A few posts back I mentioned a Native American Healing Circle that I attended in which one of the Elders said this:

“Grandmother Earth has much more power than we could ever imagine. To think that its our job to heal her is presumptuous. Its our job to heal ourSelves. If we heal ourSelves, we are healing Grandmother Earth. We always think we are improving when we are fixing something outside of ourselves, when She wants us to heal ourSelves which is the same as healing her.”

I was struck with an even deeper following of this thought vein, and I saw our reflection in the Earth. When herbs spring up in the spring, they are the earth healing herself. NOT US. Mamma Earth herself is reflecting the very sayings about - she is healing HERSELF as we heal OURSELVES, not one harming or healing the other. Its all inside of us, healing is not external.

Look at these photos:

ILLUSTRATION 1

This apple tree was backed over or plowed over by something before we moved in. Here the tree sits half out of the ground. Look at what is growing all around the base of the tree - Self Heal (Heal All). You can read more about Self Heal in the store

ILLUSTRATION 2:
Don’t try to cover me up, I’m under here! Rock was laid here as a water drainage, her skin was ‘cut by rock’. Here comes Dandelion to push up what has been covered up, to remove poisons, to clear toxins, and to be boistrous. This is why we see Dandelions in sidewalk cracks and driveways, it is earth trying to remove those toxins from her skin, which is the same healing component of dandelion when we take it as medicine, a liver detoxifier.

More about dandelion, and its ability to remove toxins here.

ILLUSTRATION 3
Now You’ve Really Pissed Me Off and I’m Sicking Thorns on You
(but because I love all beings and anger doesn’t really become me, please enjoy these berries while they protect me from more chainsaws).

The lesson I learned in this Nature Teaching, is that when we heal OurSelves, the side benefits are enormous. As earth heals herSelf, I can harvest these herbs and foods she is producing, just like my kids can harvest the good vibes from me when I take care of mySelf. Past generations have called spending time or money on ourselves “SELFISH”. I believe its absolutely essential to be selfish and take good care of OurSelves.