In ancient and prehistoric times, our ancestors were very connected to the Earth. They walked barefoot, slept, and sat on the ground all the time. They hunted and gathered and made offerings to the Earth spirits, giving thanks and paying homage to the great planet which they called home. Most humans living now, in modern times, have lost this connection almost completely. People in industrialized, modernized countries have severed their sacred connection to our great Mother planet by neglect, littering, polluting, wasting, and stripping her of her natural resources and killing her children, our brothers and sisters in all kingdoms of life. People seem to have forgotten what is important, like walking barefoot in the grass, hugging a tree, or getting in touch with the land. Too many people live only in their heads, up in the clouds of the never ceasing thoughts and anxieties of the chattering mind instead of connecting to the Earth with strong roots to create a foundation. This is why grounding/earthing is important.
What are grounding and earthing you ask? This is actually very simple. Earthing is the name of a trend that has been going around which encourages people to reconnect with the Earth. It is nothing complicated, in fact, you can do this right now. Just go outside and sit, stand, lay, or walk barefoot on the Earth. Everything is energy, this is not new age talk, this is physics. Even the “solid” matter you see around you is not so solid, you see, matter is simply energy in a slower vibration. Solidity is an illusion, research has shown that even things that appear quite solid are mostly empty space. Pretty cool huh? Anyway, the Earth resonates with natural, soft, healing, primordial energies that really help people stabilize, relax, and de-stress. Those who practice earthing report less stress, faster recovery, and better sleep as well as a reduction in pain. It synchronizes the body overall and produces lasting effects when practiced regularly.
Grounding is similar to basically, but can be used for even better effects. Grounding is something which can benefit all who practice it. It should be used before and after meditation, magickal work, ritual, and whenever we feel that we just need to come back down to Earth.It is very important to ground any energy we raise in magick and meditation, I cannot stress this enough! If we do not ground the energies we raised during our work, we can suffer very negative effects of carrying around intense energies for prolonged periods of time. They can start to make us feel very disconnected from the world, moody, crabby, or worse. Grounding is great when we are worrying over something or feeling a lot of stress as well, grounding can literally drain our stress back into the planet, where it will safely merge with the positive energies of Gaia and be cleared of its negativity. Below is a simple gounding exercise. It should be practiced daily, more so if needed.
Sit, stand, or lay on the floor or the ground, if you cannot do this then at least try to have your feet against the floor, perhaps in a chair. Take a few deep, relaxing breaths to calm your thoughts. Now imagine energy “roots” coming from your body, places such as your hands, feet, and root chakra and journeying deep into the Earth. Feel them as they make their way through the dirt and rocks, deeper and deeper until you feel you have a very firm foundation of roots in the Earth. You may even want to go all the way to the Earth’s core. Continue taking deep, relaxing breaths. Now imagine your roots pulling up Earth energy from deep inside the planet and up into your body. You may feel the energies as they enter your body, I usually feel a very cool, Earthy, primordial, natural feeling. Continue this exercise until you start to feel really connected to the Earth.
Now imagine a white light going all the way through the center of your body from your head. See it go through all your major chakras and deep into the ground. As you focus on this light, drain every worry, fear, anger, sorrow, and negative thought and emotion into the Earth through this light. Really let go and let the Earth take your worries, don’t worry about harming her, the Earth will convert all these feelings back into clear energy. Allow the light and Earth energies to realign all your chakras until they are quite balanced. When you are finished, give thanks the Earth and go away feeling refreshed and energized.
You should practice these exercises often, they should leave you feeling much better, connected to the Earth, and not so spaced out in your head. I encourage you to experiment with grounding and earthing on your own and draw your own conclusions as to if you feel it helps you personally. Grounding is an essential part to practicing effective magick, I hope you find it quite beneficial in your life!
Blessed be!
-Sister Storm Skywalker
Primordial EarthSky 