Happy Lughnasadh!
It has been a long time since I posted something other than events and updates. I was going back over past posts and realized I never finished my “Connecting with the Elements” series. With all that we have been experiencing over, well… to put it in realistic terms… most of this year, I found it fitting that the element earth made it’s way to be the next one in the series.
As with the previous posts of fire and water, I will focus on not only the element itself, but its associated direction and my traditions animal spirit associated with it, The Mighty Buffalo. For many of the indigenous plains tribes of America, the Buffalo was life. In many ways it meant stability for a time and an abundance of food and needed materials for the tribe. Buffalo is a lot like working with elephant and sometimes just as stubborn. When working the Wheel, Buffalo helps provide grounding after walking a path of emotion and the spirit spark. He is of the land and yet is the land.
Buffalo powerfully sits in the North, he lives and moves through the dust and dirt. Lets now take a look at the element of earth.
Being able to connect with the earth is fairly easy compared to any other element because everything we do is on the earth. Physically speaking, the earth is what we live upon, we build our homes on and with the things we take and create from it. We plant seeds in the earth to grow food to sustain life. We depend on its stability for us to grow both physically and spiritually. The element of earth and its energy of stability, logic, patience and how it connects to our own bodies and the way we live is a good start in working the element.
Other Ways to Connect:
Focus on the objects around you, your relationship with them, your attachment to them. Notice your relationship to all physical objects. What do you depend on and limit their use.
Explore your body’s senses and what triggers them.
Plant a flower(something that will return each year) with your energies visualize it mixing with the earth energies.
Devotionals
Create a devotional routine to a Deity you have a connection with or that has a connection with the element of earth, I would do this with a Deity that has some form of linking the element in their mythos or to you personally. You do not have to make your devotional lengthy, just spend a few moments with your Deity, asking for blessings, advice, or just thanking them.
Divination
One divination method other than tarot that is closely related to the element of earth is runes. Usually constructed of wood or stone these divination tools are inscribed with symbols or letters of an alphabet. Take this a step further by creating your own “runes” for divination. Spend some time collecting and searching for rocks, sticks, or mold them out of clay. They do not need to be perfect or extravagant. They can be rather simple and crude. You may lay them out in a spread used for tarot or research the many ways they can be used. This is a great way to attune to the element in a hands-on-approach while learning a new method of divination. Once you are finished try them out by accessing the element of earth within yourself.
You can also incorporate the use of tarot in when working with the element of earth. Here are a few ways to use tarot and the element:
– Refresh your knowledge of all the pentacle cards of the deck.
– Pick a card that is associated with the element to mediate on each day.
– Use a spread that focuses on the magickal correspondences of earth. Here is one from “The Modern Witch’s Curriculum” that I tend to use often.
Place card 1 on top left. Place card 2 slightly right under card 1. Place card 3 right of card 1. Place card 4 next to card 3. Place card 5 next to card 2 and card 6 in the bottom center.
- Your lessons. What have you learned?
- Your rock. What are your securities?
- Your growth. How have you changed?
- Your focus. What you need to focus on?
- Your spirit. Where are you on your path?
- Your roots. What are your strengths?
Some other things you can do
Spend at least 30 minutes to 1 hour in meditation to connect to the energy of the element of earth.
Research and learn about how other traditions and cultures view and use the element of earth. There are just as many concepts of the elements as there are the traditions that hold them. They can be found in the folklore, legends, and myths of almost every culture around the world. We can even see their influences in our own modern culture, especially in the entertainment and literary culture. Every tradition and culture use some “form” to represent the energy of the elements. These can be seen as dragons, angels, and the more physically related forms such as animals and trees. Focus on only the element of earth and its conceptual view in different traditions and culture.
Study the correspondences of herbs, oils, and crystals associated with the element of earth. Create your own incense or oil recipe. Various cultures have been making associations between the physical and the spirit for thousands of years. This maybe because of the belief that all things are connected. So, we must then conclude that some things work better together, in a similar manner, contain a similar energy thus we have what we call magickal correspondences. These correspondences can be used to connect and strengthen our own energy. Research and learn the attributes of our world that are connected to the element of earth and use them to create something magickal.
Create and perform a spell using the element of earth as its focus. The use of stones, crystals, and the planting of seeds are some common things that can be found in earth element magick. When creating your spell, think of an intent that will help balance “earth” in yourself.
The curriculum is centered around monthly themes from which weekly themes and daily activities are derived from. Students will participate in two four hour LIVE online classes/meetings with E. Massey. These classes are for students to get an overview of the activities of weeks to come and discuss prior weeks. Activities and lessons will be delivered bi-weekly to the student. In addition to this students will have access to online forum and communities similar to the popular “Blackboard” found in traditional education communities.
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