Morning Moving Meditation: Earthworm Medicine

I cherish my time spent walking with Gidget in the mornings. Granted, on cold days, I'm less appreciative. But, all in all, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be outdoors with her on days that without having a dog, I wouldn't otherwise be outside.

This morning, as we were walking down the sidewalk, I looked down and saw several earthworms strewn about. It had stormed last night; but the majority of the puddles had already dried up; and the worms were just out on the dry concrete. They weren't moving; so I thought that many of them were dead. I was careful to not step on any; and steered Gidget away; although, she has this sixth sense of not to step on worms or thistles without having to look down on the ground....it's another story though, that she manages to always step on my bare feet at home.

Image Courtesy of Wildspeak

As we turned back and were walking back home, I saw one of the earthworms squirming about, coiling itself and inching along with its reticular body. It was glistening, wet from the dew, and unfurled from a corkscrew shape, stretching itself along the sidewalk, seemingly to soak up the sun. The way the rays of light were hitting it, made it have a really tall and boxy shadow. I stopped and watched it for a few minutes in wonder, as it continued to stretch out, it's shadow, ironically growing thicker and boxier as it did so. I smiled as I watched it peep it's head up toward the light.

As an animal spirit messenger, earthworms represent nourishment, healing, and regrowth. And, even though they don't have eyes, they are very sensitive to vibration. They represent nourishment because they are great for gardens in that they till up the soil, healing and regrowth, because even if a bird snips off a portion of one, it's able to regenerate its body and continue to live and grow. It is said to send a message of doing dirty work, digging through and releasing what no longer is needed, or getting to garden. And, that made me smile because yesterday, I did do some planting. It also shares a message of healing and being on your path of being healed, or ability to heal others, mind, body, spirit. I love those messages; and was thrilled at getting to spend some time this morning along my walk to witness this earthworm greeting the day.