Flying into Dublin the plane travels long and low, allowing the landscape to unfurl and expand beneath us. I watch as gentle hills unroll themselves into tidy fields and pastures, all bedecked in a deep, rich, endless array of green. Even from the plane, the green seems palpable.
I wonder about this land; what will it have to show me? What will I learn from this place while I am here? Watching it all from high above, my mind opens and expands too, as I observe it all. Then I am suddenly and keenly aware, this land is tired. I am shocked at that information; I must be misreading this; I’m the tired one from my long travels, this land looks so fresh and green! “No” I am told, “it is the land that is tired. It has been farmed for so very, very long.”
My perception of my role here is suddenly reversed 180 degrees. It is not about what this land can give to me, or what I can receive from this place and experience here. My role is now, what can I give to this place?
For ages, our human perception has been one of receiving from the Earth. It’s a pattern that’s become ingrained in us. Now we’re being asked to change that. It’s a largely unfamiliar role for us, but it’s also exciting to open ourselves to this new role, this new opportunity. For my part, I had no idea what I was to give to this landscape of Ireland, so I simply ask to be guided in what I can offer to this land.
On the first day of my journey, I am strolling through St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin. The trees are elegant and stately, towering over a parkland that is a bit worn and bedraggled around the edges yet full of vitality and people coursing through it. I stop by a pond, enjoying the life around me. As I watch everything, the trees, the people, the ducks, and geese, I feel such an impulse to give what I can to this place. The book Earth Speaks Up provides a series of exercises we can use to connect with and benefit the Earth. Just as we use running or exercise, or yoga, meditation, acupuncture, tai chi, reiki, or many other techniques to clear stress from our bodies and revitalize our own energy, there are techniques we can use to clear and re-balance the energy of the land.
At this moment Exercise Two from Earth Speaks Up is what comes to my mind. I’ll note a section of it for you here (You’ll find more exercises Here).
Select a region of any size which is important to you or known by you, or which you simply care about. Hold this place in your mind’s eye. Bring a current of pure light energy into it; envision that energy bursting forth with spark and light and wisdom. This current of ancient wisdom saturates the region you have selected.
Be with that current and allow it to bring forth what is good from you and to you. This is the current of creativity, which always encircles your planet and virtually all planets.
This is the current which can and does change water into wine, so to speak…It is this bringing in and bursting forth of the creative energy which is healing and beneficial. Pushing this energetic surge into a region is transformative. It cleanses out and releases the build-up of toxic energies which had been held or stuck in a realm.
After I spent some time doing that exercise, I leaned back against one of the stately trees ringing the little pond. I felt very quiet and centered in the midst of all the activity in St. Stephen’s Green.
As I stood there, something quite subtle but remarkable happened: little golden lights started flickering and flashing in the air; it was like sunlight dancing off the pond, except it wasn’t sunlight; the sky was thick with a haze of clouds. It wasn’t a reflection off the pond either, that water was dull in the late afternoon dusk. This was white light sparkling in the air, in a circular area midway between the tree canopy and the pond. It was centered in the exact small section of the park where I had a few minutes earlier done the energetic clearing exercise for the land. I knew immediately this was indicating a change, a clearing, was occurring on the energetic level.
I watched intently; it was so unusual and lovely. Were others seeing this too? But other people seemed unaware; busy on their cell phones, or talking together, or jogging quickly by. Was it just me, was I imagining this in my mind’s eye? Then I noticed a man stop on the other side of the pond and start watching something intently too; he seemed to be watching the same thing I was, but I wasn’t sure. A woman jogging by suddenly stopped and pivoted too, to watch. Were they each fixated on the same thing I was? Others, caught up in their busyness, did not appear to notice. I remained there for a while though, enthralled, and wondering.
Eventually, the man continued on his way; as he passed by me he leaned in and said
“Yes, I see it too”.
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As I relate this story from a previous summer to you now, at this time of coronavirus strife, a particular sentence following Exercise Two in Earth Speaks Up catches my attention: ‘You can and should begin to use this exercise for your own betterment and purification, as well as for your planet.’
When we consciously attune to the Earth and bring our attention and intention to the land, we can create a shift, a healing. What we then see or sense in our physical realm may be quite subtle – sparkling white lights are not always seen! – but the effects run deep; deep into the underlying energetic body of the land, which is where the healing then flows from. The same thing is true when we attune to our own bodies in this way. These exercises for supporting and benefiting the Earth are just as useful for supporting our own bodies. It’s all about learning to work at the fundamental energetic level, the creative level where healing begins.
So during this time of pandemic, when our days are suddenly upended and we’re no longer engrossed in the busyness of our lives, let’s explore using these exercises. As we remain in our homes, subdued and quiet, and perhaps fearful, can we initiate some change? Rather than a time of fear and worry, can we reverse our role 180 degrees and create this into a time of giving? Let’s spend a few minutes during our days doing the simple exercises in Earth Speaks Up (or any other healing modality that speaks to you), giving these healing vibrations for our planet and for ourselves.
When you stop and think about it, can’t this become a time of wonderful opportunity for us, individually and collectively?
Yes, you see it too?!
Yes, I do see this as an exceptional opportunity to love Mother Earth, to appreciate our human lives, to heal our bodies-heart, soul, minds and shed limiting beliefs that have not ever been in balance with Mother Earth or in harmony with the flow of life. Why do we have a billion obese people and a billion starving people? Clearly an out of balance with life, with our connection to one another, with harmony. Yes, a rich opportunity indeed, Mary. Thank you for sharing your perspective.
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts too, Laura; as you so cogently observe, bringing our lives and our society into balance, creating a new harmony with Earth, can become our new purpose now, our new vision