As a sensitive soul with a compassionate heart, I’m guessing you have been following the trail of fires occurring over these past months… beginning very early (fire-season-wise) in Canada and then, most recently, with the absolute devastation wrecked in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
I’m guessing as well that your sensitive soul and compassionate heart is flooded with grief and outrage, with confusion and fear.
You feel for the people who have lost homes, lives, loved ones. You feel for the animals and birds, the insects and reptiles whose home have also been destroyed.
Thank you. Thank you for your grief. Thank you for your loving and caring heart.
If it has all been too much (in a time of too much existing everywhere we turn) and you have looked away or pushed down any feelings you may have, thank you for that as well.
All responses are valid. All responses carry, deep within them, truth and love.
Today, I want to offer a small ritual that carries the possibility for a big rippling effect, especially when repeated with consistency and sincerity.
It is a ritual of offering Water to the Earth.
Simply gather water (from a facet, from a stream, from a lake) and, holding a prayer for peace within your heart, offer it to Earth (pour it on the Earth).
If you want to tune into the wildfire (or the fires within you) and then make the prayer for peace/harmony as you pour the water, that is also great.
In Dagara cosmology as taught by the late Malidoma Somé, the elements of Fire and Water, when in harmony, exist in a 1:3 ratio.
When in balance, fire is a force for purification, for warmth, inspiration, passion, creativity…
When out of balance, fire takes the form of anger, destruction, consumption (think of how fire consumes forests and homes and of how our culture is a culture of rabid consumption), rage…
Looking around, it seems to me that the elements of Fire and Water are definitely out of balance.
As the elements exist within us as well as are external to us, this small action of offering Water to Earth with a prayer for Peace is a small step towards harmonizing the elements within us (and thus, in the world around us as well).
Notes:
- Keep it simple. While you can make this an elaborate ritual complete with invocation, prayers, tears, other offerings, etc etc (all of which is welcome, of course!), it is also absolutely fine to keep it super simple and just take a cup of water from your facet and pour it on the earth.
What will allow you to actually take this action ongoing?
For me, the simpler I allow it to be, the more likely I am to continue. And then, if I occasionally feel inspired to create a grander offering/ritual out of it all, I follow that inspiration knowing that, most likely the following day, the ritual will once again be very simple.
- It is the consistency and repetitiveness of the ritual that allows for ever deepening relationship and connection (in this case, connection between you and Water, you and the Earth, you and Fire harmonized within).
It is through connection and relationship that we are able to actually influence our internal and external experiences. Without relationship, we have very little influence and impact.
- Live in a high rise without access to the Earth? It is possible to place a bowl of water at your altar along with a prayer for peace and renew that offering daily.
And, there is something very potent about actually pouring Water on Earth.
So, if possible, I do suggest making the additional effort to do that.
If in a crowded city-type-place, I’ll often just surreptitiously pour a bit of water from my water bottle at the base of a tree or into a potted plant along with that prayer for peace.
I find this undercover-type of ritual to be oddly effective and also helps me to maintain my connection to the natural+unseen world when in places where that foundational connection can be easily lost/forgotten.
Today, I invite you to join me in this simple, daily ritual. Are you in?
with love,
larisa
ps. in truth, over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten quite swept up with life and have turned (largely) away from making offerings. I’m returning to this practice now and it feels so. very. good.
If you want to make offerings in community, now is a great time to join the Witchy Healer Wisdom School. There, we’ll be making this Water offering together and, starting in September, adding in other simple offering practices.
As I’ve been taught, making offerings opens the gates… to connection, new/deeper relationships, to increased goodness, prosperity, and support (and the increased likelihood that whatever we desire in our lives and businesses actually happens).
Offerings benefit both those receiving and those giving/making the offering.
The Witchy Healer Wisdom School is my offering to you. If/when you choose to receive it (through joining the school), may that receiving be joyous, fulfilling and utterly life-changing. <3
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