You Can Save and Heal the Planet

You Can Save and Heal the Planet

Recently in environmentally related discourse it has become popular to talk about saving people and the biosphere and not the planet. The idea here is that the planet does not need saving, and we are the ones who are mucking everything up. The earth will still exist even if we don’t, and even if we turn the rest of the planet into a lifeless hunk of rock it will still continue orbiting the sun. Of course, in this discourse there is mention of the fact that we are not just destroying ourselves but the entire biosphere as well.
What is annoying about all of this is that it still smacks heavily of the scientific rational materialism that got us into this mess in the first place (if you are a hardcore scientific rational materialist then this post is probably not for you). This notion that we cannot save the planet or that we shouldn’t save the planet is ultimately disempowering and also flies in the face of the wisdom of indigenous cultures worldwide. We definitely can save the planet, ourselves, and the bisosphere, and hopefully we have all started that process.
While I am an avid supporter of organic farming, permaculture, green technologies, sound environmental practices and the like, what really concerns me is that we might be missing the boat on what we really should be doing to help out ourselves and our world. Indigenous elders from cultures deeply connected to the earth have told us that we are at a time when it’s not just our every day actions that are needed to heal the situation we are in. We must also engage in spiritual practice and transformation as well.
While for many of us this means a personal practice and working on ourselves (healing the microcosm of the self results in healing of the macrocosm of the world), I think that indigenous teachings also offer us a new direction. In many cultures, there are ceremonies and rituals that are held to help restore the balance. These traditional practices rejuvenate the earth or creation. They restore life and ecological health, and they also are good for humans and their relations. Examples of these include the Lakota sweat lodge and pipe ceremonies, puja fire cerermonies from India, the Dajiao ceremonies from Daoists in China, and so forth (in ancient Europe these kind of ceremonies were probably conducted by Druids and Witches at different times of year).
But wait a second, most of us don’t have those things happening around us, and if we were to try to them ourselves wouldn’t that be appropriation? I’m not suggesting that anybody read in a book how to do a pipe ceremony and then attempt to do it on their own. However, the hour is late and our planet and biosphere are in trouble. We sure as hell better do something. So what do we do?
We are at a time when many of us are experiencing spiritual awakenings, increased synchronicities, and visions and dreams of power. I believe it is time for us to start to put these new found abilities to work. We should and can create our own new ceremonies and rituals to bless and heal the earth, the people, and the biosphere. Can we learn from indigenous cultures with out appropriating? I believe so.

Here are a few ideas and guidelines from my experience with these things:
Time- Around the world there are times that are seen as particularly potent for this kind of work. Yearly openings such as the solstices, equinoxes, and the times half-way between are used in many places. Monthly openings such as new moon and full moon are also used. The new moon is often a time of purification, release, and cleansing whereas the full moon is a time to help manifest vision, create transformation, and bring forth the future.
Place- While our apartment balcony or suburban bedroom might have to serve as a working ceremonial space, often nearby there are places associated with power. Try and find one and look for liminal spaces: crossroads, the meeting of rivers, or the top of a hill.
Structure-This is very open-ended and you might want to research what is most comfortable for you, but most ceremonies have a structure of an 1)initial purification (bathing, smudging, incense, etc.), 2) a ritual opening (connecting the divine in whatever form works for you), 3) offerings (food, water, alcohol, things with pleasant fragrances), 4)prayers and asking for what you need, 5)thankfulness (sometimes done earlier), 6)release (loosening of the connection with the divine and return to our realm), and 7)closing (returning from the temporary liminal/ceremonial space)

For some this will not be enough to get started, but my hope is that for many of us this can be the start of a new form of ceremony, ritual and blessing for all of us that does help us heal the planet, the biosphere, and us. You can save the planet!
(How about an agreement between Reality Sandwich readers and Evolvers to agree to personal full moon ceremonies to heal the planet, the biosphere, and ourselves each month for the next year?)