Earth Love
Musings on ecological eroticism inspired by Epona R, plus some announcements: Song circle cancelled for tonight. See you July 17th to sing in the garden. July 21 for spoon carving and forest bathing.
Greetings and sun salutations dear ones, from the wilderness of Santo Domingo,
This week I’m feeling compelled to share some musings on our love for earth and the many manifestations of such, but before that I want to make a quick announcement:
Our monthly Song Circle at Bancroft Community Gardens: Singing The Spirit Back Into The Body! is cancelled for tonight as I am currently still in the Dominican Republic have decided to stretch my trip a bit to spend more time with my family. See you for the next one on July 17!
Earth Love
I went to a playback theater the other day and the actors were asking to hear love stories from the audience. If you've never been to a playback theater the way it works is, you tell a story and the actors on the stage will play out a scene in order to capture the essence of what you’ve shared. Its quite beautiful to see a personal story come alive through sound, with actors, narrative, embodiment and play!
Although I did not share my own love stories, it was potent to witness people go up to the stage with their hearts on their sleeves, share the stories of love they have with other humans and have the actors play it out, mirroring back in a sacred theatrical way. I did however, ponder upon what love stories I myself hold with the more-than-human world. Like the relationship I’ve been kindling with the crows in my neighborhood. I caw and they caw back and we go back and forth just like that for moments at a time. When I leave the house I often hear them greeting me and so I greet them back with the best crow call I can muster with my human vocal cords. I think we've got some sort of understanding with each other by now.
When I think of love I think of my relationship with hummingbird, ki shows up bringing immense joy, and reminding me to keep my chin up and access kindness to self, offer love and give myself permission to feel bliss.
When I think of love I think about the time I roamed the desert, parched looking for water for hours and hours on end and the love I felt finding it, the love I felt for the sky gods bringing it down so that we could drink from it.
Or the love I felt for the full moon when she peeked through the clouds illuminating my journal as I attempted to write by the fire light during my early desert dwelling days.
When I connect with love, I remember the time I fasted for three days and three nights alone, in the Rocky Mountains and how night after night the cold seeped into my bones… I would lay in my sleeping bag waiting for the dawn to break the silence of the night. I would crawl out of my sleeping bag, carefully walk over fallen aspen trees, and carry the bag of bones that was my aching body up the hill to greet the sun before she rose from behind the mountain. I’ve never ached for someone like that. The way the sun kissed me, filled me up with warmth until the only thing left to do was undress me, so all of my body could be kissed by her and soaked with her radiant love. Her rays would seep into my skin, I melted in that force. She gave me strength. Day by day she rose offering herself to me and all of earth’s creations. I’ve never felt such loyal love before.
When I think of the places that have loved me into being, I think of the first time I went on a solo walk with my Ecopsychology cohort. We were up in the mountains in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado above Shambhala Mountain Center. My teacher Tina Fields led us on a forest bathing walk up to the mountains, and once we were up there she huddled us together and released us one by one, for our solo walk. We were invited to go find a place out in the forest and sit with ourselves and the more-than-human world for three hours and come back to share our experience.
I had found this area with a flat rock that called me to sit on it. I meditated and did some breath-work with the lens and awareness gifted from the words of Stephen Harding in his book Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia.
I sat there for three hours. I undressed. I sang, I meditated and witnessed as the observer within me speak with my ego/personality whenever the chit chatter of the mind wanted the spotlight within the empty stage of my awareness. I felt the serenity of the wild wash over me like a wave. I felt comfort, freedom, gratitude and naturally, Eros.
I felt loved by the trees giving me oxygen in exchange for the carbon I was exhaling
I felt loved by the sun through her heat, especially on this cold winter mountain day
I felt loved by earth and stone holding me down through gravity….
I felt my creative energy overcome me. A vibrant warmth spiraled and I considered answering with pleasure. But due to the nature of the container (after all this was our Ecopsychology classroom!) I decided not to and allowed for eros to oscillate into tantra.
When the three hours of our solo walk were up, I thanked the rock for holding space for me and walked back to the common grounds where we would meet for story council.
Amongst the pine I shared my story disclosing how weird I felt about sharing that I had felt some erotic energy while I sat upon stone but in the spirit of transparency, vulnerability and honoring brave space wanted to share it nonetheless. When my teacher mirrored me, she said with excitement, "and then…you made love to a rock!”
I laughed, blushed and felt a bit of verguenza come up followed by curiosity.
It wasn’t until last year, when I sat in for a chat with Epona Rose who was leading a talk called Eco, Eros, Soma at the Embodied Earth Retreat that I made more sense of the erotic kind of love I felt for that rock and the wild ones who I sat with. After sharing her beautiful poetry, Epona Rose proposed, what if we related to earth as a lover instead of a mother?
When we relate with earth as mother we might view her as an unconditional provider, gentle nurturer, and sustainer of us all. She offers us nourishment, shelter and support and this dependence on her helps us survive. When I think of the gentle mother archetype, I think of the newborn who might bite their mother’s breast… no matter how much it might hurt her, she still offers her unconditional and unwavering love for her newborn. And although this motherly love is very honorable and noble, I think it’s worth noting the physical pain that could transpire in this merely innocent, and naive exchange. As her children, we might make the mistake of taking our Earth Mother for granted, of being her entitled and spoiled children. Taking, taking and taking and forgetting to give back to her or forgetting to ask before taking, because we know she is the ultimate embodiment of compassion, resilience and unconditional love.
When we take on Earth, Atabeyra, or Gaia (the spirit of the earth) as a lover, we might be more inspired to relate with her while honoring the spirit of reciprocity. We may view Earth, as an entity with whom we may experience intimacy, passion, and pleasure. As a lover, we may feel more inclined to ask for permission or consent before harvesting her medicinal plants and nourishing bounty from her earth body. As a lover, we may feel more inclined to revel in her wondrous beauty, and feel inspired to connect to her vibrant life force. Surely, overcome with eros, we might feel compelled to leave little altars of devotion and admiration at her feet. Guided by love we might feel more compelled to want to help, be of service and relate in a mutualistic way. Under this lens it is easier to remember having a mutual exchange, carrying over the frequency of love, respect and care between humans and the more-than-human world. Viewing earth as lover might inspire us to cherish all earth offers as her way to show her profound and passionate love for all of her creations, inviting us to strive to protect and preserve her for generations to come.
As Robin Wall Kimmerer once said “knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend, protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a scared bond.”
Whether you view Earth as your mother or your lover, I think both lenses offer valuable insights of how we might behave within our relationship with Earth. In all we do let us remember the interconnectedness between humanity and the environment and the importance of cherishing and safeguarding our home planet, and moving forward with a mature love that is respectful is so key.
Con la mano en el pecho,
Reet Rannik Carías
Written on unceded land and traditional territory of the Taíno :: Arawako peoples.
Let’s Connect!
I’ll be traveling back to the Bay Area June 20th and I am looking forward to connect with you all in love and devotion for our home planet. Below are some opportunities to reconnect with nature and like-minded community!
Spoon Carving Workshops and Forest Bathing in The Redwoods
Join us for our monthly Spoon Carving Workshops and experience the forest through all your senses as we make our way to our workshop site nestled underneath towering redwoods.
In this workshop you will learn how to mindfully harvest and process a spoon blank from the land, split wood, and carve safely.
We have a couple more spots left for our Spoon Carving Workshop and Forest Bath on July 21, you can sign up here or find a date that works for you.
Plus, you can always schedule a private Forest Bath and Spoon Carving Workshop for you and your affinity group!
Ecotherapy For Families
Looking for an opportunity to rekindle the loving connection amongst your family members? Let’s meet in the Redwoods and empower the Spoon Carving Workshop as a container to be present with one another without the presence of technology, create new memories, and reset with nature. For families with adolescents 14 +
Singing in The Garden
Let’s gather around the fire at Bancroft Community Garden and sing the spirit of Gaia back into the body. We will share songs that inspire reconnection to our home planet and demonstrate our loving devotion to earth with our vocal cords in community between earth and sky.
Our song circles take place the third week of every month (unless noted), the next song circle & fire circle will be July 17th!
Find more info click here.
Yoga at Strawberry Creek Park
I’ll be substituting pre-natal and post-natal yoga classes for my dear friend Angela Madonia, in July depending on interest at Berkeley Yoga Center. So if you are expecting and are interested please reach out.