Archives for April 2025

Heart of Hearts

Introduction: A Call Back to the Old Ways

In these times of restless change and uncertainty, it’s easy to be pulled away from the quiet call of the soul by the noise of the world. And yet beneath it all, Gaia — the earth consciousness — is inviting you to turn inward, to stay present, and to seek new ways of being rooted through the old, enduring wisdom that has always lived beneath our feet and within our bones.

Listening for the Deeper Rhythm

When did you last pause long enough to sense a deeper rhythm within you — not just the steady beat of your physical heart, but something subtler, older, humming in tune with the land itself? This is the Elemental Heart, a quiet, living centre of being that reaches beyond anatomy into the shimmering fabric of the Earth.

The Elemental Heart: A Bridge Between Worlds

You’ll find this heart not solely in your chest, but seated within the dynamic relationship between heart and pelvis — a vital axis running through your being like the trunk of the World Tree. Around the solar plexus it gathers, forming an energetic chamber that moves in all directions: forward and back, above and below, and far out into the wide, wild world beyond your skin.

It isn’t the physical heart alone, nor simply the heart chakra we are more familiar with. It is a three-dimensional, four-element heart chakra, a crystalline sphere of life force where the primal energies of creation meet and mingle within you. A meeting place of Earth’s grounding, Water’s fluid grace, Fire’s illuminating spark, and Air’s sacred breath.

An Ancient Understanding of the Body

Long ago, the body was not seen as a two-dimensional diagram of parts, but as a living, breathing sphere of influence, with centres of life-force moving in all directions. The Elemental Heart is one such centre — a luminous hearthfire connecting your physical self to your subtle bodies, and to the unseen world of elemental presences that companion us still. It acts as a gentle mediator between the upper realms of thought and spirit, and the grounding pull of Earth through your pelvis and lower belly. It’s here, in this quiet middle space, that you may sense the conversation between your bones and the land, your breath and the sky, your blood and the flowing streams.

The Four Elements in Balance

In the four-element chakra system — where each centre is aligned with Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and the ever-present quintessence of Spirit — the Elemental Heart sits as a crossroads. It gathers the wisdom of Earth and the knowing of Water with the will of Fire and the clarity of Air. Though not a chakra in the conventional sense, the Elemental Heart is a heart of hearts — a sacred hearth where these elemental forces meet and find their living expression within the human form.

A Simple Practice of Remembering

If you feel called, I invite you now to sit quietly for a moment. Let your awareness gather in the space between your heart and pelvis. Feel the energy there, spherical and alive, not confined to your body but moving through it — linking you to the greater body of Earth herself. It’s a simple act, but one that stirs the ancient memory of belonging in a world that so often forgets its own soul.

A Living Connection

This Elemental Heart reminds us that we are not — and have never been — separate from the land, the weather, or the turning seasons. We are part of this breathing, shimmering world, woven of earth and breath and sky.

As Marko Pogačnik so beautifully describes in his book Universe of the Human Body, this elemental weaving is not theory but lived experience. A sacred remembering. A quiet call back to the old ways, written in bone and breath.

A Blessing for the Elemental Heart

May the quiet rhythm of your Elemental Heart be a lantern in restless times.
May the earth steady you, the waters soften you,
the fire enliven you, and the air lift your spirit.

And may you remember yourself as a sacred meeting place —
where worlds touch, and the old songs still hum beneath your bones.

Would you care to walk there, together?

Hands of the Mother: Elemental Wisdom in You

There’s a new reality rising, quietly stirring beneath our feet and within our bones. Gaia calls us to remember — not only our connection to the earth but to the wider web of life and cosmos itself. Through this remembrance, we become conscious co-creators of wellbeing, for both ourselves and the greater whole.

Gaia, Sophia, and the Living Web

Gaia is far more than the nurturing Mother Earth of folklore. She is a cosmic intelligence, her creative current weaving through every stone, leaf, and star. Her resonance stretches beyond our world, into the universe. In the ancient esoteric traditions, Gaia’s cosmic counterpart is Sophia, the wisdom bearer — two facets of the same sacred coin. Sophia offers the inspiration of the heavens, while Gaia manifests it within the living body of Earth.

Balancing this, Gaia also moves in harmony with her male counterpart, Pan — spirit of the wild, keeper of the land’s untamed soul. Where Gaia pulses from the core of the earth, initiating life and awareness, Pan moves from without, tending and evolving the tapestry of life, ensuring its living threads remain bound to their sacred origin.

The Elementals and the Personal Body

The human body is a reflection of the earthly cosmos, which in turn mirrors the universe, and the universe echoes the greater cosmos. Within each of us moves a personal elemental being — an intimate, unseen presence manifesting Gaia’s creative blueprint in our physical, energetic, and spiritual layers.

These elementals work within the invisible, causal realms, bringing form and vitality into being. Our personal elemental constantly tends to us, weaving the subtle threads of body, mind, and spirit. Yet trauma, old survival patterns, and stagnant energy can distort the natural flow. Over time, this unsettles our equilibrium, affecting health and harmony. Through mindful, earth-honouring practices — such as Gaia Touch — we can ease these tensions and return to balance.

Gaia’s Creative Hand — The Map in Your Palm

One of the most beautiful teachings from Marko Pogačnik’s Universe of the Human Body is Gaia’s Creative Hand: a simple yet profound map held within your own palm. Each finger carries the wisdom of an element, and each joint reveals how that element takes form in the manifest world when combined with the thumb — the fifth element, which embodies spirit, identity, and the causal forces of the earth.

  • Index finger — water elementals, guardians of the biosphere
  • Middle finger — fire elementals, sustaining life processes
  • Ring finger — earth elementals, shaping embodiment
  • Little finger — air elementals, guiding consciousness and thought
  • Thumb — keeper of identity and unity of all earth’s beings
  • Palm — the archetypal matrix of life itself

The Four Element Chakras — A Feminine Circle of Power

This elemental wisdom also echoes in the Four Element Chakras, a feminine, circular counterpart to the traditional vertical chakra system. Instead of moving in a strict upward line, these energy centres form concentric circles, reflecting the cyclical, interconnected nature of life. Each ring represents the forces of earth, water, fire, and air, with the fifth element — spirit — moving through them all. It’s an embodied map of both personal and planetary consciousness.

A Simple Practice: Spinning the Thread of Peace

To close, here’s a gentle, meditative mudra practice from Gaia Touch, a way of invoking peace within yourself and radiating it into your environment:

Peace Mudra
  • Touch your left thumb to your left index finger, and your right thumb to your right index finger.
  • Hold your hands one above the other at the centre of your chest.
  • Slowly move the upper hand downward to your lower belly, and the lower hand upward to your forehead, keeping them aligned.
  • As your hands pass one another, the fingers gently release and then return to the thumb once passed.
  • Continue for several breaths, then repeat with the other fingers in turn.
  • Let yourself rest in the silence between movements.

Universal Peace Prayer/Mantra

In the spirit of peace…

I offer you Peace
I offer you Friendship
I offer you Love
I hear your needs
I see your beauty
I feel your feelings
All wisdom flows from the highest source I honour that source in you
Let us work together
For you are my own true self
And I am another your self and so it is

Om Shanti
Believed to be inspired by the teachings of figures like Mohandas Gandhi, author unknown