Humanity is married to Gaia, the Earth soul. We are embedded in her stream of manifested life. In a sense, we share the same bed with her. But we are not conscious of this sacred relationship; we do not acknowledge this intimate connection; we do not express or cultivate our love for and with her. Might not this be the reason behind the multiple natural catastrophes and climate changes we refer to as Earth Changes and the related political, economic, and social upheavals and crises we face on a daily basis?

The geomantic knowledge that could help us understand how intimately the body of the human being is related to the body of the Earth is nearly lost within our culture. However, bit-by-bit we are regaining experience of the vital energy systems that permeate not only the human body but also the organisms of the Earth’s landscapes. Even more, we are becoming aware that the intelligence of nature is the one and the same intelligence that enables human beings to think, to express emotion, and to create within the conditions of the materialized world.

Even more important is the common destiny that we share with Gaia, given the reality that our respective evolutions are intertwined. We can understand that Gaia can (and will) change and evolve, given the same freedom that human beings have as co-creators upon the planet. One cannot expect that humans would remain the same spiritual beings after receiving the gift to incarnate upon the Earth and experiencing themselves as living beings grounded in matter.

It is obvious that the deep relationship and connection that exists between Gaia and human beings carries a fateful dimension that cannot be ‘managed’ solely by formal measures based upon rational concepts—for example, current ecological and economic approaches to address global warming. We need to create a whole spectrum of tools and approaches, including the development of all aspects of our consciousness, so that we can renew the relationship between humanity and Gaia and relate to the essence of the Earth soul.

Over the last decades, we have been witnessing the following steps being made on a global level towards a new culture tuned to the essence of the Earth.

1. A new ecological consciousness and movement represents the first basic step, signaling the will of humanity to change its attitude towards the Earth planet.
2. The next step involves diverse efforts to create an awareness of the multidimensional nature of the Earth and her creation, including human beings as part of Gaia’s cosmos. Out of these efforts, the art and experimental science of geomancy is developing as a form of holistic ecology. The goal of geomancy is to provide our modern culture with methods of understanding the flow of life forces and with methods of perceiving the hitherto less known dimensions of existence.
3. The present ecological and economic crisis confronting our civilization demands a third step to move further ahead on this path and create a kind of partner culture upon the planet. We need to rediscover and cultivate the love-based dimensions connecting human beings and Gaia and to manifest them in everyday life. We need to create a new kind of culture upon the Earth that will enable the further development of the human race as well as that of the Earth, including all its beings and dimensions. Let us call this already evolving future culture ‘Gaia Culture.’In order to develop this Gaia Culture, we first need to transform our dogmatic and rationally based concepts about who the Earth is and who we are as human beings—and to change our cultural norms and practices accordingly.

Who is Gaia?

First, we must ask ourselves who is Gaia, the being of our Planet, in relationship to our updated knowledge and experience:

• Gaia represents the noosphere, the sphere of consciousness of the planet Earth. This sphere of consciousness permeates all beings of the life organism of the Earth, be it landscapes, animals, elemental beings, mountains, human beings, oceans, or drops of water. Gaia embodies the life-furthering principle of our planet.
• According to the ancient Greek tradition, Gaia is acknowledged as a Goddess in order to make clear that she represents not only a consciousness distributed among all beings of life but also a cosmic being as the guiding agent behind the life-giving force. This is a precondition that makes spiritual contact and communication between human beings and Gaia possible.
• Gaia as the ensouling principle of the Earth can appear in different forms related to a given cultural background or image of the world. It could be a mythical, shamanic, religious, geomantic, or scientific world image.
• The feminine aspect of Gaia is complemented with a masculine aspect that can be called the spirit of the Earth. The masculine aspect focuses and concentrates upon the envisioned spiritual role of the Earth planet, upholding and maintaining its identity.

Community of All Beings

It is not possible to live in peace with the Earth as long as we relate to and manage other beings of the Earth as inferior, inanimate, or without consciousness.

• The various manifested forms of life—plants, animals, and minerals, including their elemental consciousness—are not destined to be our slaves, to be manipulated or destroyed as if they have no intrinsic value or life or consciousness. These beings represent different archetypes of life that are an integral part of the evolving life and consciousness of the Earth.
• All these beings represent creative potentials through which Gaia intends to communicate and collaborate with us and with our global culture.
• Instead of economic, political, and social institutions and conventions that function only among humans, we are faced with the challenge of creating, supporting, and nurturing new attitudes and practices to embrace an enlarged family of beings, and of providing each member of the emerging gaia-culture with a respected and protected place within the global community.

Self-Knowledge

It is not possible to develop a new and mutually fulfilling partnership between human culture and the Earth if we human beings do not understand and become who we truly are in relationship to our core essence.

• The path to self-knowledge is the first step—exploring and experiencing who we are as human beings, as a nexus of different worlds and extensions of life, as an intrinsic part of an evolving and multidimensional planetary consciousness.
• Learning to hold and maintain one’s inner peace, centeredness, and grounding is the second goal.
• We should not hesitate taking on a third endeavour—developing an ethically based personal practice to guide us in meeting the daily challenges of our global world in transition.

The Autonomous Spiritual Path

It is not possible to develop a new and fulfilling partnership between human culture and the Earth if there is no willingness to transform traditional religious conceptions that deny the divine essence of the Earth and of Gaia’s creation.

• The division between heaven and Earth, between the realm of spirit and the realm of material life, is becoming unbearable. Long ago, the Earth ceased to be an immature child of a patriarchal ideated God. The Earth, Gaia, is an autonomous cosmos, complete in itself, including its own spiritual dimensions. Within the microcosm of the human being, we contain and reflect the essence and consciousness of Gaia, of the Earth—given that we are simultaneously beings of the Earth and cosmic beings. At the next level of existence the Earth cosmos, in turn, represents a holographic unit of the larger universe.
• The human being has the maturity and capacity to make a responsible and free decision about how to connect with the divine essence of the universe, as well as how to reconnect with one’s core essence.
• We can also undertake the next step and find ways to relate to the sacredness of the Earth and all of Gaia’s beings, spiritually as well as practically. The will to communicate and connect, to open one’s heart and mind, and to share one’s presence with other beings is the basis of this sacred path.

Education

As part of this evolution, it is essential that we engage creatively in transforming our existing systems of education.

• We must protect and nurture the natural sensibility of the child in relationship to all of the different dimensions and levels of existence. The development of rational capabilities can complement this sensibility. Human beings whose sensitivity towards different facets of life has been encouraged and supported can naturally become loving partners of the Earth and co-creative inhabitants of the Earth Kosmos.
• Next, the education system can help young people recognize that they are pluri-dimensional beings playing and creating within an environment that is equally rich on different dimensions of existence.
• Children must be empowered to distinguish what is true and what is not true, and be able to discriminate and navigate a world where powers of illusion separate human beings from their true essence.
• A primary goal of the education system should be to help human beings discover and know their purpose and their creative place within the enlarged planetary family, so that in the course of their lives they can contribute and share in the evolution of Gaia, of the Earth Kosmos.

Abundance of Life

The Earth is a beloved planet of extraordinary fertility and vital abundance. Today, we see a great part of humanity in poverty, diminished, and starving. Resources of the Earth are being managed wastefully, destructively. To address and change this tragic situation, we must transform the principles upon which our global economy functions.

• As human beings, as a global culture, we need to gather the courage and wisdom to open ourselves to different levels of the multidimensional Earth. These dimensions represent the inexhaustible reserves of life force treasured by Gaia. To undertake this task, we must overcome the rationally based denial and prejudices regarding the so-called subtle dimensions of reality. Let us support efforts to establish a new scientific paradigm that honors the pluri-dimensionality of nature, the Earth, and human beings.
• The search towards inexhaustible ‘free energy’ has meaning and is life-supporting only if coupled with the transformation of consciousness and a collective decision of humanity to hold to high ethical standards related to the Earth and its beings, visible and invisible.
• We need to restore the cycle of exchange between human beings and the Earth and nature. As a culture, we take from the Earth what we think we need; we consume these resources and discard or destroy what is left. This is not a cycle of exchange but a one-way path that leads to the spiritual impoverishment of human beings and the plundering and destruction of the Earth.
• To restore the cycle we must first ask ourselves what we can give to the Earth and its beings. We humans carry within ourselves spiritual and creative potentials that can open new perspectives and possibilities for the enfoldment of the Earth and all life—thus opening and enriching the cycle of life and creating a flow and manifestation of abundance.

The Art of Geomancy

The Earth is a conscious planet with its own destiny within the universe. Gaia, the Earth soul, is not capable of sustaining and preserving life if her life force and elemental consciousness, occurring in many landscapes and locations throughout the planet, are not free to breathe and function according to her design.

Indeed, our civilization’s ignorance of these aspects of the life of Gaia has impaired and blocked the proper functioning and vitality of many of these places.

The art and science of geomancy is being developed so that human culture can gain insights into the crucial importance of the vital-energy organism of Gaia, the elemental consciousness of the Earth, and its sacred dimensions to the life of the planet. This newly discovered approach and knowledge is of little use if not put into practice.

• To take part in the enfolding Gaia-culture, we must develop and practice our sensibility and perception of vital-energetic dimensions, of consciousness, and the soul essence of nature, the Earth, and her beings.
• The results of geomantic work and perception regarding a given place and landscape should be respected and incorporated into the built environment; into city, town, and landscape planning and design; and into the innumerable activities that characterize our modern culture, especially regarding the vital-energetic functions of the landscape and its many dimensions.
• We must develop the political, social, and economic means to protect those places upon the Earth that are of decisive and critical importance to the healthy life and vitality of the planet and its beings. As traditional societies have done over millennia, we can and should develop ritual forms and observances through which the sacredness of these places and the Earth can be recognized and celebrated.
• Gaia, the Earth essence, is evolving and creating a new consciousness. We humans can support and participate in this consciousness and thereby help avoid the destructive breakdown of life systems upon the planet.

Together with its beings visible and invisible, Gaia, the Earth soul, has offered human beings the wonderful opportunity to live and breathe within the world of physical matter and to enjoy the beauty and the creative potentials of the incarnated world. To an extent, we have transformed her hospitality into valuable experiences and creative deeds; at the same time, we have also exploited her without regard to consequences and without regard to other beings of life.

The time to decide which of these two paths we will take into the future has arrived. The only path that makes sense is the path of reconnection with the essence of life and embracing a loving partnership with Gaia, the Mother of all Life. This path involves a challenging transformation of consciousness of all life on Earth as we know it, as Gaia continues to evolve into the future.