Working With The Element Of Earth In Witchcraft

Earth magick is a return to the present moment, to our bodies, and to the tangible, where stability, cycles, and the physical world become the foundation of our witchcraft. In this episode, the focus is on working with the element of Earth by restructuring the paradigms of results and mastery to presence and integration. We discuss how capitalism and consumerism will inevitably rear their ugly heads, and how we engage mindfully with patience, dedication, and commitment.

The main themes of this episode are:
• earth as the physical embodiment of life, ancestry, and magick, similar to the Magician Major Arcana tarot card
• why earth is the home base, and an aid for starting practices or witchcraft practices that have gone dormant
• stability and a slower pace as a remedy for modern detachment 
• letting the journey matter more than “mastery” or quick results 
• why buying more tools rarely strengthens spellwork 
• reciprocity with the land through mindful giving and receiving 
• working with local plants, animals, trees, and the magick of place 
• reducing harm through repurposing, thrifting, and resisting overconsumption 
• a safer way to “bury” spell remains using dedicated spell pots 
• quick checklist: senses, grounding, learning what appears, gratitude, boundaries 

Links:

• My Links
• Working with the Element of Earth 
• Get Your Questions Answered on the Pod
• Nature’s Magick:Unlocking the Secrets of Elemental Energies Article on Medium
• Working with Water Episode 
• Background track is Danska Fall by Frook

Transcript

Why Earth Is The Foundation

Stability Lessons From A Quote

Grief Rest And Returning Slowly

Let Go Of The Rush

Consumerism And Where Power Lives

Local Allies Land Spirits And Impact

Practical Earth Magic Checklist

Closing Thanks And Patrons

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Hello, and thank you for tuning in to the Wolf Child Magic Podcast. My name is Ashley, your tarot reader, Rocky Mountain Witch, and overall Wolf Child, and I thank you for being here with me today. In today's episode, I am going to be talking about working with the element of earth. Now, I also have an episode already on working with the element of water. I will soon be bringing in working with the element of air, fire, and then ether. But before I get into this episode, I have to say thank you. The Wolf Child Magic Podcast has just had its best month ever, and April is not even over. We're at the halfway point of April. I'm recording this on the 15th of this month. I'm so grateful. I'm so, so grateful for you letting me into your day on your way to work, when you're doing your stuff around the house, when you're cleaning, doing laundry, wherever you listen to me, thank you so much. It it really does mean the world to me because there were times where I kind of thought I would give up on the podcast, maybe, and looking or hearing some of my previous episodes, they're definitely not as good. I I see the growth that I have made, and having my best month ever just means so much to me. I'm grateful, I'm proud, I'm humble, my little wolf heart is howling. So again, thank you so much. If you like this podcast, please help it along even further. Rate it, share it. I have some forms where you can get your questions answered on the pod. I can also even do something like if you have pulled a tarot spread and you're not sure what it's saying, send it on over to me and I will dissect it on the podcast and give you the clarity and the insight that you definitely have. You might just need a little bit of an outside look. And to be clear, these questions do not have to be strictly tarot-based or based in Oracle cards or Oracle decks. You can ask questions about witchcraft, you can ask questions about wild sovereignty, you can ask questions about nature or the elements, really anything at all that's in this realm. If you have a question on it and you think I might be a good guide or a good ally in getting those answers to you, just go to that form in the show notes and you can get your questions answered here on the podcast. With that being said, let's go ahead and now start talking about how to work with the element of earth in your practice and in your witchcraft. I do have a handout for this, and I'm going to try to see how I can fit it into the show notes. If not, I will put it on my website and you can go there and you can get it sent to your inbox. It is a PDF that you just download. I don't spam, I don't do anything like that. So there is a handout for this. If you would like to take this, put it in your grimoire or in a binder or anything that you have where you kind of keep notes and stuff. Um, you can definitely take this and apply that there. Working with the element of earth is a return to the mother. It is the mother of all mothers. It is the greatest altar you could ever sit at, stand on, and be present for. Working with the element of earth is a return to the primordial thread of life. When we talk about working with the element of earth, of course, all the other elements start to come in a little bit because we have the bodies of water, we have rain, we have air that gives life to the plant. It is the breath in the body, we have the destructor and transformer of fire. They all play their role. But the earth is the physical embodiment of life, of evolution, ancestry. Working with the element of earth is literally just embodying the life and the magic that is within you, that's within me, that's within everything. It's really kind of magician-esque, as in the magician tarot card, because the magician kind of awakens us to the magic that is within us, is the magic that is in everything, and it's the same when we work with the element of earth because we are coming to this home that's been the home and the place of magic and the place of survival. It's been in a way the holder of everything. And when we wake up in the morning or at night, whenever we awaken to the world, we awaken to awe, to wonder, to tragedy, horror, grief, love, compassion, diversity, like all the other stuff starts to fill in, and what a gift it is to be alive, even in times of hardship, whether that's personal or collective. When we work with earth, we can work with certain parts of earth as we'll get into like soil or like plants or like trees. And to tap into one part of it is to tap into all of it. And I just find that so incredibly beautiful. Working with the element of earth reminds us that we are not alone in this world. Nor do our spaces exist in a vacuum, that we are here, we are present, we are part of the physical magic through just living. We carry that life force in our bones. And earth is the giver, the taker, the great stabilizer. Unlike the other three elements, the element of earth is very slow and steady. Now, of course, water can be that way too, but earth provides foundation, whereas water is much more fluid, it's much more liminal, you're really in the flow. And like I said, you can go and listen to that episode. Working with the element of earth brings in this foundate this foundational force of tangibility. I personally feel that if you are brand new to your witchcraft, if you're just starting out into this space, or if your practice has gone maybe dormant, it's a little stale, you're not maybe investing as much time or energy. First of all, that happens. You're doing nothing wrong. We are human. But sometimes our witchcraft can kind of get into a place of stagnation, kind of flatlined. And when that happens, or again, if you are just first starting out, I think one of the best things that can be supportive in engaging and going further and growing more is building a connection to earth, building a connection to the element of earth. And there's so many reasons for that. One, she just provides so much for us to work with, and two, when we work with some things within our practice, they're very symbolic, archetypal, liminal, and earth literally provides the physical, earth embodies the cycles of life and death physically, seasonally, metaphorically. And again, sometimes we may not want to work with certain sides of this, you know. She's very much as above, so below. We bring all of the cosmic, the symbolic, the spiritual, the liminal down into the physical, and then we have just such an array of things to work with. We need to look no further than the myriad of plants, animals, stones, flowers, or trees to know that her stability is present, but so is her gift of diversity. And through this diversity, we find the awe to persevere and the needed nourishment that doesn't always come when we look to others in our life, when we are engaging in a modern world. We get this sense of detachment, right? And working with the element of earth is literally the gravity that pulls us back in, back into ourselves, back into the present moment, back into something that we're curious about, back into our practice by simply just going outside and connecting to what we have around us. I want to read you this quote. This quote comes from an article I found on Medium, and it was so helpful for me. The way that this author wrote about the different elements was amazing. So I'm going to have a link to her medium article in the show notes as well, but I just want to read you this quote because again, I thought it was so beautiful. The author, the extravaganja's Nature's Magic on Medium, writes: the earth element reveals the secrets of stability, reminding us the importance of cultivating a solid foundation in our lives. Just as roots delve deep into the soil, seeking nourishment and stability, we too must ground ourselves in our values, beliefs, and self-awareness. It is through this rootedness that we find balance, resilience, and the capacity to weather life storms with grace. What I love about this quote and what resonated with me is that Earth teaches the importance of a more stable but often slower pace. And sometimes that's hard. Like I said at the begin, you know, towards the beginning, that we get caught up in the rat race of our lives. And that's no fault of our own. I'm not saying that we're doing something wrong. That's the world we live in. We live in a world that is always on. Our phones are always pinging, there's always a new headline, there's something new on social media, there's always something more for us to do, another task, someone asking us to do something, whether that's family or relationships or work. There's just so much that's constantly pulling on us, pulling us away, and it kind of leads into this frenzied, frantic, or again, detached connection to ourselves, to the present moment, and to our lives. The element of Earth, as the author so beautifully wrote, is that sometimes what's needed in our practice, what's needed in our lives, what's needed in our relationships and and all of the things, is less, not more, is slower and steadier, not faster and more chaotic. Sometimes the way that we need to engage with our magic, with our witchcraft, is to take one of the most beautiful lessons of Mother Earth, and that is to find what roots us into the practice, what stabilizes us, what supports us, what encourages us, like any good mother is going to do, to grow, to expand, to be curious, to play. But how do we do it in a way where we're building, where we're not flinging ourselves and then we're tired, we're detached, we're anxious, we're all of these other things. This is not to say that her teachings don't speak to a need to hustle. Sometimes we absolutely have to hustle and we need to just put in the grind and work hard, but we need to balance that with times of rest. We need to balance that with times of moving slower, steadier, with more of a connection to our needs and to what our energetic levels can provide in that moment. So absolutely go out and fucking kill it, my darling. But we also need to come back home, we need to bring a balance to this. And she is just one of the most amazing teachers in this, and this is where I said at the B towards the beginning again that if you are brand new or if you've kind of gotten away from your practice, just start by connecting back to Earth. Because one of the first things with working with the element of earth and our magic and in our witchcraft is to bring the presence. We kind of have to. It's essential because when we work with the element of earth, it is us earth meeting her earth, it is child meeting mother, it is magic meeting magic. And we cannot honor the energies that earth teaches of steadiness, of stability, groundedness, and being ready to receive if we can't bring some full attention even for a few minutes. You know, it doesn't have to be this huge, intricate, elaborate, crazy ritual that we do. It could literally be going outside, pulling a few tarot cards, taking a breath in, connecting to an animal or a tree that's by you. The first thing we have to do is bring the presence. And this brings us again, like gravity, it just drops us right back in. We're here, we're home, and now we can expand and grow outward. This could be working in a garden, this could be working with the seasons, this could be doing so many different things, but we have to bring the presence. Another teaching that she provides is the teaching of abundance, and how do we actually receive abundance? Can we slow down and just take abundance in appreciate it? With this also comes the necessity of death and release and letting go, and that's one that can be very, very hard. And that's why I think she is so supportive, even in times of hardship. But she was so supportive for me when I lost the cats because when I lost the cats, and I know I've talked about them, and I'm gonna talk about them till the end of time, but when I lost them, I couldn't even go into my room where my altar is. I couldn't really do anything because I didn't have the capacity because I was so hurt. And when I finally started to step back into working with Mother Earth and connecting, I couldn't do very much. I was so exhausted emotionally, spiritually, physically, and I recognized that she will always wait for us. She's gonna be there. So if you need to take a step away from your practice, it's totally okay. If you are brand new, I think one of her most beautiful teachings and one that I wish I had heated more, is to enjoy the journey and not be so focused on the end result. I was like this kind of towards the beginning. I've seen other people like this, where we're in such a rush to get to a spot where we've mastered it, where we are an authority, where we can speak on it. And I I'm gonna be honest and say that a lot of times this comes from ego. And again, I'm guilty of it just like anyone else. But when we are in such a rush to just get to the other side of the journey where now we have the knowledge and we can do, that's really understandable. It's understandable that we want to just acquire and build our practice up and up and up and up because we value it, we love the practice, it supports us, it guides us, it aids us in our life. The problem is, is when we're so focused on getting to the end result that we're not trying to nourish the journey that we're on. One, when we look back on hindsight, we might realize that we missed some of the magic along the way. But two, when we are in such a rush to get to the end, we often realize that there was so much that was calling us in, and we didn't heed it because we were too focused on, you know, getting getting to the end of this, getting to the other side, whether that's mastery or knowledge or whatever it is. Like for me personally, when I first started out in my practice, I wanted to know every single spell, I wanted to know every single herb, I wanted to know everything about everything, and I bought all these books, I was listening to all these podcasts, I was doing all the things, but what I wasn't doing is actually integrating slower but steadier, more supportive knowledge and building myself up that way. And that way is actually again, it's hard to kind of go slower with something that we love and cherish so much, but in a way, it actually helps us in the long run because then we get to a spot where we have all the herbal books, but we don't really know a ton about herbs. Uh, we get to a spot where we um are so connected to maybe certain spells, but like those are the only spells that we know, so we just kind of keep doing the same spells. You know what I mean? It's a part of us to want to just gain all the knowledge, but really the magic comes when we integrate the knowledge into the practice. If we're too busy focusing on gaining all the knowledge everywhere from every source, we can't really apply that because we're just inundating ourselves like a hammer and nail. We're just kind of pounding the knowledge in, but we're not really applying it to the practice. This is one of her greatest teachings, and again, this is one that I wish I had really heated more in the beginning because now I have, you know, like some herbs in my cabinet that um have been in there forever, and yet I'm like, what does that one do again? What is that one for? And also at the same time, while we do need to be in the journey, in the doing of the process, it's important to recognize that trying to memorize and have all of that information just at our fingertips in a moment's notice. That's also kind of ego-based. Again, this is all understandable. We all kind of go through this struggle, some maybe a little bit more than others. I know it's a struggle for me because I just want to know. I want it to just be in the brain. I just want to have that information there the minute that I need it. That again takes time. And that goes back to we will get there over time if we take more of a rooted approach here and now. So when working with Earth, we want to be in that mindset of the results are not the end goal, that we need to be connected and rooted into the task at hand for the sake of the task at hand. We also want to recognize where we are in the ebb and the flow of life, death, rebirth in big ways, also in small ways. We might be in a little bit of a death moment within our within our magical practice, within our rituals. And can we let things maybe go a little fallow for a moment? Is rest more important than ritual? This is where Earth starts to come in and build stability for us because we are intentional and mindful as we're working. One of her other greatest teachings is abundance, but again, that abundance shouldn't result in results when we work with abundance. How can we connect into taking that abundance in here and now and having that kind of slow our pace a little bit because we're going to move through a death cycle at some point? So can we s can we slow down? Can we take a moment and express gratitude? Because abundance is something that we kind of always seek and and want in all forms, not just wealth, but you know, in all forms abundance and health, abundance in relationships, abundance in um our roads being open, whatever it is. But we also need to recognize where as much as that is the goal, we have to be in the journey of receiving that abundance so that when we get to the next kind of moment in the spiral or in the cycle, we we see the switch. We see where the switch is happening, and again, we just kind of move into the next phase, the next task, the next moment, and earth is there to support us the whole way. One of the greatest teachings with the element of earth is the teaching of where are we giving and receiving freely, authentically, or mindfully, because the relationship of us with our physical world and the most mundane or us in our world in the most sacred and magical and ritualistic, we have to be mindful of this give and this receive relationship between us and what is outside of us, whether that is the altar, the guides, the deities, the ancestors, the the real world, our relationships, our groups, whatever it is. We have to understand where we are giving and receiving freely and authentically, but we also need but we also. Also, need to kind of balance that relationship with patience and a resolve to find dedication and commitment, kind of going back to like what we talked about where we need to be slower and steadier. But here it brings in a sense of mindfulness because there is no medal for showing up in your authentic truth. There are no awards for creating or doing something with mindfulness on the impact. In fact, consumerism and capitalism teach us otherwise. Consumerism and capitalism have taught us that we should just hit two-day shipping, look for what is easy, quick, or cheap to acquire, regardless of the carbon footprint that comes with that, regardless of if it's in alignment with us truly, regardless if we need it. Consumerism and capitalism have taught us that we should just acquire, acquire, acquire. We're constantly in the uh receive, receive, receive, take, take, take. And where that becomes a problem is when we think that that is actually aiding our magical practice. And I can tell you right now, it's not. And I know that there are some listeners, some listeners who might be triggered by that, and I'm not here to rudely burst your bubble, but I am gonna burst your bubble and say that you taking in more things, having more things does not make your practice better. It just doesn't, okay? It's so much better to have less things, but you're very connected to those things. You feel so in alignment when you're working with them, you know these things inside and out. They carry now a history and a weight because they've been in your practice for a while. And then that frees you up to acquire and bring more things in over time because you have this mindfulness, you have this maybe financial freedom a little bit because you're not just spending on all the things, you're being very intentional. You can physically see where there might be a little bit of a gap somewhere, and where that gap can be filled with an item, with a class, with procuring something of some kind. And that's where the give and the freely kind of rest, and where we need to meet that with patience and dedication and commitment, because oftentimes what happens is that we immediately result to I need to buy something and that'll make my practice better. And as I said, it it very, very, very rarely does. I am not here to gatekeep how anyone spends their money. I am just letting you know that from my own personal experience and from people that I have witnessed in um similar spaces as me, that when they start to just buy and buy and buy and buy and buy, what ends up happening is that they actually get further disconnected from their practice because there wasn't a more activated intention to work with what you had before. Bringing a whole bunch of other stuff in isn't gonna really do that for you. You know what I mean? It's more like we need to work with what we have and build that energetic give and receive freely and then start to add in over time instead of just inundating our practice, our rituals, or ourselves with a bunch of stuff or a bunch of classes or a bunch of books or a bunch of whatever, thinking that that is gonna be where the the switch gets turned on, and now all of a sudden we're off to the races with our practice, with our magic, with our ritual, with our journeys. Again, I've never really seen that happen, and that's just kind of um the reality. And I now really have changed my mindset with my own magical practice to reflect that. One of the other problems that can come when we're out of balance and this give and receive freely with anything else, including working with the element of earth, is that we start to think that the items are where the power lies. We start to think that the items are where the magic rests, and that is just not true. The items that we bring in or that receiving in of whatever it is, these are aids, these are tools, these are resources, these are helpers, but they are not where the magic lies. Yeah, sure, we want our spells to kind of be by the book, so to speak, and if it calls for a black candle instead of a brown candle, we may want the black candle because that's what the spell calls for. But the magic and the ability to be successful in this spell work is not in the difference between a black or a brown candle. It's within you. It's within your um capability, trusting your capability, showing up, being dedicated, being committed. That is where the magic is gonna take you. Is in the actions of giving and receiving from that space, not from the space of checking off all of the items, thinking that that's gonna do the work for you. That's never going to do the work needed in a spell. That's where you come in. That's where any witch comes in, is we need to show up to the spell and use what we have. Yeah, it's great that we now have two-day shipping and stores right down the road and we don't have to make everything in our practice. But what that can also do is make us feel that the item is magical. We're not magical. The item does contain magic, but it's within your magic that the power really lies for the spell to be successful and to go where you need it to go. With that being said, I just also feel called here to say that one of the most supportive things that we can do is again come back to that giving and receiving from the place of patience, dedication, and commitment. Because I have also seen, like on TikTok, some people will say, Well, if you don't have protection oil, all you have is love oil. Well, just hold it in your hand and visualize that that love oil is now protection oil and now it's protection oil. Okay, it doesn't really work like that. And this is where that kind of divide and that rift comes in with that give and receive freely, authentically, with patience, dedication, and commitment. Because while yes, an oil is not the base of your power bringing it into your magic. You could easily do a protection spell or a love spell without the oil, but we can't just turn one thing into another. Because if we do that, then there's no rooted base, there's no home base for the magic and the ritual to rest on. So this is where we need to again move in a slower, steadier, more stabilized pace so that we bring in the information and then we apply it, and then we build it up and up and up with this awareness of the impact of our actions outwards. Because the earth has so many offerings for us that we can constantly bring in at any time, whether that's animals, plants, stones, soil, flowers, seeds, mountain, trees, whatever it is. There's so much we could use. So if we have a protection spell, we could bring in an animal and an herb and a stone and a flower and a tree. We could bring all that in. If we want to do a love spell, same thing. Where the balance comes in is in working with this element, we recognize where our magic is and should be an ally back to Mother Earth. No longer can we be blind to the inevitabilities that come from the structures that hurt the earth? We need to be reminded that we are in the web of this much bigger space and what we do reverberates. So, can we find a way to be innovative in our practice? Can we repurpose things purchased long ago? Can we thrift? Can we recycle? Can we share with friends? Can we resist the urge of two-day shipping? Or on the other end, can we resist the urge of if we're trying to not buy something, taking love oil and saying, Well, I need protection oil, so you are just now protection oil. Can we build slowly and steadily so that over time our connection to Mother Earth is so deeply rooted and connected back to ourself that we feel supported in our practice? So, as I've been saying now, one of the most supportive things that we can do for ourselves and in connection to working with the element of Earth is bringing patience, dedication, commitment, and a mindfulness of our actions and our choices and the consequences of those actions and those choices. One of the reasons why I say this is because as much diversity as Earth gives us, one of the most supportive things that we can do is start to work with the animals, plants, trees, flowers, whatever it is, right outside our front door. We could be working with seasons as well. We could be working with um ancestors or land spirits. There's so much we could work with here. But when we work with what we can physically touch, it brings the spiritual immediately down and in to our practice. Because when we see the Douglas fir, when we see the fox, when we see the junkos, when we see these different um herbs or plants or animals or trees, and it's right there. We can go and touch it, we can sit there, we can draw it, we can paint it, we can do whatever, we can talk to it. That brings not only the spiritual immediately down into the physical, and we feel that bond of physicality, of location. We feel the magic of location and the magic of space, and then it can branch out even more. Now, this is not to say that it has to be either or. We can certainly work with animals like um symbolically in the sense of ocean animals. For me who is landlocked here in Colorado, we can work with herbs that are grown outside of our zone. We can absolutely do that. It doesn't have to be either or, and in fact, in many ways, we should be including some of that so that we can resonate with it magically so that we can fight for it and support it physically, especially right now with how much um with how many issues there are with the climate crisis, with this administration that just wants to pillage and rape every beautiful thing on this planet, we need to be able to show up even more and even bigger, and that can often start by connecting to it in our rituals and in our magic. The one thing I will say though, when starting off, at least in your magic of space and in the magic of location, is that it provides such a beautiful home base to return to. And then from there, you can see what deities reside there, you can see what land spirits reside there, you can see the history of that place, and that is so important because in that connection of giving and receiving, especially where I am at, it's important to recognize maybe the indigenous cultures that were there and to use that as a way to do as little as harm as possible going forward. When we connect to the magic of where we are physically, we branch out in ways that support us and anchor us into our magic, but help to shift the paradigm going forward, and that paradigm has often marginalized others, it has marginalized their voice and their magic for so long, and that's one of the things that we do need to be mindful of. We also need to be mindful that as we show up for different cultures, for the history of plants or trees or animals, that is showing up for the world, and that is gonna pull on us, and it's going to change us to seeing the magic of earth in a very different light. At least it did for me. I try very hard now to be as intentional as possible, and I am not perfect, and perfect is not the point. What is the point is that we do what we can to again reduce harm. We do what we can to move mindfully, to choose mindfully, to act mindfully, and to again show that patience dedication and commitment. And that can help us when we start to again step back into more energetic spaces or working with like the Fey or Elementals. When we start to go back and branch out to the energetic again, the real energetic, it can be helpful to start in a place that is supported physically through our actions and through our choices. Before I end this episode, I want to do a quick list here of things to keep in mind when working with the element of Earth. It is listed in the handout, and again, I will try to figure out if I can post it within the show notes. If not, it will be available on my website. But one of the first things to do is simply set time, space, and presence, or set time and space to bring presence, focus, and awareness because we can easily get caught up again in the rat race of life. And for me, I found that I kept putting this off. I would be like, oh, I'll do it when this is done, I'll do it when this is done. And the done never came because there's always something else to do. So really setting 10 minutes, five minutes, 20 minutes, whatever it is, to just bring presence, focus, and awareness to the element of earth, whether that's a tree, an animal, um, a scent, breathing in like an essential oil, whatever it is, I don't care. But just setting that time and space is very important. Using our senses to feel that ancient connection between earth and earth, earth and earth, as in me, earth, and earth, earth, it's important to just feel and let the senses kind of take over. That helps to bring more awareness in. Grounding ourselves, connecting to the support of the present moment again, the support of earth if you want to do some earthing, if you want to do some yoga, if you want to go on a hike, whatever it is, but just grounding yourself into the present moment and into the connection with the element of earth is so supportive. Noticing what animals, plants, or objects may appear when you are in a space of receiving in the magic of the element of earth, and then taking time to learn about that which appeared to you. So if it was an herb, what herb is it? If it was an animal, what animal is it? If it's a tree, what tree is it? This helps you to see how you can bring it into your magic because again, it's the spiritual into the physical right in front of you, but it also shows you how to maybe show up for the species in a way that's a little bit more supportive for them as well. And that's that give and receive again. The next one is giving thanks and gratitude. I don't think I really have to go too far into this, but I will just say that it is so vital when we are in ritual, when we are at our altar, when we're doing a spell, that we thank the elements that we're working with, that we thank the elements, the spirits of those elements, ancestors, the animals, plants, trees, herbs that we used, whatever it is, because reverence and respect means that we recognize that in order for us to do this spell, we had to receive and take something for that spell to be done. And that way we honor the energy of, let's say, um, an herb. If we have a candle dressing, we honor the elements. If we were doing a nature ritual outside during beltane, whatever it is, when we lead into a ritual, a practice or close, a ritual or a practice with thanks and gratitude, it humbles us and reminds us that we are not doing this alone, that there are so many resources here that are aiding us and respecting them and showing gratitude is very important. The next is to not overly give, like any relationship, there is a need to know your boundaries, worth continued work to do or your limitations. Never putting anything harmful in the earth. And I will give you this tip right now, um, just to kind of take here because it's not listed in the handout. Um, if you have a spell that tells you to bury something, one not putting anything in the earth that is gonna be harmful, like plastic, like rubber, like microplastics, things like that, is so vital. It's important that we do our spells, but in a way that we're not contributing again to more harm. So, what I would recommend doing is getting a few different pots of different sizes, you can get and maintain the plastic ones that like other plants come in and make these your spell pots. These are now only gonna be used when you need to bury something. So I just uh did a hex uh about a month ago and it told us to bury our hex items, and instead of going out and burying all these sharp objects and these things that had um, you know, that are not good to put into Mother Earth, I now have it in a pot that it is sitting in a protected place. And when the spell is done, I will take what is in the pot, dirt and all, and throw it into the trash can. And that way I'm not just putting it into my lawn where an animal could get to it. I'm not putting anything harmful into Mother Earth. Um, I'm putting it in a pot with the symbolism of the burial, and then it's gonna go into the trash can. With that being said, there's also a need or something to keep in mind is learning how to alter our magic to less consumeristic or capitalistic behaviors, seeing where the work transcends past yourself, the spells or the magic. For example, how can we interact with Earth or a specific species in a way that helps their own advancement in the world? Using the cycles of life, death, and rebirth, the seasons, the moon, tending the physical body is very important, making sure we are rested, we are nourished, we are strong, we are healthy, or as much as we can be. I'm not trying to put an ableist narrative out there, but just doing what we can is going to be very helpful. Look into the nature or earth spirits that are around you, that connect to your heritage or that speak to you. And finally, focus on small but powerful allies right outside your door. Again, as we talked about, that is one of the best places to start because it's the best place to return home base. So that is how to work with the element of earth. I hope this episode was helpful, encouraging you to look at things in old ways and new ways. As I always say, my episodes are always here to be an ally, to be a guide, to be an aid for you. And with this one and working with the element of earth, it's all about how can we approach this beautiful, empowering element in new ways and in old ways. I want to thank you so very much for listening. And I would also like to thank my patrons, Bobby McDermott, Lisa Zimmerman, Tracy Lanham, Kim Hartnett, Chris Ree, Miranda Snow, Colleen Twee, Charlie Ruggles, Shannon Konendike, and Danica Favorite all for their support in me and in Wolf Child Magic. Thank you so very much, patrons. It means the world. And to you, dear listener, thank you for listening as well. Again, I hope this was helpful and may you go forward and work with the element of earth in powerful ways and be reminded of earth meaning earth and magic meaning magic. Until next time.