Like a fish rising to the surface, slowly I drift to awareness. I have slept on the beach, in a sandy nest beneath the saltbush. My eyes are still closed as I open almost awakened ears and body to the world around me. The voice of the sea insinuates itself into my conscious and unconscious psyche, penetrating my mind completely. The breathing of Tiamat, the sea, becomes my own. Throughout the star-filled darkness, the rising and setting of a sickle moon, close to the dying embers, She has spoken to me. I am attuned and in Her soul embrace. Slowly, eyes still closed, I breathe my morning prayer:

The ravens which had left the beach at dusk last night have returned. Raucous conversation between them, and the twitter of smaller saltbush dwellers, curious and disapproving of my presence in their domain, tell me the day is well begun. Slowly I open my eyes and find my face turned to the water. My focus begins close and gradually stretches forward, pausing on a new web enclosing me in my nest, mildew strewn and glistening in the low light, hung with tiny, white flowers that have fallen from the saltbush above. I close my eyes again and feel Her embrace. I am safe. She is with me. We are One and together. She knows me.