The Starlight Earth

The Living Soul of Nature

One of the things the indigenous understood that modern society has mostly forgotten (but is now remembering!) is that the Earth is teeming with vibrant healing energies. They knew that we are not separate from our Earth Mother, but are part of the whole, and that our body and soul qualities are also mirrored in the living body and soul of nature. Across the entire globe, there was the understanding that we can work with the natural world to heal on both a physical and metaphysical level.

Every plant, stone, animal and natural element has a spirit, or vibrational frequency, that can be matched with our soul’s needs for healing. The role of the Shaman was (and is) to interface with the soul, the ancestors, Great Spirit and the world of spirit that lives inside every molecule of the natural world. They would work on a multidimensional level to bridge the worlds so that healing could occur.

Sacred plant medicines such as cacao, bobinsana, mugwort, yarrow and more have been used for eons to heal on multiple levels by working with the physical and spiritual attributes of plants. It is a known fact that touching our bare skin to the Earth balances our bodies by transferring negative ions into our system. This article is about remembering the reciprocal relationship between ourselves and the Earth, which gifts us with healing opportunities on all levels.

Matching Our Soul Qualities to the Living Elements of Earth

Before we explore specific ways of connecting with the healing energies of Mother Earth, I want to explain a bit about matchmaking. An example would be if you are feeling wired and anxious, you may turn to the lavender plant, as in its many forms, this plant represents the energy of softening, relaxing and easing into the present moment.

If you are feeling ungrounded and crave a connection to the Earth, but are in an office and unable to go outside (been there!), then a grounding spray or roll-on with natural tree oils (ie; cedar, cypress, pine) can help relieve that stress. By literally breathing in the forest, we can transform that sense of separation into connection. Flower essences such as corn and crystals such as smoky quartz, black tourmaline and hematite are also great choices for grounding. Though not specifically an Earth medicine, deep breathing techniques are also extremely beneficial here.

If someone has recently experienced a loss, they may turn to a variety of heart healing herbs such as linden, hawthorn, rose and motherwort. They may benefit from a flower essence for grief such as star of bethlehem. The rose quartz crystal can heal and soothe the heart as well, especially when worked with intentionally or as a liquid gem essence.

These are just a few examples of what I mean by ‘matchmaking,’ though it can get much more granular and specific than this, especially when working in the realm of flower essence therapy. But I wanted to show a few simple examples of how we can work with Earth medicine in our busy, day-to-day lives.

The Elements of Nature

The four elements (Water, Wind, Earth and Fire) also come into play with this. When I need to feel connected to my inner child or am in need of a refresh or renewal, I tend towards the water. I live in a city and so this can be as simple as allowing the rain to fall on my head or sitting in the bathtub and allowing the shower water to wash over me like a waterfall with my eyes closed.

The fresh air welcomes me in the morning if I am struggling with inspiration or waking up to a new day. Even something as simple as feeling the wind on my face as I walk down the street can uplift me. Fire helps with creating a sense of sacredness, ceremony and the act of cleansing. It evokes a feeling of connecting back to ancient days, especially when lighting a candle in a dark room or burning woods or herbs, which I find to be very calming.

I turn to the Earth element (especially the trees and the soil) when I need stability, grounding and centering. This can occur after a big energetic event or simply from work stress and the demands of modern life. Even though I live in a city, I will often retreat to the large park near my apartment to reset and ground my nervous system.

Of course, it isn’t always possible to go outside and bathe in the energies of nature directly, and so I will be going over ways in which we can bring the natural world into our homes through bath products, herbal tinctures, flower essences, grounding mats and more.

Working with the Natural World for Healing

Walking in Nature – Earthing + Grounding

Literally being in nature and touching your bare feet to the ground is one of the most potent healing medicines. Even if you are in an urban or semi-urban environment (like I am) you can receive great healing benefits by connecting to your local parks, trees and wildlife. This can be simply, from taking long walks in amongst the trees, to tending to a small plant, to placing your bare feet on the Earth in a small patch of grass. Wherever you are located, spending time outdoors—especially walking and putting our bare feet to the ground—can help us relax, slow down and receive the amazing healing benefits of nature.

The Earth is capable of healing us on a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual level. For example, simply touching the earth (a process known as ‘earthing’) literally physically grounds the body by transferring negatively charged free electrons from the Earth’s surface into the body through direct skin contact. These electrons act as natural antioxidants, neutralizing excess positively charged free radicals—linked to inflammation and stress—and restoring electrical balance.

I find that when I make the time to go to the park and put my bare skin to the Earth, I get more and more relaxed the longer I stay there. When I make an entire day out of it, such as on a lazy Saturday, I end up feeling the best I have ever felt. Truly it is amazing when you think that a balm for many of our ailments is so simple and something the indigenous did all day in their daily lives. They were not enclosed indoors all day, nor were they bombarded with constant EMF signals. Instead, they walked barefoot on the ground, cooked naturally over real fires and slept on the ground on all-natural materials.

This not only has the highest vibration but it’s also extremely physically healthy. We aren’t meant to be living so disconnected from the natural healing sources of nature, but for those of us who must live in the current societal conditions (high-rise buildings, offices, etc.), we can at least use this knowledge as power. If we just aim to place our feet to the ground for a few minutes each day, we can receive fantastic benefits (apparently it only takes two seconds of contact to receive those negative ions!).

Indoor Grounding Mats

I have recently discovered the amazing power of Earthing or Grounding Mats, which basically harness the Earth’s electrical charge (aka all of those feel-good negative ions!) and bring them up from the Earth and into your home. I have been using my grounding mat for a few days now and can feel a big difference: less cabin fever/urge to leave the house when I should be working, a calmer feeling in my body and yesterday I even felt that “spiritual chills” feeling all over my body as I used the grounding mat. I slept with it last night and woke up refreshed and in a more positive mood.

Even if you don’t feel palpable physical benefits right away, the grounding mats do work and if you are not getting outside barefoot it really can only help. Before you connect your mat, however, please look up on Amazon a small, inexpensive outlet tester (I got mine for only $7) that you can use to test your outlets before plugging in your mat. You really must test your outlets first to make sure they are grounded. After that, you are good to try out these products!

Society at large will be catching up to all of this (it already is catching up!) but in the meantime we can still use this knowledge to help ourselves until society makes a bigger shift. They also sell earthing shoes, larger mats and pillowcases that work similarly to the smaller mats, which I am looking into and will post back after I try them!

Plant Medicine

One of the most powerful and ancient ways to work with the healing qualities of the Earth is through the plants. From working with their vibrational signatures, to physical healing with herbal tinctures, to diffusing your favorite essential oil and winding down with a nightly cup of chamomile tea, the ways in which we can heal with plants are vast. The plants we eat as food are also a type of medicine and provide us with innumerable benefits for our bodies and health. We can even directly attune to the healing energy of a plant in our own homes without being physically present with the plant!

Flower Essences – Healing the Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Aspects of Self

Flower Essences are one of my favorite ways of working with plants, as they have such a profound, yet gentle capacity to help us heal on all levels. Made from placing flowers into a bowl of water and letting it infuse under the sun for several hours, flower essences capture the imprint, or vibrational signature, of a plant.

Much like an herbal tincture works with our physical body, the vibrational essence of a plant works with our energetic body to balance negative emotions, shift unwanted mental states, clear traumas, patterns, blockages and more. They can be used in both temporary situations (ie; a sudden shock after receiving bad news) and for healing long-term, deep-seated issues (i.e.; low self-esteem, childhood trauma).

We can work with flower essences by taking drops from a bottle of a specific essence or a blend of essences several times a day, or by putting a few drops into your water and sipping throughout the day. You can even use them topically as roll-ons, creams or sprays. The ways in which we can work with flower essences are versatile, though the traditional method involves filling a 1oz dosage bottle with spring water, adding 2 drops of each stock essence into the bottle (up to 7), and preserving the blend with either alcohol or vegetable glycerin.

Things that are awesome about flower essences:

• They work extremely well for a wide variety of mental, emotional and spiritual states
• They are easy to take (just pop a few drops into your water or mouth!)
• They are inexpensive ($8-20 dollars for a stock bottle or blend). And since you can further dilute a stock essence into a dosage bottle, you can buy an essence once and use it for many years
• They are completely safe for anyone to use (including kids and pets!)
• You can enjoy making your own right in your own garden or in the wild
• They work! 😄

It is important to note that flower essences are not a panacea that will instantly cure all of your problems. Rather, they work over time by gently clearing old patterns of imbalance and teaching you about the issue, all while subtly infusing you with positive qualities (ie; the energies of joy, balance, wisdom, and more). In essence, they are re-teaching you out of a negative state and back into the positive soul qualities you already possess. This teaching will not always feel literal; sometimes it will come gradually as a knowing or feeling. They work on a subtle level, but can also be extremely powerful.

When starting to work with flower essences, it is common to start with easy-to-use combination formulas designed to target a specific area (though if a specific flower is already calling out to you, by all means work with it!) I will be starting you off here with a few combination formulas that work on a broad level for a wide variety of inner states to help get you started!

Starter Formulas ($8-20 each):

• Bach Rescue Remedy: A great foundational blend that can soothe feelings of overwhelm, stress, chaos, shock, trauma, fear, grief and more.

• YES Environmental Solution: A boundary-creating formula that helps filter out electro-magnetic radiation, energetic and geological disturbances and over time helps to cleanse and fortify your energy field.

• Soul Support: Similar to the Rescue Remedy – a great support when facing intensely stressful situations.

• Grounding Green: For grounding yourself and connecting to the Earth.

• Animal Care: Flower essences to ease stress in animals and pets.

Further Resources:
Bach Flower Remedies
Alaskan Essences Combination Formula Catalog
FES Combination Formulas
FES – Information on Flower Essences

All of the options for healing with essences can, at times, seem overwhelming and so you may choose to work with someone who can develop a custom formula just for you. I have been trained as Certified Flower Essence Practitioner and offer 1:1 Flower Essence Consultations, available here: https://thestarlightearth.com/flower-essence-therapy/

Herbals: Healing with Tinctures, Teas, Medicinals, Salves and more

I loved essential oils and experimenting with lots of different types of teas when I was a teenager, but then I spent many years at fast-paced jobs and my connection to the plant world waned a bit. But in 2022 I had a bit of an “herbal awakening” and through a few intuitive and synchronistic encounters, ended up in an herb shop not quite sure why I was hugging a bag of oatstraw. 😂

When we talk about herbs or herbal medicine, typically we are talking about working with the physical plant, whether fresh or dried, that is then extracted or utilized in some way to provide a more concentrated remedy. Herbal medicine has been used for a very long time and is a beautiful, natural, simple and affordable way to treat common conditions, such as relieving mild tension, digestive upset, sore throats and more. They are often used as preventatives as well, such as with adaptogens and immune-boosting herbs. They can be used to cleanse the blood, balance the heart, rebuild the nervous system and improve sleep.

There are SO many ways to work with herbs, but a few standard ways of working with the herbal world are through teas, infusions, tinctures, powders, salves, oils and more. Any type of herbal medicinal primarily acts on the physical body, however as everything is energy and our physical body and energy body are virtually one in the same, an organic, well-made herbal medicine will contain both the physical and energetic properties of the plant. As we work with herbs to heal our physical body, our energy body also heals and vice versa.

Teas, infusions, tinctures, oils, salves and other types of herbal medicines (such as made with vinegar or honey) can be used for many situations, such as:

• Heart Healing (emotional and physical):
  • Motherwort, cacao, hawthorn, oatstraw, linden, hibiscus
• Immunity:
  • Echinacea, elderberry, astragalus, elderflower, thyme
• Nervous System Balance:
  • Oatstraw, butterfly pea, milky oats, lemon balm, passionflower, ashwagandha, reishi
• Stress Relief:
  • Tulsi (holy basil), lemon balm, chamomile, lavender, vervain, reishi, ashwagandha
• Sleep:
  • Passionflower, lavender, chamomile, ashwagandha, skullcap
• Hormone Balance:
  • Vitex (chaste tree), nettles, red clover, nettle, shatavari, raspberry leaf
• Relaxation:
  • Chamomile, lavender, catnip, lemon balm
• Joy and Mood:
  • Damiana, St. John’s wort (use caution), rose, cacao, tulsi
• Mental Clarity:
  • Butterfly pea, schisandra berry, rosemary, gotu kola, ginkgo biloba, peppermint, sage, lion’s mane
• Digestion and Bloating:
  • Ginger, peppermint, fennel, dandelion root, chamomile, burdock root
• Mineralization/general health:
  • Nettle, oatstraw, red raspberry leaf, horsetail, alfalfa
• Adaptogens (helping the body better adapt to stress):
  • Ashwagandha, rhodiola, holy basil (tulsi), eleuthero, schisandra, cordyceps
• Dream Work:
  • Mugwort, bobinsana, blue lotus (use caution)
• Grief, Connection and Heart Healing:
  • Motherwort, cacao, hawthorn, oatstraw, linden, bobinsana
• Liver Health:
  • Milk thistle, dandelion root (use caution), turmeric, burdock root, schisandra
• Skin Health
  • Burdock root, nettle, red clover, calendula, turmeric
• Sore Throat and Colds:
  • Marshmallow root, slippery elm, licorice root, thyme, elderberry, echinacea
• Hair Health:
  • Rosemary, horsetail, saw palmetto, oatstraw, nettle, amla

This list is to just give you some ideas on what is possible and I encourage you to do further research before deciding to work with an herb.

Since these are herbal medicines and can interact with certain pharmaceuticals or conditions, please consult with your doctor before working with any herbs listed on this site, especially if you are already taking medications or have current conditions.

Magical and creative ways of using herbs topically or in your environment that don’t involve ingesting the herb:

• Simmer pots/herbal tea steams that make the house smell lovely
• Creating herbal sachets by placing aromatic herbs, such as lavender or cedar, into a pouch (extra magic if you add an intention, crystals or a drop of essential oil!)
• Simmering fresh-fallen flowers into a tea and creating a room spray (I had a magical experience with this that I will be writing about at some point!) – this contains both the essence (such as in a flower essence) and aromatic properties of the herb or flower
• Using a small amount of an herb in an intentional/spell jar, inside of essential oil roll-ons and on your altar to support your magical intentions
• Burning dried flowers or herbs as incense to create a sacred space or during ceremony
• Mixing dried herbs into homemade soaps, lotions, salt and sugar scrubs and more
• Creating herbal oil by soaking fresh or dried herbs in a carrier oil for several weeks and straining (wonderful with calendula)
• Creating a strong tea for whatever herbs call you and pouring it into your bath for a relaxing and magical experience
• Sprinkling rose powder or roses into your bath water
• Using fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, flowers and lemon peel for cleaning (with alcohol or vinegar as the base)
• Creating herbal tea blends that are designed for hair health (rosemary, horsetail, nettle and more) and using them as hair rinses
• Working with soap plants such as yucca, shikakai and soap nuts for cleansing your hair, making homemade cleaning sprays and using them in your laundry

Aromatic Healing (Essential Oils, Hydrosols, Incense)

Another beautiful and profound way to work with the plant kingdom is through the aromatic healing methods (one of my favorites and one I use every single day!) Again, there are endless amounts of ways that one can both extract the aromatic healing benefits from a plant and also use and apply them in a variety of ways, but I am going to stick to some of the basics for the purpose of getting you started.

A few ways in which we can work with the aromatic healing aspects of plants include:

• Essential Oils
• Hydrosols (or ‘Flower Waters’)
• Herbal Steams/Simmer Pots
• Incense, smudge and the burning woods and plants

Essential Oils:

Essential oils are concentrated extracts of the oil of a plant. Not only are they amazing for healing through the power of scent, but they also contain physical compounds that can help on a variety of levels such as skin health, relaxation and more. They are used in so many different ways, it would be impossible for me to list them all, and so I will start with just a few practical ways you can use them at home once you buy your first oil (lavender is a good and safe one to start with!)

The first thing with essential oils that most people (including myself) spend a long time not doing or overlooking is that:

• A little goes a long way
• Always dilute with a carrier oil when used topically (honestly I find even in diffusers and sprays it makes for a nicer experience if slightly diluted)
• You don’t always need to put drops on your skin or in a diffuser – simply opening the bottle and taking in a few deep breaths of the oil or having it just softly present in the background can go a long way.

Some common reasons I use essential oils either topically or in my space:

• Mood Creation: The scent creates a sacred space that is capable of transporting you to certain vibes or moods.
• Calming: I will choose lavender oil (sometimes mixed with other oils like chamomile and cedar) when I am looking to relax and slip into a calm state of mind
• Grounding: Essential oils in general are great for grounding because they contain concentrated scents of nature, but specifically I will turn to essential oils such as cedar, cypress, pine, vetiver, patchouli and clove when I am looking to ground my energy. A forest-scented spray in particular or a body oil with grounding oils can really help to bring my energy down to Earth and help me calm at a deep level
• Uplifting: Spicy and citrus scents such as lemon, vanilla, orange, ylang ylang or ginger can help uplift the mood and help you to energize for the day.

A few fun ideas for you to get started using essential oils for healing and balancing in your every day life:

• Sprays: This involves buying a 1oz or 2oz spray bottle, filling it 3/4 with vodka and 1/4 with distilled or spring water and placing a few drops of essential oil into the bottle. Shake it up and you’ve got yourself a sacred space, room and body spray! This was one of the first ways I started to connect with the plants and remains a treasured way to do this. For added energetic support, place a few drops of a flower essence or crystal of your choosing into the bottle to match your intention!
• Roll-Ons: This involves filling a “roller bottle” (you can look this up on Google or Amazon and it will come up) with a carrier oil of your choice (I use jojoba) and placing drops of essential oils to create either a blend or single scent that you then can “roll on” your skin (I typically do my pulse points – neck and wrists) that helps you breathe in the scent in a very calming, diluted but potent way as you go about your day. The only type of perfume I use now!
• Diffusing: You can buy a simple tealight candle diffuser or a plug-in diffuser at pretty low prices to get started diffusing. You simply fill the diffuser with water in whatever receptacle it has and place a few drops of oil inside (blended or single). I prefer these days to slightly dilute the essential oils into a carrier oil so that it’s less harsh when I breathe it in. Also be wary of this around cats and dogs and cats lack the necessary enzyme to inhale and process essential oils. They also sell reed diffusers that work by placing oil and essential oil drops in a container and placing reed sticks in it that will diffuse the oils into the air over a longer period of time.

Hydrosols:

Hydrosols are botanical waters made by distilling fresh plants (could be the roots, flowers, woods, leaves or more). The botanicals simmer and lightly boil in the water, which creates a natural scented steam that is then collected and bottled. It has a slightly lower PH than regular water and tends to keep better without needing a preservative (though it is recommended to refrigerate them if not using a preservative). I always refrigerate my hydrosols.

The cool thing about hydrosols is that they are both easy to make and use but also PET FRIENDLY! So all of the essential oils lovers out there who are also cat people and are worried about diffusing oils, I would love to introduce you to the cat-safe concept of a hydrosols!

My top two sources for quality, organic hydrosols are:

• Florihana
• Mountain Rose Botanicals

You can also easily make your own, which I will be covering in another article and will paste it in there at that time.

To make your own potent hydrosols spray for your home that is safe around pets and will provide a light, lovely scent (and the energy of the flower or plant), simply take a 1oz or 2oz spray bottle, fill it with 1/2 hydrosol and 1/2 vodka and add any crystals or flower essences that match your intention. And voila! A pet safe, oil-free room spray that is also highly energetic and high vibrational!

Incense, smudge and the burning of woods and plants:

Incense, smudge and the burning of woods and plants also evokes an ancient, magical feeling for me. From the use in the old Celtic times to the Native Americans to old churches and cathedrals burning sacred frankincense – it all just evokes such magic and sacred ceremony to me. I burn either palo santo, lavender, rose or sage pretty much every day to stabilize, re-center and balance my energy. And to set a mood or vibration for whatever is I am about to do.

I have not utilized traditional incense as much as I need to find a high quality all natural source (which means I will probably me experimenting with making some in the near future!) but incense to me, and the burning of woods, brings to mind ancient Asian Buddhist temples and the way they would use the scent to ground and center themselves for meditation, along with specific sounds and chanting. But when I burn my palo santo or frankincense or a new favorite – pine resin from my local park – I am brought back to that very centered feeling.

Speaking of the pine resin, I recently had a very spiritual experience collecting resin off of a pine cone that was laying on the ground at my local park. I have charcoal discs for burning resins and saw there was a good amount of pine resin on the pine cone and thought “why not?”! As I burned it, it had such an ancient and potent scent that brought back so many deep feelings that were dormant within me. I don’t even know how to describe it but the fact that it was just laying all over the park for free and had such a sacred, ancient resonance just blew my mind. My room was suddenly transported to an old temple in the woods with the feeling of prayer and reverence. It was just a very profound experience which was available completely for free from my local conifers!

I have also had amazing experiences while burning white sage (I know this is a controversial issue – I have only bought a few sticks in the past 4 years – they last such a long time, I don’t think I will have to buy another for a very, very long time). I recall the smoke lulling me into such a peaceful and meditative state while listening to Amber Wolf’s “Songs of the Lemurian Sisterhood.” I recall playing this one song over and over and just basking in the enveloping energy of the sage – it was amazing and again felt very sacred and ancient and brought me into such a peaceful and receptive state.

Pretty much any flower or herb you work with for medicinal use for a specific intention, you can also experience burning with that intention to explore the plant on another level, like another dimension or attribute of the plant. For example, when I was working on my creative writing a couple of years ago and was drinking the Euphoria Mood Boosting Powder for Love, Creativity and Mood, I would take a pinch right as I would begin writing and burn it on a charcoal disc. So then I was both drinking, tasting and smelling the plants that were assisting me in my creative intention. This was very powerful also when I realized we can work with the plants this way too aside from simply ingesting them.

Transforming Bath and Body Products into Earth Connection Medicine

After my awakening to the healing properties of the natural world, one of the strongest pulls I had was to transform my everyday products (cleaning supplies, soap, shampoo etc.) from synthetic to natural. It got to the point where I could feel the vibrational difference between a natural cleaning product or shampoo and an artificial one. The frequency was different. Plus, natural products smell much nicer!

At first I thought I would be stopping at switching synthetic to natural but then gradually it became so much deeper than that. Taking the time to brew a cup of yucca tea to wash my hair and thinking what flower waters or herbs do I want to add to it today to fit my mood? Massaging my organic rose body oil into my skin after my nightly shower became a calm and soothing ritual that I greatly looked forward to.

Knowing what is inside these bottles (and often making them myself!) is part of it but it is also the whole experience of slowing down and connecting. When you are using quality natural, organic ingredients that uplift you and you can just feel that higher frequency, the whole experience feels different. You are smelling the flowers and the trees directly, not through some synthetic lookalike. And you are feeling the vibration and teachings and messages that they carry.

It is also so much better for you on a purely physical level, as the skin does absorb whatever is put on it. And so when you give it healthy natural ingredients, it metaphorically sighs in relief and welcomes the healing properties. It becomes a way to talk to your body and to commune with nature and to give yourself tender moments of self-care. This switch from hurriedly applying syntheticingredients to taking the time to feel into the plants I am working with and into my own enjoyment of the process and of my own self-care has been truly life-changing.

I also have a ball crafting my own bath and body products! And with natural ingredients, this is actually quite accessible and can be money saving as well. Crafting your own natural products for yourself is a fun way to connect with nature AND utilize your creativity at the same time – plus, you can make every product exactly to your liking and know exactly what is in it!

Healing with Crystals, Stones and Minerals

Crystals were the first Earth allies who showed up in my life after I had an awakening experience back in 2022. I realized quite early on that they were “talking” to me as sometimes I would pick one up and get a word or a phrase about its properties. For example, I picked up a smoky quartz and got the word “ground stone.” With sodalite, I got “soothing” and with obsidian I got “deepest fears” (I found out later on that this stone is capable of grounding and clearing at a deep level.)

I was attracted to crystals right away after my awakening and spent a lot of time in crystal shops, feeling very attracted to certain stones. I realized that I could “just know” which stones were a match for me at any given time and I have to say I did end up with a lot of stones and haven’t had to buy any in quite a long time. I remember going to Utah (I believe they actually mine crystals there) and being drawn to different crystal shops and stones.

The mineral world extends beyond this to include the soil and the rocks and the salt and the minerals we need to live like calcium and magnesium. If we become low of sodium or other electrolytes, our body literally does not function as well and could even pass out. This is how intertwined we are with the mineral world.

Some ways in which we can work with the mineral world for healing on a daily basis include:

• Salt and oil scrubs
• Epsom salt baths
• Clay masks for the face or adding clay to bath water for cleansing
• Wearing a necklace, bracelet or anklet with a crystal or stone
• Shell and stone collecting at the beach, forest or park
• Communing with large rocks and mountains
• Crafting your own crystal jewelry
• Feeling into which mineral supplements you may benefit from
• Connecting with a stone or rock at your local park, yard or forest
• Going to the beach and bathing in natural salt water (or a river/lake if you are not on the coast)

Animal Spirit Medicine

I feel as though animals sometimes get forgotten in conversations about natural healing, yet they are incredibly important. After my awakening, animals kept appearing to me in strange and meaningful ways. Depending on my emotional state or the questions I asked Spirit, I would suddenly see certain animals in my mind’s eye or receive their names. What stood out was that they were often animals I never would have consciously thought of — even animals like the meerkat or aardvark that I had to look up afterward. Over time, I realized these were spiritual messages, and whenever I explored the symbolism of the animal that appeared, the meaning almost always resonated immediately.

Just like we do not need to physically hold a crystal or stand beside a plant to connect with its energy, we also do not need to physically be with an animal to receive its wisdom or medicine. Animals such as owls and big cats have appeared frequently in my dreams lately, and I now see these experiences as guidance rather than coincidence. Some people even work with animal spirit essences in the same way they work with flower or gem essences. Sometimes these connections begin long before awakening too — I have always felt deeply connected to penguins, cats, and primates, and looking back, I can see how certain animals have quietly followed me throughout different stages of my life.

Our animal companions are deeply healing and purposeful. Cats purr at frequencies believed to be restorative, and I have personally felt my heart soften and open simply from listening to my cat purring. Dogs carry a kind of loyalty and unconditional love that can comfort us through difficult times. I truly believe animals journey with us beyond this lifetime as well, and that even after they leave the physical world, we can still connect with them. They remain part of our soul, our guidance, and our Spirit team. ❤️

The Foods We Choose

Much like herbs and flower essences, the food we eat also contains a vibrational frequency and, depending on what we eat and how it is prepared, is also a form of medicine for the body, mind and spirit. I remember realizing this when I was about 16 or 17 years old after going vegan and stepping into my first health food store. It felt strangely familiar, almost like reconnecting with something I hadn’t realized I was missing. Over time, I started becoming more aware of how different foods affected not only my body, but also my energy, emotions, and overall sense of wellbeing. For me personally, eating more whole, natural foods — especially foods that are fresh and minimally processed — tends to make me feel more grounded, clear, and connected. I’ve also personally found raw fruits and vegetables to feel especially nourishing and energizing, whether through salads, smoothies, or simple fresh snacks added throughout the day.

My mom used to say, “you are what you eat,” and while I don’t think we need to approach food with rigidity or perfection, there is truth in the idea that our bodies respond to what we give them. Of course, balance matters too, and healthy living doesn’t have to mean never enjoying a treat or being overly strict with ourselves. Rather it’s about paying attention to the quality and wholeness of the foods we choose and how these choices make us feel over time. Looking back, I can feel the difference between periods in my life where I was nourishing myself well with healthy, whole, organic foods versus periods where I was running on stress, caffeine, alcohol, or convenience foods. One simply felt more energizing and supportive to my body than the other.

Over the past few years, I’ve felt drawn back toward the appreciation for food and self-care that I had when I was younger. These days, I enjoy shopping at farmers markets, food co-ops, and local health-focused stores. I’ve also enjoyed using produce delivery services like Imperfect Foods and Misfits Market that aim to reduce food and plastic waste while making fresh produce more accessible. There’s something calming and grounding about washing my vegetables, chopping plants, and cooking intentionally that makes me feel more connected to both the Earth and myself. I also try to listen to my body and to the seasons rather than follow strict rules — sometimes that means craving smoothies and fresh fruit, and other times it means eating more soups and warm grounding foods. I think there are many different ways to nourish ourselves, and part of the journey is simply learning to listen more closely to what our body, heart, and spirit may need.

But above all the quality of the food affects the vibration and I find that whole, organic, plant-based foods cooked as naturally as possible and with as much intention as possible and are savored and appreciated when eaten will carry a higher, healthier vibration than the opposite. And so in this way we can consider food as medicine, nourishing us with their vital nutrients and so much more that we cannot see with our eyes but feel with our bodies and spirit.

Everyday Rituals to Commune with Nature and Raise Vibration

When we incorporate nature medicine into our daily lives, it makes our life a kind of ongoing ceremony or ritual and allows us to continually commune with the healing energies all around us. From taking a daily walk in the park to tending to tending the garden, to washing with nature’s bounty in the shower to using herbal body oil, from savoring each bite of a healthy, home-cooked meal that we cooked ourselves and placing a lavender herb sachet beneath our pillow, it is in the little moments each day that we can slow down and connect with both our true nature and the Earth.

Listening + Attunement

A key concept in both flower essence therapy and other plant medicine modalities is the concept of attuning or getting into a receptive frequency in which you can receive the healing qualities or messages of a plant, crystal, natural environment, tree, animal and more. It is an essential component in creating any type of vibrational medicine that the practitioner or creator slow down and quite literally “tune in” like switching a station on a radio to them receive the plant or other natural element’s frequency.

This can be done in a variety of ways. One time, when my knee was in bad shape and I didn’t have any herbs to use on it physically, I remember what my herb teacher taught me about the comfrey plant and how indigenous used it to mend bones and tissue. I placed my hands over my knee and asked for the comfrey plant to be with me. We are all energy, we are all connected, we are all from the same source and sharing the same quantum field and so you can call in any energy you’d like at any time and make a connection (I do believe the other side may also need to “agree” to this connection though I am honestly not sure on that).

But regardless it was my pure intent to connect with the energy of the comfrey plant and I ended up having a beautiful experience where energetically I was greeted by the plant kingdom and received a welcome message from them and saw beautiful visuals too. I was told there are many there with me that I have not met yet but will. They truly are always there, we just need to get into that space of trust and receptivity and reach out and commune with them.

I have had similar experiences with other plants, trees and flower essences. I have put my head or hand to a tree and received it’s messages for me. I have gotten messages not in words but in feeling or intuition or knowing, like when I just knew to make my first flower essence with the crepe myrtle flower and found out after the fact that its description matched exactly what I needed. After I bought my first flower essence practitioner kit, I could quite literally feel them talking to me and could sense the high vibration coming from both myself and them, sharing a frequency of excitement and reconnecting with each other after a long time, lifetimes. I placed my hands on their box and received a message from them as a collective.

Many flower essence practitioners won’t make an essence until they receive permission from the plant and many herbalists in the same vein will not pick without permissions either. This is communion and respect and reciprocity and seeing each other as living, breathing beings of light. Some are in flower form and some are in human form, and maybe our reasons for being here on the planet are different and we each have a different purpose, but there is life force inside of every living molecule of the Earth that we can attune to. This is what allows us to receive plant energies in a plant meditation or how I received those messages through the comfrey without being physically present with the plant.

Anyone can do this at any time, perhaps with a special tree you knew and loved as a child. All you need is a pure heart and intent to connect and they will be there, excited and happy to greet you once again!

The Power of Ceremony

Ceremony can be a powerful anchoring tool when working intentionally with the natural world. For example, if I want to create the intention to open my heart, there are several ways in which we can strengthen and “anchor” this intention to be very palpable in our lives. On the simplest scale, you could do something such as writing down the intention to further open your heart, close your eyes and slowly savor a piece of high-quality dark chocolate (made from the heart-opening plant cacao) and simply feel deeply into your intention.

Beyond the heart-opening qualities of the chocolate, this also creates a beautiful sensory experience that you can remember and associate with your intention. If you want to get a bit more elaborate, you could pair your intention with a candle, ritual oil and a cup of ceremonial cacao (I highly recommend this!).

You can also use just a tiny bit of flowers, herbs and crystals that match your intention to help to anchor it – and you don’t need many or big pieces to do this. Burning a single rose petal or placing the tiniest crystal on an alter can really help to bring your intention into the present moment and down to Earth.

This is because you are creating a ritual or action of some kind that involves: setting up a sacred space, lighting a candle or charcoal disc, burning the rose, closing your eyes and breathing in the scent of the flower, sipping the cacao (or eating the chocolate), all allowing you to literally feel, smell and taste your intention. By placing a stone on an alter, no matter how small, with emit the energy of the crystal and also remind you of your intention every time you see it.

These small, intentional ceremonies can be very powerful, all aided by the fact that these plants have real, palpable energetic and physical effects on the body, mind and spirit For example, cacao quite literally “opens the heart” in terms of allowing more blood to enter the physical heart. Energetically, it is very uplifting and helps us soften to deep interconnection.

The Schumann Resonance

The Schumann Resonance is the natural electromagnetic frequency generated between the Earth, with the primary frequency measuring around 7.83 Hz. Many researchers and holistic practitioners believe this frequency plays an important role in regulating biological rhythms, supporting nervous system balance, grounding the body, and promoting overall wellbeing. Because the human body itself operates through electrical and energetic signals, some believe prolonged disconnection from the Earth’s natural frequencies — through modern indoor living, technology, and lack of grounding — may contribute to stress, fatigue, and imbalance.

Much like the concept of the grounding mats for earthing, we now have products available that can help to bring the Schumann resonance into our homes. The sound produced by the Schumann resonance is undetectable by human hearing and so you can have a Schumann tone playing in the background while you work or sleep that can help to relax you without you actually hearing it. There are also tuning forks that produce the same resonance but at higher frequencies or octaves that our human hearing can detect. There are also many videos and sound healing recordings online that you can listen to to receive the Schumann Resonance.

If you want to explore Schumann Resonance tools further, here are a few popular options:

Honoring the Earth Mother is Honoring Ourselves

When you consider the duality of existence, that we are both Spirit and Earth inside of one human – the divine soul merging with the physical body – and also how the living elements and beings of planet Earth are also both spirit and matter, you start to see how we can have a symbiotic and reciprocal relationship on all levels. If we hurt the Earth, we are also hurting ourselves as we rely on the Earth for all things. But if we work and heal in harmony with the Earth and remember this ancient, purposeful and reciprocal relationship, then we can start to work with her on all levels.

One of the first things that happens during a spiritual awakening, after the initial excitement and the feeling that you must read and remember just about everything, is that you start to want to go out into nature more, you start to care about the planet more, you start to care about your health and your body more, because finally, gradually it hits you that we are one. The food I eat is not separate from me, for I ingest it and it then becomes me. When I tend and care for the Earth and strive not to waste or harm her, we all are tended to and cared for – the Earth, myself and all beings.

As there really is no separation between our body’s health and the health of the planet, for we rely on the Earth to give us everything and she does indeed give us everything, then by honoring and respecting and caring for the Earth and by remembering this connection and symbiotic relationship, we are also honoring and respecting ourselves. There is a reason why when people start to awaken they begin to care for both their bodies and Earth more than they ever had before. It is the remembering of the original understanding that we are all sacred – our bodies, our spirits and our beloved Planet Earth Mother, who truly does provide us with everything we need in all perfection, always.

Flower Essences to Enhance Grounding, Stability and Earth Connection

One of the ways we can ground and deepen our connection to the Earth and our experience on the Earth is through the use of flower essences (and other vibrational remedies.)

This list of vibrational essences can help us connect with the Earth Mother, feel grounded and embodied, and enhance a sense of stability and presence.

Grounding Green:

• Green flowers to strengthen Body-Earth alignment. Designed to support grounding, resilience, and a deeper connection to the living energy of the Earth.

Clematis:

• An excellent remedy for grounding into your body, especially when feeling floaty, dreamy or simply not quite present in the here and now. Excellent for moving your energy from your head to your body and taking action in life.

Smoky Quartz:

• A grounding and calming anchor to the Earth. Stabilizes and synchronizes the body energy with Earth energy.

Corn:

• Alignment with the Earth, especially through the body and feet. Helps one to cultivate a grounded presence. Excellent for people in crowded, stifled, over-mechanical or urban environments and are unable to get into nature as much as they would like.

Dandelion:

• A gentle essence that promotes a grounded presence and helps to relieve bodily tension (especially stiffness or tenseness in the muscles).

Lady’s Mantle:

• A wonderful remedy for anyone looking to connect more deeply to the natural world. Helps you especially connect more deeply to the plant kingdom and the “living dew mantle of the Earth.”

Nicotiana:

• Inner peace centered in the heart and breath; physical and emotional well-being through harmonious connection with rhythmic pulsations in the Earth

Green Nicotiana:

• Awareness of the heart beat of the earth as a sustaining force for humanity; alignment with the breathing pulse of the earth in one’s own soul (such as seasonal rhythms and alternation of day and night).

Green Rein Orchid:

• Ability to feel the life force of the earth within one’s soul being. Heart consciousness as a pathway to ecological consciousness.

Green Bells of Ireland:

• Awareness of the elemental world in Nature; ability to work with elemental nature forces through one’s own bodily matrix; Nature wisdom acquired through direct sensory experience.

Madrone:

• Helps us to feel supported by the Earth Mother in nourishing our physical bodies, especially if there has been an eating disorder or other issue of body image or taking in nourishment.