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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in grounding
The Aurora Cascade: Merging Cosmic Light and Flowing Waters

For some time there was no real certainty as to what causes the otherwordly phenomenon of the aurora borealis. In 2021 scientists finally confirmed that the natural light show starts when disturbances on the sun pull on Earth’s magnetic field. This creates cosmic undulations known as Alfvén waves that launch electrons at high speeds into Earth’s atmosphere where they create the aurora.

Have you ever wondered what our ancestors must have thought and felt when they saw the northern lights? How magical and surreal it must have been for them, almost as much as it is for us even now, despite knowing the exact cause. The lack of mystery does not dampen the wondrous impact the aurora has on the imagination and the soul.

One especially interesting feature that has been discovered is that electrons essentially surf on the Alfvén waves. If they move with the right speed relative to the wave, they get picked up and accelerated much like surfers catch a building wave.

This brings at least one watery allegory into the mix. Yet the aurora and water are more closely related than you might think. All the water on Earth is of interstellar origins and the northern lights undulate in very watery waves and colors. As I often say, we are made of water and starlight, so the convergence of the aurora and of flowing water is not only perfectly harmonious, it creates a powerful visualization tool for grounding, protection, inspiration and manifestation. I call this the Aurora Cascade.

A long, purple and electric blue-green curtain of dancing aurora pours itself out of the sky in a cascade that becomes indistinguishable from a singing, rushing waterfall as it falls closer to the ground. Water and light meld and shimmer in the gentle torrent. Step into the glowing falls and feel it mingle with the waters and the energy in your cells. This is the source, this is what we are made of. It is renewing and it is an ongoing cosmic blessing.

Grounding

We are the center in between the above and below. When sitting or standing within the Aurora Cascade, you are the nexus in this liminal space, the point of origin. All work – meditating, journeying, spell work, manifestation or shamanic work – ideally begins with grounding; rooting and establishing a link, but not just to the below. To the medieval alchemists, water and light were in the same symbolic family, and indeed are two of the main and most essential components to almost all life. The grounding unfolds through a conscious integration of these elemental energies, rooting the individual firmly in the earth’s embrace but also providing a tether to higher cosmic realms.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

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   Autumn Equinox is about the mid-life phase of a woman's life, and also about the poignant seasonal turning toward winter and inward time. We encounter opportunity for personal assessment, asking ourselves pointed questions as we explore the psychology of harvest-time. We can name, ground and ritualized our harvests for the year: things that have come into being, that have gone well, things for which we are grateful.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
Storm of the Undine

The breeze blew down from the top of the mountain pushing its way through the heat and humidity.  It rushed through her kitchen window filling the small room with the smell of crisp cool air.  Blowing her hair back off the tackiness of her face and neck as she stood there washing dishes.  The room had a slight relief from the heaviness of the air.

She looked out the window and up thought the trees.  There she saw the storm taking shape.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Start by Grounding - Becoming Present

I've been examining the parts that make up many common Pagan rituals. I recently wrote about Cleansing. I'm moving on to Grounding. There's real irony here, because this week, I need grounding more than ever.

Alright!  A few personal details about my life are in order to set this article up. I'm a busy witch. Over the next few months I have a lot going on. I am helping to organize California WitchCamp which happens in late June. I am presenting at the upcoming Many Gods West conference in late July. In early September I am teaching at Aurora Borealis WitchCamp in Canada and in mid-October I'm teaching/facilitating the Mysteries of Samhain retreat. Woven through all of this are planning meetings, research, magical work and scheduling - endless scheduling. I also have three classes I'm teaching between now and then and I'm one of the folks that is putting Reclaiming's 36th annual Spiral Dance on October 31st.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
From There To Here

You don't need to be an Elder god this time of year but it might help.  Lots of people who are otherwise very  hearty Pagans manage to get to the holiday (yeah, pick one) table and find they have nothing to say. They haven't yet "come out" to their family which complicates an already tricky situation. No matter how firm we are in our spiritual convictions, when we are in our parents' homes we revert to being wayward kids, the weirdoes of the family.  We go from being Lord High Muck of Bucklebury Ferry to being Billy, the fat kid with the wandering eye.

It happens. If you are very fortunate and mature it may not be so for you. I hope you know how blessed you are. My parents are dead so I get to choose how I spend the day without reverting to the fat girl who only wanted a pony.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Byron Ballard
    Byron Ballard says #
    Blessed be. Yes, I am fortunate that way, too. Mostly people are curious or quiet. I had never had a formal talk with one of my d
  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham says #
    Thanks for your wise words. I am one of the lucky ones, very out as a witch with family and my wider community (including in the

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
A Cold Night and a New Dawn

Dramatic weather here and elsewhere--yesterday I watched an enormous weather front come up from the South in the form of a dark gray shelf cloud. It was a scene out of Hollywood: surely a mothership of some sort was lurking there or it was the precursor, the warning of some King novel.  I got back into my car and drove home to my old house that was under the edge of that shelf of doom.

And by the time I'd parked the car and looked up, the front had moved backwards, retreated back the way it had so ominously come, ragged now, undramatic, ordinary.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
My Anti-Anxiety Mantra

When I'm stressed, time speeds up and so do I.  I talk faster and my words run together.  I rush around trying to do more than one thing at a time.  In a hurry, I forget important things and make mistakes that take away more precious time, increasing my stress.  My heart beats faster.  I breathe faster.  I move faster and more violently.  I anger more quickly.  I react without thinking.  Stress hormones overwhelm my body, damaging each organ and system, and my body tries to communicate with me though pain, nausea, headaches, exhaustion, cravings.  If I stay in a state of stress too long, my poor body burns out and I get sick.

In the beginning of my healing journey, I read a lot of books that encouraged me to change what I thought, to change my words and thoughts from negative to positive.  Instead of thinking, "I'm so stressed out," I tried to think, "I am at peace."

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