Earth Spirit Dreaming: Shamanic Ecotherapy Practices - Elizabeth E. Meacham 2020

Acknowledgements

“This precious book will help you rediscover, or perhaps uncover for the first time, your vital connection to our endangered, though still enchanted, Earth. Inspired by traditional wisdom, leading-edge science, and ecosophical thought, the simple but profound exercises lead one out of the spiritual wasteland of the industrial growth society and into an experience of the deeper ecological self, a self as ancient as the seasons and rooted in the nourishing cycles of life.”

— SEAN KELLY, Ph.D., philosopher, professor, and author of Coming Home: The Birth and Transformation of the Planetary Era

“It’s almost cliché to realize that reconnecting to the Earth is of paramount importance if humanity—or some significant portion thereof—is to survive and thrive into the next century. But an intellectual realization is only a first step. We need to practice having an ongoing felt sense of this connection. Elizabeth Meacham offers a dazzling, just-in-the-nick-of-time collection of practices to do just that.”

— BILL PFEIFFER, deep ecologist, teacher, shamanic guide, founder and director of the Sacred Earth Network, and author of Wild Earth, Wild Soul

“As climate catastrophe forces us to confront a world dangerously out of balance, there is a vital need to reconnect with the deep wisdom of the Earth. Our common home is not a resource to be exploited but a living magical being who needs our love and attention. Elizabeth Meacham returns us to our shamanic heritage, awakening us to our embodied spiritual intelligence. With simple but powerful practices she shows how to bring light and healing to our suffering planet and become co-creators of a new dream for humanity and the Earth. Earth Spirit Dreaming offers valuable tools to re-vision a world both whole and holy, a gateway to the love and joy and truth to be found as we become more firmly rooted in the Earth.”

— LLEWELLYN VAUGHAN-LEE, Ph.D., teacher, author, Sufi mystic, and editor of Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth

First and foremost, I thank the Great Spirit of the Universe, Divine Creator, Holy Spirit, Shekhinah, God, the Source of all Love, for my life and all that is good. Thank you to my husband, Mattuck Meacham, for making my dreams possible and for long discussions as we each imagined our books into the world together. Thank you to my children for bringing so much joy to my life and hope for a better world.

A special thank-you to my dear friend and colleague, Nurete Brenner, for helping me honor my earthy-spiritual intelligence, and for years of reflection and feedback on the ideas in this book. Thank you to Bill Pfeiffer, for helping me trust my path and for input on my book proposal and early chapters. Thank you to Christopher Bache for guiding me to Findhorn Press, for his lovely foreword and general support and inspiring conversations about our work.

Thank you to my dad and beloved stepmother, Terry and Nancy Elsberry, for their constant love, encouragement and support for my work; to my sister, Anne Warrington, for always believing in me; to my mother, Jan Sturgis, for birthing me, raising me and teaching me that women can be gifted and powerful spiritual leaders; to my dear friends, Heidi Abrams and Ellen Hoffman, for their patient emotional support through the process of writing this book.

I am grateful to Sabine Weeke, and the team at Findhorn Press, for capturing and expressing the essence of my book with grace and integrity. Sabine’s calm and steady hand made the editing process smooth and delightful.

Thank you, also, to my excellent and encouraging editor, Jacqui Lewis, and to Damian Keenen for the beautiful text design and layout. Heartfelt gratitude to Richard Crookes for a stunning and perceptive cover. Also, thank you to Jon Graham, at Inner Traditions, for sticking with this book.

Finally, a special thank-you to Jill Mattuck Tarule, for encouraging me to trust my own ways of knowing and to follow my star. May her memory and life’s work continue to be a blessing.