EARTH MAGIC
Other Hay House Titles by Steven D. Farmer
Animal Spirit Guides: An EasytoUse Handbook forIdentifying and Understanding Your Power Animalsand Animal Spirit Helpers
Messages from Your Animal Spirit Guide:
A Meditation Journey (CD)
Messages from Your Animal Spirit Guides Oracle Cards
(a 44card deck and guidebook)
Power Animal Oracle Cards: Practical and Powerful Guidance from Animal Spirit Guides (a 44card deck and guidebook)
Power Animals: How to Connect with Your Animal Spirit Guide
Sacred Ceremony: How to Create Ceremonies for Healing, Transitions, and Celebrations
All of the above are available at your local bookstore,
or may be ordered by visiting: Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com;
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au;
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk; Hay House South Africa:
www.hayhouse.co.za; Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in
EARTH MAGIC
Ancient Shamanic Wisdom for
Healing Yourself, Others, and the Planet
Steven D. Farmer, Ph.D.
HAY HOUSE, INC.
Carlsbad, California New York City
London Sydney Johannesburg
Vancouver Hong Kong New Delhi
Copyright 2009 by Steven D. Farmer
Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in
Editorial supervision: Jill Kramer Design: Jen Kennedy
Interior illustrations: www.shutterstock.com
The Peace of Wild Things. Copyright 1999 by Wendell Berry from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry. Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint.
The Wind, One Brilliant Day, by Antonio Machado. Reprinted from Times Alone: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado, translated by Robert Bly. Wesleyan University Press. Copyright 1983 by Robert Bly. Reprinted by permission.
Research on DNA cited herein from The Divine Matrix. Copyright 2007 by Gregg Braden. Hay House, Inc. Used by permission.
Research from the HeartMath Institute cited herein from The Spontaneous Healing of Belief. Copyright 2008 by Gregg Braden. Hay House, Inc. Used by permission.
Section on archangels extrapolated from How to Hear Your Angels. Copyright 2007 by Doreen Virtue. Hay House, Inc. Used by permission.
Tips for making the planet healthier reprinted from Green Made Easy. Copyright 2009 by Chris Prelitz. Hay House, Inc. Used by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.
The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual wellbeing. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data
Farmer, Steven.
Earth magic : ancient shamanic wisdom for healing yourself, others, and the planet / Steven D. Farmer. 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 9781401920050 (tradepaper : alk. paper) 1. Shamanism. I. Title.
BF1611.F28 2009
201.44dc22
2008041935
ISBN: 9781401920050
12 11 10 09 4 3 2 1
1st edition, February 2009
Printed in the United States of America
FOR THE SPIRITS OF
OUR ANCESTORS,
THE SOUL OF OUR
EARTH MOTHER,
AND ALL OUR RELATIONS.
In our every deliberation,
we must consider the impact
of our decisions on the
next seven generations.
The Great Law
of the Iroquois
Editors Notes:
Ten percent of the authors profits from this book
will be donated to the Natural Resources Defense
Council, Oceana, and Defenders of Wildlife.
To avoid the awkward he/she, him/her
constructions, the use of one or the other is often
used. , However, the information throughout the
book applies to both males and females.
Contents
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my childrens lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the dayblind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
Tree Healing
Several years ago I was involved in a twoweek intensive course in shamanic training at Esalen, a beautiful retreat center located along the Big Sur coastline in California. It comprises 27 acres of natural beauty, set on cliffs overlooking the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Trees are all around, and mountains rise up as if they were swept up from the depths of the sea. The dynamic juxtaposition of the mountains and the ocean creates the kind of interaction that makes the Earth breathe with life, and you can feel the power generated by these contrasting elements.
For thousands of years this was home to the Esselen Indians, who would move back and forth from the inland to the coastal areas (depending on the seasons) for fishing, hunting, and shelter. Artifacts up to 4,000 years old have been found among the ancient ceremonial grounds along the coast, with some as recent as the 1700s. The Esalen Institute was founded by Michael Murphy and Dick Price in 1962 and soon became known for its experiential and didactic workshops and the influx of various teachers from the fields of psychology, art, and spirituality.
For the shamanic training, there were three and sometimes four classes each day, with a 90minute lunch break. On some of the evenings when we had free time, several of us would gather in the main classroom, put on some music, and dance. The music and physical movement helped relieve much of the accumulated stress and tension from the days work.
It was several days into the course when my roommate and I discovered a smaller room near the place we were staying. There was a stereo and a few CDs. So before breakfast, those of us in the nearby cabins gathered and danced that morning, which really got the juices flowing. Better than coffee! There wasnt a lot of physical activity for the classes that day and nothing was scheduled for the evening, so we set up a group dance.
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