Also see_ Geomancy
Go about the Earth, fully sensing and enjoying the sacredness of life and all the beautiful natural manifestations of the Great Spirit. We begin to open ourselves to the beauty of nature and we begin to recognize the spiritual presence of each life, be it a plant, tree, animal, human, or even a rock. This is the Native Way. We recognize spiritual presence in all things of Earth, and as we do this the whole of physical existence is seen as many unique expressions of Spirit, and each form of life radiates the beauty of Spirit. In essence, every form of life, including the rocks, is a manifestation of the One Great Spirit, and yet each is unique. Each is a unique spiritual presence, and yet each spirit lives within the One Spirit and is a unique expression of the Great Spirit. So we recognize many individual spirits of nature, though each is part of the One Great Spiritual Essence, most often called Great Spirit.
All lives, all spirits, are inter-related in one great web or circle of spiritual existence. Everything and every activity has its effects on everything else, to varying degrees. Nothing is isolated or separate from the great interconnected circle of Life. Whatever we give to the greater life adds to the life we receive, and whatever we take away from this life depletes our own life. This is spiritual law and natural law as well. And it is not just about the physical ecology, because if we kill off one of the major animal species we are killing off a part of our own soul.
Our very soul, and our psychic balance, depends upon the health and balance in nature, for the human soul is an integrated reflection of all the energies and qualities of being that are found in nature. Our inner world reflects the outer world, and vice versa. The inner and outer worlds each affect the other. This is a very important Spiritual Law. The Native peoples directly realized that their natural environment, and their group cultural rituals as well, profoundly affected the individual psyche and well-being of each person.
The body of nature, that is, the environment of animals, plants, trees, geological formations, and weather, all have profound effects on our human mind and our emotional feelings of well-being. You cannot really separate the mind from body, and neither is the human psyche separate from nature and environmental influences. Yet the Law goes both ways, and the Native peoples realized also that their emotional attitudes and feelings and good thoughts have significant effects on the natural environment. They discovered that feelings of respect and gratitude directed to nature spaces, trees, etc., actually opened up communication with nature spirits, and that the spirit of Nature appeared to come alive with radiance when one’s mind and heart was humble and receptive.
The many spirits of nature are manifesting expressions of the One Great Spirit. And as we begin to recognize the living, loving, conscious presence of Spirit as found in all of Nature, the spirits of nature become evermore radiant and alive to us. Just like any human being or friend, the spirits of Nature begin to open themselves to us as we give recognition and receptive attention to them. Otherwise they will remain closed off and invisible to our mind and senses. It is up to us to reach out and give loving attention to the natural lives around us, and also to be in a receptive attitude of listening. We must come out of our own closed shell and our self-absorbed attention, and open up to the beauty and healing energies of nature around us. We must come out of our isolated self, which is so often absorbed in an endless cycle of thinking, planning, worrying, and reacting to circumstances disliked.
Nature is the true paradise and is healing to us on many levels, because nature reflects our natural spiritual being. If we lose touch with Nature, we lose touch with our own inner nature as well. If we lose touch with our Mother Earth, we lose touch with the love, the healing, and the spiritual gifts she has for us.
We need to remember our natural roots, then re-connect with our earthiness and the very ground of our being. This Nature is where we come from and who we are. But we have gotten lost in a false belief of separateness and a feeling of being isolated from our Mother Nature. This is the spiritual illness of modern culture, and the effects of this up-rootedness causes many related problems, from ill-health to emotional distress and mental confusion. So the return of the Original Native teachings of Life is a Rescue Call for the human kingdom to return to Nature, to return to the earth, to re-connect and re-root ourselves in the nurturing soil of our Earth Mother. These are the Native Earth Teachings.
The nature spirits of trees, plants, land and sacred place, have three basic kinds of energies which they can share with you. The first is vital, life energy, which strengthens and heals the body. This gives us vital power which can actually be stored in the body. We can sense and receive this vital energy in the lower part of our body, through the feet, up the legs and through the area around the navel. We can use breath and our visualizing mind to gather this energy into us. Practices will be shared here for doing so.
The second kind of energy is higher emotional energy, which we often feel as love or relatedness. This love is healing and it brings us into closer communion with Mother Nature. This healing energy comes into us when we open our heart to the love-presence and emotional feeling of the sacred place or nature around us. Another important kind of emotional energy is beauty. We don’t normally think of beauty as an energy, but most people will admit that beauty has an important effect on one’s consciousness and emotional well-being. And it might also be agreed that our heart is uplifted by beauty - which seems to be received by those who are open to it. Beauty is one of the gifts of Nature, along with vitality and love, and beauty is as much needed in life as are the energies of food and of love. Beauty is an essential food; it feeds our soul. But it can only be received when we are in the receptive and appreciating attitude.
The third kind of energy is a combination of consciousness and intelligence. Nature is alive with consciousness and intelligence. Each particular life-form or place knows when we enter into a receptive rapport with it. It recognizes our presence and consciousness. And the way to realize the consciousness of nature is to allow oneself to be seen, recognized and known. You allow what is of nature to be conscious of you, and allow this to communicate with you.You might give greeting to a place or to a tree, with sincere feeling, while recognizing it as a conscious living presence, and ask that it open up communication with you. But predominately, you need to be in a receptive space, open to hearing and receiving from this consciousness-intelligence. So you allow it to be conscious of you and share itself with you. You need to open up your mind, in a receptive silence, and allow the spirit to share with you as a friend.
First be open to realizing the consciousness of nature all around you. Next be open to understanding the intelligence of this nature. Normally we do not do this, and most people have never even tried anything like this so it seems strange to them. But if have an opportunity to visit a beautiful place or walk in a peaceful natural setting, then take some time to really BE in nature and really SEE and really LISTEN. If you thinking mind can quiet down and if you can sincerely be open, then you will be surprised by the experience of real seeing and real listening.
These are the three basic qualities of spiritual presences found in nature and the three potential gifts from Nature and nature spirits. A fourth kind of experience, which will then complete the medicine wheel, is the experience of Unity in all of nature. This is the experience of the One Great Spirit pervading all of nature, or as being the spiritual Essence of nature. This is beyond being counted as an energy; but it certainly is an experience, and it is certainly transformational.
Most spiritual teachings speak about inward meditations, where the focus is upon one’s own nature, or the opening to powers, visions and guidance coming from within, or to a kind of inner enlightenment. But there are also outward forms of meditation, where the focus is outside of oneself. Instead of withdrawing from the outer world into our inner world, one opens up to the impressions and energies coming from the natural world around. Here, we open our eyes and ears, and even all the senses, to observe, listen, and take in what nature presents to us. We do this with an understanding that Mother Nature and the spirits of nature, along with the trees, the plants, the birds and the land, have something of important value to share with us. This outer meditation is done with the acknowledgement that we are inseparably related in the natural world and that Nature reflects the very wisdom of Great Spirit and is actually a mirror of our own inner nature, or inner self.
Instead of withdrawing from the outer world into the inner world, one opens up to the impressions and energies coming from the nature around. We open our eyes and ears, and all the senses, to observe, listen, and take in what nature presents to us. We do this with a faith that Mother Nature and the spirits of nature, along with the trees, the plants, the birds and the land, have something of important value to share with us. This outer meditation is done with the acknowledgement that we are inseparably related in the natural world and that Nature reflects the very wisdom of Great Spirit and is actually a mirror of our own inner nature or inner self.
So spend some time out in nature and practice awakening to and sensing the natural energies and spirit presences all around. Open your mind and senses to the very physicalness of Nature, the body of Nature, which is how things physically feel and appear. Observe and sense the physical world around you, as well as your own body. Become grounded and open to the very earthiness of life, and fully sense this earthiness of your body. Observe around you the diversity of nature and the beauty of textures, colors and shapes. Begin to listen intently to the sounds around. You might hear or see animals and birds.
In complete inner silence and stillness, meditate by just listening and just observing life as it is. Find peace in just being and just listening, without trying to do anything else and without needing to think or worry about anything. Just let go of everything and just be, here, present, and present with all that is around you. Then allow the senses and the listening to expand even further out into space, listening for even more distant sounds and more subtle sounds. Concentrate now on just listening and feeling the vibrations of Nature around you. Let your mind and your listening become evermore quiet and receptive, and begin to hear the very subtleness of Nature, sounding its vibrations through the great silence. At this point one might close the eyes, in order to just listen and feel what nature is expressing.
Breathing consciously, though very quiet, begin to sense the subtle vibration and rhythm of Mother Earth, and let your breath gradually comes into harmony with this sensed rhythm, moving in and out, naturally and peacefully, like gentle waves along an empty beach. And from this most peaceful state of mind, in attunement with the Earth Mother, can begin to open your mind to the spiritual presences of nature. You may begin to hear them call you and reach out to you through the inner hearing of the mind. They may whisper to you, or sound themselves as music or song. Let them speak and sing and sound their enchanting music.
Now, with eyes and senses open, observe the beauty and radiance around you, and then allow yourself to be seen and observed by the presences around. Realize that you are being observed, sensed and felt by the trees, the plants, and by the presence of the land you sit upon. This a reversal of our usual perspective, whereby we usually see out to things, sensing and feeling from our own out-going center. We usually reach out to grasp things, to know things, to sense things, but in this reversal of perspective we allow the energies, the impressions, and the consciousnesses of nature to come toward us, to sense us and recognize us. In a completely receptive, passive state, allow the forms and presences of nature to feel you, to sense you, and observe you, and remain conscious of them doing so. In this way, you become aware of the active consciousness and sensitive intelligence of natural forms.
Be aware of the rocks and trees, water and land, birds and animals, all being sensitive and conscious of you. Then, you will be in the right state of mind for receiving communication from these creatures and forms of Nature. This is opening to the spiritual presences of those natural lives and forms which we physically sense. In other words, whatever is physically seen or sensed within the natural world is infused with a spiritual presence, which is the sensitive consciousness and intelligence of that particular form or place. This spiritual presence can become visible to you, as a kind of vibrating color and sound, though it is easier to just feel its energy as an extending sensitive aura surrounding the form.
If you face a particular form of nature, such as a tree, and come into the receptive attitude and the reverse perspective, you will feel or sense its aura of energy, either as a vital life energy, or as a sensitive emotional energy, or as a conscious intelligence, or possibly in all three ways. Do this with a tree friend. If you hold your hands out you can more easily sense the vital aura. If you open your emotional sensitivity, and feel from either the solar plexus or the heart, you can more easily feel its emotional aura. And if you open your mind, with the receptive and reverse perspective, you can hear and know the intelligent presence as it consciously shares itself with you.
As you open up and recognize the conscious and sensitive presence of the tree, or whatever part of Nature you give attention to, this life, this spiritual presence remembers you and becomes your friend. As you recognize the spiritual presence of the land and the various nature presences upon the land, those presences begin to open up to you and become friendly and helpful. They are just waiting to be recognized and shown that we are receptive and friendly, then they really open up with great radiance of light, healing, good feeling, and even shared wisdom and helpful guidance. When we come into rapport and attunement with the spirit presence of the land and the spirits on the land, a new harmony and cooperation will begin to unfold between us, us human spirits and the other spirits of Nature.
Also link-to other practices
Practices can be given and suggested attitudes for attuning to the spirits of nature and opening up their medicine energy and communication. But first we must realize that Nature is truly alive with sensitivity and consciousness, and the spiritual beings of Nature will only open up to us as we open up to them. They have closed down a lot to the human kingdom because of our overall insensitivity and disrespect, yet they are ever ready to make friends with us and give to us, when we open our recognition and begin to listen to and feel these spiritual qualities and energies of the natural world.
This is the kind of respectful attitude which we would want to have if we met any special person. If you went to visit a spiritual teacher, how would you come? You should come in humility, respect and openness, for only then can you truly receive from them and be able to recognize their spiritual quality. So if we remember that every life and form on Earth is an expression of the Great Spirit, we might then treat each life with a high degree of respect and openness to their spiritual qualities and energies which remain hidden until we recognize and receive them. It is up to us to recognize the spiritual presence in any form of nature. And that presence will not open itself up to us unless we are ready to recognize and receive it. Like any human being, why should a spiritual presence of nature share its love and medicine energy with us if we are not open and receptive? It all starts with you, for you need to be in a ready and receptive attitude of mind and heart, and you need to Make Contact from this receptive space, this receptive listening attitude.
This is the kind of attitude and attention we can give to any natural beauty around us. If we give enough time to natural beauty, and relate to it in this special way, we will realize the simple truth that we need these kinds of experience as much as we need food and air. We need the special substance of beauty in our life, which can find in the natural world. And yet we cannot receive this unless we are in the right receptive state of openness and appreciation. Give some time to a flower, or a tree, or something beautiful of Nature, and really breathe it in and let it soak into you.
Just see and listen and feel with an open, receptive attitude of mind and heart, and allow the presence to radiate its energies to you and speak to you with feeling. You just feel and listen what it has to give, and allow yourself to receive this. This is the first and most important step in recognition and communication with the particular spirit. If you give this some time, and stay open to the experience, you’ll begin to feel more of the spiritual vibrations and energies, and the Spirit will share itself with you as it feels you to be a receptive friend.
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1. land, soil, rock, and water spirits
2. plant and tree spirits
3. animal, insect and bird spirits
4. human spirits
5. earth-sky spirits: of fire, wind, rain, snow, clouds, thunder and lightening, and weather
6. planetary and star beings, also including Grandfather Sun, Grandmother Moon, and Mother Earth.
7. The One Great Spirit Being of the Universe, pervading and bringing all life into harmony and unity
Such is the Earth and Cosmos.