Mother Nature is our greatest teacher in her quiet knowing and acceptant embrace. Her lessons are often communicated the most clearly when we lose a loved one. Particularly when the heart is in deep need of repair and we are faced with our own mortality through proximity to death. In this moment of rawness, we may find ourselves motionless—open to an inner awakening through the symbols that lie before us. These symbols are an invitation to contemplate the profound cycle of existence and all its interconnections. From life stages, seasons, moon phases, and tidal currents, to the very breath we take. These cyclical patterns are ever-present in all that we encounter throughout our lives.

While meditating during a time such as this, a vision of maple seeds spoke to me in this silent language. Commonly known as “propellers” or “helicopters,” they fell from the heavens and slowly spun to the ground. Their fate to become new life or regenerate the soil they fell upon, ending one cycle and starting anew. The word “Samsara” was gifted to me in a whisper. Only later did I learn the Latin word for maple seed is Samara. Upon further exploration I learned that the Hebrew and Arabic meaning for the feminine name “Samara” is “Guardian” or “Protected by God.” This comforting symbol of grace is a whirling metaphor for death, rebirth, the cycle of karma, and the eventual achievement of nirvana