Earth Relationship Experiences -Awakening Your Many Sensory Intelligences
If you want to develop your consciousness beyond the conceptual confines of your culture and lineage you must go to Nature. Only Nature can unfold in you the ways of the Wise. Only Nature can provide you with the foundation and direction for your fulfillment. As you take steps to heal any estrangement from Nature you will develop joyful, responsible and attractive bonds with Nature that reduce your fears and loneliness. Deeply reconnecting with Nature shows you your wholeness and re-awakens your many forms of Natural Intelligences, Attractions, and Loves.
As you come to know again your own unity with Earth – which includes all of Earth’s creatures, and spirit, and eco-systems -you re-bond with Earth, position your self to gain entry into its energy and wisdom, and remember that you have the ability to understand Earth’s logic and its many forms of language.
Your ability to sense and feel is directly of, by, and from Nature. Awakening and heeding the attractions and unattractions of your multiple Natural senses not only leads to healthy fulfillment of your own and Earth’s needs, it also catalyzes your recognition that you inherently have the ability- through your multiple Natural Senses- to access the knowledge, wisdom, and direction of the entire Web of Life throughout all time.
To enhance your conscious awareness of your natural ability to sense the consciousness of the Plants and use that as the foundation for the evolution and development of your consciousness it is key to maintain an ongoing engagement with Earth through many Earth Relationship Experiences.
It is through varied Earth Relationship Experiences that you awaken your conscious noticing of your ongoing inseparable relationship with Nature as Nature flows its guidance to you through your sensory experiences.
The more you work with the Lands the greater will be your understanding of the relationship that the Land is offering to and building with you. Through your natural sensory connections you and Earth are each calling the other to the unfolding of your next level of maturation, healing, and evolution.
Doing these Earth Relationships Experiences will facilitate your recognition of what is being asked from you by Earth and will open your experience of what you are asking from Earth.
Singing, Humming, Chanting, and Sounding With Nature
I first learned this Earth Relationship Experience during my Seidr training as a Volva (ancient Norse Shamanness). From the beginning I was greatly attracted to this practice. We live in the woods and have a beautiful wooded trail that leads downhill to the source of a stream that runs along the back of our land.
For a Volva, singing, humming, chanting is a sacred practice of her Way in which she interplays with the dynamics of different energies. Entering this one or that one to gain access to information that guides her in the development of her consciousness, the opening of her greater Sight, and her ability to travel into the “earliest element of existence from which all manifestation arises”.
Through the interplay of her singing, humming, chanting with the Trees she enters into the original primal force that arises spontaneously … the original wholeness and oneness.
It was critical to her natural spiritual strength to come to have a sense of all elements of existence as this facilitated the full integration of her power – power being the development of the fullness of one’s consciousness. And it was key in the development of a her consciousness that she have a living sense of the unfolding process of living beings in both the physical and metaphysical states as they emerge.
From the central sacred act of chanting/singing/humming -especially of an original or primordial sound- she was able to directly link to the wholeness of all contained in Nature.
When I first started this practice it took some time for me to come into resonance with it.
At first it was strange – the humming chant sounded out of place in me and in the woods. I changed the tone a couple of times – higher pitched and then lower pitched. As I was walking the humming took on a rhythm and at one point I could feel its rhythm being returned to me through the air and then running through the ground to me.
I stopped and turned and looked out all around me at the trees and I got a sense that the trees were waking up to the humming and they were humming back to me but at a very much deeper pitch.
I got a sense that I was waking up a memory of this sound in the trees. Not a memory specific for these specific trees but something they were remembering from times long ago.
I stepped into my self then as volva. It was almost like I was calling the Tree Council together. Like sitting in Council with the trees as we had done many times in the past. I felt the trees coming to gather in this space.
We exchanged greetings. I then felt that I needed to walk on and continue our conversation as I was walking – but probably what I was feeling is finding it hard to continue to hold the tension of the dimensional shift. As I walked along I was still humming and after awhile I found the lower pitch humming more satisfying.
Even later in the day I still had this low inaudible hum in my body – I liked it.
I have included this Singing, Humming, Chanting, and Sounding With Nature Practice in the Wise Woman Wortcunner program because it assist you in the development of your consciousness as your consciousness is merged with the Plants. This practice will awaken within you, as Wise Woman Wortcunner, your ability to converse deeply with the Plants.
Singing, Humming, Chanting, and Sounding With Nature : The Practice
Materials -You will be walking outdoors so bring any thing that will make your outdoor walking experience comfortable (e.g. sunscreen, hat, water, bug spray, walking shoes, etc.) and something to write down your experience.
To begin– get a sense of the call or invitation from Nature to come and do this Sounding Practice. When you feel the attraction go to an attractive Natural Outside area.
This practice might be best learned in a Forest with the Trees – if this is a safe place for you to walk alone. If you can’t be in the Forest or it doesn’t feel attractive then any natural area that has some Plants (that have some height) and Trees.
Gain permission from the Natural Area you are in to do this Sounding with Nature Practice.
Once you are in consensual agreement with a natural area begin walking and settle into relaxed breathing.
When you feel comfortable begin Sounding in your natural voice. You can use any spontaneous sound that arises from within you or a specifically chosen chanting sound from a tradition you find attractive.
Start singing, humming, or chanting while you are walking.
At first it might seem strange – the humming chant might sound out of place in you and in the Forest or area. You might change the tone a couple of times – higher pitched and then lower pitched.
The Trees or Plants might get your attention and you will stop and look all around you at the them and then continue walking and sounding.
As you are walking the humming might take on a rhythm and at some point you might be able to feel its rhythm being returned to you through the air and running through the ground to you.
As you walk along humming after awhile you may find that you are matching the pitch of the sound being returned from the Trees or Plants and this may seem more satisfying to you.
Keep singing, humming, or chanting until you feel complete.
You might need to make several visits before you get the sense that the Trees and Plants are waking up to the humming and they were humming back to you often at a very much deeper or changed pitch.
Continue this practice, over several visits, until you have the sense that you are waking up a memory of this sound in your self, the Trees and the Plants. Not a memory specific for these specific Trees and Plants but something they are remembering from times long ago and in turn are awakening in you.
As you do this practice you will notice that you are stepping deeper into your self as the whole of Nature. It may seem almost like you are calling the Tree or Plant Council together.
You may feel like you are sitting in Council with the Trees and Plants as you all have done many times in the past. You may feel the Trees and the Plants coming together in this space- exchanging greetings and renewing relationships.
Do your best to hold the tension of this dimensional shift and continue your sounding conversation as you are walking.
After each Sounding Practice Session be sure and write down all of your experiences and be attentive to notice the teachings you are being given
Singing, Humming, Chanting, and Sounding With Nature : Reflections
“When you experience sensations you experience Nature in action. A vital way to know more fully any sense or feelings is to put it into words. When you discover a natural feeling or sensation, write it down … and discuss it. This is very important. It connects your educated rationality and language senses with your other natural senses. In time, this enables Nature to speak through your heart, thoughts, and voice.” Michael Cohen
Engaging in these Earth Relationship Experiences will begin to awaken your spiritual and healing connections with Nature and the Plants.
Especially for the Western mind, when making these multi-dimensional connections, it is vital to write down your experiences and then go through a specific and detailed Debriefing process that you share and debrief with others.
In the Wise Woman Wortcunner training we use specific and detailed Debriefing processes to help your linear mind feel safe and yield to the reality of your multi-sensory multi-dimensionality. Thus we train your mind to yield to the Mystery.
What's on your mind?