Earth is one of 4 elements that we talk about in astrology. In her book, The Missing Element: Inspiring Compassion for the Human Condition, Debra Silverman, my teacher and mentor, blends psychology and spirituality, examining the elements in depth and offering ways to embrace and make peace with ourselves so that we can become more powerful and effective human beings.
I LOVE studying the elements!
The elements - Water, Earth, Air and Fire - are an integral part of our lives. Right from the moment of conception when we grew in the watery depths of our mother's womb, to when we took our first breath at birth, to when we started to eat, cry, crawl, walk, run, talk... the elements are so much a part of our lives.
And our personality.
To describe them briefly...
In one word, the elements are:
Fire = Energy (red)
Water = Feelings (blue)
Air = Intellect (yellow)
Earth = Practicality (green)
Last week we talked about Water; the week before, Fire. Today, let's take a closer look at Earth...
Earth is the element that is about contributing: always providing, giving, serving.
These are people that are practical, giving, serving, contributing, and they are often so concerned about how much they make, how much they take care of you, and how much you need them.
So they're grounded, stable, and they are very loyal.
Think tree. Think mountain. Not easy to move them. Not easy to change plans. Reliable, taxes, insurance, accounting, making sure that all the details are in the right place, putting labels on things, filing things.
Earth people LOVE organization. They feel good when they can check things off their lists.
The low road of Earth is they're so caught in the perfectionist and they feel like they're not getting it right, and they judge themselves, and they feel inadequate, and they don't feel like they're making enough money. They don't feel like they're producing enough. They don't feel like they're good enough. There's this constant barrage of self-judgment.
So the low road is the Complainer that wishes that you would put the dishes away different. They complain because you're not putting them away properly. They complain because you didn't make the bed. They complain because their kids aren't clean. They make you feel self-conscious. They make themselves feel self-conscious and everything's a mess.
At their low road, they keep everything and they hoard. They have too much stuff around and it's all because they're insecure and they're worried.
I can be the perfectionist. I like the routine, and I like repetition at times, and I really need security. Having money in the bank makes me feel safe, and at times I hate change.
The low road of Earth... for me the perfectionist, always having to do the right thing, get the good marks in school. I did that when I was little. I tried to be perfect because I felt that if I was perfect I'd make my mother happy. I was the A student and when I didn't get the A's, when I was getting 85, 90, my mother would ask me what I didn't understand, figure out what I didn't understand and study and try hard so that next time I could get perfect. <sigh> I never felt good enough. That was the perfectionist and those messages were messages that I'd repeat to myself at times too, not feeling good enough.
Hoarding things...
I taught for 30+ years. My first years of teaching, when I moved here into town in Thunder Bay where I am right now, I taught Grade 7 and 8 and then in 1990, I was moved to an elementary school, teaching kindergarten to grade 6. And so when we bought our house in 1992, all my grade 7 and 8 stuff went into boxes, labeled nice and neatly and when we moved, they went into the crawl spaces.
Well, 20+ years later, they were still in the back of the crawl space, unopened, hadn't been used in years, but I didn't want to get rid of them. I was always afraid that somehow or another, the Board would want me to move to another school, and I'd be back to teaching grade 7 and grade 8 and that I would need that stuff. And it didn't matter if it was ten years later or 20 years later and that the curriculum had changed. Having that stuff just made me feel secure, knowing what it was there in case I ever needed it. So I'm happy to tell you that a couple of years ago after I retired, I started going through stuff, started pitching out the stuff that I didn't need anymore. It's not totally complete yet, but I will be getting back to it.
But that perfectionist, that needing to hoard things, that feeling of security, I'm gradually being able to let go. Not totally, but gradually being able to let go of that stuff.
The high road of Earth is people love their job. They love to be of service. They have that feeling of purpose, that they're fulfilling their purpose in their job, giving them that sense of self-worth, that sense of security.
The high road of Earth is that they clean and they organize, not because they have to, but because they're creating a sacred place. So wherever that might be, whether it's at work, at home, in the bedroom, in the living room, in the kitchen, that everything is organized and just so because it's a sacred place. It's a place to celebrate; it's a place to feel at home, and so that's why Earth people will do that.
Earth at my best: I am thorough and dependable. People can rely on me and consider me dependable. I love being of service. I love sharing my abundance.
However, Earth at my lowest is when I get scared. I need to be in control. I worry about finances. I have that fear about not having enough, not being enough, not doing enough...hence my late nights, hence always feeling like I need to do more.
But that high road of Earth...
I love it when I can go some place like a restaurant and I'll be watching people as they're eating. So there might be a mother with a child or a senior or someone who is a student who is working while they're eating, and I'll contact the waitress or the waiter, and ask for their bill and pay for their meal. I LOVE doing that! Or going through a drive-thru and paying the bill for the person behind me. It brings me such joy to be able to do that and especially when I can do it anonymously, and just surprise them... But as my friends caution me. I've got to watch because then the low road of my Earth kicks in because then I start worrying about finances and not having enough. So I'm a mixture both.
The shadow side of Earth...
Earth calls us to enjoy things... all of our senses...sight and hearing and taste and smell and to really enjoy that, to breathe in the lusciousness of things and yet the shadow side will accuse us of eating too much, not exercising enough, of being fat, of not doing enough. That's the shadow side.
The shadow side is the workaholic, having to work all the time because we don't feel like we're good enough. The shadow side says I'm slow. I'm boring. I weigh too much. People aren't going to want to listen to me. Who am I to do what I'm doing?
The shadow side is appearing organized and smart and confident and yet deep down inside I'm feeling totally insecure, and not in control, and not organized, not smart enough, and that I really have to do more.
The shadow side... by keeping busy I tend to hold back my feelings. Keeping busy means I don't have to pay attention to the feeling of insecurity. I don't have to pay attention to the loss that I felt when a person, a friend, has passed away or the loss I felt when one of my dogs has passed away...loss and grief... In keeping busy. I don't have to pay attention to my feelings and...
Crisis! Oh give me a crisis! Crisis just opens me right up. Give me a good crisis; I can be in control. I can help. I can do all the right things, but after, when the crisis is over, that's when I shut down. We were talking about Water last week. That's what I was talking about with feelings, and being able to feel. Water at the low end, I shut down. I become numb.
And so that too is connected with Earth.
On our shadow side, we become human "doings" instead of human "beings". We are meant to "be" not just to do, do, do all the time. And the shadow side is being too scared to share, hoarding things because they help me to feel secure, saving my money and not sharing it because I'm afraid of losing it; and of course being judgmental of myself and others.
At my best, I feel comfortable in my own skin, and I am able to love myself exactly the way that I am at a particular moment in time. Not every day. It doesn't happen every day. I'm not always good at doing that but it's to try to be that way.
Earth at its best... It's stopping and accepting what is, the challenges in life as well as the wonderful things that happen. Earth at its best is getting fulfillment from the simple pleasures.
For me, Earth at its best ... being out in nature. That can be so rejuvenating, especially in the summertime. I love going down to the lake and listening to the water, love putting my feet in the sand, love putting my feet in the grass and just feeling the coolness of it. That helps to ground me. Earth can ground me.
I don't have a lot of Earth in my birth chart in astrology and so my Earth came from my husband. He helped balance me. He had more Earth than I did in my chart, and he would remind me...Hey, Mart, you're doing too much. Take a break. Have some fun! He always told me I didn't know how to have fun, and he was so right.
Earth is being able to enjoy all of life and all that it has to give, and to be able to accept it, the good and the challenges, and to be able to find our purpose in all of that, to be able to give and to be patient with people, regardless of where they may be on their life's journey.
If you'd like to discover more about the elements in your life, I can help. By completing Debra Silverman's Elemental Survey, we can discover your relationship to each of the 4 elements right now, at the present time. Then we can look at ways to help you balance those elements. We learn to see ourselves and others with eyes of compassion, understanding and love. What a wonderful gift! If you're interested, please send me a personal message for details. You can also send me an e-mail at mcevero@shaw.ca
For our gift today, let's take a look at the Suit of Earth in Colette Baron-Reid's "The Good Tarot" card deck.
Colette says, "the suit of Earth is associated with material wealth and manifestation in the world of form, but we also connect it to the other three suits and how our mental, spiritual, creative, and emotional experiences have produced tangible results.
Therefore, in this deck, the Earth suit represents an observable truth - namely, that everything we think, feel, believe, and create will eventually manifest in the world of form. What we experience in this realm is the result of choices we made in the past, whether we made them consciously or unconsciously.
If you do what you did, you get what you got. So how do we steward our creations when they coalesce in the world of form, producing material results? If our finances, relationships, or situations are not what we would have hoped they would be, we must admit that we played a role in co-creating them, and we can use that co-creative power to start bringing about something different if we so choose."
So I pulled a card from the suit of Earth asking, "What do we need to know about Earth, about setting our foundations for our highest good?"
6 of Earth
which is about: unexpected resources, happy surprises, generosity
The affirmation is: What I have sent forth in love comes back to me many times over, as the generosity of others becomes apparent and unexpected resources show up. The universe is exhibiting its generosity, reminding me that the world is full of pleasant surprises. Inside the pretty package is tangible aid, a gift from Spirit. Just when I was beginning to doubt, I am reminded of the treasures I am entitled to receive that show up at my door. What will I unwrap today?
Just before I go...
To know when I'm going Live on Facebook, be sure to like my Facebook page so that you can find it in your newsfeed and make sure that you have indicated that you would like to receive all notifications. You can also subscribe to my site on Many Chat.
I'll post a link in the description above this video (on Facebook) and I'll also include a link to my website at www.martinacevero.com where you can learn more about me, the work that I do, and the readings that I offer.
If you would like to discover more about the elements in your life, and you would like a personal reading, please send me a message or an e-mail for details by using the links at the top of this page.
And I have a favour to ask...
If there is someone that you know who we can help with today's reading, please be sure to share it with them. We never know the difference that we can make in someone's life by a simple act of kindness.
Thank you so much for listening.
I'd like to quote Isaiah 6:3
"The whole earth is full of His glory."
We are an immortal soul gifted with a human experience through which the glory of God can shine. We are all connected and we are Divinely directed and Divinely protected. How we choose to live this gift of life and use the gifts that we have been blessed with is up to us. May we use our gifts to bless others!
Now, I have tried this time to not read my script so much. The words come from the heart, and I write them down...my script gives me that sense of security. It helps to keep my mind focused. It helps to keep me on time so I don't go overboard and go on forever, It helps me to have that sense of security. So I hope this time... I've tried not to follow it as much. It's still there and I'm sure you can tell when I'm speaking just more from speaking, and not following the script. So I hope that I will get better at this and I hope that you have enjoyed this Facebook Live. I'd appreciate any comments that you have. If you're on Facebook, you can post them in the feed below this video. If you're not on Facebook, you can send me a message through the contact link that you'll find at the top of my website.
May Earth be a blessing for all of us, even if you're somewhere in the world where it's cold and it's snowing, like it is here. Earth can still be a blessing for us because it's more than just physical nature. Earth is part of who we are, and so have fun, and enjoy what Earth has to give. May it be a blessing for us and for others!
Thank you. Have a good evening and a good rest of the week.
Talk to you soon.
'Bye!