#Grateful
#Home
#Reciprocity
Reciprocity
“We haven’t been in right relationship with our Mother Earth and our fellow creatures for a long time. Even worse, we’ve believed we had the right to dominate Her, cut down Her trees for our entertainment and comfort, over consume Her resources and mindlessly fill Her body with trash.
… As we give, so shall we receive. There’s no punishing God or Goddess here. Just a simple instruction that our ancestors once knew, but that we’ve neglected to follow.
~Liz Kelly
~~~
Mama Earth is our HOME.
May we learn to live in reciprocity with our Earth
and all her creatures.
May we live for the mutual benefit of All.
Aho.
🌍❤️
#MutualExchange
#GiveAndReceive
#Reciprocity
Harvest Time
“We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks…”
~Haudenosaunee Tribe Thanksgiving Address excerpt
☀️
Early August is when the first grain is harvested all over the northern hemisphere. And Sun God Lughnasadh gives his name to the harvest festivals that used to take place at this time in the ancient Celtic lands of Northern Europe.
The celebration of Lughnasadh typically involved the ritual cutting of grain and the making of bread. The people also came together to feast, sing and dance in honor of the harvest that would nourish them through the long cold winter ahead.
Take a few moments this weekend to celebrate this time of harvest. Go outside. Express your gratitude to Earth and Sky for creating the nourishing bounty that feeds all life on this planet.
🌎❤️
#WheeloftheYear
#Lughnasadh
#GiveThanks
Reconnect and Remember
“Ceremonies large and small have the power to focus attention to a way of living awake in the world. The visible became invisible, merging with the soil. It may have been a secondhand ceremony, but even through my confusion I recognized that the earth drank it up as if it were right. The land knows you, even when you are lost.
… That, I think, is the power of ceremony: it marries the mundane to the sacred. The water turns to wine, the coffee to a prayer. The material and the spiritual mingle like grounds mingled with humus, transformed like steam rising from a mug into the morning mist. What else can you offer the earth, which has everything? What else can you give but something of yourself? A homemade ceremony, a ceremony that makes a home.”
~Robin Wall Kimmerer,
Braiding Sweetgrass
🌎❤️
We can reconnect and remember.
And the act of offering thanks to Mama Earth and Papa Sky for this life changes everything.
#WakeUp
#Grateful
Beltane Blessings
Beltane Blessing to you on this beautiful spring day. ❤️
The Celtic tribes celebrated Beltane with bonfires, dancing, maypoles and ritual sex as well as plentiful food and drink. They celebrated in honor of the sacred union of the masculine and feminine – a union which can occur either with a partner or within one’s self.
The merging of masculine and feminine energies allows something new to be born. Sacred union is natural magic.
This Beltane, make time to celebrate and DANCE!
Gratitude and Grounding Practice for Spring Equinox
Spring has arrived in the northern hemisphere! Today is the vernal equinox, the official start of spring. The equinox is a point of balance in the seasonal cycle. Day and night are roughly equal in length at this time of year.
In these times of chaos and uncertainty, it is easy to lose your balance and become ungrounded, anxious and afraid. A connection to Mother Nature will help restore balance and calm. This audio guides you through a simple practice to ground to Mama Earth, anchor in, de-stress and notice the many joys of spring.
Offered with many blessings for you and all you love.
We are SAFE.
We are HELD.
We are LOVED by Mama Earth.
🌍❤️
Into the Dark
Today marks the cross-quarter day (halfway point) between Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere. The wheel of the year turns and the entire northern half of the planet enters into the dark part of the year. It is the time of year when the Sun drops lower and lower on the horizon, and the dark of night lasts longer and longer.
Ancient Celtic tribes celebrated Samhain (pronounced sow-in) to mark this auspicious time. According to the Celts and other pagan tribes, the veils between the worlds grow thin at this time of year. That means we can more easily connect with loved ones who have crossed over into the land of the dead. It is the perfect time to honor and celebrate our ancestors.
Celtic Samhain is also about celebrating life. The last of the harvest has been gathered up in our fields and orchards. The natural bounty of Mama Earth will bless and nourish us all winter.
As you enter into the dark half of the year, pause for a moment or two. Offer love and gratitude to Mama Earth for the water, food and shelter she provides. Say a prayer for any loved ones who have moved beyond here and now. Express thanks for everything you have harvested in your life this year.
May the Spirit of peace
bring peace to your house
this Samhain night
and all nights to come.
☾☽
Autumnal Equinox
Today is the autumnal equinox. Autumn has officially arrived.
An equinox is the moment when the equator of planet Earth lines up perfectly with the center of our Sun’s disk. The equinox occurs only twice each year, in spring and again in fall. This is a time of balance on our beautiful planet. Day and night are precisely equal at the equator — and very close to equal everywhere else on the globe.
🌎 ❤️
The ancients worshipped Mama Earth as the great Goddess Gaia, miraculous creator of all life on this planet. Gaia is the original mother of us all.
This is the perfect time to spend a few moments meditating with Gaia. Offer a prayer of gratitude for the comforting rhythms of her cyclic seasons; autumn follows summer just as surely as night follows day. Ask your Earth Mama to help you find balance and equanimity in the midst of all the waves of change washing over you in these chaotic times. Thank her for the oxygen, water, food and shelter she provides that make your life possible.
Blessings of Beltane
Life bursts forth
Flowing all around
Tiny green buds
First flowers of spring
Magical new Life.
Ancient dance
Fertile dance
Yin & Yang unite
Life blooms
With natural joy.
☾☽
May Day, or Beltane, is the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. This date marked the beginning of summer for the ancient Celts. It was a day of dance and song – a celebration in gratitude for fertile fields sprouting with new life.
Blessings to our beautiful Earth on this magical Beltane cross-quarter day. So grateful for our original Mama, the planet who birthed us all.
🌍 ❤️