There are thee tiers or spirals in ecotherapy and earth connection. Here I outline them briefly and comment on how important it is to spiral back through them for resilience, for grounding and ensuring we are fully embodying our connection.
Level one; healing of the Self, connecting to self, to one’s own path of healing.
Level two; healing of the human/nature rupture, stepping beyond dichotomy and dualistic thinking into realising on an embodied level that what happens to the Other happens to the Self.
Level three; stepping into Service for all, human and non-human communities where the soul’s call is one with the wisdom of the Earth; clearly asking for us to step into Service for the Earth, the cosmos and Their inhabitants. Embodying the lessons from the spirals of initiation we have been through.
On reflection I realise (and experience) that these are not tiered but spiralling. One can and does move between these on a personal level, perhaps embodying more than one at a time. I can be of service while still needing to do soul work on a personal level. Or I am needing to realise the truth of my embodiment within the Oneness of it all, for perhaps this is not my lived experience all the time; sometimes I feel very detached from the world, other than knowing I am connected on a rational knowing. The work, then needs to be done for tier two to be enacted within me, to support and nourish me/us as Earth wisdom is activated.
Do we have a robust enough structure in place for this, as practitioners? Where do we turn for this? I am so blessed that the places I volunteer (RadJoy, DA, CPA) all support me enormously, as well as ask a lot from me as a volunteer, and their support in turn supports my private practice. But still, there are times when I do not tell of the full extent of my suffering; it stays between me and the Land. The goddess. Only She knows the true grief upon my shoulders. It is almost as if it’s too enormous to be shared in the human world. So both exist at once; needing human understanding and support and knowing that it can only be healed through the land.
Standing fully in Service to the Earth in this world, made up as it is of fractured, late stage capitalism, broken communities and isolation, can be truly difficult. I honour those whose connection to the Earth rings like the sounding bell of integrity. Those who have spiralled from levels one through to three, over and over, alone, together as best they can, and always with Earth Herself listening, guiding, loving, challenging: you are honoured and cherished.
In sum: these are not tiers in a cake, floating disconnected, but part of a great spiral dance, or a turning of a wheel that is both infinite and eternal.
Nwyfre 