We had a great first meeting with some really fruitful conversations. I will try to record future meetings as I get more comfortable with the technical side! Here are the notes I took and I encourage everyone who was there to add items they felt were important. I also encourage those who weren’t able to make it to chime in with responses and further ideas.
After we shared our reflections from the summer solstice ritual, we discussed the overall plan for the Land Healing Working Group. Some key points:
-All are welcome to participate as much or as little as they feel called. I do hope a core group will form and we will evolve methods and forms that work well.
-This is a process of trial and error. What we try at first may go in very different directions over time, and part of the purpose here is to learn how to be better land healers.
We talked about some challenges we anticipated with this work. The one that got a great deal of discussion is the challenge of sending energy to a land when we may have no prior relationship to that land. We talked about ways to overcome that, including:
-Connecting with the long-distance energetic channels, such as one participant was part of the same bioregion; another had the railroad from which the train derailed running through their town; another spoke of the prevailing wind currents that connected their location with East Palestine.
-Using pictures of the area as a focus for connection. We spoke about artistically transforming pictures that included the damage to a flourishing future state, as well as sources such as All Trails for finding pictures of what that area looks like when it is healthy.
-Connecting with a symbolic representative such as a plant that grows in your own region as well as the region to be healed, or the same kind of stone (sandstone, in this case).
A couple other challenges I mentioned briefly:
-Be sure to be a channel for other energies, such as the solar current, telluric current, or the work of spiritual beings with whom you are connected. Don’t try to power a large scale healing out of your own energy.
-Work within a Grove for protection.
We discussed crafting an intention statement, but felt that it was better to leave the energy more open for the land to use as it saw fit. We talked about some specific channels we could use for our SoP such as sending raised energy via air currents or calling on the mycelial networks and their bioremediation abilities via the telluric current.
We also discussed including a clear apology to the land as part of our ritual, to acknowledge the legitimate grievances the nature spirits have with humans.
We also talked about the scope of the overall work. I proposed that we limit (for at least the first year while we’re learning) the healing targets to cases of clear human-caused extraction or pollution type damage. There are many other issues going on, including wildfires and floods, but I feel unqualified to interfere with the earth’s responses to human damage. I encouraged everyone to nominate for healing even smaller local situations that don’t make the headlines because the important thing is to keep showing up and doing the work.
Please feel free to add to this to expand upon points I may have overlooked. And if you weren’t able to make the meeting, please add your thoughts and responses here!
