On The Farm
I love fall—my favorite season. I welcome the cooler air, the shifts in color as the leaves turn, the smells of autumn. It’s never officially fall for me until I have had one cup of fresh-pressed cider and a cinnamon sugar donut just out of the fryer. Just one of each to welcome the season and then I’m done, because it’s not good for my body, but just one is good for my soul.
It’s a time to wrap up the garden, having harvested the last tomatoes, the last beans, the last greens before the killing frost. The earthy smells of the leaves and the soil of empty gardens brings me close to the Earth, which is the support element for this month. If the Air element brought us spaciousness, the Earth element brings us in close, grounds us so we are present and can do what must be done.
What are you doing to comfort yourself, to bring yourself into self-containment? Into a kind of nurturing joy that gives you energy? Not frenetic mental energy or busy physical energy that accomplishes tasks, but energy that your soul needs to center and ground—the energy of a good book, a soft quilt, a lovely fire, a cup of cocoa, tea with a friend. Energy that helps you to connect with yourself intimately, bringing you into a cocoon of gratitude, solitude and coziness as well as relaxation. Play with this, and allow yourself to shift into a different state of mind as you enjoy your autumn. Determine one thing you will do for your soul that gives you comfort.
I hope you enjoy the photos of fungi. My friend, Dennis Hamm, took these with his photographer’s eye and contributed them for this newsletter. Thanks, Dennis. Nothing closer to the earth and more grounding than fungi, unless it’s cleaning horse stalls. :)
Elemental Support - Earth
Late summer is a natural time for us to begin to slow down. Nature itself is in transition, moving from summer into fall. The Earth element is associated with late summer and governs the spleen and stomach organs. Digestive issues are related to the Earth element. The emotions associated with Earth are sympathy, thoughtfulness and reflection. Just as we assimilate nutrients through the stomach, we assimilate life experiences through the element Earth. The taste associated with Earth is sweet. Sweet foods that strengthen the Earth element include whole grains like rice or millet, and root vegetables like yams, carrots or sweet potatoes, and sweet fruits and vegetables that are in season and available in late summer. When a person’s Earth element is in balance, they are grounded, centered, stable, and consistent. Digestion is good, sleep is good quality.
When a person’s Earth is unbalanced, diet is the first thing to look at. The person may not be able to regulate their temperature, and digestion is “off”, with diarrhea, and they may crave sweets. Warm food with aromatic spices like ginger, fennel, coriander, caraway, and cardamom support the spleen Qi and resolve dampness in the body (allergies/phlegm, water retention, inflammation, sluggishness). The color of Earth is yellow/orange, so wearing this color and eating yellow/orange foods will also support the spleen.
Ayurveda states that the Kapha dosha contains both Earth and Water. The Earth lends heaviness, structure and grounding, while water provides coolness and fluidity. In ayurveda, the Earth element is related to growth of tissues, muscles, bones, teeth and fats. When Earth is balanced, a person feels stable, at peace with life, and not much impacted by events.
When Earth is unbalanced, one can have too much or too little. Earth is in excess when we overeat or don’t fully utilize what we eat for development of the body. It might manifest energetically as loss of interest in life, aversion to change or dullness and despair. When the Earth element is deficient, it manifests as weak bones/teeth, low muscle mass, and energetically as feeling unstable, insecure, unable to take on challenges, struggling to stay in relationships for long periods, jittery and unable to manage stress.
Consultations with your local TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioner or acupuncturist, and/or with your local ayurvedic practitioner will support your goals for Earth balance and health in both body and spirit. All rebalancing is best done in the season that it manifests. Your practitioner will advise you.
To come into balance with Earth, here are some suggestions:
*Grounding practices like earthing. Stand, walk or lie on the ground and connect to the Earth below you for at least 15 minutes.
*Sit against a tree and feel connected through your heart. With your heart, feel how its roots go into the ground.
*Meditate with awareness
*Wear earthy colors like red, yellow or orange
*Eat foods rich in Earth element, especially root vegetables, or chickpeas, grains or nuts
*Cook and eat seasonal vegetables/fruits. Warm your food.
*Garden, touch the Earth
*Make a list to keep your mind from scattering
*Drink more water to balance the Earth in your body
*Do yoga poses that increase stability or the basic form of tai chi, which embodies the Earth element
*Sing and dance
September is World Animal Remembrance Month
While we honor our animal companions nearly all the time, the month of September is set aside not only for our beloveds who have passed, but also for those who passed in war zones, natural disasters, are lost on the streets, or are endangered or extinct because of habitat loss.
A simple way to honor animals this month is to offer a blessing in nature to all the animals who live there. I give a blessing, just thanking those in my natural setting for being there and contributing to its beauty and sweetness. I usually leave an offering like peanuts (unsalted roasted in the shell), dried corn on the cob, apples from my tree. Your local farm supply will carry some choices.
Another way to honor the animals is to write a letter/card of appreciation for your veterinarian and clinical staff for helping so many animals pass peacefully. This aspect is one of the most difficult of their profession.
You can also donate to a wild animal sanctuary. These organizations take in animals in all conditions, and a percentage of them must be euthanized. Look locally for wildlife rescue sanctuaries.
Finally, honor your own animal family members who have passed by recalling the blessings they gave you while you were together. Maybe you will visit a grave, or walk on a familiar path you did together, or go through their baby pictures and, with gratitude, remember the joy they brought you.
The Bookshelf
From Elder to Ancestor: Nature Kinship for All Seasons of Life by S. Kelley Harrell
For millennia, people connected with their ancestors as part of regular spiritual practice, seeking wisdom and inspired vitality to guide their aging process to become wise elders themselves and eventually, good ancestors. Dying a good death means that one lived a good life.
Harrell explores the spiritual, cultural, and ancestral aspects of aging well. She reveals how to restore the path of creating a direct, personal connection with Nature and of respecting the spirits around us. She also examines the obstacles to dying well, and how to honor past traumas and dysfunctional patterns. She lays out practices to help heal family lines through intimate work with oneself.
Harrell’s book emphasizes animism, which is at the heart of shamanic practice. Shamanism and animism recognize that humans ARE nature, along with everything that is alive. We are part of the sacred order and can rewild ourselves. Initiation into elderhood is the work of our lives. Through introspection and engagement with the living world, we can craft our own way to being an elder.
Upcoming Classes
Find full descriptions and costs of the classes and events on the website - https://JudyRamsey.net. Registrations are on the website. Once registered, a Zoom invitation will be sent to register to receive the meeting i.d. and passcode. If you want to attend a journey circle, please contact Judy at info@judyramsey.net. Journey circles are held the first and third Thursday of each month. All classes and journey circles are recorded for your convenience.
October 19-20, November 16-17, and December 21-22, 2024
Soul Retrieval—This is an advanced class limited to 6 persons. When a person experiences trauma, there is a loss of soul essence. The person’s spirit is fragmented, causing disease, mental illness, or personality and behavioral shifts. In this training, deepen your connection to your helping spirits and learn to work with them to restore a soul’s essence. Expand your ‘tool chest’ of ways to help a client integrate a soul retrieval session, and experience as well, soul retrieval of body parts and of places in nature/landscape. Initiation and ceremony will anchor your learning. Prerequisites: Medicine For the Earth/Healing With Spiritual Light, and Extraction: A Shamanic View of Illness & Healing. Suggested reading: Soul Retrieval and Welcome Home by Sandra Ingerman.
Class will be taught via ZOOM with careful monitoring of
techniques and practice.
$600 per person, $300 for repeating students. 9am-4pm each day est.
Attendance at all sessions is required.
Optional mentoring sessions will be held November 4 and
December 2, 2024.
Deadline for registration is September 15, 2024.
Please contact Judy at info@judyramsey.net to apply.
October 5-6, 2024
Ancestors: The Power Within—Ancestors can be powerful allies in your practice, and healing our ancestral lines can help us heal ourselves and our families. Explore your heritage, deepen your connection with the grandmothers and grandfathers in ceremony, in initiation and in the shamanic journey. Prerequisite: basic journeying skills.
The class will be taught online via ZOOM.
$180 per person, $90 for repeating students. 9am-4pm each day.
November 23-24, 2024
Basic Journeying: The Art of Shamanism for Practical and Visionary Purposes in Daily Life—The shamanic journey is an easy and powerful tool we can use to access spiritual information. In this class you will meet and begin to develop a relationship with a compassionate spirit or power animal who is coming forward to help you at this time in your life. You will learn techniques to help you develop a self-directed practice of empowerment, allowing you to move safely, intentionally through the world in a balanced way.This class is a prerequisite to ongoing and more advanced shamanic studies.
The class will be taught online via ZOOM.
$160 per person, $80 for repeating students. 9am-3pm EDT each day
January 11-12 and February 8-9, 2024
A Shamanic View of Death & Dying—This is an advanced class limited to 6 persons. One of the traditional roles of a shaman was to prepare the dying person for a good death, escort the souls of the deceased to their ancestors, and to help those grieving left behind. By doing psychopomp work, a shamanic practitioner can heal those who have passed and help suffering souls to be at peace. This workshop will teach about helping people in the dying process, connecting with compassionate spirits to do psychopomp, helping spirits of the departed after death, and experiencing your own beautiful death. Individual, as well as group psychopomp will be presented. Initiation and ceremony will anchor your learning. Prerequisite: Soul Retrieval. Suggested Reading: Walking In Light by Sandra Ingerman.
The class will be taught online via ZOOM.
$250 per person, $150 for repeating students. 9am-4pm each day.
Attendance at all sessions is required.