Using the Medicine of Labyrinths to Honour Your Inner Earth Element

Originally Posted Sept 8 2016

A few weeks ago on my Instagram page I posted a picture of a Labyrinth with an invitation to try one out to help invite the Earth Energies and grant Intentions a place to land.

The response and interest in this type of medicine although not really Chinese Medicine was quite telling that lots of individuals are looking to try this out.

So this week, I wanted to help walk you through the process of setting up your own Labyrinth or looking to find one that’s already set up for you to visit. Good new YYC peeps, we have several including an outdoor one if you don’t feel like moving sticks and stones around yourself.

Regardless of where you live, likely there is something averrable to you or the very practice of preparing the Labyrinth can be quite healing. Click here to see if there is one close to you.

But first why a Labyrinth if it isn’t actually Chinese Medicine? How does it relate to the Earth Element?

The reason why a Labyrinth can be useful to evoke this energy lies in the actual energy flow of the Earth Element. It’s energy is directed inwards, flowing in a spiral to the centre at which point it then flows back out the way it came.

If we look to the Emotion associated with the Earth Element it’s Worry or Pensiveness. When the Earth is seeking resolution and isn’t supported by the other Elements, the minds starts to spin and the same thoughts circulate in your brain until you are able to get centred, find resolution and then unwind the thoughts to pass it off to another element that will create action.

And if you want’ a Labyrinth can provide that same action of asking a question, and allowing the earth and the maze to provide the answer that you need in this moment to come forward. The beauty of this practice is that you don’t have to overthink it. Your Earth can do what it does best which is holding the intention and being open, yet unattached to the outcome.

Because when we look at the process of manifesting a desire the Earth Element doesn’t do it all on it’s own it’s a full cycle through all of the Elements and their genius to make come true. This is something that is the major them of the upcoming release of my program.

So, let’s set an intention. All summer I’ve been discussing the invitation to let your hearts desires speak up. What do you want? What do you want to create?

Now’s the time to allow the Earth to Sing these out into the world and see what comes of them.

If you plan on building your Labyrinth it can be simple such as laying a long string or rope along the ground in the shape of a spiral, or you can gather sticks, rocks, logs (what ever you have around you and begin to place them together in a spiral formation. Using the rocks and logs as the major elements and then using the sticks to create overlap so that they’re no holes or gaps between.

Once you have this in place you can find yourself at the opening of the spiral, taking a few minutes to ground yourself and feel the earth beneath you. Allow a question or an intention to come forward. I invite you to speak aloud. Remember the Earth is about Singing your desires. You may not want to ACTUALLY SING but even giving it some sound can be really powerful.

And then, when you feel the pull or the initiation to enter the labyrinth start to walk. Keeping your mind open and aware. This isn’t about predicting what the answer or outcome is. Watch for things catch your eye, feel what its like in your body as you walk. It’s it slow, fast, a bit unstable? Anything and everything could be showing the way.

When you come to the centre I invite you to sit. Child’s pose with your forehead to the Earth I’ve found as the most powerful position for me but you may find siting in Lotus pose or something else to be more profound for you.

And then you wait. You wait for the answer, or just the feeling that you time at the centre is complete. Mother Earth will tell you when, just trust it. And then begin to make your way back out of the spiral again noticing and listening to your surroundings and your body.

As you exit turn back to this sacred process and thank it, The Medicine, Mother Earth, the Universe anything and everything you feel helped hold you in this container for healing.

I would then recommend that you journal it, your experience, the medicine, its a good idea to capture everything thing that happened.

And then you can analyze it and what it all means. You may know as soon as you walk out of the Labyrinth and sometimes it continues to reveal itself to you through the next few days or weeks.

With not expectations of how the outcome will unfold, the intention is set.

The first time I did a Labyrinth was almost 7 years ago, I was away at a Fertility Retreat with my Mentor Randine Lewis and at the time I was fairly new to my practice and my work in Fertility. I wasn’t at the retreat to get pregnant. My baby was my practice and I asked for advice or direction on how I could achieve success in this area of my life.

The answers were profound and still guide me to this day as I work with each of my patients.

The last Labyrinth I did was last October at my Qoya Intensive Training with Rochelle Schieck. I feel it in me that I’m doing another one soon, but last year I was just getting clear on what I felt my sacred work was. I knew what I wanted to do, I even had the tools and information within me, but I lacked the confidence to really put it out there in a way that others could see or use it.

I felt like I was constantly scrambling, out of the club of women that knew how to do this and make a profound impact in the world. I was trying things that didn’t really feel good to me to market and advertise but I hated it and it left me second guessing just how I was going to make anything happen.

So I asked the Earth, the Labyrinth to show me the way. What was my next step to putting my Soul Work out in the world.

When I first walked through to the centre I could barely walk. I felt dizzy and I was tripping and stumbling. I was also doing this in the dark only lit by the Full Moon, but I could see just fine so that wasn’t the issue. I eventually made it to the centre and laid down my head. It was spinning so I was happy to have a place where it could be still.

And I laid in child’s pose for what felt like forever and with no real answer something told me to get up and start walking. So I did, and this time my step was firm and grounded. I felt the support of the earth under me with every step that I took and that’s when I heard my answer.

“The Next Steps Will Be Steady Ones”

If they feel unground or shaky they aren’t the right ones.

And with that I felt this load off my shoulders lift and fall to the ground. I no longer had to rely on my brain was trying to figure out, I didn’t need to look at what everyone else was doing and try to replicate it. My next steps would appear when they needed to and when they did, if they felt steady I could proceed with confidence.

And a year later I still abide by that wisdom. I’ve been given opportunities that didn’t feel right so I turned them down without over analyzing or fearing that I was missing out. I honoured my gut and how grounded my feet felt. I decided to not travel for this entire year aside from one Acupuncture training to ensure my licensing hours, and it felt so right for me to honour that feeling.

And I allowed that wisdom to help me create and eventually promote my Soul Work out into the world.

That one little sentence has changed EVERYTHING for me.

And with that I invite you do create or do a labyrinth practice of your own and let Mother Earth and the Earth Element to reveal your medicine for this moment.

XO Ashley