Hello! Welcome to this section of my Substack called ‘Earth’s medicine’. These days it feels like wisdom from our elders is often overlooked. However, in doing so I believe we have lost something. A sense of who we are. Not just in terms of our purpose, but also our role within a wider ecosystem, an ancient history and a universe in which life appears to be rare. Here you will journey with me as I attempt to rediscover who we really are through science, ancestry and the insights of those who are tapping into the old ways. I would love to hear your thoughts, so do feel free to comment, share and subscribe. Anna xx
P.S These posts are part of my paid subscriber offering but the first two (this one and the next one) will be free so you can get a feel of what they are like.
I hope that we are coming to a time where we fall in love with the idea of simply being alive.
~ Burgs
I have recorded a podcast/voiceover for this post which is much longer than the post itself, I have added in thoughts and feelings as I have spoken, I have to admit I loved doing it, it felt like talking to a friend! So do grab a cup of tea and listen if a podcast is more your thing.
Hello everybody!
Wonderful to see you again. I hope this newsletter finds you well. The last 2 weeks have been pretty hectic for me. I was away for 4 days at Medicine Festival. It is always a much needed break, and having the opportunity to work with elders of the land has the ability to inspire and re-root me at the same time. If you haven’t heard about Medicine, it is not like any other festival on the circuit, it is for people and planet. A gathering of wisdom-keepers, indigenous communities and artists with one aim in mind; to nurture, nourish and give back to the heart of the planet.
No doubt the wisdom gathered there will be woven into this work and future newsletters, and I look forward to sharing it with you.
I am also in the process of finishing my dissertation on social bonds in animals and how this effects cooperation between non-kin. I have absolutely loved it, but I am definitely at the pressure point of writing at the moment. With a flat in London to still pack up, the next few weeks will be busy.
Anyway back to today! This newsletter is all about ritualising our lives; understanding what ritual is, why we should do it, and gaining inspiration on how to go about it.
How to navigate this post
There are 3 main sections. I have listed them here so you can jump to those areas of most interest to you;
5 tools for getting closer to….a new regular feature in Earth’s medicine.
Ritualising your life; what are rituals, how can they help us and examples to get you started
Oracle reading and journal prompts based on this month’s theme; ritual.
I hope you enjoy, and I cannot wait to chat with you in the notes and comments.
Sending much love, always.
Anna xx
This weeks 5 tools for getting closer
Closer to what you may ask? Well this section is unique to Earth’s medicine, and will contain readings, resources and opportunities for you to redirect yourself back to nature, and back to who you are. In this hectic and sometimes frantic world we often lose ourselves and sometimes we need a little nudge to find our way back. If you find any of these tools soothe your soul, or indeed bring you closer to a life you wish to live, I’d love to hear about it.
Listen; I was lucky enough to spend some time in Burgs presence at Medicine Festival. In deep meditation, he shared his teachings on what it means to be an expression of life. This is really worth a listen if you get the chance.
Connect; Are you looking for your nature tribe?
is starting a monthly thread where you can find yours. This month is about sharing your writing about August. You can join in here.Read; Paul Coelho, The Alchemist. I am reading this for the first time at the moment. I know I know, it’s a classic, I should have read it sooner. If I had read this at any other time, I don’t think it would have the impact that it has had. It is perhaps more poignant at this time of change for me. I was introduced to it on a plane ride to Peru, many moons ago but being young and youthful and in no need of philosophy (or so I thought) it went over my head.
A dear friend and teacher of mind has the surname Coelho, he told me that in Portuguese Coelho means rabbit. In paganism, we see the rabbit as a symbol of fertility, abundance and new beginnings. This book certainly is that. Coelho provides us with insights that ensure we see the abundance within. It echoes with the sentiments that have repeated on me in these last 18 months; what you are searching for is already within you. Anything is possible.
Feel; This week my partner and I decided to catch the tide at sunrise, both in shorts at 4am, we greeted the moon and stars, the softness of the dawn, but felt the keen chill of Autumn. Equinox is still almost a month away, but these whispers of Autumn that call to me remind me that the seasons turn once again.
How much has changed since its last shift. I shared this note on all that has changed for me, and I’ve realised I am overdue a lie down! Take the opportunity to feel the early morning dew on your feet and the crisp wind as it floats across your skin, and be reminded that we are soon entering the season of surrender and rest here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Nourish; If you haven’t yet discovered the works of John O’Donohue. Let me introduce you. His poetry nourishes the soul. If you are finding yourself here because your soul calls for a change, then this is for you. It is called ‘For the time of necessary decision’. The audio of the poem is below if you’d prefer to listen.
Perhaps the work we do has lost its soul,
Or the love where we once belonged
Calls nothing alive in us anymore.
We drift through this gray, increasing nowhere
Until we stand before a threshold we know
We have to cross to come alive once more.
May we have the courage to take the step
Into the unknown that beckons us;
Trust that a richer life awaits us there,
That we will lose nothing
But what has already died;
Feel the deeper knowing in us sure
Of all that is about to be born beyond
The pale frames where we stayed confined,
Not realizing how such vacant endurance
Was bleaching our soul’s desire.
~John O’Donohue Benedictus: A Book of Blessings (2007)
It’s time to ritualise your life.
I have been using rituals for some time now, specifically to anchor me in this new way of living and to honour this time of slowing down. I soon came to realise that to engage in ritual was to re-enchant my life, and to bring me a discipline in a time when the ground was shaky. I wanted to share this with you as you too may be going through such a change, and may not know that re-enchanting your life can be so simple.
Making such big changes in your life requires courage. Courage, belief and a feeling of worthiness. These last few weeks I have struggled with motivating myself to write, and I couldn’t possibly reason why, I was doing what I wanted to do! I read somewhere that a lack of self-discipline was a sign you believed yourself to be unworthy. Unworthy of the riches to come, the life you have dreamed you would live.
And as the days tick down to my dissertation deadline, I can’t help but think that in this instance it is true. Some days I storm ahead, and in others, the fear enters my heart and I stop. Giving up the job was one thing, but truly believing I am worthy of a new life, a life of universal design, vulnerability, open hearted love, challenge and opportunity? Well that really is another. There is no way into tricking this little brain of ours. Simon Haas says “As soon as our sense of worth depends on something that is not fully under our control, we will have a great fear of it. Our sense of worth is never safe. When we derive our identity from what is changeable, the result is fear.”1 All that is open to us is to surrender. And surrender I must. Not to nothingness. But to to discipline, and to myself. To the belief that miracles happen and the belief in my own worthiness. And that yes, it could happen to me.
Discipline has so often been seen as a negative word, but what if it is not….what if discipline is the root of all self-love? That when our human self wants to shrink away from our greatness our soul self purges it with discipline. Ritual. Discipline can take many forms, but perhaps it starts with engaging in activities that feed our soul. A way of being that incites magic in the everyday so that we can believe in miracles and drive ourselves forward.
What are rituals?
When I had a peek at the Oxford dictionary it described rituals as something that are performed regularly and in a specific way. Now to me this doesn’t sound too romantic….and if I’m honest there are a fair few definitions in the English dictionary I would like to rephrase. This is definitely one of them. I agree that it should be something that we enact every day but in the performing of it we incite the magic. It is not simply something we do by rote.
I know that the word ritual can hold a certain amount of gravitas. Often when I talk about rituals with others they ask me if I am a witch. I am asked if I am muttering spells or enchantments under my breath. I have to confess to laughing out loud (which cannot help my non-witch image if it escapes as a cackle). We all know the stories of the witches (if you haven’t listened to the Radio 4 Podcast on it your really should2 ), and I wonder if the term witch is used in someway to belittle the process of engagement or because it is feared. I am lucky to be within a tribe of ever expanding friends who see ritual, in all its forms, as growth and form of connection. It makes me smile to think of those who do not believe in magic because they have so much to learn, and I am excited for them.
The magic is that our whole lives are miracles. The chance that our souls were encased in the exact body it finds itself in, that has allowed it to experience life are estimated to be 1 in trillions3 . To ritualise your life is to accept this truth of a miracle and to romanticise ones life, to re-enchant it.
While at a talk on the way of the rose at Medicine (more of this in a later post) the speaker said ritual honours our own temple, our heart and the Earth, it is a way of giving thanks and being deeply connected to the soul of the ground beneath us. I loved this. The ritual wasn’t only about me, it was about Earth and my connection to it. Therefore a new definition for ritual could be this;
A sacred everyday event that honours the temple of the self, the heart and the Earth. A way of giving thanks for this life. To connect deeply to the soul and magic of the ground beneath and the elements around us.
How magical does that sound? And if this is the case, how can we include ritual in this way in our daily lives?
Re-enchanting your day
“It is very hard to show up as the person you want to be when you are surrounded by an environment that makes you feel like a person you aren’t.”
― Brianna Wiest The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery
I recently conducted a poll to find out what we, as Tides and Seasons readers, already knew about rituals. Unsurprisingly, my wonderful tribe that follows me here have all heard of them. You are already imbued in magic. Almost 50% of you use them in every day life.
Did you get a chance to vote? Does this resonate with you? I’d love to hear in the comments.
Brianna Wiest so rightly says that if our environment is not consistent with who we are it becomes hard to show up. It is my belief that ritual is where we start, start to show up for ourselves, and tell our souls that we believe in something different, and change our environment through how we treat ourselves.
So how do you do this? Where do you start? There were some absolutely wonderful suggestions in the thread. Including this beauty from
from Gather & GrowAnd this from
from There but for the Grace of Weeds.I always love the deep dive that
goes into in her book ‘The Enchanted Life’. Her books are also a great place to begin too. There are so many nuggets of wisdom in her book that help me to consider the kinds of ways I wish to encourage enchantment in my life.The one I carry with me the most is her discussion around ‘animism’. Animism is where we believe that the entire world around us is alive, that it communicates not just within its own species but with us and it’s whole ecosystem. The trees, the wind, the rocks, the clouds. We know already, to a certain extent, that this is true. I am often reminded by my research colleagues that ‘science is catching up’, that in the pipeline at the moment is research into the sentient nature of plants. We already know they communicate, funnel resources towards sick and elderly trees in their community but research is now extending beyond this into the electrochemical gradients that could be perceived as nerves…feelings. Rocks will undoubtably be next, and if you read the way
wrote about rocks in Weathering it is easy to believe. Spirituality and science, I often wonder if they are the same. I had a lecturer last year that said research was just a scientists way of getting closer to the meaning of life. And that, in essence, is what we are doing with ritual, and certainly what I do with mine.My very own rituals
Have I told you trained as a yoga teacher? I am sure the temptation to switch off now may be strong. You can’t swing a cat without finding one these days. But why is that important? Well, I do have to thank yoga for connecting me with breathwork and meditation which form the very backbone of my daily rituals. Breath is so powerful at changing not only our mindset but how we feel (more of this to come in a later post too).
My own rituals start in the morning. I greet the sunrise as often as I can, and when I do I thank the universe for another day. I breathe deep into my lungs, and feel the rays of the sun, and the beat of the waves fill my body. I imagine them touching the crown of my head, expanding to the very edges of my body and back again. If time is with me, I’ll write. Write how I want to feel today, how I want to show up for myself today, who I want to be. The sunrise has become important to me, it is possibly related to the message I felt I was delivered last year which you read more about in one of my early pieces below. When I return home, I’ll walk or ecstatically dance on the grass for 5 minutes, before I move my body, meditate and pull an oracle card to guide me on my way.
In the Winter, or days where a sunrise is not possible, I find comfort in my seasonal alter which I update every few weeks, with flowers, trinkets, and crystals that represent the time of year.
It is here that I realise I must find my discipline. My ritual. Once completed I feel connected, and reminded that I am creating the life I want to live. I am surrounding myself with an environment of growth. As Elizabeth Gilbert says You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings. By acting out these every day rituals we are showing ourselves that we already worthy of what we are about to receive.
Oracle card and journal prompts
I’ll be pulling oracle cards in every Earth’s Medicine post, sharing one of my own rituals with subscribers. These cards are pulled with the intention of the post in mind and act as points of reflection. You can read them and their meaning, or use them as jumping off points for any journaling you may wish to do following this article. Today I asked the oracle cards to show me what we should know about ritual, and here is what they said.
This first card to be pulled from the Super Attractor Deck by Gabby Bernstein. It reads I can decide today to recalibrate my energy and commit to love and joy.
Journal prompts
How can you start and end your day with joy?
What prevents you from starting and ending your day this way?
What one small change could make tomorrow to invite more joy into your life?
This card has been pulled from the Angels and Ancestors deck by Kyle Gray.
The Elder is the ancestor who comes with a message of healing change. He represents a reclamation of power. It is an acknowledgement that we can move past our limitations and the energy of our spirit is more powerful than genetics or behavioural patterns. A reminder that we write our own stories and our ancestors are rooting for us to do so.
Journal prompts
Where do you need to reclaim your power?
Are there old habits and patterns rising in you now that you need to move past? What are they and why are they there?
What is the story you wish for your own life? What can you do right now that moves you closer to that story?
Rituals to me have become another in road into exploring who I am. Having quit my job, I am on this journey of self discovery. I know I no longer wish to stay in a fast paced living environment, but what I am to become is not clear. By introducing rituals into my life I have found the right amount of discipline, and the anchor I need. I show up for myself every day and shout loudly to the universe I am ready. Give me all you’ve got. I have so enjoyed being with you in this discussion on rituals, and I would so love to hear how this has landed with you, and what resonated the most. How will you use rituals to take you forward on the next stage of your journey?
I am writing this essay as part of the 24 essays club (this is number 14) with the wonderful Claire Venus you can read more about the essay club below.
From The Book of Dharma by Simon Haas. This was the book that changed my life’s direction completely. Wonderful book.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mc4p The Radio 4 Podcast called Witch. An epic exploration through history, time and what being a witch really means.
Neil deGrasse Tyson on the odds of being alive is linked below. Here is the quote he mentions about Richard Dawkins: “We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?”
― Richard Dawkins, Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder
I also talk about it here in the ancestry of atoms post.
I love exchanging the word ‘discipline’ for ‘ritual’, especially chosen ritual! And ‘rhythm’, so it is organic, not forced. I’m still finding my way into a rhythm that works for me, but I’ve at least discerned that I need different rituals at different seasons, and am making progress there. Thank you!
Wow, what a deep and rich post about the medicine of rituals, my friend. I am so grateful for being able to sink so deeply into your thoughts and words. Thank you for creating and sharing and inviting us in. ❤️