Care Taking the Land, Loving and Caring for All of Creation

When we wake up spiritually, for many of us the first thing we learn is to reconnect with nature. My previous business, the Spirit of Nature, helped people do just that. People came from all over the world to go on hikes through the forest, to caves to see petroglyphs, and to do sweat lodge with my then husband when we lived just north of Santa Fe in New Mexico. We taught them about smudging and crawling on the ground into the lodge, to sit on the earth and reconnect with her.

Anyone drawn to a shamanic path, a Taoist or Buddhist path, and possibly others, quickly learns that all of nature is sacred. Even the parts of it that we don’t like or that scare us.

Just because snakes make us uneasy, doesn’t mean we have a right to kill them or have someone else do it for us.

I was at a 4-day sweat lodge and firewalk event in southern California facilitated by my friend Happy Bear. I woke up one morning and could literally feel (knew) that rattlesnakes were nearby. They had clearly dealt with this before. They had a metal trash can with a lid. They gently scooped up each snake with a pitchfork and carefully placed it in the can. Then they put the lid on top. They hauled it away on the back of a truck to relocate about a mile away, I think they said. They relocated 5 that weekend if I remember correctly.

Water is sacred. Every plant and animal is sacred. The rocks, hillsides, cliffs … they are all sacred.

Each step we take outside, we are walking on Mother Gaia, our Earth mother, and that is a sacred communion with nature.

When I first woke up spiritually, I was immediately drawn (guided from within) toward the Native American or shamanic path. I spent HOURS walking in silence in the forest, sitting on mountaintops or by streams listening to water fall over rocks. I meditated sitting on the ground with my back leaned against a tree.

The entire time I was pregnant, I spent hours outside on our wonderful mountain in Southern California. I sat on the earth on a grassy knoll surrounded by a circle of trees. Sometimes I meditated. Other times, I wrote for hours as words came to me.

I had a solicitor visit the house yesterday. I was both saddened and horrified by what he wanted to sell me … a service to get rid of bugs routinely in my yard. He said he had all my neighbors using his service. I hope that was just a sales pitch.

I live in a very rural area basically in a forest. We live in the woods, in an ecosystem, the cycle (or circle) of life. It begins with the insects. They are vital to the whole thing. Without them, birds have nothing to eat. Other animals starve if there are no birds. Etc.

Without the bees, few if anything gets pollinated … that means in many cases no vegetables or flowers. Many pesticides approved for use in the U.S. are banned in other locations … because they are harmful to everyone, including us. It is the pesticides that cause bees to get disoriented and abandon their hive.

Certain insects eat other insects. The opossum eat ticks and other insects. Other than lantern flies and a giant (and I do mean giant) nest of wasps in the ground, I can’t imagine killing the little creatures that live in our yard. Even the wasps, we handle with something non-toxic.

We are the custodians of the Earth. We should focus on care taking the land rather than destroying parts of it. It is our job to help the ecosystem thrive, not be destroy.

Some Simple Ways for Care Taking the Land

We don’t spray anything toxic to animals or humans on plants. I escort spiders found in the house out with tupperware. Bugs are our neighbors, just like the deer and raccoon.

I don’t kill bugs in the yard. I’m hoping you don’t either.

That goes for inside the house as well. Everything that goes down the drain can help or harm the environment. That means everything you put on (or in) your body either gets washed off in the shower or excreted down the toilet. If those things are toxic, not only are you damaging your own health, but you are adding toxins to the waters of the Earth.

The same is true of what you clean your clothes with. And we know for certain the stuff most people use as laundry detergent is very harmful to themselves, their entire family, and down the line as it goes down the drain. In fact, laundry supplies are some of the most toxic things in a home.

The hand soap you use, the dishwashing liquid or powder … all of it matters.

When you start loving yourself more, deciding that your body deserves clean, healthy ingredients and food, realize that those choices are also helping the entire circle of life have a more healthy environment.

Many blessings my friends!