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One way to focus positive energy is through prayer. This, of course, is something anyone can do. Whatever your vision of Deity, whether all encompassing or very specific, asking for the health and wholeness of all people, animals, plants, bodies of water, and the planet itself will focus energy on this goal.
Good prayer, in terms of prayer that is effective, focuses mind, heart, and soul on one's aim, and thus sends mental, emotional, and spiritual energy to your goal. The greater and more focussed the need, the more energy will be raised.
For the work we want to do to heal the Earth, first open to whatever God, Goddess, Deity, or spiritual Source you believe in. This is traditionally done by addressing one's Source in the first line of a prayer: "Mother/Father God," "God, Goddess, all that is," "Creator," "Source of Life, Love, and Creativity" ...or whatever works for you.
Then feel your love for the planet and your gratitude for Her beauty, feel your fears for our future and feel your desire to see all the lifeforms we share the Earth with living in wholeness and harmony. Express these feelings in some way that works for you.
Then think about what you know about the problems we are facing...or the ones you particularly want to pray about at this time. Enumerate these if you wish, but try not to let whatever distress you feel about the problems separate you from your connection to the Being you are praying to. Try not to let the enormity of the task before us knock you out of your love for the planet into fear. Fear is a different animal than concern...if we trust God/dess, we needn't fear.
Then think about the ways that these problems could be solved. Remember that we're speaking to the Divine, so your solutions needn't be limited to what you as an individual might accomplish, but may be anything on the scale of God. For example, you might ask that people over the whole Earth will start to see the size of the problem and begin to think about solutions. You might ask your God to open the hearts of those who pray to Him/Her to feel love for the planet and start to work for its healing. You might ask that His/Her love and Light will purify the waters, air, and earth. Ask your Source or Deity in whatever way you think might be pleasing to It, to bring these aims about.
When you are done, you might wish to spend some quiet time with your connection open to your Source, your heart focussed on your love for the Earth, and your mind quiet, to let your God/dess speak back to you. This is a form of meditation. Perhaps you will be inspired to add more to your prayer, or perhaps you will receive new ideas about ways you can help. Just be open and receive what comes. If you are willing to make a commitment to act on it, or to look further into the possibility, say so.
When you are done, it is always wise to thank your God/dess for listening and for what S/He will do to further your aim.
Some Examples
Goddess, Mother, and Father God:
I give thanks for this day and this life...
Which I am living on this beautiful planet You have made.
At this time, I wish to pray for the Earth,
For Gaia, the living planet,
And all of the beings who
Live in, on, and of Her,
And make Her complete.
For all the beings who walk on two legs
Or four, six, eight, or many...
Or none at all.
For all the beings who are rooted in the Earth
And reach toward the Sun.
And for all the beings too small to be seen
With our eyes.
For the beings of the Air
For the beings of Fire
For the beings of Water
For the beings of Earth
And for the beings of Spirit.
May all grow in harmony and balance
Into the full magnificence of what they are.
And may their healing, each in their own way
Contribute to the healing
Of the Whole.
And so it is. Blessed Be.
Great Mother who nourishes us
With Your body,
With Your breath
With Your spirit,
And with Your heart.
Be with me today.
You have given us a planet
Of breathtaking beauty to live upon...
To love and to love upon,
To grow upon.
You have given us minds
That allow us to survive
And make our world more comfortable.
And we've used this gift
To find ways to kill our foes...
Which could well end up killing us all.
We've used this gift
To find ways to change the planet
In ways that are damaging it
To the point it may become unable
To support any life.
Help those of us who love You
And love this planet
And love this life you've given us
To find ways to repair the damage;
To convince others
To join us in stopping the damage;
To show others that it's possible
To live in a balance that supports the whole.
Help me open to Your love today
And help me make it manifest
In the world I live and love upon.
Blessed Be.
Sacred Mother:
Thank you for this beautiful morning.
As I live through this day,
Help me to touch all others
With gentleness, love and healing.
That we may all grow together into
All that You created us to be.
So be it.
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Visualisation is, of course, at the core of most magical work. We focus on creating a picture in our minds, using as many senses as possible, of what we'd like to see, and we send energy to that picture.
For the basics of visualisation, please read the teaching page on it in the Wicca 101 section of this site.
Again, if we put our heart and soul behind the image we create, we will be sending more energy to it.
Some ideas for using visualisation in planetary healing:
See sparkling white energy pouring into a lake. See it filling the lake, so that all the water sparkles with the clear, clean vitality of Source. See the water flowing out of the lake into a river. See the water of the river sparkling clean and clear as it flows.
See people coming to the river for water and carrying the sparkling white light with them when they return to their homes. See them drinking this water. See how the families take on the same quality of light as the water sparkles in their being.
See a place where you have been where forest has been cleared. See the stumps and the ground up dirt. See the charred remains where the scrub has been burned. Feel the sadness here. Smell the ashes. Hear the silence.
Then see seedlings sprouting in the bare ground, between the charred twigs. Move forward in time and see the young sapling trees as they reach for the sun in their first few years. See the young deciduous trees grow to be taller then you...and young conifers sprout underneath them. See the flourishing undergrowth.
Move forward a few years and see the forest taking over this spot. There may be a few charred stumps still visible, but it is a thriving and healthy second growth forest.
See people backpacking in to camp under the trees. See them teaching their children about the trees and the children loving the place. See them pack up all their garbage and leave, leaving nothing behind but their admiration and appreciation of the beauty of this place...
See the skyline of a large city on a hot summer day. See the brown haze that hangs over it. If you have ever been near a large fire...you may be able to remember the tightness in your own chest that comes of not being able to get enough oxygen...that comes of breathing air that is filled with smoke...sit with this feeling for a few moments.
See God/dess behind/above the haze that hangs over your city. She purses Her lips and blows in your direction. The haze swirls in the path of her breath, and you find yourself in a pocket of air that is clean and alive. Breathe it in gratefully, and feel your own lungs clear the smoke out.
When your own lungs feel full of fresh clean air, join the Goddess in blowing at the haze that hangs over the city. Gently...no hurricanes are wanted here...
See the haze swirl and start to move away from your breath. See it thin over the part of the city closest to where you and God/dess are working. Keep up your gentle blowing. See the haze thin to the point of vanishing...close to you....further out....and eventually over the whole city.
If you wish, join the people of the city in a song of thanks for the healing.
Blessed Be.
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There are many ways to raise, focus, or send out energy for healing. This isn't going to be an exhaustive overview, but will suggest a few methods I have had success with.
First, there are many kinds of energy available for us to tap into. There is the energy in our own bodies, minds, hearts and spirits; I have given examples of how one can raise mental energy with prayer and visualisation. I have touched briefly on how, if you feel strongly about what you're working on, the energy of your emotions will become part of what you make available for healing.
The energy of our bodies is always available. Dancing is an excellent way to raise energy...just feel the heat pouring out of you after you've danced vigorously for some time. Sound, the vibration of air molecules is another form of energy. Thus the spoken or intoned word is a form of energy, as are chants and songs. Drumming is another way of making sound to raise energy. Because all these activities can also help us into states of altered awareness or trance, they can also tap into our spiritual energy.
The following selections from the songs and chants pages might be useful for your Earth healing work: The Beating of The Drum, The Beltane Song, Born of Water, The Earth Is Our Mother, I Walk in The Beauty Way, Mother I Feel You Under My Feet, One Planet Is Turning, Our Magic Is Our Giveaway, Send Me a Voice, Standing like a Tree, The Sycamore Song , Together We Share, We Are an Old People, Where I Sit Is Holy.
Another source of energy for healing is the heat and light released by burning. One can write prayers, affirmations, and poems on paper and then release them to the God/dess by burning them (technically, this could also be called a form of prayer).
Burning a candle is one of the simplest and most frequently used forms of magic. Charge the candle with your prayers, a visualisation of your desired outcome, or another form of energy (see below), light it, and see the light and heat released as the candle wax is consumed by the flame going out to your desired goal.
I dislike throwing out my candle stubs after I do a working. I dislike even more the idea of burying paraffin, so I collect them up and when I have enough, I melt them together to create a special muddy brown candle perfect for Earth healing rituals. I visualise any magical residue being burned away in the melting process, and have a candle for my healing work that is an embodiment of my commitment to recycling. Why not try it? : )
Many of us, when the time comes to raise serious energy, don't try to take it out of ourselves, but to tap into the energies of the world around us. There is energy in the core of the Earth, from the fires there. There is energy coming to us from the Sun, from the stars, and from the God/desses themselves. My personal favourite source of energy is a combination of both Earth energy and the energy of the stars, as demonstrated in the following meditation.
Feel the lifeforce move down your body as you breathe in next...falling down your legs into your feet. And as you breathe out, feel the energy move down through the soles of your feet into the earth.
And be aware that there is a part of your energy body that feels a pull to grow down into the earth...sending roots into the rich moist darkness...seeking out nourishment...
...and let that root grow down into the earth....feel your roots slide by other roots and rocks as they grow downward...
Let them slide through the soil, finding cracks in the rocks as they go...down toward the center of the earth.
And let them come out into the fire at the heart of Mother Earth. And let the connection between your heart and Hers be strong and firm.
And then feel Her love, the fire of Her heart, start to rise up your roots, sucking Her nourishment up your roots through the soil and into your being.
Feel that energy come up your legs and fill your pelvis.
Breathe in again and feel it rise to fill your abdomen, bathing and nourishing all the organs there.
Feel it rise up into your chest filling and nourishing your lungs. Let it rise up to massage your face and nourish your brain.
Then realise that your energy body has another part that wants to grow up toward the sun like the branches of a tree. Feel that part of you open and reach upward...
Growing up through the air and all the layers of the atmosphere to the very stars themselves. And let your connection to the stars be strong and firm, as well.
And they, too, have a gift of loving energy for you. Feel that energy flow down your branches into your being.
Feel it flow down through your head and neck, through your chest and abdomen...through your legs...
...and down through your roots to the Heart of the Earth...
...so that you form a two way channel allowing the Earth Energy to flow through you to the stars and the energy of the Heavens to flow through you to the earth.
...realise you can open or close these channels so the energy flows are just right for your comfort and healing...take a moment to do that now...
...and then let the columns of energy mix a little at your heart...so that you have a mixture of earth and heavenly energy there. And let this energy flow out down your arms and out your hands...
And feel yourself standing here...with the energy of earth and heaven flowing up and down through your being, and mixing at your heart. And know your heart is a centre of power where healing can happen. Feel that energy flow out your hands to be used for whatever healing purpose you have in mind...
Now, you can use that energy to fill up a candle with it's love and Light so you can light the candle and send that energy out as described above.
You can imagine that energy flowing out your heart to fill your aura...then expand your aura to fill the room you sit in, your yard, your city...even the whole globe if you wish...sit in this energy feeling it work it's healing for as long as you wish...then pull your aura in so it's comfortable for what you'll be doing with the rest of your day...
You can cup your hands and envision a globe shining between them, soaking up the energy. Or you could hold a special round stone to represent the Earth and let the energy flow into it. If you have an actual globe of the world, by all means let the energy flow into it from your hands.
You could direct the energy to photos or maps of places where you know healing is needed. Or you could envision those places and see a ray of light flowing from your hands into that picture.
You could take a walk in the woods and send that energy directly into the trees you pass. You could divert the energy to flow out your feet as you walk anywhere that Earth healing is needed. You could sit on a rock or log on the beach and send the energy out into the ocean for its healing. Or similarly into any body of water that is handy.
If you are familiar with Ley lines, the lines where energy flows under the surface of the Earth, you could direct this energy into that web of healing energy to be used by the Earth wherever needed. If you have access to a node or intersection of these lines, even better. One powerful technique for Earth healing that I have used with others is to send healing energy out from our hearts to each other, and let this web of loving energy be a symbol of the Earth healing grid...and be absorbed by that grid.
Here is a working for Earth healing that directs energy into a circular stone and uses visualisation to see that energy working:
Use the visualisation above to establish your grounding cord, clear your aura, run Earth energy into your being and up to the stars, then run the energy of the stars down to the Earth. Mix the energy at your heart and let this healing mixture run out your hands.
Say a prayer in your own words for the healing of the Earth and all the creatures that live in or on or above Her....or use one of those on the prayer page....
...you feel the energy flow through your hands into the stone...imagine the beautiful globe that is the Earth...and see it surrounded by the light you are pouring into its representation in your hands. See that light soaking into the Earth...into the soil and into the very centre of the Earth. Hold this image until the whole globe is pulsing with healing energy.
...see that light flowing into the underground waters and streams...and flowing in that network through the Earth.
... and see those groundwaters bubbling up to flow over the surface to nourish the plants and animals....
...see that light being pulled up by the plants into their roots and permeating their stems, branches, and leaves...see the plants glowing with that healing light...
...see that light being taken in by the animals that eat the plants...and see the animals glow with health as the light permeates all their cells....
...see that light eventually coming into the humans and other predators...see the people of the Earth glowing with health and vitality...
...and see that light flowing from heart to heart, man to woman, mother to child, friend to friend...all people to all others....
...see it flow from human hearts to plants, animals, waters, rocks and the Earth itself...
...see people living in simple ways that honour the Earth and Her gifts...
...and see that light circling through their bodies from Earth and Heaven to be offered in an ongoing commitment to healing...
...give your thanks for being part of this cycle of loving and healing which allows you to express your gratitude for the beauty all around us...
Let any energy you don't need to carry with you run out your hands and your grounding cord back to the Earth for Her healing.
Take a moment to feel yourself solidly in your body...sitting on Her body...
Know that all you do to heal any part of yourself or your world contributes to the healing of the Whole.
Blessed Be.