Until we heal our wounded belief that we are separate, we will inevitably suffer.

The manifestations of this suffering arise in endless forms, from sickness and disease to disharmony in relationships and of course to the raping of the Earth from our own misplaced sense of dissatisfaction. All of our illness, disease, discord, and disharmony, ultimately stems from this place. This place we call our “Mother Wound.”

The Mother Wound is so much more than the dysfunction we’ve inherited as daughters from a lineage of women who have forgotten that they are sacred under centuries of patriarchal rule. It is so much more than the parentification that many of us have suffered through being raised by women who were never properly mothered themselves. It is so much more than our triggers and aversions around becoming like “Mother” and betraying ourselves to receive her love.

The Mother Wound is so much more than the lack of support we feel as mothers in a world that expects us to pump, produce, and be perfect. It is so much more than the betrayal we feel when the whole world failed to tell us how hard it would really be only to leave us out on our own. It is so much more than our grief around losing our own maidenhood and not knowing how to truly stand as mother without completely sacrificing ourselves with empty cups. It is so much more than not knowing how to let others help us when their help feels like harm.

These are all symptoms and reflections of our forgetting, but they are not the source of it. The Mother Wound goes much deeper than any of that. The Mother Wound is the source of our feeling of separation itself. Our delusion that we have been abandoned by life. Our perception that we are other than this Earth body and victims of the natural cycles of nature. We suffer because we think that we are “other” and that we do not belong to the wild wisdom of the world. And so… we attempt to control it.

Ironically, we feel abandoned by The Mother, by the Feminine, by life, when really, it is us who have abandoned and forgotten her.

At a time in humanity when more and more of us are becoming aware of this wound and the ways it has made us mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually ill, we are all being invited to re-member our way back to Her. To surrender our agendas and allow Her to show us a new way. To hand over our wounded desires and be reminded that our deepest desire has always been to remember our source. The source of life. The source of our Creatress. The source of love.

Despite what we may at times think, Mother Earth is not angry with us, punishing us, or abandoning us. She does not judge us as villains and perpetrators the way we have painted ourselves to be. Those judgements belong to us, not to Her. Those judgements simply reflect how deeply we believe ourselves to be separate. She could obliterate us in a moment and yet here we are… because there She is. We are one in the same. We are part of Her body. She doesn’t “punish” us, She responds to us. She relates to us. She mirrors to us our own imbalance and reminds us of who we really are, why we really came here, and the pathways we must walk to return to harmony… if only we will slow down and listen.

Many of us have been walking a conscious path of remembering our way home to the Mother within for a long time. And yet, as part of a collective that has wandered so far from Her roots, it can feel challenging to remain steady and anchored into Her womb. Often we may find ourselves feeling uprooted, disconnected, and longing to heal our perception of separation. (I wrote more about this in When Eve Ate the Apple, the Beginning of Our Story as Earth Daughters.)

Today, to support us all in more deeply resourcing ourselves through our infinite connection with Mother Earth, I’m sharing a womb-cross activation meditation.

This meditation is inspired by the teachings of Seren and Azra Betrand of Womb Awakening, the shamanic Medicine Wheel of many ancient cultures and traditions, and my own personal explorations. It offers an embodied tool to activate and awaken the elements of earth, air, fire, and water within our own physical womb (our individual source of creation), and reorient our personal womb with the womb of Gaia, Mother Earth, our Source.

If you’re able to be outside in nature for this meditation that will be very powerful, particularly in a forest laying against a tree. If not, the meditation will still be powerful and support you in connecting with nature even if you can’t be outside.

Wherever you are, consciously bring your awareness to your perineum, the floor of your pelvis, and the connection between your body and the ground beneath you. You may immediately feel the sensation of your vulva, womb, and yoni (vagina) immediately “turn on” or you may not feel anything at all. Continue to offer presence and love to your body. If you’d like to feel more sensation in your root, you may like to sit in a forward fold for a few minutes. I find that with seated forward fold I become very aware of my perineum very quickly.

When you’re ready, breathe in and out of your perineum slowly with eyes closed.

Sense your breath traveling up through the cave of your yoni into your pelvis and womb. Once you “arrive” feel or sense the floor of your womb, where it meets the cervix. If you have trouble connecting with these sensations at any time, that’s perfectly ok, just keep breathing and offering presence to your womb allowing deeper sensation to come with time. (If you are new to womb journeying, it can take time and practice to even feel anything at all. Similarly, if you’re experiencing stress, fear, or trauma it’s also common to feel disconnected from the sensations of the womb. Continue to offer presence and love.)

Here at the floor of your womb, ask to receive any insights, visions, messages, or wisdom in connection with your relationship with the element of earth within you. Breathe, and allow what comes.

From here, travel into your ovaries on the right and the left side, and imagine you could breathe in and out of your ovaries. Inhale and exhale through your left ovary, and then inhale and exhale through your right ovary. Breathe these ovaries together for a few minutes.

Then, focus on your awareness on your right ovary. Breathe in and out through your right ovary and connect with the element of fire. Ask to receive any insights, visions, messages, or wisdom in connection with your relationship with the element of fire within you. Breathe and allow what comes. When you feel complete, travel into your left ovary, to the element of water. Ask to receive insights, visions, messages, or wisdom in connection with your relationship with the element of water within you.

Complete the cross at the top of your womb, portal to the cosmos, and the element of air. Breathe in and out through the top of your womb for a few minutes, then ask to receive insights, visions, messages, or wisdom in connection with your relationship with the element of air within you.

Now, breathe all four of these elements in a cross that anchors your wombspace and entire being through the foundations of earth and air (upperworld and underworld) and fire and water (masculine and feminine). Feel a sense of inner stability as you breathe this cross within your being. Visualize all of the elements spinning in harmony with one another. Again, allow yourself patience if this is a new practice for you, it can take time and trust to activate the elements in this way.

Once you feel “switched on”, you’ll send that energy down into the Earth to connect with the womb of Gaia.

Breathe down again into the floor of your womb, to connect with the earth element and the threshold between one world and another. The space where you first crowned your way out into the world from your mother’s womb. Feel anything inside of your wombspace that is ready or wanting to be released or shed gather like menstrual blood.

As you exhale, visualize and physically sense this blood traveling from your womb down the passageway of your yoni through the cervix, the gspot, and out the vulva to kiss the Earth. (If you are currently menstruating, it could be very powerful to do this meditation while free-bleeding on the Earth.) Imagine these threads of blood like rivers containing memory of your own womb earth, womb air, womb fire, and womb water, traveling down down down to the core of the Earth.

Once you reach the core of the Earth through the rivers of your blood, see if you can feel or sense or envision the womb of Gaia, Mother Earth. Sense her elements “switch on” and spin earth, air, fire, and water.

Through the rivers of your blood, breathe the vitality of the Earth womb up layer by to meet the floor beneath you and connect with your own pelvic floor.

Draw in through the gates of your yoni (vulva, yoni cave, cervix) and into the womb all of the nourishment, support, resources, abundance, and love that Mother Earth wants to offer you. Feel your womb revitalized, vibrant, and filled with love.

Then once again, draw anything from within your wombspace that you wish to shed or release, and feel it move down into womb earth, through the yoni gates, down through the layers of the Earth to reconnect with Her womb. Then draw up nourishment, sustenance, resources, abundance, and love back into your womb. Repeat slowly back and forth one more time, offering and receiving with Mother Earth.

When you feel complete, return simply to the sensation of your seat on the floor, and press your hands into the ground in front of you with gratitude for the Earth.