The Wild Earth Healing Path
During the level 2 seminar in Paris, Daniel Mapel talked extensively about his Healing Path Essences which help us to move from suffering to joy and freedom and finally to union with the Divine. Sometimes, the only way to move forward is to stop looking outward and to look inward at our wounds, whether they be recent or from our distant past. The three key essences to starting this process are Inner Inner Work, Healthy Anger and Grieving Heart.
Inner Work helps us to have the courage and strength to do the work, even if we don’t want to. It is about allowing our feelings to come out. This combination essence contains two of the Wild Child essences: Lion Cub helps our inner child to feel strong, courageous and capable and Elephant Calf helps us to feel safe, supported and cared for, even if we felt abandoned and alone as a child. Both these essences encourage us to feel and express the feelings that have been repressed. The third essence in Inner Work is Hippopotamus. The larger the land mammal, the deeper the quality of grounding. Hippo provides good grounding, but it is also a water animal, with water representing the emotions. So it is the integration of being grounded and feeling deeply. Raccoon helps us unmask the truth, see things as they are and come out of denial. And finally Bat helps us navigate through the darkness in our inner work – to face our shadow and what we prefer to keep hidden.
Once we start our inner work one emotion that often arises is anger. This anger needs to be expressed, but in healthy ways. Healthy Anger helps us do just that. Many people grew up in families where anger was completely suppressed or where it was expressed in violent ways. Anger is not bad, it is a natural emotion and one that we use to say “no”, to draw our boundaries. There are two animal essences in Healthy Anger: Badger helps us establish a harmonious relationship with our anger and Gazelle to feel emotionally safe and know that it is ok to be vulnerable.
The other emotions that often arise when we begin our inner work are grief and sadness. Grieving Heart helps us to “empty our well of sadness” and cry. Crying is our own natural purification system, helping us to embrace and release our wounds. The three animal essences in Grieving Heart are Hippopotamus for feeling deeply and expressing our emotions, Wild Horse that is a tonic for the heart chakra and a balm for the broken heart and Gazelle to feel safe while grieving.
Daniel recommends taking Inner Work and adding Healthy Anger and or Grieving Heart when appropriate. You can also choose to take the essence that supports where you are on your healing path.
Once we have had the courage to begin our inner work, deal with emotions such as anger and grief, the next combination Letting Go helps us to release the past and move on with our life. This is the bridge between the old and the new, between suffering and separation on the one hand and unity and communion with God on the other. When we are ready to let go, the memory of the past remains but the emotional charge is gone. Letting Go helps us to give up the small self and embrace the Higher Self.
There are three animal essences in Letting Go. Seal is the essence that tells us that we have done the work and now it is time to trust, surrender, and let things unfold naturally. This is a good essence for people who think they need to work all the time. Dove instils peace in our heart and deepens our connection with Divine peace. Jellyfish is the essence for surrender. We think that we are in control, but the great currents of the Divine are carrying us. Jellyfish helps us surrender with joy.
Gratitude is the next step, after we have let go. We feel grateful that we were able to move through our inner work and let go of our past. We feel grateful to be rid of the suffering and pain of the past. We are grateful for life and for our connection with the Divine. There are three animal essences in Gratitude. Buffalo is a grounding essence that helps us cultivate gratitude for all life. Wild Turkey is the best single essence for gratitude. It helps us be thankful for everything, even what we consider to be negative or bad in our past. Praying Mantis has a unique spiritual quality of devotion. It helps us be aware of our connection with the Divine.
The next step on our healing path is Wild Freedom where we begin to live the life we have always wanted and to experience a life of unbridled joy! The essences in this combination are Wild Horse to keep us open to ourselves and to others, Dolphin for joy, Mallard for taking flight with our new life and Sparrow for letting go of any residual worry about the past or worries about the future. While living the life of our dreams may seem like the end of the journey, it is also the beginning of a new journey.
Communion with God helps us arrive at that point where the personal issues fall away and life becomes about service. This is a new beginning where love and service become all important. The essences in this combination are Dove, to keep us centred at peace in our heart and connected to God, Eagle for keeping the 7th chakra open and our channel to the Divine clear and pure, Tiger for quieting the mind and raising our awareness, Great Blue Heron for serenity, deep peace and feeling our connection with the Divine and Deer to keep us aware of what is happening inside and outside, without judgement, with love.