“Reaching into the highest worlds,
drinking from the three wells
deeply rooted in the earth”
These are the words Jacob Berghoef paired with the image; Tree of Urd, accompanying this blog.
Trees reach their roots deep in the earth. Wood and earth may be regarded as separate elements, yet they are linked. The ground seems so solid and separate, yet air, water, and fire come together in this element. Life is destroyed and created. Fire burns in the heart of mountains, meeting and exploding in a destructive force from which new life grows. Water nourishes the green, quenches the thirst of living creatures, eroding the rock, and being absorbed by the soil.
All elements come together in the Earth. I’ve often wondered why a pentagram, a symbol packed with so much spiritual meaning would represent an element I saw as being the material, the tangible, the concrete.
Earth was the opposite of air, my element of thought and fancy, where my feet left the ground and I took flight away from everything weighing my down. My flight, however, was only possible because I had a physical mind capable of doing so.
All of the elements come together in me as well as in the Earth. Rivers form paths through the land. Oceans make up a large part of it. Fire is kindled and bursts forth from the rock, from wood. Air allows all living creatures to breathe. Its quality is seasoned by what is happening on the planet. Its quantity is dimished as well.
I’ve been frightened by the concrete and the tangible, but I wouldn’t be here if not for them. I wouldn’t be able to use my senses without them.
I wouldn’t have a place without the Earth or the ground beneath my feeet.
Tell me, dear reader, what does the Earth mean to you? How does the Earth inspire you?