Each of us has at least one place on Earth that we call our own and one place that is special to us.
If we are lucky, they are the same place. Our relationship with that piece of ground is physical, emotional, mental and energetic. We may live there, work there, and find solace there. Where is your relationship with the Earth the most intense or layered? How does being in that space feed and nurture you or does it? What is your dream for the piece of earth or water that you are looking for or already bonded to? How can you work with the land and water to increase it’s vitality? When you think about climate change, how is that place changing? What does it need? What do you need to be truly there. These are some of the questions I will play with in my blogs about Earth Energies during the month of May.
This week is May 1st, May Day, Beltane in the Celtic world, which is roughly halfway between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice.
It is the time of the May pole and the plow furrowing Mother Earth. It is the time of couples jumping over bonfires to then consecrating their love or lust. Every shamanic culture celebrates the time of year when crops are planted and the phallus is strong.
The seed is sown energetically coming out of the dark of winter at Imbolc on February 1st and will begin to be harvested on Lammas, August 1st.
The harvest is done and the Earth prepares for winter at Samhain, November 1st which also marks the time when the veil between the worlds in the thinest. Every shamanic culture has a way of describing the natural cycle of seasons. Traditional religions took over these dates and made them a reflection of their own beliefs. Explore the traditions of the natural calendar in the culture that you feel the closest to or connects with your land.
Where I often begin in honoring the earth is by celebrating the equinoxes, solstices, and especially these cross-quarter days.
Sometimes I create ceremony with other people and more often alone on the land. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Traditionally, the basic ceremony uses the four directions (NSEW) and the four /five elements (earth, water, air, and fire or wood and metal) with the above, here/middle, and below. You can open with gratitude, set your intention for the purpose of the ceremony, ask for help, make an offering as thanks, and close the ceremony. I love celebrating these times of the natural calendar as I feel the connection with the Earth, this particular place, and all the generations of men and women before me who have loved and worked with the land.
Consider taking some time this week and exploring the beginning of May on a piece of land.
If you don’t do this already, create a small ceremony honoring this land. Learn what this mid-season cross-quarter times means historically in your culture and in this specific place. Feel the land and its history. Make an offering to the Earth of something natural or something that you have created. Listen and explore the connection and what is there.
Let me know how it goes.