“… In the time before time
I heard a call from the cosmos
of such illustrious beauty
I succumbed answering the call of Gaia to help her seed a new land
where love was all and yet have I to yearn for the affections of another…
Who is Gaia?
Quite simply, Gaia is life. She is all, the very soul of the earth. She is a goddess who, by all accounts, inhabits the planet, offering life and nourishment to all her children.
In the ancient civilizations, she was revered as mother, nurturer and giver of life. It’s she who created and sustained us, and to whom we returned upon death.
She goes by many names, but in an effort to better connect and understand this energy, we’ll explore the myriad of forms in which she appears on Earth.
Ancient Ways and Goddess Traditions
Every culture has their version of the Earth Goddess. The Greeks called her Gaia, while the Incas know her as PachaMama. In some cases, she predates writing: ancient, pre-linguistic references to her have been found, alongside shrines, statues and paintings of her in every corner of the globe. She is the first goddess, the primeval one, the creator of all life and the fullness of her legacy is still being resurrected after patriarchal suppression.
The Gaia Theory
In 1970, chemist James Lovelock and his research partner Lynn Margulis (the wife of Carl Sagan at the time) proposed that the earth is a living being, self-regulating the elements to sustain life on it. This revolutionary hypothesis was seen as heretical, but has since been accepted as fact; a theory, no longer a hypothesis.
Their work suggested that in the earth chemicals all “talk” to one another to protect life on the planet; the salt in the ocean is never too salinated, the oxygen in the atmosphere never too noxious, and the temperature of the earth never grows too hostile for life to thrive. All elements work in perfect harmony to ensure life on earth is sustained…”
An excerpt from the text ‘Greeting Goddess Gaia’ by Andye Murphy, read it in full on gaia.com.