The Cycle of Remembering: One to Five at Dyke Marsh

I. The Place of Remembering: One

Nature is a place of remembering— where we have come from, how much we have evolved, and how much we have yet to learn.

As I walk through Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, I wonder: why does this primal landscape hold me so completely? Why does the pulse of the Earth steady my own?

Perhaps it does not think as we do— does not wrestle with Dewey’s theories or echo Vygotsky’s scaffolding of thought. It does not spend time imagining the tender stories of Robin Wall Kimmerer, nor carry in curiosity the wonder-filled love of Rachel Carson.

And yet— The marsh remembers. It holds its knowing in roots and feathers, in scales and shifting tides. Its wisdom does not need words.

II. Noticing the Pattern: Seeing Two

Two butterflies—wings catching the light, spiraling, weaving, whispering of partnership. Two snakes—silent ribbons through the reeds, and then a third. It took the naming of the third for me to see the pattern, to feel the weight of recognition. Awareness is summoned by the act of noticing.

Each time a snake appeared, so did she— the woman who first alerted us, her voice a thread pulling us to attention. She had never seen a snake in these woods before, yet now, they revealed themselves in her presence. As if the act of witnessing called them into being.

Two eagles—majestic silhouettes against the sky, soaring alone, yet never truly apart. Their cries echo, sharp as wisdom.

Two fairy portals—moss-framed doorways, thin veils between worlds, reminders that not all things must be seen to be real.

Two is the number of partnerships. The grounding energy of a number that says, 'Singularity is made visible in Plurality'. We come to know ourselves more deeply through our connections with others.

III. The Power of Three: Transformation and Friction

But three—three is the moment of revelation. The unseen made visible, the pattern made whole. It is the shift from knowing to understanding, from witnessing to awakening.

Three breaks the pattern of expectation, disrupts the symmetry of two, turns harmony into movement, stillness into change.

I remember when I had my son— our family grew from two to three, and with it, a whole new dynamic was born. Love expanded, but so did the tension. Roles shifted, balance wavered, and what once felt steady had to be rebuilt.

Three is the catalyst, the turning point, the invitation to see beyond what was known before— but growth is never without friction. And as with families, so too with civilizations.

IV. The Fragility of Civilization: Growing Up

We have always built upward— reaching, grasping, stacking stone upon stone, like the Tower of Babel piercing the sky.

Civilizations have risen, built by minds reaching for the stars, only to fracture beneath the weight of their own making. Not for lack of knowledge, but for forgetting how to listen.

Elisabet Sahtouris calls this the shift from competition to cooperation and communion We have reached that moment— a time when the energy of our planet expands so vast, it can no longer be contained naturally.

What once worked can no longer hold. A new model is needed— one that moves like the human body, like the ancient cities that pulsed with shared purpose, woven not through dominance, but through connection.

Not the hero’s journey. Not the lone ascent.

But a story of real community, of love rather than fear, of choosing to evolve together.

It is time for humans to grow up. And when we finally grow, we must find our ground.

V. The Stability of Four: Finding Grounding

Three was the moment of transformation. But four—four is the settling, the grounding, the homecoming.

There were four of us walking through the marsh— our full family, together. With the arrival of our dog, we became four, and something balanced within us.

Four beings woven into the land, four directions to orient. The Earth, too, is shifting with us into her fourth movement— not just rising, but rooting. Not just expanding but integrating and maturing.

Four is the moment when change becomes embodiment. It is the creation of something whole, something that can stand, that can hold, that can last.

And when we remember how to stand, we begin to see.

VI. When I Remember

Something new emerges when I remember. I can weave a new story, A new understanding

One step forward. Two beside me. Three—our family grew. Four walking through Dyke Marsh, steady, whole.

Two butterflies—ease in metamorphosis. Two eagles—rise high in clarity of vision. Two fairy doors—possibility in what is not revealed but felt. Three snakes—healing amidst shedding

And a woman who speaks, she disrupts the pattern, for me to notice deeper. When I pay attention, When I remember, I see more. I see four.

VII. The Fifth Element: Emergence and Becoming

Beneath us, the fifth stirs— unseen, becoming.

The fifth—the unseen force—awakens like spring beneath winter’s frost, a knowing deep in the belly of the Earth. Not yet visible, but present. Not yet formed, but inevitable.

From one to two, from three to four, this movement births the fifth— the force of emergence, the breath between past and future, the unseen element that holds the space for what is yet to come.

Five is the shift from structure to flow, from stability to creation. It is the first green bud breaking through the soil, the soft cracking of an eggshell before the bird takes flight.

It is the threshold of the new.

VIII. Our Bodies Remember

We humans pride ourselves on being creatures of intellect, our prefrontal cortex humming with possibility, an antenna tuned to imagination, to intuition to discernment, to all the things we claim make us unique

And yet— Our bodies remain ancient. A net of remembrance, a vessel of sensation.

The sweetness of honeysuckle on the air. The feather-light steps of a butterfly on my skin.

The call of the eagles, piercing and true. The green shimmer of a snake, coiled in quiet patience.

To be in a body is to hold memory, to anchor into experience. To love the body is to love the world— to nourish, to move, to rest. To listen. To return home. Not just to self, but to something primal. Something deeper.

Like an emigrant who carries their homeland in their bones, we can never forget where we came from.

The wisdom of our evolution, the price of our dominion.

But knowledge without wisdom fractures. Voices splinter, purpose scatters. What is built without balance cannot bear its own weight.

To rise is not enough; we must also remember how to root.

For time has shown— it is not knowledge we lack, but the willingness to listen.

What we build must be honored. What we take must be tended.

The Earth remembers. Our bodies remember. And if we are still enough, we, too, will remember.

One breath, the first step. Two walking side by side. Three—a shift, a transformation. Four, the grounding, the homecoming. Five, the emergence, the new becoming.

And then— one again. A cycle complete, a story retold, a remembering, not as we were, but as we are now.

Like the Fool stepping forward, not knowing, yet trusting.

We are not just rising. We are not just rooting. We are remembering. Collectively remembering. Beginning again.

Start as One.

Here are two distinct leadership practices that reflect the themes explored in this reflection that you can engage with:

Leadership Apothecary Practice #1: The Cycle of Remembering

I. One: The Place of Remembering – Begin with Awareness

???Reflection:?What grounds you? What do you instinctively know but often forget? How does your environment—your “marsh”—hold wisdom for you? ???Practice:?Take a walk, physically or mentally, through a familiar place.?Observe. Notice. What is steady? What has changed? What is calling for your attention?

II. Two: Seeing the Pattern – The Power of Noticing

???Reflection:?Who or what are your partnerships? Where in your leadership do you see patterns? Are you attuned to the unseen connections around you? ???Practice:?Identify two key relationships in your leadership.?How do they mirror, support, or challenge each other? What happens when you introduce a third perspective?

III. Three: Transformation and Friction – Embracing Change

???Reflection:?Where is friction showing up in your leadership? How is it inviting you to shift? What needs to be rebuilt? ???Practice:?Identify one area of discomfort or disruption in your leadership.?Instead of resisting it, what would happen if you leaned into it?

IV. Four: Finding Grounding – Stability and Integration

???Reflection:?Where do you find your sense of homecoming in leadership? What keeps you steady when everything shifts? ???Practice:?Define?four pillars of stability?in your leadership.?What grounds you? What values, practices, or people keep you rooted?

V. Five: Emergence – The Unseen Becoming

???Reflection:?What is beginning to emerge in your leadership? What is not yet fully visible but can be sensed? ???Practice:?Sit in?stillness?for five minutes, tuning into your intuition.?What whispers are trying to be heard? What is waiting to be created?

VI. Remembering: The Leadership Cycle

???Reflection:?Leadership is not just about moving forward—it is about remembering, returning, and evolving. What have you forgotten that you need to reclaim? What is the wisdom of the past that must inform the future? ???Practice:?Reflect on your leadership journey.?If you mapped your path from 1 to 5 and back to 1, what would it look like? What lessons have repeated? What cycles are you in now?

The Leadership Apothecary Practice #2: Following the Wisdom of Nature

Just as nature reveals its wisdom through patterns, symbols, and transformation, leadership invites us to notice, adapt, and evolve. These five symbols offer reflections and practices for cultivating presence, awareness, and emergence in leadership.

I. Butterflies – Leading with Ease and Adaptability

???Theme: Transformation with Grace ???Reflection:?Where in your leadership can you allow more ease? Are you resisting a natural transformation? How can you trust the process of becoming? ???Practice:?Identify one area of resistance in your leadership.?What would happen if you approached it with lightness instead of force? How can you move with the wind rather than against it?

II. Eagles – Expanding Vision and Rising Above

???Theme: Perspective and Clarity ???Reflection:?Are you leading from the ground or from a higher perspective? Where do you need to rise above the noise to see the bigger picture? ???Practice:?Step back from a current leadership challenge.?What shifts when you look at it from a higher perspective? What do you see now that you couldn’t before?

III. Fairy Doors – Trusting the Unseen and the Possible

???Theme: Embracing the Unknown ???Reflection:?Are you open to possibilities beyond logic? What doors in your leadership remain unseen because you have not yet believed in them? ???Practice:?Think of a leadership decision or challenge.?Instead of focusing on what is, ask: What else is possible? What haven’t I considered? What happens when I trust what I cannot yet see?

IV. Snakes – Healing, Shedding, and Renewal

???Theme: Growth Through Letting Go ???Reflection:?What needs to be shed in your leadership? What old ways of thinking or behaving no longer serve you or your team? ???Practice:?Identify one outdated belief or habit in your leadership.?How can you release it to make room for something new? What transformation is waiting on the other side of letting go?

V. The Woman Who Disrupts – The Power of Noticing and Being Noticed

???Theme: Disruption as Awareness ???Reflection:?Who or what is calling your attention? Where is disruption asking you to see more deeply? Are you resisting the messenger or the message? ???Practice:?Reflect on someone or something that has recently challenged your perspective.?What truth does this disruption hold for you? What would happen if you listened instead of dismissed it?

Closing Thoughts

1. To lead is not just to rise; it is to root. It is not just to innovate, but to remember.?True leadership is about?noticing, evolving, grounding, and allowing what is unseen to emerge.
2. Nature leads effortlessly, but never passively. The butterfly does not force change, the eagle does not fear the wind, the snake does not cling to old skin, and the unseen remains until we choose to notice.