This Earth Day, Celebrate the Mother Within!

Creation spirituality encourages us to teach the story of the universe in such a way that we can identify ourselves within it and become part of its creative process. As divine timing would have it, I was pregnant with my first child while studying this earth-centric wisdom at Holy Names College in 1996. During one of our class meditations, I had an image of being pregnant with the earth. In my vision, I was connected to the planet by a cosmological umbilical cord that both nourished the planet and removed waste from it. As I worked with this image, I considered that the human body is a microcosm of the earth, composed of the same elements in the same proportion: about three-quarters water and one-quarter solid, organic and inorganic. It was beautifully symbolic, given that the way a woman eats during pregnancy has a significant impact on the health of her baby. Similar, but much less recognized, is the idea that the way each of us eats has a significant impact on the health of the planet.

This image of being pregnant with the earth then extended to a vision of every one of us being pregnant with the earth, just as we are all connected to the planet. Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh says, “Even if you do not have a baby in your womb, the seed is already there. Even if you are not married, even if you are a man, you should be aware that a baby is already there, the seeds of future generations are already there.” Placing the earth within our body helps remind us of our intimate connection with the natural world, our great dependence upon it for survival, and its great dependence upon us for survival. 

Just as a child is a reflection of its mother (and father), so, too, is the earth a reflection of us. What can you do today to show the earth just how much you love it? 

To dive deeper into the shamanic wisdom of this concept, please join me in my new online course: Nourish the Feminine Within  😁

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