Elemental Earth

Various elements are believed to form the building blocks of life around us, constructing reality as we know it, interact with it, and learn from it. The four most common elements recognized in a metaphysical sense are Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. This post discusses Earth as an elemental energetic being and how to connect with this energy.

The element of Earth includes the natural and physical world around us. From the dirt, clays, and humus materials we walk on, to all the plants and animals we see. The element of earth also includes our physical body, health, material possessions, and the cycles of life and death. From the earth we sprouted and to the earth we shall return.

The energy of elemental earth is commonly associated with being grounded, stability, structure, perseverance, healing, abundance, growth and decay. We can look to incorporate more earthy energy when we are feeling unstable, ungrounded, impractical, or disconnected from our community or purpose. We can also engage with the energy of earth when we are exploring concepts such as aging, life and death, cyclicality, longevity, boundaries, or abundance.

Earth teaches us to stand strong in our uniqueness. To be unapologetic for existing. To find beauty and comfort in our personal cycles and embrace the inevitability of transformation at death. Earth shows us a grander sense of belonging to the cosmic order. That the gift of life and consciousness can overpower the fears and terror of the unknown. That survival itself doesn’t mean thriving. And embracing evolution doesn’t mean losing sight of our inner selves. That we can sit in the presence of natural silence and wonder, or traverse the landscapes forever being a student to an ever changing topography, culture, and ecology.

Earth energy becomes the embodiment of interconnection through relationship. We see this on a practical level with the symbiotic relationships that thousands of plants and animals share with different species. We thrive as a species when we all thrive together. Connection, teamwork, and empathy are at the forefront of everything co-mingling. Each part of the whole is important. From the fungi who’s sole purpose is to help recycle nutrients back into the soils quietly in the woods, to the earthquakes releasing stresses within Earth’s crust, and to the magnetic and gravitational fields maintaining balance and order. When we feel our lives are futile, we can step outside and be reminded that there are no small roles.

If mosquitoes serve a purpose, then so do we.

Earth is strength. It’s slow changing. Evolutionary. Earth holds all beings and energies in her grasp, recognizing that the presence of a flower who sprouts to reach for the sun has just as much value as some of the troglofauna insects who live forever underground in caves. Earth energy embraces the light and the dark. The good and bad.

Earth is nonjudgemental presence.

As living creatures, we are multifaceted. Earth energy in our spaces is a must but  becoming imbalanced with a corrupted extortion of earth energy can close us off in more ways than one. If we remain in our comfort zones and never explore or expand ourselves, we become stagnant. And stagnation in evolution is death. We do not have the luxury of longevity as a continental landscape does— but even continents drift. Our cycles are much shorter. Stagnation becomes surviving instead of true living. Becoming closed off cuts us apart from the rapidly expanding humanity. Hermitting too long can lead to insanity.

Extorting earth energy can show up as a lack of being adaptable, mental health challenges, a lack of passions, or a hard time communicating or making genuine connections. Establishing and maintaining boundaries or personal laws can be liberating but if we lack the ability to reevaluate, update, and shift personal perceptions we detach ourselves from evolution and growth. We become a statue regurgitating a version of ourselves that may prove detrimental to the current self and may solidify the future we desire as not materializable.

Plants grow as a direct result of the environment they were birthed into. We are much the same, however, as we mature into adults we have the freedom of choosing the environment we want to exist in. While some things, like financial situations, are harder to change than others, we still have full responsibility towards the lives we live. Utilizing earth energy can look like embracing that which allows us to grow and surrounding ourselves by things, people, places that nourish us. Earth energy encourages us to notice what we no longer need in our lives and allow those things to fade away. A focus on growth is a focus on personal wellbeing.

When Earth energy shows up in my life, sometimes it’s as firm and true as a tree, like getting sick because of a refusal to properly de-stress and rest. Other times its a whisper along a blade of grass, like a bug crawling across my door subtly reminding me I’m not alone.

Earth energy may not be as mysterious as Water, as exciting as Fire, or as hypnotic as Air, but it is a pillar by which all possibilities grow from. Earth is existence, it is raw unbreakable power, it is everything and more.

And we are but one flower in this field.

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Alyssa

Connect to Earth Energy

Meditation: Tree Method for grounding, mindfulness full body connection, mindfulness walking meditation, Loving Kindness, Gratitude meditations

Journaling: gratitude, articulate values, diary venting, write how earth energy feels to you

Exploration: hiking, camping, star gazing, local plant/animal/insect identification, gardening, vulture culture, cleaning up trash, volunteer work

Knowledge: crystals, herbalism, anatomy and physiology, astrology and astronomy, geology, entomology, biology, boundary and protection magic

Crafts: natural paints, wood carving, essential oil balms, recycled art, paper making, flower crowns, bird feeders, clay sculptures, DIY home projects