What is Earth/Spirit Tending?

I'm tempted to begin by giving you the most standard definition of Earth/Spirit tending which some people might think sounds like what they hear about shamanism, but that is an incorrect association; it is more akin to animism so open your curiosity and I'll tell you what Earth/Spirit tending really is, at least for me. Asking what this is equals asking what it means to be a full human being. To me it is the most basic way of experiencing and being our true nature as humans. It is the root and foundation of all that we are. It is a way of being; a bodily knowing, an attitude, feeling, sensing, behavior and acknowledging that we are an interdependent part of a vast mystery of consciousness that is dynamic and uncontainable. It is a deeply emotional/bodily relationship to the sacred. Living this way informs us through each breath we take that we are beings with no beginning and no end; that our spirits and bodies are fluid, ever-changing expressions of a vast unity, and that there is endless creativity and variety in what the so-called physical can be and in how we experience ourselves and everything else; and that everything else is just like this too; that all is alive, inspirited, able to relate, communicate, and create together while shape-shifting endlessly from one adventure to another, both inside and outside of Time and Space.

Earth/Spirit tending fosters a deep love for and commitment to life, a conscious, mutually nourishing relationship with every part of creation--seen and unseen-- where we experience and are often overcome by the wonder and beauty of creation and consequently must live with respect, integrity, tenderness and honor in relation to all of creation; where we share our full, emotionally vibrant selves with human, tree, water, rock, bear, fae, gust of wind, planets, stars, birds, sun, gods and goddesses, hint of moonlight, fungi, tutelary deities, etc. etc...... and forms of consciousness we cannot even begin to name; with the rest of the endless cosmos within and without.

Earth/Spirit tending is our intimate reciprocal connection to the fullness of Life in all its manifestations; it is the elixir of Eros running through us. It is both scintillating, ever-shifting dream as well as primal, grounded practicality. Earth/Spirit tending is human nature and all of nature, when we're being our most authentic, unconditioned selves. It is encompassing the connection of all that is and radiating that awareness into every part of our lives. Earth/Spirit tending is knowing that the phrase "we are all ONE" is not a metaphor, but rather the bedrock of our existence along with the understandings and actions that fall out of that knowing.

Now, most of what I just described as Earth/Spirit tending, many would define as pure animism and perhaps take exception to me muddying those waters. And they would possibly perceive some of what I describe as shamanism, where someone also can reliably take soul flight into the spirit realms, relate to spirit beings and allow those spirits to use them as a conduit for certain energies.. And with the understanding that this way of being is currently understood to be that particular flowering from the root of animism is technically true. My experience, and perspective and ways are a bit different while at times sharing some overlap because the Earth is the Earth and we are expressions of her and there is some consistency in ways of being and practicing due to that. To be in direct relationship with the spirits for the purpose of guidance or encouraging balance doesn’t depend only on trance states nor on drumming nor on medicine rites transferred by a healer in a traditional culture, nor on the techniques promoted by Neo-shamanism. Other ways exist and that is where I practice.

The line between animism and my own practice is so permeable, the energies themselves so alive, unbounded and non-conceptual, that I find it difficult to imagine a truly animistic life not somehow flowering innately into spontaneous awareness and collaborative relationship with the spirit world and from there into intentionally cultivated relationship that includes spirit flight or voluntary possession states.. And this is one place where I find the oft used terms shamanism/shamanic to unravel and mislead and so prefer finding myself in terms of Earth/Spirit tending. But this is simply my take on it, and there are certainly many others…..

So... although it is a rare way for humans to now be in the world, having a personal Earth/Spirit tending relationship with life is our birthright and is deeply coded in our biological/spiritual DNA. We are meant to go into all kinds of heightened states; we are meant to live from a place of inspirited emotional awareness and connection; we are meant to relate consciously, naturally and consistently to non-human life-forms as well as to the unseen world, which includes especially our human dead.. We are made for that! 

Tending the Earth and Spirits this way has been a part of many ancient practices of relating to and accessing wisdom, guidance and direct healing energies from the unseen or spirit realms. By "spirit realms" I'm not referring to a category of any one specific religious orientation but to the vast underlying, mysterious reality that informs our lives. Working in partnership with the spirit realm and from this perspective, disharmony in our lives--whether physical, emotional, mental or energetic--is often perceived to originate within our spiritual nature; and all our dreams, visions, creative impulses and purpose is considered to be sourced in our spirit as well. Thus, the focus of Earth/Spirit tending work, whether it be supporting a return of balance, creation or personal inquiry, is to discover what is occurring at this origin point and to address it at the source, no matter what other means or considerations may also be called for. And I want to make a distinction here between having a personal Earth/Spirit tending practice and/or orientation towards life versus working on behalf of others. The personal practice and stance is an innate, available aspect of our humanity; the work on behalf of others is more often an undeniable call from the spirit world and usually followed up by relationship with a human teacher, as there tends to be a different sort of immersion needed and accountability called for within the two orientations.

A contemporary Earth/Spirit tender works by developing consensual relationships with benevolent energies in the spirit realm who become full allies in integrated expression and guidance. These beings, often referred to as spirit allies, guides or helpers, when approached for assistance, either provide possible directions needed and/or a diagnosis of imbalance, what consideration that imbalance currently needs, and then they work through the practitioner to begin the restoration of balance if the current situation meets the requirements for that restoration. The practitioner is a conduit for these energies. At times, this approach can address an imbalance on its own. Other times it's part of the fundamental process so that other approaches can be most effective.

When it involves work on behalf of others, one of the very fundamental patterns that the Earth/Spirit tender works with is the recognition that any individual's imbalance is not simply something that arose in that person in an isolated way. These tenders work within the Web of Life, and recognize that personal difficulties are related to what's occurring within the present human community, within the ancestral community and within the greater environmental gestalt of the times. And so, any really committed practitioner is also going to be very attuned to what is occurring there and how to affect this greater community as well as the individual, for the initiating disturbances lie in that greater fabric of life. And for all the beliefs and experiences encountered within this kind of life that seem so far-fetched and unrealistic to many within modern culture, ultimately Earth/Spirit tending is a very practical life orientation. When practiced with the emotional depth, sincerity, grit, discipline and humility characteristic of its essential nature, it is not New Age-y, flaky or ungrounded; it's concerned with what works and does so through an experiential process that includes the acknowledgment that the unseen spirit realm and the seen physical world are always one reality, both informing the other and both being expressed through the other and always in a dynamic flux. We are all of it....

Aspects of contemporary Earth/Spirit tending practices rise out of many different spiritual and wisdom traditions from around the world, as well as from present moment revelatory experience often inspired by spirits of the Earth and Ancestors. Many have at their core a ritualized meeting with the spirits---for some this can be either sonic-driven, prayer based, song and/or dance evoked, or plant medicine(entheogenic) accompanied--in order to make clear this desire for focused connection with the compassionate spirits for assistance of some kind. And these benevolent Spirits are very creative, adaptable, and resourceful. They've cooperated effectively in various ways with people of many different cultures and beliefs for thousands of years of great change. So, despite that we all have our different histories, filters, belief systems and ways of languaging our lives, this approach is still responsive and will adapt to meet your specific needs and understandings.

Living within this perceptual field is akin to standing outside as night wraps around your body, feeling the thrum of the earth's heartbeat in your feet, tasting the caress of winds that have known waters, fields, stones, starlight and forests and feeling the rapture and wonderment and un-answerableness of your question---"what does it mean that the earth is so beautiful?" And living that mystery in the heart of your belonging.....