Excerpt
MEDICINE FOR THE EARTH
How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins
by Sandra Ingerman
INTRODUCTION
The excerpt, below, is from the book Medicine for the
Earth by scientist-turned-shaman Sandra Ingerman. The
author of Soul Retrieval, a bestselling book on personal
transformation, Ingerman's new book asks if there is a way
to focus our individual spiritual practices on group
problems and magnify the results. Specifically, the book is concerned with "transmuting" toxins to alleviate damage to the environment.
Ingerman holds a bachelor's degree in biology and advanced
degrees in counseling. Her book combines a high level of
scholarship with personal and group efforts to practice
alchemy. Ingerman's journey includes an analysis of
numerous "miracles" involving water, from Moses using magic
words to part the Red Sea to Brazilian shamans practicing
rainmaking to eastern yogis using holy water to heal
afflictions. The book concludes with scientifically-
controlled experiments in cleaning polluted water.
The excerpt below is from the chapter on Imagination. It is
a bold, personal statement about the need to visualize the
outcome of transmutation -- heaven on earth -- and
concludes with a passionate call for us to "dream lucidly
in our waking state." It's a very moving riff by one of the
world's outspoken spiritualists.
On Imagination
by Sandra Ingerman
I have written Medicine for the Earth for those of you
who are seeking a better life by seeking a true spiritual
path. I am attempting to teach a very powerful means for
people to heal themselves, others, and the planet, rather
than trying to show how to use spiritual principles to gain
material objects and wealth or to manipulate the universe
to achieve power over others.
I am addressing people who have discovered that material
objects or wealth do not create happiness and who instead
are seeking good for their souls by finding true meaning in
life and bringing passion and creativity into their daily
lives.
In writing about the power of the imagination, I am asking
people to reach for their highest potential and use their
imagination to create better conditions for healing life on
the planet. We need to imagine a planet with clean air to
breathe and clean water to drink, not how to buy a new
expensive car. It is fine to use your imagination to
manifest material things, but it will anchor you to here,
preventing you from experiencing the divine union necessary
to heal ourselves and transmute environmental pollution.
To do this, we must change our consciousness and examine
the difference between using our imagination to serve
small, egoic desires and utilizing it to serve our highest
potential and humanity.
To align with what is for the highest good for ourselves
and the planet, we use our own imaginative creative
energies along with asking, "Thy will be done." In this way
we partner with the power of the universe and avoid making
the mistake of thinking our own ego knows what is best for
all concerned.
There are specific traps to watch out for in working with
creative powers. As you work more with your imagination and
creative powers, you can avoid being trapped by egoic
desires through aligning your own vision with the spiritual
powers of the universe. In this way you work in harmony
with the powers that be and avoid accidentally misusing
your power. Further, in working on your own spirituality
and use of spiritual power, you must simultaneously examine
your own emotional state and psychological development so
that you do not use your spiritual gifts and knowledge in a
negative manner. The well-known black magician Aleister
Crowley (1875-1947), for example, had a clear understanding
of the connection between the microcosm and the macrocosm
but used his understanding and knowledge for only selfish
purposes and to control others around him. Aleister Crowley
paid quite the price for this, living a miserable life and
suffering a terrible death.
I am on a path to bring heaven to earth. To accomplish this
goal, I encourage everyone to use spiritual methods that
create the miracles to heal all beings on the earth, and to
always reach for your highest potential. This is what will
feed your soul and will create the happiness you are
looking for. There is no greater food for the soul than to
benefit all of life. Imagine if we all gathered our
spiritual forces together to heal our communities and
environment.
The dilemma of knowing when to ask "Thy will be done" and
when to use our active imagination comes down to who is
making the decision. The confusion usually occurs when it
is our ego talking. If you find yourself pursuing material
goals, then your ego is making the choices, and to avoid
problems you might be better off requesting, "Thy will be
done."
There is another aspect of the issue of creating from an
egoic state that must be addressed. We are part of the
whole and therefore not separate from the forces of nature.
You can create what you believe, but you must also
acknowledge and work in harmony with the laws of nature. In
Part IV of Medicine for the Earth, we will see how we do
not have power over nature, and for your transmutation work
to be successful, you must be in alignment with the power
of the universe. The key is harmony with yourself as well
as with spiritual and natural forces when using your
imagination to create.
Part of our fall from grace is feeling separate from
source, while the other part is feeling separate from our
spirit. When we ask our spirit to say what it wants, the
answer will always involve love. It only requests acts of
kindness and love.
In Welcome Home: Following Your Soul's Journey Home, I
describe a spiritual teaching I once received from Isis
about discovering joy in life:
'So my advice to you and to the people who live around you
is to step back from your life. Use your imagination to
envision what you would like your life to be like. Try to
imagine what joy and happiness feel like. Reach back to at
least one experience in which you felt happy. What
situations and experiences do you think would help you
regain those feelings? Trust yourself and have faith that
you can create this feeling again in your life.'
As I travel around the world giving workshops and
lecturing, I notice that people have a preoccupation with
negative prophecies. However, I believe that the so-called
Armageddon is here now and has been for quite some time. We
are now experiencing fires, earthquakes, floods,
hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, disease,
drought, famine, and pestilence. Further, I am curious
about why people get so excited when they speak about doom
and gloom to come when natural disasters have occurred
throughout recorded history.
I believe this is the result of knowing that our lives are
empty and lack meaning. We want something to change this.
We don't want to take responsibility for making those
changes, but instead want something -- even a disaster --
outside of our control to force our lives to change.
But do we really need tragedy to change? Unfortunately,
sometimes learning through tragedy is how human beings
grow. While tragedy is not essential for change, when we
experience a tragedy in our lives, we value life more;
learn the great importance of health and come to appreciate
what we have; reprioritize what is important to us; and
discover how to live in the present, because that is all we
have.
However, many of us focus on negative prophecy because we
don't want to take responsibility for changing our lives.
Caroline Casey says in Making the Gods Work, "It is
better to create prophecy than to live prediction." As my
good friend Coreen says: "What future are we voting for?"
Moreover, in visioning a new future, it's important not
only to vision our future as we want it, but also to
realize that our future is created by our present. To
manifest visions of the future, we must shape and sculpt
our present accordingly; we must sow the seeds of the
plants we wish to reap.
As I have already stated, shamans around the world have a
saying: "We are dreaming the wrong dream." Many spiritual
traditions and philosophers view this world as the world of
illusion.
I, too, believe that we are all dreaming here. And what we
need to learn to do is dream lucidly in our waking state.
Let's dream together a pure, clean planet of beauty, where
we can live in harmony with ourselves, the rest of life,
and nature. Let's all dream about perceiving heaven on
earth now.
Copyright ©2006 by Sandra Ingerman. All Rights Reserved.
Please feel free to duplicate or distribute this file as
long as the contents are not changed and this copyright
notice is intact. Thank you.
