bees. (She also taught me to leave the leaves until I SEE the bees.)  So in my doodle a dandelion was drawn, albeit a little stylized.  Ladybugs are a favorite, climbing on their little leaves, so they crept in.  Of COURSE there are bees, and as I drew the rough form, the Celtic Trinity knot made sense in their wings.  

I love lilacs, and listening to Old Medicine, I recalled making a lilac sorbet, and the deep and profound peace I found in every bite, how healing that was for me.  Lilacs have an ephemeral nature. They cannot be forced, cannot be cultivated to grow out of their season, and their season is so dependent upon the world around them. The bees share these properties, so my bees are feasting upon lilacs.  The next ring out is the hibiscus flower, which I have indoors and out to tempt the red-spectrum seeing creatures into my little slice of the world.  

Monarch butterflies were loud and proud, but I cannot draw milkweed from memory, so the butterflies made a beautiful addition to my doodles.    Lest we forget that there are pollinators beyond the insect world, the hummingbirds and the bats are also pollinators (albeit not our beautiful little guys in the Upper Midwest, I did have them in my yard in Australia).  

My hummingbirds are approaching the Mandevilla plant that I hang next to their feeders, so they have a nice spot to rest, flowers to see and sip if they would like, and an extra boost from me, in their red bottles.   The sun and the moon are important parts of the interconnected pollination process.  The big blue stripe is water and the thin one above is the sky, a la Genesis and God’s speaking creation into being.

Every single of these beings is my neighbor, and probably yours.  Bringing them into a circle, a mandala proceeded naturally, although cleaning it up and doing it digitally after figuring it out with pencil and paper, made it prettier.  "Mandala" is Sanskrit for "Circle" and is a spiritual symbol representing all aspects of life.  Each mandala has its own unique story and meaning, based on each individual's journey, which this most certainly is represented here. 

God said “It is good.”   Everything is so interconnected! The  experience at the EcoFaith Summit 2023 led to a visualization of both of these tenets of faith, an attempt to live in right relationship with God, ourselves, and our neighbors, all of them, from mycelium to humankind.