Did you know that in Greek Mythology the first Greek god was actually a goddess? She is Gaia, also known as Mother Earth. “From her fertile womb all life sprang, and unto Mother Earth all living things must return.” This month’s #MondayMuse post and editorial are in Her honor. 

We are all aware that our planet is undergoing extreme abuse and I believe that it is important for us to find ways to help and protect Her by taking a few steps back to basics. We simply need to reconnect. Acknowledging Her greatness, finding gratitude and understanding that like with any other relationship you may have, there needs to be a strong bond in order to find balance. Falling in love with what we were given and where we came from is the first step to feeling a stronger calling to respect and protect our planet. For example, turn off your phone and take a short nature walk, you’d be surprised at how much beauty we miss. Buddha once said, “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” 

The concept behind this #MondayMuse editorial (which was coincidentally shot on Earth Day!) is about just that: Reconnecting with the Earth herself. So my featured model, Toni Lane Casserly, and I took to the local redwoods, followed an overgrown trail, took deep breaths, observed and played. Toni is an amazingly intelligent and spiritually connected artist (to say the least) who I had the pleasure of sharing space and vulnerable/powerful conversations with. Here is what she has to share on the topic. 

EV MARQUEE: How important do you think it is to physically “reconnect” to our planet? And how does that translate on a spiritual level?

TONI LANE CASSERLY: “Reconnection is a funny word in terms of our relationship with Earth. She is the mother who gave birth to us, to our collective humanity, from the sacred womb of space. To get technical, from the womb of a degenerate matter. 

This name is one of the great and beautiful ironies of god physics. Degenerate matter is not a lowly form of being, it is the crushing of a star, a process causing any light force over 1.4 solar masses to undergo a series of transitions: hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, silicon, magnesium, and finally, iron; the point of no return, or the moment of creation. Iron has a mass so high, the molecules implode into oneness, everything and nothing, distributing all known elements into the universe.”

TLC: “We literally are stardust. Earth is the seed of our dawning creation. The tides of life are a cycling progression merging man and god. 

I believe most people understand the verb “reconnect” to represent a rekindling of our relationship to the unknown, a greeting with a lover of several lifetimes, truth we have forgotten through layered years of evolution. As we are with our inner selves, we are always connected to Earth. She is a consciousness, just as space is a consciousness, just as we are a consciousness.”

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Also, if this set resonates with you, leave me a comment below, I would love to hear your thoughts/feedback ;)