The Ground Beneath: Sacred Land, Ceremony, & Earth Connection

Why Earth Connection Heals

Modern science confirms what indigenous traditions have always practiced:

• Earthing (walking barefoot on natural ground) reduces inflammation, balances circadian rhythms, and improves sleep.

• Forest bathing lowers cortisol and blood pressure, while improving immune function.

• Cermeony outdoors calms the nervous system, expands awareness, and restores our sense of belonging int he web of life.

This is why we hold many of our church practices in nature. The land becomes our altar. The sky becomes our witness.

Land-Based Rituals in The Rainbow Bridge Church

At the Rainbow Bridge Church, we honor elements - earth, fire, water, air, and ether - through sacred ceremony. Some of our practices include:

• Plant medicines ceremonies held with deep reverence to place and lineage

• Fire rituals, one of the oldest human rites, used to burn away the old and invoke the new

• Ocean baptisms and cleansing rituals

• Offerings to the aina (land) using flowers, chants, prayers, and silence

As Villoldo and other anthropologists have shown, fire is a portal to transformation. We use it intentionally to mark rebirth, honor ancestors, and let go of what no longer serves.

Land as Spiritual Ally

Many of our community members come from lineages where land was stolen, bodies were enslaved, and culture was stripped. Reclaiming our relationship with the land is part of our collective liberation.

In our rituals, we remember:

• The Earth is not a resource; she is a relative

• Sacred land carries medicine - and sometimes trauma.

• Healing is not just personal; it’s ecological.

We partner with stewards, elders, and cultural practitioners to honor the land we occupy and restore our reciprocal relationship with it.

Prayer for the Land and Her People

In Mendocino County, we stand on the ancestral territories of the Northern Pomo, Coastal Pomo, Cahto, and Yuki Peoples, including Nations such as the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians, Round Valley Indian Tribes, and Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians.

These tribes have cared for this land since time immemorial, stewards of forests, rivers, and coastal skies.

We acknowledge the violence of removal, reservation, and colonization- and we honor your resilience.

In Hawaii, we affirm the sovereignty and wisdom of Kanaka Maoli - the Native Hawaiian people who arrives centuries ago and made these islands sacred. They have been the caretaker of Pele, the ocean, and the ancestral aina.

King Kamehameha the Great, who united the islands with vision, courage, and a deep respect for land and people.

And Queen Lili’uokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawai’i, a woman of profound dignity, prayer, and political strength, who endured betrayal by colonial powers with grace and fierce aloha.

We recognize that Hawai’i is an occupied kingdom. We do not separate healing from justice, or ceremony from truth.

We offer our work in deep respect for the royal lineages, cultural stewards, and sovereign spirit of this land.

Let this ceremony be held in humility.

Let our offerings come with gratitude.

Let our healing not take, but return.

Let our hands plant more than they remove.

Let this bridge be built with your blessing.

Let this altar be consecrated by your grace.

We apologize for harm done.

We offer our prayers to be in right relationship.

We vow to carry your stories with integrity.

We walk this work with witness, respect, and care.

We are not owners.

We are guests.

We seek to heal - not to take.

May our ceremony honor the ancestors, the land, and the future generations who will walk here.

Mahalo. Aho. Ashe. Amen. Amene. And so it is.