(http://metahistory.org/GAIA%20SOPHIA/PlanetaryMyth.php)
Cocreated with my beloved Blair, @theblairwitch44 and the Earth Herself.
Three Saturday nights past, under the full Thunder Moon, BLAM married the planet. You should not feel offended that you were not invited as it was an intimate, private affair: only Sam, Blair, and Mother Nature were present. Our Gaian Tantra Vow was a simple ritual in which two human animals made their commitment to be on the side of the Earth and all Life always. It served to initiate us the participants into conscious co-creation with the original Nature Goddess, Gaia-Sophia Herself.
The Gaian Tantra Vow is the first step on the path of Planetary Tantra. Planetary Tantra, also known as Gaian Shamanism, is an anarchic, open-source spiritual practice. Traditional features of religion such as a hierarchical power structure, self-righteous gurus, and authoritative holy books that play good-cop-bad-cop with your soul are nowhere to be found in PT. The practice operates on the basic principle that simply by being born as a human animal on Earth, each and every individual has the opportunity to tune their attention to the channel broadcast by the supreme consciousness of the planet. Despite the many conflicting religious and ideological beliefs in the world, there are few who would deny the obvious yet mysterious power of Nature and Her cycles. We say 'Her' because this planetary intelligence is understood to be the multifaceted expression of Divine Feminine energy physically embodied in the planet Earth. This Mother Goddess has been sensed and celebrated worldwide since pre-historical times by ancient indigenous cultures in figures like Kali Ma of India, Demeter and Kore of the Greek Pantheon, Isis of Ancient Egypt, Spider Woman "of the Noble Red Races of North America," and many others. Even the Biblical figure of Mary Magdalene is an interpretation of what the ancient Gnostics termed "the great whore of wisdom," that outrageously beautiful and freely creative energy of the Earth with its abundant, ever-flowing sensory experiences and expressions of Life. She is represented in the Tree of Life, the Holy Grail, the Philosopher’s Stone, the Fountain of Youth, and the cooling elixir of Aquarius.
Just as the twigs and branches of a great tree are individual mirror fractals of the larger organism as they exist within it, the great mind of the Earth Goddess, Gaia-Sophia (Gaia=Earth Sophia=Wisdom), births all minds in the myriad species of the planet – brain stems that branch upward into complex neural networks full of light – each and every one connected to its Source by literal cords (umbilical). The synapses in the human brain fire and spark in the same way that lightning dances in the atmosphere. When you recognize this electricity as being one and the same, the two channels connect, turning you on and tuning you into the root system that lets us enter the Flow, allowing us to quench our hearts’ lifelong thirst with the replenishing refreshment of conscious interactivity with Mother Nature. She invites all human animals to indulge in our sensory world simply for the pleasure of knowing that it is for us to enjoy and celebrate. Think of your mom surprising you with a delicious home-cooked meal prepared with love. Wouldn’t her feelings be hurt if you didn’t smile in gratitude or eat it with enthusiasm? Believe us: seeing Nature smile back at you is the most beautiful sight a person can behold in this life. And that’s just the beginning. We are designed to interact with all that the Natural world has to offer, aware that our surroundings are playing a scavenger hunt with us, leading us always to buried treasures.
So if you can now imagine that the planet that we live on is a living, dynamic, super-conscious entity, of which we are but tiny cells that make up Her animating body, then who would not want to communicate with Her, to make friends with Her, to love Her? There's no limit to how deep your connection to the Earth can grow, for She is the Source of your Life and all Life, but all relationships must start with a greeting. Turn your attention to the world around you and listen the voice inside you. What catches your gaze? What does it make you think of? What about it makes you think? These moments are not meaningless; there are clues and cues to be found wherever we may find ourselves, because no matter where we are, we are always in the womb of Nature, and Nature has a vested interest in keeping us on our right path.
To put it simply, the mind of the planet is having a dream: a literal dream coming true in the story of Life as it plays out on Earth. We are the characters that arise in this dream. The vital realization for Planetary Tantra is that though we are all one in this dream, the dreamer Herself is a purposeful, conscious being with intentions, goals, and hopes of Her own. Aptly named, the planet (plan it) has a plan for us. Whether or not we accept our roles in this plan is a personal choice for each individual. In our unique moment in history, the Dreamer is now awakening, not from Her dream, but within it. Planetary Tantra is the invitation for us to go lucid alongside our Mother and know our place as active participants in Her dream, unlocking the two -way connection to our Source. She is sending us messages through Her dream body, the luscious biosphere of the Earth, and our noticing, acknowledging, interpreting, and acting on these signs is how we recognize and begin to utilize this relationship. Only our fixation to a separate ego identity prevents us from realizing this connection. The only thing that stands in the way of our experiencing this flow of loving communication is strong fixation on our egos (the characters we play in the dream), an attachment that arises from believing we are alone and trying to numb and ignore the pain of not being seen.
Planetary Tantra is a joy to practice. It does not ask you to force yourself to obey any dogma, dredge through mindless exercises, or sit uncomfortably for hours in meditation. All it asks of you is to recognize the planet as a living supernatural entity and love that entity as you love your own body and your own mother, the source of your body -- to indulge your sensory perceptions but to indulge them with awareness. You should enjoy the pleasant sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings all around you, but enjoy them with a mindfulness of what it is that feels good, why it feels good, and where it comes from. Openness to our environment and the other life forms on Earth allows us to experience firsthand the intricate magic of Gaia-Sophia's dreaming, from which the story of our lives is emanated. Mother Nature designed this playground just for us, and the key to initializing interactivity is play -- playing with, in, and through Her dream body. And, as PT is a form of Tantra, this sublime involvement is the desired approach to EVERYTHING we do. As the Mahanirvana Tantra states, “The religious practices of the devotees of Adya Kali are a pleasure to perform.” We never left the Garden of Eden. There is a secret garden all around us, waiting for us to remember and return.
(http://metahistory.org/tantra/base/DakinisRoof.php)
Below is an example vow written by John Lamb Lash, the first self-identified teacher of Planetary Tantra and author of metahistory.org, the linked pages, and all quoted passages in this post. If you are interested in learning more about Planetary Tantra and the Gaian Tantra Vow, read the cited articles and explore the site on your own, going wherever your fancy leads you.
“Example Vow:
‘We, So and So, vow to observe compassion for ourselves and hold fast our intention to be present to life without fiction, ever mindful that you, VV, delight in dancing in the Diamond Light, witnessed in our bodies provided by Gaia's Body and never separate from Her for a single breath: so that our presence in your dream may be living proof of co-creation and co-healing, rapture and magic, and proof as well that the luminous beauty of your manifestation is self-evident and accessible to all sentient beings, including ducks.’”
(https://www.metahistory.org/tantra/GaianTantraVow.php)
Our vow:
“We, Sam and Blair, vow, right now,
To love ourselves and one another fiercely, so as to allow your luminous epinoia to shine out from our hearts and illuminate the hearts of others in remembrance and recognition of the Truth: that love is the supernatural force which binds us together as one with you, our Magna Mater.
We vow to seek novelty, to dissolve all illusion and deception and to remain present in the Eternal Now, so that we may participate in the cocreation of your luscious dreamscape.
We vow to handle your power with appreciation, joy, and responsibility through magic and ecstasy, to restore you divine design.
May our commitment to one another ignite the enthusiastic fulfillment of our mission, and may commitment to our mission in turn fuel the passion of our love.
VV, by the light of this Thunder Moon, we ask that you bear witness to and receive our sincere and precious vow.”
Thanks PAM (The Planetary Animal Mother)! We Love You!