Shamanic Practices of Earth

What if the ground beneath your feet holds ancient wisdom waiting to be rediscovered? Across every continent, indigenous cultures have developed profound relationships with the earth element that modern society has largely forgotten.

In this journey through global shamanic traditions, we explore how diverse cultures—from African tribes to Aboriginal Australians, Siberian nomads to Andean peoples—have honored their sacred connection to earth. These aren't merely historical curiosities but living practices that continue to provide stability, nourishment, and spiritual grounding to communities worldwide.

The earth element speaks to us through countless voices: the trees in your neighborhood, the insects buzzing around flowers, the stones that catch your eye on a morning walk. I'll guide you through fascinating earth-honoring rituals including West African ancestor offerings poured into soil, Aboriginal songlines mapped through music rather than roads, Siberian shamans playing drums while barefoot to connect with Mother Earth's heartbeat, and Native American medicine wheels representing elemental balance.

What unites these diverse traditions is a simple truth: the earth isn't just something we walk upon—it's present in every living organism, the foundation of our stability and abundance. For those struggling with feelings of disconnection or seeking a sense of belonging, these ancient practices offer surprising relevance to modern life.

By the end of our time together, you'll discover simple yet profound ways to communicate with the natural world around you. Whether it's sitting with your back against a tree trunk, observing a bee with childlike wonder, or expressing gratitude to the wooden table in your home—these small acts of connection can transform your relationship with the world and yourself.

Listen now to begin your own dialogue with the earth element, and join us next week when we'll implement practical rituals you can incorporate into daily life while honoring the elders who preserved these traditions. Let's continue ascending together!

🎶Music Credit:
Intro - Light of the North by Kalya Scintilla

Outro -  Pachamama by Chakuna Machi Asa

Chapters

• 0:49 Welcome to Shamanic Earth Elements
• 2:19 African Earth Traditions and Rituals
• 3:58 Aboriginal Songlines and Earth Connection
• 5:44 Siberian Shamans and Earth Spirits
• 7:23 Pachamama: Andean Earth Mother Practices
• 9:11 Native American Earth Ceremonies
• 11:36 Celtic Land Connection and Festivals
• 13:24 Connecting With Earth in Daily Life
• 18:28 Creating Personal Earth Practices
• 25:22 Episode Closing and Meditation Music

Transcript

Rainbow Raaja: 0:56

Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to Rainbows Rising, where we ascend together. I'm Rainbow Raaja, a shamanic bodywork therapist and coach. This month we are covering the earth element across shamanic cultures. But before we dive into today's discovery, I invite you to close your eyes just for a moment and feel the ground beneath you, take a deep breath in and bring your full awareness to your feet, in contact with the floor beneath you. Really feel the earth as it presses up against the soles of your feet, feel your body pressing down to meet the earth. The earth is always there, holding us, nourishing us, providing for us, reminding us of cycles greater than ourselves, us reminding us of cycles greater than ourselves. Across the world, countless cultures have honored this sacred connection. Today we'll walk together across the continents, learning how different peoples have celebrated and communed with the spirits of earth. Our first continent is Africa. Africa is home to thousands of ethnic groups, each with unique cosmologies, but many share animist worldviews where earth is seen as mother and ancestor. In West Africa, the Yoruba tribe honored the Orisha-Anail, owner of the earth, while in Burkina Faso, the Dagara people hold strong traditions of elemental, elemental rituals. Across regions, earth is revered as both a provider and a spiritual being, and rituals often combine ancestor veneration with offerings to the land. In many African traditions, the earth is the mother of all ancestors. Offerings of food, herbs and water are poured into the soil, returning life back to its source. Communities dance and drum directly upon the ground, their movements awakening the fertility of the land, their movements awakening the fertility of the land. And in some regions, clay and ochre are used to paint the body, a sacred reminder that we are earth made of flesh.

Rainbow Raaja: 3:57

Then there's Australia. Aboriginal peoples are the world's oldest continuous culture, with over 60,000 years of practice. Their worldview is anchored in the dreaming the ancestral time when the land, animals and laws were formed. Song lines, which are sacred paths across the land, are both spiritual maps and practical navigational routes. Every ritual story and dance is tied to the earth. The land is not owned but cared for as kin. Their earth-honoring traditions are deeply economical, ensuring the survival in Australia's harsh landscapes. Across the deserts and sacred sites of Australia, aboriginal peoples walk those songlines, those pathways, mapped not only by roads but by music. These songs honor the earth and the ancestors who shaped it. Mapped not only by roads but by music, these songs honor the earth and the ancestors who shaped it. The didgeridoo would induce deep trance. States that allowed the elder spirits to travel across the land and invite the nature spirits to collaborate with them. Sand and ochre paintings drawn upon the ground become living maps of spirit, of dreams and cleansing smoke ceremonies with eucalyptus and native plants honor both the land and those who walk upon it.

Rainbow Raaja: 5:42

Then there's Siberia. The Siberian shamans, especially among the Iwanki, buryat and Yakut peoples, lived as nomadic herders and hunters across a vast tundra. Their worldview is also animist, with every mountain, river and grove inhabited by spirits. The Earth Mother was central and the shamans worked to maintain harmony between the humans, animals and Earth. Burial mounds and sacred altars reflected their reverence for both ancestors and the land. In the frozen landscapes of Siberia, shamans bury offerings bread, milk or coins into the soil as gifts for the spirits of the land. Their drums, painted with symbols of earth and sky, are played while standing barefoot on the ground, calling upon the heartbeat of mother earth, and stone cairns and earth mounds are raised as altars, connecting the seen world with the unseen, connecting the seen world with the unseen.

Rainbow Raaja: 7:06

In Peru, the Incan Empire, which was around the 1200s and 1500s CE, built their entire civilization around harmony with nature, especially the high-altitude Andes. Pachamama, or Mother Earth, was honored with offerings, festivals and rituals tied to agriculture. Andean people relied on terrace farming and saw the Earth's cycles as sacred. Even after colonization, andean communities have preserved Pachamama rituals and are still practiced today in Peru, bolivia and Ecuador. Mother Earth they create despacho offerings intricate bundles of cacao leaves, corn flour and sweets that are buried or burned in gratitude. Every August, pachamama Remy is celebrated, a festival of earth where communities gather to give thanks. Even simple cacao leaf readings laid upon the ground become a way of listening to the whispers of the earth mother.

Rainbow Raaja: 8:32

In South America, which covers the entire Amazonian forest, there are so many Amazonian cultures that view the rainforest itself as a living spirit. Earth is the mother of plants, animals and medicines. Shamans use plant teachers like ayahuasca to connect to the Earth's vision of the future. Plant teachers like ayahuasca to connect to the earth's vision of the future. Outside the Amazon, many indigenous South American cultures tied earth rituals to agriculture, planting, harvest and fertility. Despite colonial disruption, these traditions remain central to cultural survival. These traditions remain central to cultural survival. In the rainforests of South America. Shamans work with the plants of the earth as teachers. Ayahuasca ceremonies are seen not just as healing but as a dialogue with the wisdom of the land. Some rites involve covering the body with clay or earth. Reuniting the human form with nature, cycles, planting seeds, with song and prayer ensures that new life is welcomed in partnership with the earth. Then there's the Native American culture Across Turtle Island, which is North America.

Rainbow Raaja: 9:59

Earth-based traditions are diverse but share common threads the land is sacred, there's cyclical time and Mother Earth is our relative. For the Lakota, the sacred hoop and medicine wheel symbolize the earth's balance. For the Navajo, the Dine or the Hozo represents harmony with the land. Earth lodges, sweat lodges and offerings to the soil remind us that life comes from the returns to the earth. Colonization and forced assimilation threatened these practices, but many nations continue to keep them alive. In native traditions of North America, the earth is honored through the medicine wheel, a circle of stones laid upon the ground to represent balance in the elements. In the medicine wheel, the native people connect certain animals with those directions. Then they would do a pipe ceremony where tobacco is offered first to the soil before prayers rise on the smoke. Sweat lodges built from the earth and wood are entered like the womb of Mother Earth, where participants emerge reborn, cleansed and reconnected with themselves and with nature.

Rainbow Raaja: 11:35

Then we have the Celtic lands. The Celts lived across Iron Age Europe roughly 800 BCE to 400 CE, before Roman conquest. They were attuned to the cycles of the seasons and honored the earth through festivals tied to planting and harvest. They built boroughs and stone circles as sacred earth sites, often aligned with solstices and equinoxes. In Celtic myth, the land was personified as a goddess, often tied to sovereignty. The land was personified as a goddess, often tied to sovereignty. The health of the land mirrored the health of its people. That's an interesting concept, considering how the health of the people? Anyway, in the Celtic lands, stone circles and earth and mounds were aligned with the rhythms of land and sky. Festivals like Beltane and Imbolc honored the fertility of the earth and the cycles of planting and harvest. Boroughs and sacred burial mounds returned the body to the earth while also opening a gateway to the other world, a reminder that earth is both cradle and threshold.

Rainbow Raaja: 13:14

There are many other worldly traditions all across the world, such as the Maori in New Zealand. Arriving around 1200 CE, the Maori developed a worldview centered on kinship with the natural world. Papatuanuku, mother Earth is honored through chants, prayers and a divine mother Rituals before farming or construction still honor her today belief system emerging around 500 CE, the Shinto belief centers on kami spirits which are present in the land, trees and stones. Earth deities are honored at shrines and through harvest festivals. Shinto ceremonies offer food and sake to the kami of the land, keeping harmony between people and the spirits and the soil they all walk upon. So, as we explored, the earth is revered in all shamanic culture all around the world, and all of these cultures are still being practiced, whether by the ancestors of those lands or by people who were taught or inspired by the practices of those particular cultures.

Rainbow Raaja: 15:12

There are just so many ways that you can connect with the earth. The earth isn't just the the round, spherical object we all walk upon. It's not just the stones or the grass. The earth is also coming through all of the beings that we interact with on a daily basis all the animals and all the birds and all the fish and all the aquatic marine life, even the insects. The earth is present in every living organism, in every material found on earth. The earth element is the foundation of stability. It is the foundation of our abundance. As living organisms, we have everything that we could ever need here all around us, all the time just waiting to be appreciated, waiting to be tapped into, waiting to be reconnected with.

Rainbow Raaja: 16:39

To really connect with all the different wonderful spirits of the earth is just to recognize when they are interacting with you, when they are present in your everyday life. Really notice the insects that come into your awareness. Notice the animals that cross your path. Notice the different stones that call to you. When you are connecting with crystals, there are certain trees, certain plants that you come into contact with. Start having a dialogue with the earth, start having a dialogue with its spirits. Connect to that stability.

Rainbow Raaja: 17:26

If you are someone who really struggles with finding stability in your everyday life, if you're someone who really struggles feeling grounded with, feeling connected, with having a family unit, with having a sense of belonging, feeling like you have a tribe, you need to tune into the earth element. You need to tune into those resources, those beings that surround you every single day. They are there to lift you up. They are there waiting for you to notice them. They're waiting for you to connect with them, and it can be something so simple as just sitting, being present and watching them, watching them with all your attention, keeping your phone out of your hands and having that childlike wonder. And having that childlike wonder observing their behavior.

Rainbow Raaja: 18:39

How is that bee nuzzling into the center of that flower? What is it doing? Oh, it's cleaning itself. Oh, now it's moving the pollens all the way to the back legs. Oh, it's so cute. Oh, it just turned and looked at me. Oh, look at it. Oh, there it goes. Wonder what B was sharing with me today? Hmm, collecting pollen. Maybe I should go collect myself, collect my energy, and I should share it with others. Maybe now is the time that I lift, lift others around me up and I contribute to others. You know, b is not just about adaptability, which is what it's always talked about. It's about community, being able to to pour into other people and to work together in a community setting in order to build something greater that all can benefit from.

Rainbow Raaja: 19:45

So, tune into the animals that are all around you all the time. Tune into the plants that are all around you all the time. Is there a tree that just gets your attention? Go over, sit beneath it, put your back against its trunk, close your eyes, breathe into your body, into your trunk and meld yourself into the tree. What comes up when you close your eyes and you listen to the tree. Do you see any images? Do you feel any sensations? Do you hear any thoughts in your mind? Say hello to the tree, ask the tree how it's doing. How are you doing, tree? How are you feeling today, tree, it's good to meet you. My name's Rainbow. Oh, you're sad. Why are you sad today, tree? Because a kid pulled one of your branches off and whacked his friend with it. That's awful. That's so awful. I'm so sorry, tree. I'm so sorry. Let me give you a hug. You'll feel better after a hug.

Rainbow Raaja: 21:23

We forget. We forget that the trees, that the plants, the flowers, that the bees and the birds and the deer and the raccoons, even our own pets. We forget that they, that they all, are experiencing a life that is separate from ours, that they want connection too. They want to be seen, they want to be felt, they want to be understood, they want to be loved, just like you. That's what this month is all about helping you open up your heart to connecting with all of those forces that earth has to offer us, having reverence for all the different practices that come from all those cultures, and even learning how to build your own practice, so that you can feel connected with your own sense of spiritual empowerment.

Rainbow Raaja: 22:43

All across the world, the earth is seen not just as a resource to be used but as a living organism to be honored, whether you decide to go out and sing a song. To go out and sing a song, any song, it doesn't even have to be a sacred song, Just sing a song to the earth. Go offer some food, go offer some water, go offer some energy, some time, some compassion, go offer a prayer, or you can even design your own ritual. Every single culture all across the planet reminds us of this simple truth that we belong to the earth, earth and she belongs to us. As you move through your day today, I hope that you'll take a moment and place your hands upon the trunk of a tree, or step your bare feet onto some soil, touch a stone or even place your hand on the wood of your house. I don't have wood near me, but I have my table, which is wood. Place your hand on the wood of your house and offer gratitude and prayers for the connection that this object, this earthly material, has made with you today. Material has made with you today.

Rainbow Raaja: 24:46

Next week we will be implementing some practices. I will be teaching you some practices and I will be teaching you how to create your own practices in your daily life, so as to be respectful of the cultures that these practices come from. I ask that you honor the elders of these traditions. You never take on a culture that is not your own, but you do honor its origins and be sure to give reverence to the elders that created these traditions when you're practicing them. I look forward to having you guys come join me next week, where we will be doing some wonderful earth practices. I'll be giving some examples on how you can create your own earth practices and I look forward to seeing you guys next week. I love you all so much and let's keep ascending together.