Living on the Earth as one with the Earth in a globalized society
Triggered by all my current work on my connection with the element of Earth, my adventures with the Ogam "trees" and some episodes of this really intersting series (you might want to check it out and give it some time), I am wondering. Wondering what it does mean to live on Earth and as Earth on this planet today.
We live in a time when our bodies are no longer composed of the elements of our local environments. While our ancestors lived of the fruits of the very Earth they walked on, we are eating food grown and raised all over the planet. My body does no longer entirely consist of the soil I walk on. Through my food it consits of the soil of Belgia, Spain, Italy, Greece, India, China, Chile, Costa Rica and other landscapes. Though I try to buy my food as regional as possible in the boundaries of my income, the market and my other commitments, I am still physically made out of stuff/ elements/ atoms from all over. What does this do to my body? What does this do to my genes and my metabolism? How does it affect my energetic bodies internally? How does it affect my connection to my local place on Earth and it's own energetic bodies that I am part of? Is it any lost that we no longer can say that we were truely born in one region, since the food we were and are born of no longer entirely comes from there? Or is it a positive developement that even on an cellular level we are "global citizens" today?
Furthermore, I see in our eating pattern the general patterns we consume in - be it art, clothing or even Religion. Since I am Pagan, I wonder, how does our global exchange of knowledge, power and wisdom affect our connection to the Earth we live on? If one does worship Egyptian Deities in Sweden or Norse ones in Texas - how does this affect and shape our feeling of place? How does it affect my magic, if my incense comes from India and not even it's ingredients are local to the place I live on? Does this effect my connection to Earth? Does it affect my connection to the local spirits and Deities? Even if I worship global or even cosmic Deities and beings - whose powers would be local to anywhere in a way - how can I keep myself aware of just that? Might it be helpful, if not necessary, to work with local spirits and Deities in addition to grant some basic level of grounding and earthyness to our Work?
Just some thoughts on the day of Lammas/Lugnasad, while the grains are falling on the fields just around the corner and the cookies for the celebration contain ingredients not at all local to time nor place nevertheless.
bb*
Gwydion
We live in a time when our bodies are no longer composed of the elements of our local environments. While our ancestors lived of the fruits of the very Earth they walked on, we are eating food grown and raised all over the planet. My body does no longer entirely consist of the soil I walk on. Through my food it consits of the soil of Belgia, Spain, Italy, Greece, India, China, Chile, Costa Rica and other landscapes. Though I try to buy my food as regional as possible in the boundaries of my income, the market and my other commitments, I am still physically made out of stuff/ elements/ atoms from all over. What does this do to my body? What does this do to my genes and my metabolism? How does it affect my energetic bodies internally? How does it affect my connection to my local place on Earth and it's own energetic bodies that I am part of? Is it any lost that we no longer can say that we were truely born in one region, since the food we were and are born of no longer entirely comes from there? Or is it a positive developement that even on an cellular level we are "global citizens" today?
Furthermore, I see in our eating pattern the general patterns we consume in - be it art, clothing or even Religion. Since I am Pagan, I wonder, how does our global exchange of knowledge, power and wisdom affect our connection to the Earth we live on? If one does worship Egyptian Deities in Sweden or Norse ones in Texas - how does this affect and shape our feeling of place? How does it affect my magic, if my incense comes from India and not even it's ingredients are local to the place I live on? Does this effect my connection to Earth? Does it affect my connection to the local spirits and Deities? Even if I worship global or even cosmic Deities and beings - whose powers would be local to anywhere in a way - how can I keep myself aware of just that? Might it be helpful, if not necessary, to work with local spirits and Deities in addition to grant some basic level of grounding and earthyness to our Work?
Just some thoughts on the day of Lammas/Lugnasad, while the grains are falling on the fields just around the corner and the cookies for the celebration contain ingredients not at all local to time nor place nevertheless.
bb*
Gwydion