Daily Angel Oracle Card, Gaia ~ Creation, from the Goddesses and Sirens Oracle Card deck, by Stacey Demarco, artwork by Jimmy Manton

Gaia ~ Creation: “You are creative in every way. There are no barriers to constant, consistent creation. Allow yourself to create in joy, not because of pressure. Connect more deeply with the earth.”

“Almost every culture has a creation myth, and the ancient Greeks were no exception. They believed that there was nothing at first but a primordial whirl of matter. This state was called Chaos. Then some organizing influences formed and stepped from Chaos, the first of which were Eros (love) then Gaia (earth).

Gaia then gave birth to Uranus, the sky; Ourea, the mountains, and Pontus, the sea. Gaia considered Uranus her equal, and they joined together. Uranus exploded in joy and love, showering Gaia with stars and rain, and she bore other gods, goddesses, and titans including Rhea, a daughter; Cronus, a son; and the terrible titan, Typhon.

The earth goddess has been venerated in her role as creator since time began. She may well have been worshipped originally as the ultimate mother, the first energy to nourish and provide creative fertility. She deserved the attention – she provided early humans with everything they needed to survive: food, water, shelter, and even plants for medicine.

Gaia celebrates and rejoices in her creations whether they are plant, animal, wind, rain, sight, sound, titan, or animal. Even when her creations horrify her, she still protects them and finds a place for them. True creation always brings with it a spark of joy.

Gaia has become a popular goddess among modern spiritual people and no longer belongs only to ancient Greek mythology. When people speak of the living spirit of the earth, they often name it Gaia. We know much more about the earth and the systems that make it work now than the ancient Greeks did; however, the way they saw that Gaia was a living cycle with interconnecting influences does them much credit. Even the idea that there was a sort of big bang out of the primordial Chaos is something that our brightest scientists are only just getting their heads around, but it was simple truth for the Greeks.

Gaia is the ultimate expression of creative power. When you need a creative spark to arise within you, when you are tired of doing things the same old way, when you need growth within yourself, turn to the deep, loving, creative energy of Gaia. If you are drawn to something that calls for consistent creativity – such as the arts, music, drama, or invention – or even if you need a new approach to writing something as simple as a paper, she is a wonderful deity to help you maintain a steady flow. For those involved in environmental protection, she is an invaluable ally.”

Shadow Side: “Gaia eventually faded from the active worship of the Greeks in favor of other deities. Over time, humans forgot about the earth and her delicate cycles and began to worship the gods of industry with little thought to the impact on the earth. Today we are well aware of the consequences of a growing human footprint. We wipe whole species from the earth, we destroy her very fabric with atomic bombs, we mine her lifeblood, we rip out her trees from already depleted soil and we influence her temperature with our pollution. Gaia has always sought to balance herself – this is the nature of her creative energy – and so the consequences of our human actions upon Gaia are already being seen. Rising water levels, depleted soils not bearing enough food, fiercer weather because of the warming of the atmosphere – all are Gaia’s efforts to rebalance. Will we be able to cast off our destructive nature and connect with our peaceful, creative one in time? Will we be able to connect with our original mother with balance again?”

Symbols: “Woman with broad hips and breasts, pregnant woman, woman inside the earth.”

Invocation: “Most of us have become incredibly cerebral creatures. We live in our minds in order to navigate this increasingly complex world. We connect through cell phones, social networking, and other electronic means. There’s nothing wrong with that some of the time, but our bodies need to be fully inhabited for us to experience a rounded life. We often forget the body’s amazing ability to connect us to what is divine and good through Gaia. If you are feeling disconnected despite all these new ways to connect, or you are not feeling in touch with yourself and the earth, you might like to try this meditation, which will connect you to Gaia’s energies.

Other great ways to express your love for her are to actively contribute to environmental activities, such as land care programs, conservation charities, animal protection work, or gardening.

Go to a favourite place in nature, one that speaks to you of groundedness, earthiness, and Gaia. This must be outdoors; you cannot do this mediation indoors.

Light a green candle and say: ‘Gaia, the oldest mother of all, allow me to join with you now, allow me to feel your green energy through my heart.’

Begin to breathe slowly and deeply slowly becoming away of your relationship to the environment around you. If you are female, you may like to take your breathing down through your belly into your womb. Imagine breathing in and out through this sacred place of creation. If you are male, connect and breathe through your sacral zone (extreme lower back).

Begin to open all your senses to Gaia, extending yourself and reaching out to her like roots would search through the soil. Pull up some energy, just like the roots would search through the soil. Pull up some energy, just like the roots would draw up water and nutrients.

Now, open your eyes: look around you, open your peripheral vision, look at the detail on nature, from the tiniest insect to the expanse of the sky. Soak in what you see and give thanks to Gaia.

Go to your aural sense. Close your eyes and concentrate on the sounds around you. Listen closely to the layers of life. Be very still and listen to your heartbeat and the way it melts into Gaia’s soundtrack. Again, give thanks to her for her connection with you.

Continue this through  your other senses, taste and touch.

When you have connected completely this way, make a mental and physical note of the grounded feeling that you have; connected, stable, secure and creative. You can come back to this feeling any time.

When you are ready, thank Gaia and begin to come back to yourself. Know that you are changed and energized! Blow out your candle.”*

~ By Stacey Demarco

Our beautiful Mother Goddess needs our help. She needs us to make change, big change… individually and collectively we can make a difference. WE are the ones… there is no THEM. They, the government, the big corporations… they are us too. We keep them going with our participation in their systems. Not that I am suggesting we overthrow them, yet… but that we peacefully make as many changes close to home as we possibly can. Day after day. Committed to the very best cause. Our planet.

Where will we live if we destroy her? How is it that many of us don’t see and ultimately feel our deep connection to her? We get so wrapped up in the mundane routine and drama that we have completely lost perspective. We are the problem and we are the only ones who can fix it.

And this is not rocket science here. It’s stuff we read about every day. It’s stuff we have heard our whole lifetime… or a good part of it anyway. We feel powerless because so much damage has been done. But we cannot let despair throw us into apathy. We must move forward fearlessly.

Every single moment of every single day we have choices. Choices in our lifestyle, how we live and the impact it has on the environment around us. We can change these choices to have less impact. We can choose not to engage in the consumerism. We can choose to make a much smaller footprint. We can choose to turn things around.

Remember how important you are in this. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Inspire others to do it too. Buy only what you actually need and use. Go for quality over quantity. Choose something gently used without all the packaging. Donate. Give experiences instead of stuff. Give of yourself instead of material items. Spend time instead of money. And teach those around you by example, encourage them to follow your lead.

Before it’s too late.

Namaste

Dee

~Archangel Oracle

*Goddesses and Sirens Oracle Card deck, by Stacey Demarco, artwork by Jimmy Manton