My heart-mind got so freaking excited at the naming of this intersection — the instant recognition that comes when you finally find language to name a phenomenon you only knew through sensation, and longing. I am so excited for this series!
I’m so happy you feel the same way I do - and described it so much more beautifully than I could… the validation of finding words for the feeling that is near ineffable. I’m excited to start exploring this topic and deepening my own understanding/articulation. xoxo
Ahhh love this. Last year I wrote a Substack series about ecological trauma, including how our abandonment wounds aren’t just human—but have roots in our relationship with Earth as original caregiver (the actual articles are more nuanced there). This feels so aligned and perfectly languaged. Love everything you’re bringing to this conversation here💖
Hi Juniper! Thank you so much for sharing. It is so very true, that our abandonment wounds aren't just human. I wrote a piece a few years ago on how the land parents us, how relationships to the lands we grew up in can contribute to our sense of physical safety as a child, and how we can come to the land as adults for re-parenting (and being the parents) of the land. Somewhat of a family systems approach to our land-based relationships. I am hoping to revisit these concepts and share more here on Substack as an extension of this work on Ecological Attachment. I am so glad that my work is resonating with you, and that you've had opportunities to explore the work of others that have sparked curiosity and reflection. Sending so much love and thank you again for your support!! 🩷
I so relate. I am still dreaming of the property( land) that held me when the dysfunctional family didn’t. My deepest belonging and then I had to let her go as well. What a grief journey. V few words for so Thankyou for making it more present.
Beautiful, I love the broadening of attachment theory to include place, land, the more than human world. Most of us are so disconnected from this relationship.
Agreed! It is something that the Western world has lost (and I’ll be writing more about that soon), but that which many traditional & indigenous cultures have maintained. Our secure attachments to the Earth are the basis for all healing (in my opinion). Excited to share more 💕
I am new to Substack, and am so excited to have found you, a kindred spirit. As a nature-based psychotherapist and shamanic practitioner, I have been practicing what you are putting words to for years!
It started with my own healing, where I had the first experience in my life of true belonging as a full equal, with the Earth Mother and the web of life.
Now, I facilitate these experiences for clients,
to heal their wounds through a loving relationship with the Earth Mother and all beings. As my Spirit Helpers put it: “Western culture has done you harm, in teaching you that your most important family is your biological one. The Earth Mother is your primary Mother, as she has been and will be for lifetimes!” People are so relieved when they hear this! It gives them permission to place less weight on their family-caused wounds, and open up to healing from another source.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reflection of my work and of yours. I've been leaning in to my gift of words, and it's been great to hear that I've been relatively successful in articulating frameworks and concepts that others have been working with for a long time. Sending lots of love and gratitude to you for your support.
This is really interesting thinking about my father, who left England during the bombing in WW2, at a young age (5? 7?), and never really recovered from that loss of place--which was a bigger trauma than the bombing itself. He had been staying with his grandparents in the countryside, "coming home with his pockets full of acorns and rocks" and hanging out with the gardener all day.
Wow, this is such a powerful reflection and I appreciate you sharing with me so much. It is difficult to comprehend how much WW2 impacted multiple generations in the fracturing of their relationships with their homelands. Speaking for my family, I have lineages impacted on both my mother & father’s sides, resulting in the fracturing of their relationships with homelands. Speaking to my grandmother on my mother’s side specifically, she also endured bombing as a young child in Japan. The devastation of her hometown resulted in poverty that forced her to immigrate here to the states. I think the loss of that relationship to Japan is something both my mother & her carried across the ocean and throughout their entire lives. Thank you so much for sharing. Would you mind if I shared your comment? Would you prefer I omitted your name or just used your initials? Let me know, and thank you 🙏🏼 I think your story beautifully ties together the ideas shared + personal/familial experiences.
Yes! And what now of Gaza?! My whole body aches for them. Their suffering and trevail( like the Jews before them). A homeland and now eyed off by Trump. I am horrified and disgusted!! Pure evil incarnated.
Yes i so relate. Was the same for me. Years later I slept in the old handmade mud brick house with the pardolotes and I dreamt of my grandfather in his old bib and brace overalls walking thru the long grasses coming up from the dam.
He’d had a stroke in real life and he was waking with one arm out with the pet family bird on it and another wild bird flew in tand perched beside it.
Thanks for letting me re tell that. It’s still carries the numinous. . Bless
From chapter 8 or 9 (my notes are not great!) of the book The Land is Not Empty, by Sarah Augustine:
> The theologian Vine Deloria Jr. explains this dissonance in
"cosmology," or fundamental worldview [between indigenous and settler cultures], in this way:
>
>> American Indians hold their lands—places—as having the highest possible meaning, and all their statements are made with this reference place in mind. Immigrants review the movement of their ancestors across the continent as a steady progression of basically good events and experiences, thereby placing history—time—in the best possible light. When one group is concerned with the philosophical problem of space and the other with the philosophical problem of time, then the statements of either group do not make much sense when transferred from one context to the other without proper consideration of what is taking place.
You might enjoy the whole chapter/book! Definitely related to how we think about our attachment to (our specific piece of) Pacha Mama.
Thank you for verbalizing one of the ways Western Psychology has reduced our sense of belonging. It’s so important to keep pointing this out in this country full of displaced peoples. I moved to the US from the UK 24 years ago.
My journey of building relationship to this new land had to include my ancestors- they too have been erased by Psychology. Braiding together my lineages with spirits of the land and all the beyond-human kin I share this place with is ongoing quest for rootedness
Love where you are going with this. Growing up in the Caribbean and exposed to a melting pot of different cultures, it was obvious to me that the connection to the land and where you build your home be taken seriously. For the indigenous, they’d have to seek the blessings of the nature spirits. For the Hindus they’d seek out a pundit to bless the land, sometimes making offerings of food and ensuring no negative energies on it to cause problems for the family moving in, and we even see this primordial tradition of “blessing” the land reaching modern religions like Christianity where priest attends to bless your home with holy water. I think the custom still lives but adapted to geography, and culture. I’ve known people who also get their new car blessed even!
Such an on-point article. Full resonance. My best friend as a child was Mimosa (mimosa púdica). I was a minority in my school (the only white kid. I grew up in houailou, new caledonia) and found deeper kinship with plants than humans.
That template resurfaced as an adult, after having "strayed" far into taxonomic, separatist science. Mountains as partners, trees as love interests, master plants as guides and teachers. I feel safer in a sentient world.
Interesting. How do you take into account the fact that in the land are beings who want to eat us if they get the chance (in the end, worms will do it if Noone else) . It's not all motherly love 🙂.
I wish I had of seen your post when I was writing this article - it was around the time of your post! I was also writing on collective trauma with our relationship with Gaia. The link is below, I hope it is of interest - love to follow up with you if it interest you. This is the paper I wrote:
My heart-mind got so freaking excited at the naming of this intersection — the instant recognition that comes when you finally find language to name a phenomenon you only knew through sensation, and longing. I am so excited for this series!
I’m so happy you feel the same way I do - and described it so much more beautifully than I could… the validation of finding words for the feeling that is near ineffable. I’m excited to start exploring this topic and deepening my own understanding/articulation. xoxo
Ahhh love this. Last year I wrote a Substack series about ecological trauma, including how our abandonment wounds aren’t just human—but have roots in our relationship with Earth as original caregiver (the actual articles are more nuanced there). This feels so aligned and perfectly languaged. Love everything you’re bringing to this conversation here💖
Hi Juniper! Thank you so much for sharing. It is so very true, that our abandonment wounds aren't just human. I wrote a piece a few years ago on how the land parents us, how relationships to the lands we grew up in can contribute to our sense of physical safety as a child, and how we can come to the land as adults for re-parenting (and being the parents) of the land. Somewhat of a family systems approach to our land-based relationships. I am hoping to revisit these concepts and share more here on Substack as an extension of this work on Ecological Attachment. I am so glad that my work is resonating with you, and that you've had opportunities to explore the work of others that have sparked curiosity and reflection. Sending so much love and thank you again for your support!! 🩷
I so relate. I am still dreaming of the property( land) that held me when the dysfunctional family didn’t. My deepest belonging and then I had to let her go as well. What a grief journey. V few words for so Thankyou for making it more present.
Beautiful, I love the broadening of attachment theory to include place, land, the more than human world. Most of us are so disconnected from this relationship.
Agreed! It is something that the Western world has lost (and I’ll be writing more about that soon), but that which many traditional & indigenous cultures have maintained. Our secure attachments to the Earth are the basis for all healing (in my opinion). Excited to share more 💕
Thank you Marika. You truly are a gifted writer. Well written!!
Thank you so much Norm 🫶🏼❤️
I am new to Substack, and am so excited to have found you, a kindred spirit. As a nature-based psychotherapist and shamanic practitioner, I have been practicing what you are putting words to for years!
It started with my own healing, where I had the first experience in my life of true belonging as a full equal, with the Earth Mother and the web of life.
Now, I facilitate these experiences for clients,
to heal their wounds through a loving relationship with the Earth Mother and all beings. As my Spirit Helpers put it: “Western culture has done you harm, in teaching you that your most important family is your biological one. The Earth Mother is your primary Mother, as she has been and will be for lifetimes!” People are so relieved when they hear this! It gives them permission to place less weight on their family-caused wounds, and open up to healing from another source.
I look forward to reading more from you, Marika!
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reflection of my work and of yours. I've been leaning in to my gift of words, and it's been great to hear that I've been relatively successful in articulating frameworks and concepts that others have been working with for a long time. Sending lots of love and gratitude to you for your support.
This is so important, thank you for sharing your insights Marika.
Thank you so much for reading and receiving 🙏🏼
This is really interesting thinking about my father, who left England during the bombing in WW2, at a young age (5? 7?), and never really recovered from that loss of place--which was a bigger trauma than the bombing itself. He had been staying with his grandparents in the countryside, "coming home with his pockets full of acorns and rocks" and hanging out with the gardener all day.
Wow, this is such a powerful reflection and I appreciate you sharing with me so much. It is difficult to comprehend how much WW2 impacted multiple generations in the fracturing of their relationships with their homelands. Speaking for my family, I have lineages impacted on both my mother & father’s sides, resulting in the fracturing of their relationships with homelands. Speaking to my grandmother on my mother’s side specifically, she also endured bombing as a young child in Japan. The devastation of her hometown resulted in poverty that forced her to immigrate here to the states. I think the loss of that relationship to Japan is something both my mother & her carried across the ocean and throughout their entire lives. Thank you so much for sharing. Would you mind if I shared your comment? Would you prefer I omitted your name or just used your initials? Let me know, and thank you 🙏🏼 I think your story beautifully ties together the ideas shared + personal/familial experiences.
Yes! And what now of Gaza?! My whole body aches for them. Their suffering and trevail( like the Jews before them). A homeland and now eyed off by Trump. I am horrified and disgusted!! Pure evil incarnated.
You can share my comment with my full name and substack link!
Thank you so much!! Sending you blessings as we transition into our new year 💫 🤍
Yes i so relate. Was the same for me. Years later I slept in the old handmade mud brick house with the pardolotes and I dreamt of my grandfather in his old bib and brace overalls walking thru the long grasses coming up from the dam.
He’d had a stroke in real life and he was waking with one arm out with the pet family bird on it and another wild bird flew in tand perched beside it.
Thanks for letting me re tell that. It’s still carries the numinous. . Bless
From chapter 8 or 9 (my notes are not great!) of the book The Land is Not Empty, by Sarah Augustine:
> The theologian Vine Deloria Jr. explains this dissonance in
"cosmology," or fundamental worldview [between indigenous and settler cultures], in this way:
>
>> American Indians hold their lands—places—as having the highest possible meaning, and all their statements are made with this reference place in mind. Immigrants review the movement of their ancestors across the continent as a steady progression of basically good events and experiences, thereby placing history—time—in the best possible light. When one group is concerned with the philosophical problem of space and the other with the philosophical problem of time, then the statements of either group do not make much sense when transferred from one context to the other without proper consideration of what is taking place.
You might enjoy the whole chapter/book! Definitely related to how we think about our attachment to (our specific piece of) Pacha Mama.
Thank you for verbalizing one of the ways Western Psychology has reduced our sense of belonging. It’s so important to keep pointing this out in this country full of displaced peoples. I moved to the US from the UK 24 years ago.
My journey of building relationship to this new land had to include my ancestors- they too have been erased by Psychology. Braiding together my lineages with spirits of the land and all the beyond-human kin I share this place with is ongoing quest for rootedness
Love where you are going with this. Growing up in the Caribbean and exposed to a melting pot of different cultures, it was obvious to me that the connection to the land and where you build your home be taken seriously. For the indigenous, they’d have to seek the blessings of the nature spirits. For the Hindus they’d seek out a pundit to bless the land, sometimes making offerings of food and ensuring no negative energies on it to cause problems for the family moving in, and we even see this primordial tradition of “blessing” the land reaching modern religions like Christianity where priest attends to bless your home with holy water. I think the custom still lives but adapted to geography, and culture. I’ve known people who also get their new car blessed even!
Such an on-point article. Full resonance. My best friend as a child was Mimosa (mimosa púdica). I was a minority in my school (the only white kid. I grew up in houailou, new caledonia) and found deeper kinship with plants than humans.
That template resurfaced as an adult, after having "strayed" far into taxonomic, separatist science. Mountains as partners, trees as love interests, master plants as guides and teachers. I feel safer in a sentient world.
Thank you for your posts. 🌿🙏
Interesting. How do you take into account the fact that in the land are beings who want to eat us if they get the chance (in the end, worms will do it if Noone else) . It's not all motherly love 🙂.
This is such an interesting, original and thought-provoking take on the subject, it resonates and I loved the read! Thank you :)
I wish I had of seen your post when I was writing this article - it was around the time of your post! I was also writing on collective trauma with our relationship with Gaia. The link is below, I hope it is of interest - love to follow up with you if it interest you. This is the paper I wrote:
https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/16/1/11
Love this. Thank you for sharing.
Brilliant! Thank you for articulating this, it’s so exactly what we need right now.