may the waters rise to meet the light

a solstice blessing for fellow water protectors

Dear Reader,

The message below flowed from my heart as I considered solstice and all of you who have your hearts and faces turned toward imperiled water bodies worldwide. I just posted it on Save Our Great Salt Lake’s Instagram, directed to the lake-facing people here in this particular movement. I’m sharing it here because I know it applies to you wherever you are, whoever your beloved water body may be.

Solstice blessings to you and the waters you protect. Thank you for reading. I feel the way in which you are pulling for the planet and all of life. It means the earth to me.

love,

Nan

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Today is solstice.

We celebrate the return of the light as we work to restore the lake. We advocate for not just the lake but all the lives she sustains. For the whole lake, not just half.

The life of Great Salt Lake is inseparable from our own.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for gathering on the lake’s behalf. Thank you for loving Great Salt Lake and for inviting the folks around you to notice her sentient, intelligent presence.

Thank you for celebrating her beauty, Thank you for remembering the birds. Thank you for learning about microbialites and for caring about brine flies. Thank you for becoming brine shrimp!

Thank you for keeping vigil in this time of peril. Thank you for witnessing the whole watershed. Thank you for knowing that wetlands are priceless and irreplaceable. Thank you for honoring Bear River and for demanding NO MORE DAMS. Thank you for loving the Weber, the Jordan, and all the tributaries. For loving every drop of precip that falls into the lake.

Thank you for writing comments, signing petitions, and engaging lawmakers. Again and again and again because that’s what it takes.

Thank you for your science and poetry, for your advocacy and your art. Thank you for seeing that everyone is needed and that everything we do matters. Thank you for knowing there’s no such thing as too small a part.

Thank you for buoying each other in the effort. Thank you for shining like a beacon in the dark. Thank you for creating a rising tide of courage. Thank you for instigating, persisting, and staying with the long game. Thank you for devoting your broken heart.

We love you. We see you. We’re so glad we have each other.

May we feel refreshed by the lengthening days. May we rest well and be rejuvenated.

May the lake be replenished in response to our great devotion.

May her waters rise to meet the light.