Chapter 2
About my Communication with the Earth
Going Up the Mountain
It was a hot Wednesday afternoon on September 18, 1996. I was sweating profusely as I trudged up toward one of the many summits of a small mountain range within the city of Phoenix, Arizona. As I got closer to the summit I had chosen, I noticed there were other people there, and one of them waved to me. Since I needed to be alone, I decided to choose a different place and veered off to the left. I saw a large bird circling around one of the other little summits and decided to go there. As I reached the top and sat down, looking out over the city of Phoenix in front of me, I was filled with doubts about what I was doing.
I had made my way up the mountain to fulfill a request I had received a week earlier in a trance-like state during one of many ceremonies I had taken part in within the framework of the spiritual-shamanic training I had been pursuing since 1992. The intent of this very elaborately laid-out ceremony was to “remember” a “past life” of mine, and this would be my third ceremony of this kind.
As I mentioned, I had many years earlier extensively researched statements from a number of hypnosis-induced “reincarnation trances” I had facilitated. I came away from this research intrigued by the historical accuracy of the statements made in some of the trances, which often included obscure details requiring much research to corroborate. I do not believe we can ever “prove” we have lived before, but I had decided to keep an open mind and was willing to explore the possibility myself.
During the ceremony, which included a kind of guided trance, I found myself in a place that made me seriously doubt – and I still do – that I was experiencing images of a past life. I knew I was on some kind of spaceship. “This is not a past life and spaceships aren’t my thing,” I thought; but since it was all I had to go on, I decided to explore where I was. I found myself in a corridor and entered into one of the side rooms. The room was very dimly lit, and some light came from a window at the far end of the room. I walked up to the window and as I looked out, I saw a majestic sight: The Earth, in all its colorful splendor, set against the darkness of the void.
It was a fascinating sight; and as I was taking it in, I heard a voice speak inside my head, “Now that we have made contact with one another through this very elaborate ceremony, the line of communication between us has been anchored cellularly in your body.” My experience was that it was the Earth itself speaking to me.
It went on, “I want us to continue our communication. I want you to go up on a mountain here in the area and talk to me, outside of any ceremonial setting.” That was all. I was quite astounded at all this, for during the previous such ceremonies I had only been a passive observer trying to glean information about what might have been past lives.
It took a week before I decided to follow up on what I had experienced during the ceremony, and I strongly doubted anything would come of it. But there I sat finally, up on the mountain, sweating, with a pad of paper and a pen in hand, feeling slightly stupid.
Remembering to keep an open mind, I closed my eyes and returned in my mind to the beautiful image of the whole Earth I had seen in the ceremony. Suddenly, there it was again, the voice. “This is a power spot – you were led here,” were the first words I picked up. A few moments later, “I will teach you about the relationship between you (people) and me. This is a program that will go on for 2 1/2 months – then it will be in place. This is part of our agreement and I am glad it is happening.”
Thus began a series of communications that were to change my way of relating to the Earth and our lives on Earth. At one time during the course of these sessions, I pledged to publish my story about all this, and through this book I am finally fulfilling that pledge. It took me a while to decide to follow up on the original request to go up on a mountain and attempt to speak to the Earth, and it has taken me very much longer to finally publish this story.
What Took Me So Long to Publish This?
There were several reasons why it took me fifteen years to decide to publish the results of my communications with the Earth. But the bottom line is that I was not ready to do so until now.
At the time when I received them, I had no doubt I was truly in contact with the Earth. What came through was so obviously real to me, and the statements often surprised me to the point where I felt that I could not have come up with them myself. But during the times in between, I rarely felt the same strong connection. The times on the mountain were quite special; otherwise my everyday life went on without much thought about the Earth.
In spite of my experiences, it has taken me quite a while to truly accept the idea that the Earth is a conscious, sentient and communicating being as reality and not just as a nice option or possibility. Since even I was hesitant about accepting my experiences at face value, I also doubted that I would be taken seriously if I published my story.
I sensed how far-reaching the consequences would be if humanity as a whole would discover that the Earth is alive, conscious and communicating, and if we entered into a continuous, conscious exchange with the Earth. It would have the potential to change our lives at a very fundamental level. I knew I had an enormous fish on my hook; the question was if I was willing to reel it in by fully trusting my experiences.
As I began to write this book, I realized I could not stand behind these communications without now establishing the kind of contact with the Earth I had in 1996. If I could not achieve this, then I could not speak convincingly about the Earth wanting to communicate with us consciously. Although since then I had once in a while experienced communicating with the Earth, these communications were usually sporadic and short-lived.
I also wanted to go back and “check” what I had received by asking the Earth more in-depth questions about what I had written down earlier. In addition, the communications from the Earth were phrased in a language that emphasized interactions and processes – including inner ones – over “hard” facts and scientific explanations. It seemed to follow a different inner logic, less of a cause-and-effect logic than the logic of a Universe that is alive, intermingling and co-creating, where emotions are seen as “felt energy motions” and even time becomes “events” that touch each other. I felt that this new way of relating needed a more in-depth explanation.
I therefore decided to rent a small cottage out in nature for six months and dedicate myself to reestablishing as firm a connection to the Earth as I could and write this book. This worked exceedingly well and I integrated the answers I got to my questions into the material from 1996. I now have no hesitations about telling my story.
Some of the statements I received from the Earth are quite straightforward; for example, about it being alive and desiring to communicate with humans, “why humans came to Earth,” or a proposal by the Earth that I build a technical device with which the Earth can communicate with us in our language. Other parts sound more poetic, using words like “the power of beauty” and “the creative power of trust.”
Over time, though, I have realized that the “unscientific” parts, once they are thought through to their conclusion, are no less solid than the “straightforward” statements. They simply deal with inner matters for which these words are well chosen. Yet I did feel they needed some “translation,” or at least comments. Having shared some of the material with others, I realized many parts were fairly clear to me, who had received them, but not at all clear to others. So I decided to include some of my own comments, thoughts and reactions to what I had received to better convey the meaning of it as I understood it.
For Whom is This Book Intended?
When the Earth asked me to publish these communications, I felt they were intended to be addressed to the general public, not specifically to those spiritually inclined, for example, or those with “New Age” backgrounds and belief systems. If the Earth is alive, sentient and conscious, then it is irrelevant if you believe in God or if you are an atheist, or a pantheist, or simply don’t know what to believe. Alive is alive; sentient is sentient; and conscious is conscious.
I realize that for an average person the idea that the Earth is alive “like you and me” is out there at the very fringe of social discourse. But so were the ideas not so long ago that the Earth is round and not flat, that matter is made of atoms, that we have billions of miniscule viruses and bacteria inside our own bodies that determine our health, or that invisible radio waves zip through our bodies constantly.
Yet many of the statements I “heard” stretched even my credulity; but then perhaps the best path forward is discovered only when we do stretch our credulity. At least that seems to be what is required of us in these changing times.
The Validity of Non-Physical Communication
I wish to add a few comments about how I see the validity of what I received. First of all, I cannot prove that these communications came from the Earth; I can only relate my own experiences. If they did come from the Earth, I cannot guarantee that I received them all correctly.
I have had extensive experience with various forms of trance work – such as telepathy, remote viewing and various forms of trances – accessing information mentally or spiritually. Even assuming such accessing of information is real and valid, I am convinced that no such communication is ever 100% accurate. When we communicate with other beings of any kind “from within,” the communication is filtered through our subconscious minds. We often do not allow information to come through that we at some level and for some reason do not wish to hear.
For example, a committed peace activist will not easily receive information about the need to take up arms, and a gun rights activist will probably not accept statements about the need to lay down his guns. Those who support a creationist or intelligent design view of the Universe will be unlikely to “hear” statements about humans being descendants of apes, and those subscribing to evolutionary theories will have a hard time accepting statements about any kind of divine influence on the emergence of life. Subconsciously, we delete, add or distort information so that it better fits with our beliefs, worldview, wishes, hopes, etc. No doubt the same is true for me.
The fact that these communications come through me also means they, to a certain extent, are colored by my vocabulary, my concepts and the categories I think in. These concepts and categories come with assumptions and beliefs about reality that may have limited relevance to the way an entity like the Earth perceives the world, and this may explain some of the more unusual formulations from the Earth that sometimes seem to require a different kind of logic and thinking than what I am used to. In time, as the idea of communicating with the Earth in our language gains credence and becomes more commonplace, I believe these limitations will be overcome.
This book is intended as inspiration, and I hope it can nudge the reader toward becoming more open to the possibility that the Earth is alive and conscious. In my view, the whole Universe is more alive than we give it credit for. If we can relax and allow the thought that the Earth is addressing us, saying, in essence, “I am with you,” then this can trigger a shift in us. We can begin to listen to our inner senses that let us feel the constant presence of the Earth – an Earth with which, or with whom, we are closely linked – an Earth that desires nothing more than to be seen, felt, heard and communicated with.
This Is Not a “Channeled” Book
I have experienced many sessions with channels and once invited a well respected American channel for a week to the German community I was part of in the 1980s. I have great respect for channels and their work. But there is quite a difference between the kind of communication I experienced and channeling. Channeling is communication with and receiving information from intelligences in other dimensions, whereas I was communicating with what I felt was a physical living being, the Earth. This is more like communicating telepathically with another human being, with a dolphin or a whale. When channeling, the channeled entity – be it a deceased person, an “angel”, God, Goddess, or any number of non-physical beings – all have in common that they are not physical. They therefore do not relate to the material world the way we do. In addition, I am not in a trance when communicating with the Earth, as most channelers are when they access their information.
Back in 1996, when my first communications with the Earth occurred, I went back in my mind to when I saw the Earth during my initial ceremony, and then I addressed the Earth. I experienced the Earth answering as a separate, individual entity, and I tried to be as receptive as I could. I only trusted what came to me when I regarded the Earth as a totally separate entity speaking to me as from A to B.
As I was working on this book in 2011, the Earth recommended I now instead use a different method whereby I connect with the Earth, hold a certain question or desire for communication, and then allow the thinking process within me that wants to happen to occur. I thus establish a state of deep connectedness with the Earth, put out my intent or question, and simply think normally. The feeling I get is that the Earth is thinking within me.
With time I noticed that this process of communication was accompanied by a bodily sensation whereby my pelvic region relaxed and opened up. I took this to be a chance occurrence until I recently read in a book by Dolores La Chapelle that the Chinese regard the “Tantien,” the pelvic area, as the “other” brain that can feel the flows in the Earth.
Personal note
Since some native peoples in their rituals sometimes use psychoactive drugs to access “the Gaian mind,” I wish to emphasize that I did not use any drugs or other mind-altering substances during any of the experiences related in this book.
Disclaimer
Neuroscientists claim that a special kind of injury to the left temporal lobe can make the left brain become disoriented, and the brain might interpret activity within the right hemisphere as coming from another “self,” such as a demon, angel, extraterrestrial, or even God.
So if it should turn out that I have told myself what I experienced when talking to the Earth, then I offer this book as a token of my imagination about what the Earth might say if it were alive and if it could speak to us. But I should add that, as far as I know, I do not have any injury to my left temporal lobe.