Landscapes are made up of rocks, plants, animals, microorganisms, and systems that give off a particular energy. It’s important to understand the individual energies coming through them, as it varies from one landscape to another. For instance, the energy present on the bank of a river differs from the energy in a desert. Any landscape that we work with teaches us about adaptability.
When I lived in Crestone, Colorado, I wanted to understand what was going on there geologically and why it’s known as a place that contains a massive creative vortex. I learned that it’s a place where the Earth’s crust is opening and new crust is being formed, essentially creating new earth. There are huge quartz crystal fields, all with the sacred geometry of nature embedded, that further amplify these natural energies. Additionally, people who work on anchoring in that energy of expansion while connected with intention, open it up even more. Living in that landscape, I personally experienced a major shift and expansion in my inner work, calling in my beloved, and my professional endeavors.
Landscapes help us reflect on our inner landscape. Traveling, of course, is a good time to engage with landscapes. As you encounter them in your car, on a train, or by flying over them in a plane, pay attention to how you feel when you see them, the emotions that come up, and the thoughts that they trigger. If you’re hiking through a rain forest or a tropical location, it’s easy to feel peace and bliss. At the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, traveling through an area that has been ravaged by a tornado, fires, or flooding may bring up feelings of anger, despair, hopelessness, or personal devastation.
Allow the land to help you process these emotions as you simultaneously send high vibrations and love to source them in their recovery. The stronger the element of the landscape and what it evokes within you, plus the longer you are in contact with that landscape, equates to a greater energy exchange between you and the landscape. This results in a greater effect on the land, as well as within us, allowing for greater transformation.
In addition to the overall energetic attribute of adaptability, certain types of landscapes carry with them specific characteristics. Here are a few:
• Beaches and Oceans: The energy of healing. Shorelines are doorways to the spiritual realm. Where the element of earth meets the element of water, it creates a potent energetic space known for creating a mental shift. Th¬e vastness of these spaces helps to channel infinite wisdom. ¬These are powerful spaces for ceremony and connecting with ancestors.
• City Landscapes: These speak to the importance of having a solid foundation in your own life. They reflect community, diversity, and synergy. Pay attention to the unity and cohesiveness, as well as what is fractured. What are the social issues going on and how does it affect the landscape? Cities are complex systems with many moving parts and a fast pace. You can work with city energy to harness those big waves of energy to support your intentions and manifestations. City landscapes can help you see where you are in synergy in your own life and where you are making things harder for yourself.
• Deserts: These arid environments are all about creativity, adaptability, and how it is used for our very survival. Due to its vastness, deserts are powerful in terms of spiritual revelations. Deserts have quite a diverse ecosystem, reminding us that there is more going on than meets the eye, which beckons us deeper into our spiritual quests.
• Lakes and Ponds: These bring the energy of a soothing oasis of relaxation and energetic nourishment. These bodies of water symbolize our consciousness. Is the water still or troubled? Are you taking a deep dive or are you staying near the surface? An entire ecosystem exists below the surface.
• Rivers and Creeks: The flow of life is on display with these water features in nature. Wildness and a reflection of our emotions. The ability to navigate obstacles in our life with ease and grace. Where in your life are you experiencing flow and where does it feel like there’s a dam?
• Meadows and Fields: These represent slow, steady growth and the balance of life. Joy, growth, expansion, space, and interconnectedness. Spending some time in stillness in a meadow may assist you in calling in the inspiration for the unfolding of your purpose work.
• Forests: Here we have the primal, feminine energies represented, along with unrestricted growth and our unconscious mind. Mystery, magic, symbiosis, abundance, wildness. A forest walk is an ideal way to invoke the magic and wonder of a new phase in your life, to offer up some fertile ground in which your dreams can take root.
• Mountains: These represent our own spiritual power to overcome obstacles, reaching our highest peaks and pinnacles. The power and majesty of a mountain is awe-inspiring. Mountain tops are another doorway to the spiritual realm. A powerful space where the element of earth meets the element of air. The magnitude of the energy of the earth is on full display, allowing us to interact with that potent life force energy. Mountains throughout time have been home to the gods. Communing with a mountain is to interact with something much, much bigger than yourself, giving perspective and reminding you of the bigger picture.
You can read more in my book NATURE: Divine Experiences with Trees, Plants, Stones and Landscapes. Within these pages are some of my favorite ways to align with the natural realms and activate earth energy wisdom in your life!
ANA MARIA VASQUEZ, author of NATURE: Divine Experiences with Trees, Plants, Stones and Landscapes, has a profound connection with nature and animals. As a Multi-Sensory Animal and Nature Intuitive, she specializes in working with and helping others understand and interpret messages coming from Nature. Ana Maria sees nature and animals as mirrors to our inner landscapes that support us in making shifts that we otherwise wouldn’t make on our own.
As a shamanic practitioner and certified Intuitive Strategist, Ana Maria also helps other unpack their intuitive backpacks and utilize these gifts in their lives. Her online courses Let Nature Be Your Guide, Modern Shamanism, and Nature as a Messenger are popular courses on Sacred U.
