“The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family.” — Chief Seattle
Physical Setting & Preparation
Find yourself outdoors if possible, bare feet touching earth or stone. If indoors, place your hands upon wood or stone. Feel the weight of your body as gravity draws you toward the mother’s embrace. Breathe deeply through your nose, tasting the air - whether crisp with approaching autumn or warm with summer’s final exhale.
Opening Invocation | Fosgladh
Máthair na Talún, mother of earth, I come to you this September morning as the wheel turns toward harvest time. The sun sits lower in the sky, painting longer shadows across your sacred ground.
Feel the earth beneath you - solid, ancient, patient. Today carries the weight of summer’s ending and autumn’s whisper. Your body holds both curiosity about what changes approach and the bitter sting of disappointment from paths not taken.
Guidhim ort, a Mháthair - I call upon you, Mother, to hold these feelings in your vast compassion.
Body of the Working | Corp
The dying summer grass releases its sweetness into the air around you. Breathe this fragrance deeply - it speaks of cycles completed, of seeds scattered, of the great turning that governs all life. Your skin feels the subtle shift in light, cooler now, slanted differently through the atmosphere.
Tá an domhan ag athrú - the world is changing, as you are changing.
Your curiosity reaches out like tendrils seeking water. What lessons hide in autumn’s approach? The earth mother whispers that curiosity is the green shoot pushing through soil - it requires darkness first, the unknown depths where roots find purchase. Press your palms against the ground and feel her pulse beneath you, steady as a drum calling the seasons home.
Now the disappointment sits heavy in your chest like stones in still water. But see how the earth holds both the vibrant life above and the decay below that feeds tomorrow’s growth. Your disappointments are composted dreams, breaking down into rich soil for future possibilities.
Tha gaol agus cràdh ann an aon àite - love and pain exist in the same place.
The mother of earth shows you her meadows where wildflowers bloom beside withered stalks, where new growth springs from last season’s fallen leaves. Your feelings, too, create the compost of wisdom.
The Deep Working | An Obair Dhomhain
Sink deeper into connection with the seasonal threshold you inhabit. September 6th - summer’s last gasps mixing with autumn’s first stirrings. Feel your body as part of this transition, cells turning over, breath changing temperature, energy shifting like sap moving through trees.
Tha mi nam pàirt den chruth-atharrachadh mòr - I am part of the great transformation.
Your curiosity becomes a golden thread connecting you to every rustling leaf, every seed preparing to sleep, every creature adjusting to shorter days. Follow this thread downward through your body, through the soil, into the mother’s molten heart where all knowledge dwells.
The disappointment transforms here in her depths. Watch it dissolve like salt in vast oceans, becoming not an ending but a beginning - the way winter’s death enables spring’s rebirth. The earth mother’s healing flows up through this thread, carrying ancient wisdom through your roots.
Slànachadh na Màthair - Mother’s healing rises through stone and soil and into your bones.
Feel her power moving through you like underground rivers, washing clean the chambers of your heart, carrying away what no longer serves while nurturing what seeks to grow.
Afterthought | Smuain Dheiridh
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