On Sunday, January 25, 2008, several of us gathered for the first in a series of monthly, public circles at Moss Beach, California’s Joy of Being (joyofbeing.com). Our heartfelt play was dedicated to reconnecting human beings with the sacred Earth and all of her children. Before describing our first gathering together, however, I wanted to backtrack and explain the origins of this long standing practice.

In 2006, I was God-guided to approach a friend about doing work on behalf of the sacred earth. I was open-ended as to what our practice should look like and who should be involved, but some inner urging suggested that our timing was propitious. Soon thereafter, three of us began attending monthly EarthKeepers sessions.

The Ancient Celts always performed their magic in circle comprised of three beings. More specifically, two women and a man often gathered to connect and share their gifts.

In general, we began our worshipful practice by breaking bread together, then assembling an altar, and thereafter taking a walk throughout the nearby mixed deciduous and coniferous hills of coastal Marin County, California.

Our work together was open-hearted, open-ended and invitational. The Divine energies that needed to land were always welcome, contingent upon what required being honored and moved within the moment. Sometimes, healings for each of us were called for, either at the hands of the attending forest and/or at the behest of participating elementals, ascended masters, gods and goddesses, devic animal or plant spirits, or one another. Crystals adorned our altars, together with other sacred stones; musical instruments; photographs and statuary. You get the picture: California eclectic.

I am less interested in conveying the particulars of this spiritual practice than in honoring its fluidity. We never knew what was in store for us; nor did we have any attachment about outcome. We only knew that the ego-bound world was inappropriate here as ours was a collective rather than an atomistic universe.

As though reinforcing that point, the abundant sacred redwoods often reminded us that ours was a time of rooting deeply and standing tall as members of Divine community. For those of you unfamiliar with redwoods, they oftentimes grow in circles whereby each protects and reinforces the other, while teasing out additional moisture from in-coming oceanic mists.

The sense then and now is that we are far greater than the sum of our individual parts. Somehow, inexplicably, the three of us comprised parts of a whole that, like an intricate mosaic, itself comprised a sacred energetic mandala.

It is neither time nor place to catalogue the many wonderful adventures that our tiny threesome continues experiencing. Much individual and collective healing has ensued and much love and connection continues supporting the Sacred Christing Heart of Mother Earth and Rumziah the Giant (Father Earth), together with all of their children.

Then again, perhaps a tiny story may be illustrative? Following our first EarthKeepers gathering, magic ensued. We sensed that the Earth was thrilled to be recognized, honored and revered in this way by three awakening humans.

Later that same evening, amidst starlight, two of us walked outside a nearby friend’s home, and there, in the sky, roughly hovering over the geographical site where we’d once practiced, a huge blue-white star pulsed that, to this day, remains an archetypal Star of Bethlehem! Wow, we said aloud to one another!

That next morning something further cemented the importance of our ritual prayer. One member awoke to witness a thousand butterflies fluttering in a vertical infinity loop above our former altar site! We had embraced our Divine power and now it was only a matter of staying on course on behalf of the whole. Something profound had shifted. Paraphrasing from an ancient Hopi maxim: Perhaps we truly were the one’s we’ve been waiting for?

Fast forward nearly two years to the present. I knew that it was time to begin extending our seasoned earth worship activities to ever-larger numbers of humans. I called a number of individuals whom I knew would resonant with earth worship and on Sunday, January 25, 2009, two men and a woman sat in sacred circle together.

Actually it was more like six of us, because two members brought along their wonderful dogs. Additionally, a tiny frog had taken up residence in our wellness center, making it a joyful circle indeed!

In the midst of our Council, we constructed an altar consisting of candles, crystals, and photographs, cards bearing names and images of ascended masters and other sacred artifacts. And, as though that wasn’t sufficient, a four foot sculpture of Quan Yin watched over us expectantly, together with a three foot sculpture of the Buddha in meditation.

I began by explaining why I had called everyone into circle, what EARTHearts meant to me; and that there was no “mission” per se, other than to be present for who needed to show up and for whatever magic needed to land. All we needed to do was to remain within our open and fully surrendered hearts.

Upon settling in, we eventually dropped into a deep meditation together. Whoosh, suddenly we each felt the room fill with a powerful Divine presence. I puzzled over how many of us could inhabit such a tiny space?

Following the meditation, each of us shared what was alive for us. Heart space guided every utterance. We each practiced deep listening with one another, the kind that invites respectfully hanging upon every expressed word. Following each of our respective sharing’s, and with the group’s permission, we followed a member’s suggestion about fashioning and offering a heartfelt prayer on behalf of the earth.

What landed for one member during meditation was arresting: they visualized golden threads connecting through all hearts to one another, back and forth, including the two dogs present, and the rooms tiny croaking frog. What is more, this network of golden threads extended outward to include Mother Juniper, a sacred tree just at the building’s perimeter that anchored our entire space, and beyond.

What must be understood here is that within such a circle—a Council, really—there is no personal pronoun called “I” per se, but rather each participating member becomes an open conduits for the transpersonal. Like dreams, where ego-boundedness has no standing, during councils of this kind, there is no egoic pattern.

Hence, the personal pronoun “I,” strictly speaking, becomes a profound integrative “we” where no participant has any greater or lesser standing than any other. By the way, this includes the dogs and the tiny croaking frog. Any sense of separation that might have existed among participating members is now invited to be suspended in lieu of Divine integration. And that is what occurred.

To reiterate, what came through one member was a vision of a golden thread uniting all hearts present and beyond. What another circle member shared was the need to fashion our request as a Divinely ordained prayer. Yet another shed joyful tears in the aftermath of our actual meditation and gave voice to their experience. Seeking permission of all seated, a prayer was offered aloud that requested extending these golden tendrils through Mother Gaia’s heartspace and beyond.

Like a South Pacific surf fisherman/ ma’ma, one member offered up the soulful prayer about uniting our universe in labyrinthine golden threads. They experienced a literal vortex of threads leaving their outstretched hands and being cast upwards into an envelope that enveloped the earth.

At the very instant this reconnective net flung free, a kind of energetic crack occurred where all subsequent energy was utterly shifted. It was as though the world we had once inhabited had been irrevocably altered in favor of something far greater? All interconnected life inched a step closer to becoming manifestly visible; or so it seemed.

We left the circle feeling greatly shifted, knowing that, inexplicably, something profound had been birthed together that afternoon, reawakening us as members of a Divinely reenchanted universe.