Q) Years ago, I followed your communications with Gaia closely. Later on, I lost touch, which was okay because I had learned from you how to have my own relationship with Mother Earth. Now I am writing because my connection to Gaia seems to have faded, I can’t hear her as I once did. Did I break a sacred trust? If so, what can I do to earn it back?

A) This is a wonderful question, and one that I receive often these days. Thank you for phrasing it so beautifully. Let me begin by settling your concerns. There is nothing you can do, intentionally or otherwise to shut down your relationship with the earth. Awareness of the living energy of the earth, the vital force called Anima Mundi, is one of the more “real” things we can count on these days. It is elemental, literally enlivened by the known elements and their refined expressions. Anima Mundi is often described as the world soul. We see its animating force in the turning of the seasons, and we experience it as the continuity of life. Our relationship with the earth begins with our first breath and ends when we return the earthly elements we borrowed to dress our souls in. We are committed to this ongoing exchange of energy throughout our life, but whether we go about it consciously or not is up to us.

Gaia, an early Roman name for Mother Earth, is still in popular and commercial use today. Gaia, Mother Earth, and Anima Mundi are all names. When we name something, we also label and limit it. When we say what something is, we are also saying what it is not. This is helpful when we are talking about the difference between a table and a chair, but less so when we are describing relationships between living essences. How different are you today than you were ten or twenty years ago? How much have you grown and in how many ways has your life changed in just the last few years? My life has changed a lot and I bet yours has too. If we entertain the possibility that everything is changing, including Gaia, we can establish a new and lasting relationship with the earth.

I will let you in on a little secret. Several years ago, I felt as you do now. I was exhausted from traveling around the world carrying Gaia’s messages, and then my aged parents became ill and needed my help too. When life finally got back on track, I found that I could not hear Gaia as well as I once did. Rather than being clear and crisp, communication felt as if it had been funneled through a canyon and spoken by the passing wind. Even my tongue felt fuzzy whenever I tried to form the words. I wondered if I had made wrong choices; offended the graces that allowed and encouraged these gifts for so many years. For almost two years the connection was severed; I was blind, deaf, and mute – at least as far as my relationship with Gaia was concerned. Eventually, and for reasons I understand better today, something awoken in me again and a new connection was born. Most importantly, I allowed the new connection to shape itself around my growth. I did not expect things to pick up where they left off. I welcomed change and patiently waited to see what would develop. Now I would like to encourage you to do the same.

Encourage the earth to restore its wild nature and regrow its resources. Gaia is not a civilized being, it (she) is a living treasure chest and we are gems gently polishing ourselves as we bump up and brush past the events in our life. Invite Gaia to reintroduce herself to you. Here is a hint: the pulse feels different now, quieter and slower. Somehow, as we become more wound up, the earth slows down and whispers. The essence is still the same, but the animating principle has shifted. Look for something that is unshielded and unsheathed; more primal/plant/animal than mother-like personality. It’s there, and when you find it the nice thing is, you can still trust it!