Welcome September
It’s coming to the end of a beautiful Summer, and we’ve come into September: a month of transition, of celebration, and a slow re-grounding after the excitement of the last season.
FINDING OUR FEET AFTER SUMMER
This month is the time of Virgo and includes the Celtic festival of Mabon on the 21st September.
Virgo is an earth sign historically represented by the goddess of wheat and agriculture, an association that speaks to Virgo’s deep-rooted presence in the material world.
This energy encourages us to wind down, to prepare ourselves for the deep dive into the earth, and into ourselves, that Autumn and Winter brings…
Mabon (the Autumn Equinox) between the 21st-24th September, is the point of perfect balance on our journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year, as once again the days and nights are of exactly equal length: dark and light, masculine and feminine, inner and outer, in balance.
However, Mabon is also a time of celebration, as the second harvest festival of the year! We may look at all we have seeded and nurtured over Spring and Summer, and give thanks.
This month’s theme is all about our feet, and grounding, to help us during this time of energy shifting inwards.
Allowing Cacao to help us ground and embody this season.
I find Cacao a very earthy medicine. When we prepare her she even looks like the Earth! A deep, rich brown, sometimes even the consistency and texture of the Earth in her solid form, or like lustrous liquid clay when we make the drink…She can taste Earthy too, as if you are drinking in the medicine of the Earth.
In taking the time to meet with Cacao, we also give ourselves the time to slow down and stop. To give ourselves space. To allow our energy to wind down and settle.
It’s often quite rare to really be in presence in our day to day lives. To truly be grounded. To truly be present in our bodies, which is essential to grounding: to be connected to, and engaged in, this physical reality.
Spirituality is about both being connected to the divine, open to spirit and the higher frequencies, and about being embodied and living in this material world.
Cacao has so much to teach us about being connected in this way. She simultaneously lifts our vibration up to connect to spirit, and brings us into deeper connection with our bodies. Deeper sensitivity and insight into the wisdom of our bodies. A deeper place of listening to the messages our body is telling us.
She also allows us to move energies within our body more easily, which is why in the online ceremony I will be guiding us all to give ourselves a foot massage. In the Cacao Cocoon a ritual to do this was offered, however in the ceremony I will be teaching a specific a flow which works with the different reflexology points of the feet, which is an absolutely fascinating topic.
There is also a practice detailed below, which is about energetic grounding through the feet.
When we drink Cacao our energy fields are more expanded and fluid, which is why we can often more easily meet and move emotions that seem buried deep or inaccessible otherwise. Emotions we hold within are reflected as blocks in our energy field, and also in our physical body as tension and pain.
Massage, and energetic work, both help the release these blocks and bring us into greater alignment, and can be greatly supported by the power of Cacao in this process. Through opening our feet and base chakra, physically and energetically, we allow ourselves to come into resonance and energy exchange with the Earth.
This also naturally starts to bring fresh energy into our field, which releases blocks. You may find that the more you open your body, and feet, and connect to the Earth, the more that the parts of you that are not in this alignment, will be brought to the surface to be felt, and released. This is the pathway of true healing.
Cacao can really hold us through this process, with her nurturing, loving presence, and heart-opening qualities to allow us to hold ourselves with more compassion.
Reflection/journalling questions:
- How do you find balance in your life? If there are things that tend to pull you out of balance, give them time and space to reflect on you relationship to them.
- Do you feel in balance internally? Where do you feel any tensions between different energies within your body? Maybe meditate on, or massage any areas to release and bring clarity into your being.
- What has unfolded for you over summer? Have you sown seeds, or set intentions earlier in the year, and how have they bloomed?
- In this time of harvest, feel into all that you have to give thanks for, all that you have to thank yourself for manifesting into your life.
- How do you feel your connection to the element of Earth is? How do you ground in your day to day life? How often do you feel your bare feet on the earth?
Energy Practice
Grounding through your feet.
When was the last time you walked outside, on the Earth, with your bare feet?
This practice can really help us to root down, and slow down, when we may be feeling ungrounded. It opens the base chakra and allows us to receive energy from the Earth. This energy supports and holds us.
It’s really great to do this first thing in the morning, to go outside and receive the light from the sky, and touch the Earth with our bare feet. This will set you up for the day to be in resonance with the Earth!
Your feet are the primary connection you have to the Earth, and full of wonderful nerves and senses to communicate with the Earth.
How wonderful, our feet!
- Stand outside on the Earth (grass is always great for bare feet).
- Allow your feet to be shoulder width apart, and your knees to soften and be slightly bent, rather than locked. Tuck your tailbone under so your spine is straight, and tuck the chin down very slightly so the neck is straight too. Allow your shoulders to be relaxed and the heart space open.
- Take a few deep, slow breaths. First, feel yourself rooted in the earth through your feet. Your body is relaxed, and your feet firmly planted.
- Then, imagine, or feel, your Dan Tien: your main energy centre (from Chi Gong) which is in the centre of your abdomen, about 3 finger widths down from your belly button. This is a ball of golden light which holds your power.
- Breathe into this ball of golden light in the centre of your being, drawing in energy from all around you to charge it up.
- Then, send golden streams of light straight, connecting all the way to the ball of fire in the centre of the Earth. You are anchoring in to this ball of light.
- You can breathe energy up from the centre of the Earth into your Dan Tien, connecting to and charging from the Earth’s energy. As you do this you may feel your pelvic floor muscles relax and open.
- Notice how your feet and legs feel as you do this. You may want to slowly move your feet, lifting one toe at a time and placing them down, spreading them out, feeling all the sensations of the physical connection to the Earth.
You can stay in this meditation for as long as you like. The more often you practice this, the more sensitive and in tune you become with your own energy, and to how how grounded you are energetically and physically.
This is a beautiful practice to also do while you are with Mama Cacao, as she is awesome for helping us ground into presence, and into our physical bodies. She can help us to open and feel our physical and energetic bodies with more sensitivity too.
In doing this practice, you may also become more aware of your feet throughout your day-to-day. Are you often walking everywhere really quickly, in a rush? How relaxed and open do your feet and base chakra feel?
How normal is it for you to be separated from the Earth by thick soles of shoes? If you’ve not heard of them already, barefoot shoes are also a great way to bring more Earth connection into your life.
Praying that this practice may help you to ground and slow down after Summer, filling and charging your being with the fresh energy from our Earth mother.
Ceremony
MABON ONLINE CACAO CEREMONY
September 23rd, 2022 at 7pm UK time
I invite you to join me in an online Cacao ceremony on 23rd September at 7pm, during the festival of Mabon, to celebrate this important time of year and welcome the transition into Autumn.
We will journey with Cacao with grounding meditation, sharing circle and also allow her to help us to connect to and open up our bodies through our feet.
I will guide us through self-massage for our feet, working with reflexology points, which will be a practice you can take away for yourselves whenever you feel you need a little self love (or teach to a partner to give to you!).
Wishing you blessings and hope to see you there!