Vermont—a spiritual place somewhere between heaven and earth

Mountain Meditation
By Marguerite Jill Dye
Mom always said, “Vermont is heaven on earth,” and I feel as if I’m between heaven and earth in Vermont. I was pulling wilted wave petunias off flower box bouquets when a red-spotted purple butterfly fluttered my way, dancing around me with jet black wings with intricate blue designs on the inside and orange patterns on the outside. Mom said she’d communicate through butterflies and sunsets. I knew she was whispering, “Hello.” As hummingbirds dart to and fro I can hear Mom’s laughter and sense her delight. When I touch wooden walls of the dream house Dad built, I feel his presence in this magical home of happy memories and connections that soothes souls, brings people together, and provides a place where animals retreat.
Just before the tail end of Louisiana’s wind and rain storm hit here, I jumped out of bed to follow my premonition to move the car away from the trees. During the night I heard a loud boom and felt a jolt. The next morning Duane found a maple from across our little brook had cracked in half, hit the flower box and deck, and was resting atop the bent-over white birch we’d planted in Dad’s memory. The fallen tree’s force would have obliterated the flower box and damaged the deck had Dad’s little white birch not broken its fall. Our car would have been dented had I not heeded my hunch.
I recently decided to consciously follow my intuition more often. I’m glad I did. What is intuition, anyway? That small voice from our higher selves or perhaps from our angels or God? Is following intuition an act of faith in a higher power that alerts and informs? My intuition often leads to calling or writing a friend who needs something I can offer right then; to proposing an idea (like this column) where I hope to share inspiring thoughts, insights, and information; to getting involved or taking a stand on something I believe in; to doing whatever I can to help restore hope and healing.
You see, I truly believe that we are one. We are one with our universe, with the Divine, and with one another. Joy or sorrow experienced by another adds to our happiness or suffering, whether next door or on the other side of the earth. When we reach out to help one another, a sacred power reaches out to touch us as well. We are one, each with an inner spark that burns brightly, dimly, or is close to extinguishing, in need of the shared light that renews our enthusiasm (God within) and will to live.
We have so much to gain from our unity and action on behalf of one another, and so much to lose when pitted against one another in disharmony, letting “isms” lead the way: antagonism, obstructionism, separatism, racism, nationalism, fanaticism. We need less “ism” and more “ness”—joyfulness, kindness, thoughtfulness, wholeheartedness, forgiveness, oneness.
They say that by creating more peace in our hearts by spending time in nature, doing things we love, being with people we love, and through meditation and prayer, we raise the vibration in ourselves, our families, homes, communities, country, and world. Heaven knows we need more of that in our crazy world, but we have an advantage: we live in Vermont. So let’s take a moment to be still and find our inner peace. Just like a smile, a peaceful countenance is contagious. Let’s spread it around our magnificent state where we live—somewhere between heaven and earth.
Marguerite Jill Dye shares her time between homes in Vermont and Florida. Dye follows her mother, a poet and musician, as she is herself an author, poet, and painter in the Killington Arts Guild Gallery and the Vermont branch of the National League of American Pen Women.