Earth Element Release Ceremony

Nature, Shamanism, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Web of Life

We belong to the Earth. We are attuned to the gravitational pull of our native planet, it’s powerful energy filling and anchoring our lives. She gives and gives. Her web of life supports all life forms. Our bodies thrive on the wide variety of food earth provides. We find shelter in materials gathered from the earth. She provides everything we need to survive and generously supports our lives of plenty.

Earth is the foundation for our physical lives which gives us a platform for the growth and the development of our souls as we meet the challenges of life in a body.

Earth heals. Nature heals. Think of the peace of a riverbank, resting on a pebbly sandbar, the solid bedrock beneath your feet, holding you steady, the peace and patience and beauty of trees, the fragrance of the evergreens, breathtaking and inspiring landscapes of all varieties.

Attuning ourselves to nature and connecting to Earth energy, we feel calmer, at home. Feeling calmer gives us the ability to slow down and tune into the quiet rhythms of life. The rhythms of life are those of the energies and cycles of nature, the ebb and flow of our breath, the beat of our hearts, sleeping and waking, light and dark, life and death.

The spirit of the Earth teaches us through the love and wisdom contained in the ancient stones here since our planet’s fiery beginning. We learn from the past through buried clues and hints from those who came before us, the transformation and renewal of new life feeding on the decay of the old. She shows us how all things are interconnected, interdependent, how nothing and no-one stands alone in the web of life. Her example is one of generosity. Earth teaches us giving and receiving when the timing is right, going inward and reflecting in season, gathering strength and sending down roots, grounding ourselves and opening to the light of spirit.

Release Ceremony with the Earth Element

What feelings, negative patterns, ingrained false beliefs are you ready to release to the Earth? For this release ceremony, create a power object of nature materials to hold those feelings. You will infuse the object with the feelings you wish to release, then bury it in the earth. The earth will dissolve it into its component elements that will feed the soil and fuel new growth when the timing is right.

The Earth will disintegrate or dissolve your object over time in some way. Because of this, don’t get too attached to your object or make it too precious. Your creation must be biodegradable. Plastics or artificial materials that persist in the environment for many years are not suitable.

Your handmade article doesn’t have to be beautiful, clever, or complicated. Since it contains the energy you are releasing the earth will will dissolve, disintegrate, and recycle that as well. The physical object will rust, wither away, decay and dissolve, return to its original elements and feed the soil. At the same time, the earth will absorb and re-integrate the energy of emotions and feelings you are releasing.

Your power object is a symbolic assembly that will represent those feelings, beliefs, patterns of thought or action you wish to release. Before you create your object, spend some time thinking and writing about the concerns and challenges you are ready to release. Think about how you life will improve after letting them go, surrendering them to nature.

For your object, you might use leaves, small sticks, slabs of tree bark, seed pods, paper, an offering of food, vegetable matter such as you would place in a compost pile, a bouquet of wildflowers, a bundle of hedge trimmings, cotton string or hemp baling twine, Use your imagination and creativity and enjoy the process of making this article.

Now assemble your power object. It doesn’t have to be artistically pleasing or pretty. Remember, it will be destroyed. After your object is ready, gather the energy of those feelings you wish to release into your lungs on a deep in-breath and then breathe the feelings into your power object. This powerful out-breath empties you of those unwanted, unhealthy feelings, and transfers them to the object you will shortly surrender to the Earth. The earth will cleanse and clear, and make new again.

Next, find a place to bury your power object and give it up to the earth. Get permission if needed, and dig a shallow depression or hole. (If you dig deeper you may need to plan ahead and check with the utilities locator in your area.) Place your object in the earth and cover it with soil. You may also want to place an arrangement of stones, flowers, or dried grasses on top of your refilled hole.

Thank Earth for her assistance, her healing and clearing power, for her ability to recycle, transform and transmute energy, to clear you of those feelings that were holding you back in life. If you are so moved, do a happy dance, sing, drum in gratitude for the healing Earth has so readily provided.

Trust the earth to work in its own time to heal and diffuse the energy of your stagnant emotions, dissolve your object and return it to the soil. This is the power of the earth element in action.

Earth will hold you, she will shade you under her magnificent trees, she will calm you and restore you.

6 Tips to Help You and Your Children get Grounded

Healing, Shamanic healing, Wellness for Children, Wellness Tips

When my third grandchild, Nicholas, was born, I spent two weeks in my daughter and son-in-law’s home to help take care of my two older granddaughters. While we cooked, played, went for walks, visited museums and parks, my daughter recovered from her c-section, rested, and bonded with her new baby while her husband went to work.

Since I’m used to living a quiet calm life and meditating often, spending lots of time with these bright, talkative, and rambunctious kids, their friends, a tiny yappy dog, and heavy city traffic, resulted in me becoming grumpy a few times.

When this happened, my granddaughter, Caity, 7 years old at the time, would say, “Grandma, you need to hug a tree!”

As much as I tried to hide my momentary vexations with the boisterous kids who were always trying to push the envelope of what Grandma would allow- (“Oh, yes, Grandma, Mom allows me to watch YouTube cake decorating videos for hours every day!”) Caity and her older sister, Faith, could see right through me.

Energy doesn’t lie. Kids especially can see through attempts by adults to put a happy face on less than happy feelings. I would have to admit they were right: Every time I was feeling grumpy they nailed me on it!

Our next move was to pile in the car and drive to a wooded park with a small lake and go straight to the nearest friendly tree for a much needed grounding hug. We hugged a lot of trees that summer! This helped us all get grounded and feel present in our bodies again. Plus it seemed to drain my grumpiness away.

After that the kids would run around and holler with their outside voices to their heart’s content, play on the playground, climb trees, or walk the nature paths. I always felt better and much more grounded and present to the children after visiting the park with the wonderful trees. The kids were able to settle down as well.

In Donna Eden’s 2008 edition of her book, Energy Medicine, she states “Your body needs the Earth’s electromagnetic field.” “…In addition to the iron in your blood, all life forms contain tiny [microscopic] crystals of magnetite, a natural magnetic mineral comprised of black iron oxide. This magnetite continually registers changes in your relationship to the Earth’s electromagnetic field and helps orient you to that field.”

In other words, our bodies are evolved to live within the Earth’s magnetic field. The author cites incidents in which Japanese workers and Russian Cosmonauts were completely separated from the Earth’s magnetic field and suffered health consequences – insomnia, decreased energy, aches and pains, loss of bone density. p 316

In our world we are increasingly disconnected from the earth and nature. We are exposed to toxins in our air, water, food. Screens and shiny electronic devices are hijacking our time and attention, anxiety is on the increase. We often overthink our challenges, living in our heads and feeling separate from our bodies.

When we or our children are out of sorts, feeling anxious, disconnected from our bodies, overwhelmed, unfocused, grounding helps us reconnect to our power source, planet Earth.

You can do these grounding exercises along with your kids. They are meant to be fun!

1. Hug a large deeply rooted tree or sit and lean against the tree’s trunk. If you’re feeling adventurous, climbing a tree and spending time in the branches is grounding too because the tree’s energy is fully grounded, deeply connected to the electromagnetic energy of the earth.

2. Pretend to be a tree. First ask your kids to imagine their tree self has weak or shallow roots and a big wind comes along… what happens?

Now pretend to be a tree with deep roots. Breathe in the Earth’s energy through your imaginary roots. Let it fill your trunk, then reach your branches up to the sunlight. Take several deep breaths pulling the air from your deep roots to your stretching branches upward. Imagine soaking in the sunlight through your leaves to fuel your growth and pulling water up through your roots to nourish you.

3. Play in nature, walk barefoot on a beach or a grassy yard, lay on the ground and check out the clouds, tree branches, flying birds, moon or stars, soaking in the Earth’s magnetic energy. (use bug protection if needed) I promise, you will feel better!

4. Rub the soles of your bare feet with a stainless steel spoon. (One a magnet will stick to.)

6. Swim in the ocean, a lake or pond

When your you or your kids feel spacey, out of body, anxious, agitated, unfocused, grumpy, take a few moments to ground yourself. Bring awareness to your body and heart, breathe deeply, and connect with your power source, Mother Earth.

For Empaths During the Pandemic

Empath, Empath Care, Energy Healing, Healing, Healing Touch, Health Tips

If you are an empath – sensitive to the feelings vibrations and emotions of others- you may be experiencing a great weight of anxiety stress and fear from the world’s population during the coronavirus pandemic

It may feel like low level rumblings, crushing anxiety or huge fatigue. However you experience the collective angst of many millions, it is important for you to recognize and release what is not yours so you can take care of yourself.

First, ground yourself by walking barefoot on the Earth or rubbing the soles of your feet with a stainless steel spoon. Rub your hands together to build up energy, then make figure eights throughout your energy field, close to the body, off the body, larger, smaller, tiny, in all directions. This will strengthen your aura, the protective energy field around you.

Now ask that any emotions feelings and thoughts (all energy) that belong to others drain through your feet into the earth for recycling. (The soles of your feet have chakras that can take on or release energy, but that is a topic for another post.) Do this as needed throughout the day.

It is enough to take care of yourself and your families, to manage your own life, your own situation as best you can. It is not your responsibility to feel the emotions of others, to take on their fears and emotional burdens. It will not help them learn to be emotionally healthy, and it will distract you from your life and add stress and anxiety where it is not needed.

Yes, as human beings, we must have empathy for the plight of others. Caring and kindness define what it means to be human. So do what you can to help others within the constraints of your energy level, your financial means, your emotional limits and personal boundaries, your level of health and vitality, your time.

Most of all, take the best care of yourself you can. Live simply and remember the basics: healthy food, plenty of water, enough sleep, fresh air, exercise, connections with others in safe and healthy ways during this pandemic.

Be safe, we will get through this!

Are You An Empath? 3 Self-care tips

Empath, Empath Care, Energy Healing, Healing Touch, Health Tips, Life Tips, Storytelling, Wellness Tips

You are probably an empath if…

…you absorb the and take on the feelings and emotions or physical symptoms of others, making it hard to tell what’s yours and what’s theirs.

…you feel drained and/or anxious in big box stores, noisy crowds, hospitals, libraries, etc.

…you get sick or exhausted, depleted, anxious or angry after encountering certain people.

One beautiful summer afternoon I sat on my front porch reading. A delivery truck pulled into my driveway near where I was sitting. Immediately my body was flooded with high anxiety!

As I tried to make sense of this sudden shift in my emotional state, My logical brain decided the anxiety could be explained because I didn’t know the truck or the driver, hadn’t ordered any services or furniture… It was an unexpected intrusion into my peaceful day. Then the driver got out of the van, took a bouquet of flowers to my neighbor’s house and drove away.

The anxiety stayed with me even after the van left. After a few minutes of this, I decided to do some discernment and energy testing. I stood up, tuned into my body and stated “This anxiety is mine.” My body responded by falling toward the back, which in self energy-testing terms is a “no”. Now the anxiety made sense. As an empath, I’d picked up the high anxiety of the van driver.

Now that I knew the anxiety wasn’t mine, I asked this energy to drain through my feet into the earth for recycling. I had no more need to feel this feeling. It was detracting and distracting from my peaceful day. Draining the energy away works when you are well grounded, in other words, plugged into Earth energy.

This method of clearing yourself works because emotions and feelings are composed of energy. Each of us holds our thoughts feelings and emotions in our auras, otherwise known as energy fields. The stronger and more charged the emotion of another person, the easier it is for a nearby empath to pick it up. Our auras also seem to be more porous than the energy fields of non-empaths, allowing in energies others would easily filter out.

As a life- long empath I’ve learned some easy ways to keep myself clear of the moods, emotions, feelings, and energies of others that I have not specifically invited in. Here are 3 of the most helpful techniques I use daily.

Three ways to keep yourself clear as an empath.

1. Stay grounded

Two easy ways to get grounded are rubbing the soles of your bare feet with a stainless steel spoon, and walking barefoot on the Earth. When you feel agitated or nervous, when you can’t settle, ground yourself. Getting grounded allows you to plug into your power source, Earth energy, and pull this energy into your body.

Think of an electric lamp. If the lamp is not plugged in, it can’t light up, no matter what you do. When you are plugged in, your energy is more coherent, you feel anchored to the earth in a healthy way, and you can discharge excess energy through your feet.

2. Strengthen your aura

An easy way to keep your aura strong and less porous is to make figure 8 patterns with your hands, fingers, arms, body. First rub your palms together for a few seconds. Now, make the eights tiny, make them huge, on or off the body, in your aura, up and down, sideways, diagonally. Let your hands go to areas that need extra attention. (This technique is from Donna Eden)

Have fun with this! Kids love it! Think of this exercise as reweaving or sewing your loosely woven aura together again with the electromagnetic energy of your hands. This will help your aura filter out the energy of others and draw in the energies of health, well being, and harmony. Figure eights are also very calming!

3. Set boundaries with other people, your life energy, your time.

You may need to set boundaries and withdraw from large events, big crowds, or stay away from certain people. You may not want to hug Grandma or a church acquaintance. It may be in your best interest to stay home from a big family holiday or reunion and wait for a time you can meet your favorite relatives one on one.

Trust your intuition and give yourself what you need. Taking care of yourself as an empath is vital! Please don’t judge yourself for needing to set boundaries in ways others might not understand. Be kind and loving to yourself and tell others no when that is in your best interest.

If you do not take care of your needs, you may get resentful, energetically depleted and perhaps even sick. Take ownership of your life and your energy so you can focus on your own projects, your own life without getting sidetracked by the strong emotions of family and random people.

Gifts of empaths

We empaths can bring great sensitivity and caring into a world that needs our gifts. We are often the healers, therapists, clergy, the spiritual advisors, teachers, the plant and animal whisperers, the artists in our communities.

Tune into your purpose as an empath. Take care of yourself. Own and honor your gifts! Share them when you are ready. You are needed here!

It is not easy to go through life as an empath! But it is possible to live your life in a manner that will truly honor your gifts and your needs for boundaries so your life experience is truly your own!