“The earth is my body”

Brown, fertile earth – barren rocks – beautiful stones – a dark cave. Earth as an element is embodied in the mountains of this world, in the ground beneath our feet. Earth is solid, both in its state of matter, and in its solid, matter-of fact, comforting presence. It promises endurance, permanence. It gives form. It is form.

Earth is the solid foundation beneath our feet. To experience earth is more often than not an experience of grounding, of connecting to something bigger than ourselves. It is about placing our feet firmly on the ground and being rooted in physical reality, which is the starting point and foundation for reaching for the stars.
Often, this is accompanied by experiencing, or more often building, some protection, a magical barrier or cloak, shielding us from anything and anyone dangerous, damaging or malevolent.
“The earth is her body.” Let us try to experience ourself as a part of that body.



Exercise earth

For the earth exercise, I am presenting a classical grounding exercise. Probably almost everyone already knows some variant of it: the tree. However, I think it is a very effective visualisation and I like my own version, which I developed after reading a lot of different versions.

For this exercise, either stand, firmly on both feet, shoulder wide apart, slightly bent knees, arms hanging down, shoulders relaxed. Alternatively, you can sit down – on a chair or with crossed legs, not on your knees – with a straight back, shoulders relaxed. Take a few breaths and turn your attention towards yourself.
At the point where your are touching the ground, either your feet or your base, feel roots growing out of yourself, burying into the ground. Start with two or three roots, crossing through any concrete, asphalt, then into the earth, through humus and stones, between rocks, crossing water reservoirs, deeper and deeper. Add some more roots growing out of you, growing deeper, branching out, until you feel you are securely rooted in the ground. Feel the contact your roots make with the ground, its different parts. After a few moments, you feel a tingling on one of your roots, a soft pressure. The pressure increases, and finally feels as if your root opens up, and the energy coming from the earth is entering your root, filling it, raising along it. The same is repeated on each of your roots. Feel the energy raising, through all of your roots, up... up... until it reaches your feet. It moves easily from you roots into your body, into your feet, raising along your legs, into your torso, filling you, filling every part of you, moving into your arms, your hands. And still energy is rising, filling you up, more and more. Then, just before the pressure gets too much, you feel how from your arms, your head, your shoulders, your upper body, branches begin to grow, expanding, growing, forming a beautiful treetop around you. The energy, still welling up from the earth, pushes them, pushes into them. ... Each branch carries numerous buds and the energy flows up, up through you, through your body, into the branches, into the buds, pushing, until the buds open, and beautiful green leaves unfold, interspersed with blossoms that open and show their beauty. ...
After a few moments, the fist blossoms begin to wither and release their hold on your branches, floating gently down to the ground. All the while, the energy flows up through your roots, through you, into your branches, opening even more blossoms, flowing back to the ground with the wilting blossoms, returning to the earth where it came from, building a circle, raising through you, returning through your ever flowering, ever wilting blossoms, that form a veil around you. The energy takes with it everything that clings to you, anger, annoyance, let go of it. It gets swept away, into the earth, where it will be accepted and transformed. The veil of energy surrounding you is a veil of protection, keeping away everything evil and unwanted. It gets washed down into the earth, and is recycled there.
Enjoy the feeling, and let the energy flow for a while...
Now, feel the energy getting slower, getting less. Begin to retrace your leaves, your branches, your roots into yourself. The last flowers fall to the ground. However, you feel changed, strengthened by the energy that flowed through you. Visualize all of your extensions returning into you. Take some deep breaths and return with your attention to your surroundings.

Once you have practised this for some time you will be able to keep the visualisation up even while walking, thus providing you with a veil of protection. However, there are alternative, maybe easier ways of building a protection.