Become Possessed By The Earth

So many people keep their windows closed on airplanes, and I just can’t imagine not wanting to stare down below… 

Flying is a great time to get hours of reading or writing in, or to chill and watch a movie, but not much of that happens for me unless there is heavy cloud coverage. All I want to do is watch the planet beneath me. 

Even on road trips, I enjoy being the driver, but otherwise, I’m just staring out the windows, looking for birds, bears, trees, horizons… 

But flying is always so epic for me, just to see the world from above it. I can garnish so much about Mother Earth and how we live amongst her than I could ever fathom from the surface.  What we’ve done with our resources, why we live where we do, different formations and ecosystems, and I find more colors that exist… from just seeing her. 

I am obsessed with the earth. Our home, our shared Mother. The prime life-giving force. 

She is unique and incredible. She is so vast, geologically and spatially. 

I literally cannot get enough. 

She consumes me, possesses me. All I want to do is love her and witness her and care for her endless gifts: creatures, beings, elements, structures, depths, heights, life and death. 

We are so blessed to be alive here!!! On her!!! 

There is so much wisdom given to us by nature, if we are willing to be present with it.

I recently spent a week on a retreat in the Redwood Forest, and her immaculate beauty was overwhelming, but also so comforting. The sheer magnitude of some of her creations is just astounding. Even just the slugs, some almost as big as my hand, sliming amongst the earth in such majestic presence. 

I always felt so supported, literally held, just by tapping into my senses in the presence of those ancient trees. Breathing the wind that makes them sway. Touching the rugged bark and the soft needles. Smelling the moss and the humus and the sequoia cones. Peeing on the floor and swimming in the lake. Warming by the glowing fire. Listening to the ravens’ wings and their caws. And, of course, gazing up at the tallest beings that exist. 

They are sacred. 

They truly are like nothing else on this Earth. So peaceful, so grounding, so sturdy, so generous. And so, so big! 

The lichen that lives on their bark make them look as though they are changing colors, shimmering hues of blue and green. There is so much life to witness. Even on the dead trees, standing or fallen, other life is sheltered and nourished. 

The spirit of the forest lives within me. Truly, it lives within all of us. 

The Redwoods felt like home, and I was surrounded by incredible, honorable sisters, too, so I didn’t want to leave… But those giants spoke to me like distant cousins, reminding me to be with my own forest roots more. 

I do make a point of this at home, and wherever I travel, but it’s always good to get a welcoming nudge from the tree spirits! Especially as we head into the cold, dark months.  

We once roamed the forest floor, hunting and gathering food and tools, seeking comfort and strength. 

Our shared mother provides; she always has. Yet we’ve forgotten that she is the power that fuels us forward. 

When we allow ourselves to tap back in, to listen to the wind in the branches, and the squirrels sprinting about, for guidance and oneness, we do remember. 

She doesn’t only provide in the forest, though. She is everywhere. 

We live on and in and with her body. Everything we have comes from Mother Earth. 

No matter where you go, she is there, giving herself to you. 

There is nothing but the Earth that we can rely on.

(Sure, the sun and the moon largely impact us here as well…)

Even our space ships and satellites are made of earth matter. 

And this is where the danger of our forgetting comes in… because we only have one mother. 

Yes, she is radiant and generous and willing, but there is only so much she has, and she also has her boundaries. She will roar and cry and throw a fit when she chooses. Not (necessarily) to blame or punish, but to release, in order to replenish. 

This is not always convenient, as we now cover so much of her splendid surface. 

The Earth is perfectly imperfect. 

There is a cost for everything we take from her, yet she would have her cycles and her purges even if we didn’t take so much. 

But there is no life without give and take. This is just a fact. 

When we submit to her force and learn to work with her instead, it is much easier to embrace the obstacles and co-create harmony moving forward. 

Humans don’t get to make the rules for nature, and we aren’t the only creatures seeking to reign. That is one reason why we’ve innovated so many products to destroy other life – we are not the only ones wanting dominion over others! 

Fortunately, this gives me compassion towards humans. We are all just animals competing over ‘our territory’ in favor of our own lineage. 

The thing that irks me, still, is that many humans can consciously comprehend the harms we cause, and choose to do them anyway. 

Furthermore, there are many people amongst us who are ignorant to the consequences, but they aren’t even blissful about it. 

If we were destroying our resources, yet everyone was happy and healthy, there may be an argument to be had! There is still so much poverty, desperation, misery, disease, and conflict, so our exploitation of the Mother has not nearly resolved humanity’s problems! It’s just created more of them. 

I want to help people realize that each and every one of us does have an impact. 

Regardless of what the masses are doing, regardless of what the elites are doing, regardless of what we are told, EACH ONE OF US LIVES ON THIS EARTH, so we do leave a trace, and we do have some level of control of what we do with our imprint. 

For starters, you can take an aerial view of the planet. Next time you’re on a plane, be sure to get a window seat! Watch the earth beneath you the entire trip. Obviously this depends on if there are thick clouds, or if you’re flying over the ocean… but it’s all cool to look at, regardless! And you will still be taking off and landing on land, beneath the clouds, so look out! 
Watch below you to see where the humans are, and where we are not. 

Notice how the farm fields are shaped, and if they are lush or dead. 

Notice the variations in features: are there forests, suburbs, cities, deserts, mountains, lakes, rivers, farmland, volcanoes…? 

How many different types of landscapes are along your route? 

Does the water look clear or dirty? 

Do the mountains have trees, or snow, or not? 

Were the neighborhoods built in grids, or circles, or winding roads? 

How much of the land looks hospitable, and how much of the hospitable land is being utilized? How far can you follow the riverway? 

If it’s at night, how connected are the populated areas? 

What colors are the lights on all the buildings? 

Viewing the planet from above stirs up so many questions for me, and I encourage my curiosity to captivate you as well! 

Another practice to acknowledge your place in this world is to step outside, bare feet preferred. Find a patch of lawn, underbrush, or groundcover - any direct earth. 

Squat down, and place your hands on the earth as well. 

Feel the little blades beneath you, and close your eyes. 

Breathe into all the layers of soil, rock, clay, and more beneath the ground you’re on. 

Take a few deep breaths, and give thanks to her for supporting your body right there as it is. 

Do this often, in remembrance of our Mother, and all she does for you!

No matter the landscape, I am possessed.

No matter the ecosystem, we can still tap in. 

I feel the trees and the mountains in my bones, the wind in my breath, the rivers in my blood, the eternal fire in my heart, the animals in my thoughts. 

We share the same sun beams that heat my body and feed the chlorophyll. 

The desert is still beautiful and edgy, but the forest is where life is encapsulated. It is where we originally prowled. It is where we first found shelter and nourishment to then expand and proliferate. 

We cannot survive without the forest, and it is our job to ensure that the children of the future have reverence for her majesty deeply etched into their increasingly digitized beings. 

If we do not keep the forests alive, then we cannot survive. 

From my current view, it does still seem like there are a lot, or even “plenty”, of forests that remain. And that is a good thing… a gift we mustn’t take for granted. 

We cannot be deceived into believing that the abundance at this very moment can sustain our capacity for extraction. 

It is our duty, as children of this Earth, to love and protect our Mother, and to constantly give her thanks for every spec of life she provides to all of us, each and every day. 

And it starts with simply paying attention to her, so that we can pass along our reverence for all that she provides, and teach our children to do the same, and better!