The Earth Speaks

by Autumn Laird

There is no time greater than our own.  All of man has lived for the present, with clear memory we strive to fulfill the destiny of our species.  We have come a long way, walking from the primordial connections of the earth beneath our steps.  Though we have faltered and lost the connection to the universal spirit that guides us, we have come to understand that there is only one way to reconcile all of our inner pieces through the link and the heartbeat of the Mother Earth herself.  Plant now the seeds for the process, and walk with an open mind towards those who may confront you on your journey.  There are challenges ahead; going backward will only create walls of ignorance to the river that flows now through the channels building the way forward.  Come now and celebrate the crystal visions of the spirit guardians.  Open your hands in the faith realized by living in the potential rather than the fear that comes from the unknown space we conceptualize in darkness.  Remember that the heavens are filled with light even though the clouds may cover our vision.  That without the dark there would be no brilliance in the light that fills our souls now with the ultimate source of inspiration.  As we were once born, our mother’s heartbeat consoled us into sleep.  It brought us comfort beyond the noise and confusion.  It unified and formed bonds made of heart tithes, even if one has not known their mother so intimately or remembers their time as a child held close to her breast, the Great Mother Earth offers us her heartbeat in the same rhythm. Hear the beat in your mind, in every object and every life, there is a drum that when heard welcomes us back into the fold of her loving arms.  When we take time for deep breaths, and the striking sun through the clouds suddenly draws our eyes upward for warmth, it is then that we feel the Presence of the collective memory of the Earth.  And we swim in the light as a person guarded by those forces, we become a intimate collection of notes and tones to the song being played there.  When we except that role as a person of the cycle bearing its turns and twists in our life, and are able to give to the flow so that healing can begin we become Citizens.  The true citizen of the Earth recognizes the beat and walks with it always in the heart knowing their path is in service as well as in creating space for the bounty all around them.  In that choice, we walk on with the Earth-beat in every footstep and vision making a place for nature again in our path towards the future.  Listen and She will speak in the song of wind, the flowering plants, the sunlight pouring through the trees, and She will teach… Listen.

Chapter 1 ~ Envisioning

Have you ever heard of the term squatter?  Basically it is one who sits on a piece of land that is most probably someone else’s in origin till it becomes his or hers.  The United States has a long history of takers and so does the rest of the world.  I think sometimes humans by their very nature are one who claims what may not be theirs alone rather than a collective shared Earth.  I think there is one way we can begin to step back from this basic evolution of human history, and the only way is to go from takers into givers.  To find again that core self in which we commit our busy daily lives to the Earth.  It is not as complicated as it could be, if you just think about it once in awhile.  Instead of running around with our credit cards and wallets we actually consider where our products are coming from.  We offer things in the name of beauty and art, but even more so we offer it as part of our spirit.  We start wearing that as our tag and become happier with the items and people we do have in our lives that value that over any other currency.

 Something simple to begin with is to shift our consciousness towards recycling, reusing what materials we were given.  Buying old instead of new items and maybe repairing them for a longer life.  Stop filling up the land with pieces we had taken from her and changed to fit our societies.  Many people consider recycling so basic and old school but it works, and everyday there is less and less funding for the centers we need to break down our trash.  There are ways to use those plastics that are generally non-acceptable but it is considered a waste of funds to allow them into the mainstream.  Recycling programs differ greatly among even close communities; why not find some way to unify them so that people can really see the differences it makes.  Often the state government pays off each other for sending its trash to another state; I consider that unfair to states doing a better job within their programs.  To use landfills is as costly as the trash we throw out every day and these things sit for millennia capsized by clay and materials in a long drawn out breakdown of their chemical components.  Our children’ children may someday find the seepage entering into their own drinking water due to the eventuality of such things.  It has happened all ready. 

Indeed there are many things we have wandered away from understanding because we lack the foresight.  The current planning processes of the National Forest Service only look past twenty years from now, towards a percentage of harvestable trees.  It is not the trees that serve the most biodiversity, or the trees that have stood before their grandfather’s ever came to this country, it is the trees that will produce the best results for the paper mills and logging that our economy demands.  There is a mindset so hard to break into that most do not even attempt to read through the courtly wording, to find the heart of the issues at hand.  There is a certain level of trust that these places we have enjoyed our whole life may remain the same, but it is not so.  If you think how much a forest can change in one lifetime to the next there is a big difference, and most of it is in the management for our needs.  The animals that reside in them are not the most rare, but the most loved for hunting purposes.  Anything but the revenue is swept aside to protest if someone notices.  But there are so many hoops one must jump through it makes it seem impossible to contest the ruling we have made over our forests.  It is not impossible but it is difficult, and one willing to subject themselves to the many hits and downfalls in that process is truly brave indeed.  For they have a vision, as we all must begin to see, to change ourselves from the taker role that has amply rewarded our misbehaviors. 

It is difficult to know where to draw the line, for surely there is a balance that is sometimes invisible.  We know when there is a great loss because it impacts us in years to come, but to know it in the present is how many people live.  Again we look towards the future, but instead of throwing ourselves wildly in every direction we must first be able to look back.  It begins in the home, it starts with our influences early in life, and there are records for which things occur.  Nothing ever repeats itself exactly the same, but we can learn from the mistakes our forefathers made.  We can see how we have made an impact either good or bad to build our communities.  We can also live with those mistakes long into the future if we are not careful.  Do not leave it up to someone else to change, or to fix because you lack the vision.  Think about the four directions and every person linked to the earth in those directions.  Someone is bound to you via flesh and blood or friendship of whom depends on those instincts.  We have all had our secret places where we could find peace or beauty in nature.  Where we have felt close to the Mother Earth as we should remain in our hearts in every breathing moment.  We were placed here to figure out our own destinies, but I don’t think we were left alone for there is a mothering influence in all of nature.  No matter what religion or beliefs one holds, they still walk this plane of existence - which is bound by the earth, sky, and land. 

To understand the full meaning of what I am trying to elaborate upon is to experience first hand the miracle of the bio-evolution on this planet.  To really draw every breath as it is connected to our rhythms of life.  It does not mean we think about it all the time, but we give thanks for what has been given to us in a rare treasure of understanding in those special moments.  And we do something to protect that moment in ourselves as well as in nature.