Nature as Mythic Healer: My Journey into the Heart of the Universe

I set off not knowing how long this trip would be or when it would end, where I would stay, or who I would meet; my only purpose was to face and nurture my pain in the loving embrace of nature.

I kept hearing people say “Travels with Charlie, huh?” And it was true, partly. Like Steinbeck, I did just lose my wife of almost 16 years, but in a loving, heartbreaking separation. I closed my practice, bought a camper, packed my dog, Bruce Moses, and gear into the truck, and headed off for a travel pilgrimage across America that had no foreseeable end. Right before leaving Boise I bought “The Wildwood Tarot,” a new deck that was aimed at bringing out the forest archetypes from my own psyche, while teaching me respect for the great Mystery found within nature. There was no way to predict that this journey would not only take me into the healing heart of the forest, but would teach me the ultimate lesson in love: I’ve always wanted to be a mystic; it only took losing my wife to take God as a lover.