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October 8, 2001 |
The Healing Power of the EarthBy Kami McBride |
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As we experience the tragedy of recent events it is a good time to call upon nature to help us. The fields, lakes, ponds, gardens, forests, creeks and canyons act as a great healing balm. Her elements are available to us to ease our pain and suffering and bring us peace and strength. One simple thing that we can do is to actually go out into nature. Where do you go on pilgrimage when things are difficult in your life? It helps to cultivate a relationship with a part of the earth where you have felt peace and relaxation in the past. Visit your favorite mountain, garden, rock, beach, or creek. If you live in the city, it can be a tree, a patch of grass or a place in the sun with plants nearby. Spending even a little time in your place on the earth can help to ease the intensity of what is going on for you. The smells, sounds, colors and textures that surround you in nature begin to relax your nervous system. The mind slows down and you can start to access parts of your being that you cannot access when there are high levels of stress and tension in your body. The scent of the dirt, the colors of the sky, and the aromas of the plants increase your sensory awareness and heighten your perceptions. The plants, rocks and grasses awaken your senses and help you to access the deeper resources of your potential. Solutions may arise that were not there before or you may just feel a few moments of peace while not knowing the answers. Just being in nature is helpful but when you visit a place and specifically ask the elements and spirits of that place to help you it can be even more powerful. I personally spend lots of time with the plants, and rocks and one of the common themes of communications that I receive from them is that they wonder why people no longer seek them out for help. I once was sitting with the very beautiful white flowers of the Trillium plant. After some time, she showed me a line of women standing behind her, generations of women that had come to her for help and healing. I immediately asked, " What happened? Why don't women come to you anymore?" Trillium replied, "They no longer come to me when they are really in need of healing. When things get really difficult they go to the hospitals and they don't pray to the plants anymore when they need us." She then showed me images of women coming to her when it was their last resort, life and death situations involving pregnancy and birthing. I saw the powerful alchemy, communication, and relationship that was created between plant and human when the prayers and cries of the women were so strong that the spirit of the plant could not help but reply. Healing with the elements of nature is not a new concept. Much of our healing centers around finding a balance with the elements inside us and around us. In our busy lives many of us have forgotten how accessible the elements are for helping us to remember that balance. Most people have an idea of which elements they find more peaceful and calming to their systems. You can visit places in nature to let the elements work their magic on you and you can also work with the elements within your own home. Here are some ideas for bringing natures healing medicine into your life in simple ways. Earth: Plant something in your garden, repot a houseplant. Start a compost pile. Take a walk barefoot in nature and feel the energy of the earth coming in through your feet. Do an herbal mudpack on yourself; let the mud draw out anything that you no longer need. Sit with your back to a tree and feel the exchange of energy between the tree trunk and your spine. Water: Swim in the sea and give your rage to the cold ocean waves. Swim in a pond or lake, visit a stream or creek. Take a bath and add 2 cups of sea salt and 2 cups of lavender flowers to the bath water Freshen the air in your house with a cleansing herbal water (see recipe). Use your herbal water to anoint and bless a friend. Air: Find any place outside where you can comfortably lie down and relax. Allow yourself to breathe more deeply than usual. Taking 20 or more very deep breaths into the diaphragm, allowing the oxygen to cleanse and purify you. Spend some time out doors just focusing on the smell of the air and the directions of the wind or breezes. Fire: Take a sauna and use the heat to sweat out the pain and confusion. Run, dance, exercise and let the increased heat of your body temperature burn off the fear and tension. Burn some dried sage, mugwort and rose petals in a shell sending your prayers for peace out into the world with the smoke from the burning herbs.
Everything that has ever happened on the planet is recorded in the memory of the rocks and plants and waters. There are answers to our problems flowing in the streams, whispering in the forests, and singing from the flowers. The earth and her endless resources are there for us. Cry out to her and ask for help.
Recipes
Herbal mudpack Ingredients: Purchase cosmetic grade clay from your local health food store; options of clay are French clay, white cosmetic clay and bentonite clay Lavender tea, which you make by adding 2 tablespoons of, dried lavender flowers to 2 cups of water in a pan. Bring the herb and water to a boil and then turn it off and let sit with the lid on the pan for 20 minutes. Mix together 1 cup of clay to 2 cups of lavender tea until you have a mud like consistency, add more or less tea to get the mud consistency that you like best. Get your body wet and then
lie on a towel and rub the mud all over your body.
Leave it on until it dries, which takes any where
from 15 to about 40 minutes. As the mud is drying
on your skin imagine it pulling toxic thoughts and
stuck emotions from you. Wash the mud off after it
has dried. Be sure to drink plenty of water for the
rest of the day. Cleansing Herbal Water Put a 5 gallon enamel pot on the stove (the kind of pot that is used to put up canned food) Put a brick in the bottom of the pot Put water in the pot so that it comes to just below the brick, do not completely submerge the brick in water. Add 5 handfuls of aromatic fresh or dried herbs to the water. You can use one herb or several depending on what you have available to you. Possibilities of cleansing herbs are rosemary, sage, thyme, lavender, mugwort and rose petals. Now, put a stainless steel metal bowl on top of the brick Put the lid on the pot, except put the lid on upside down so that the top of the lid is in the inside of the pot. Empty 3 ice trays full of ice in to the inverted lid. Turn the stove on low for 10-15 minutes or until all the ice melts, then remove the lid with the melted ice and let the smell from the plant oils that have been captured in the bowl waft through your house, bringing cleansing and contentment.
Kami McBride Teaching Herbal Medicine and women's health since 1988 LivingAwareness Institute Tools for Healthy Living P.O. Box 5381 Vacaville, CA 95696 (707) 446-1290 http://www.livingawareness.com/
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