During periods of stress and moments where we feel that we have no agency, we still grieve because, at the core, we are similar, sharing the singular heartbeat of the Earth.
The Electromagnetic Heart: A Communion with Earth's Life Force | Priyanka Parihar
What role do the rhythmic contraction and relaxation of the heart play in forming a connection with the ecosystem? What if I told you that our hearts speak to our minds, to each other, and to the earth?
The heart is believed to be the seat of the soul—the eternal and undying part of ourselves that is now experiencing the human vessel, but might have travelled through many forms. We are an extension of a gigantic living force, and we transform continually, shapeshifting and emerging between the cycles of life and death. Our human body is made up of two eyes, two hands, two feet, a mind, and an intricate entanglement of organs that connect and coordinate with a four-chambered heart, beating continuously, creating an electromagnetic field 100 times stronger than the brain and reaching up to 3 feet further around our physical flesh.
This magnetic organ has its own memory and intelligence; it remembers and communicates with the brain often. If we experience emotions such as anger, sadness, and frustration, often the heart creates a state of incoherence, creating heartbeat patterns that aren’t rhythmic. However, the same heart produces more rhythmic, synchronised, and coherent patterns when we experience compassion and love. As if by recognizing the internal and external emotions, it produces music enclosed within our chest, and this sound is more melodic if we feel in tune, familiar, accepted, and loved in our surroundings.
According to research done by the Heartmath Institute, the heart rate variability of people living together and sharing a deep emotional connection often produces a synchronised pattern. Even their companion animals pick up cues and interact with the heart’s magnetic field, synchronising their heart rhythms with those of the caregivers.
Just like our hearts, the Earth’s core emanates her own magnetic field.
A layer that deflects the harmful cosmic and solar radiation that tries to penetrate Earth’s environment. In this process, the aurora borealis illuminates, lighting the magnetic poles and creating a visible cocoon that carefully shields all the signs of life—fluttering, swimming, breathing, growing, and even dying.
The Earth’s magnetic field is also staging the dance of life for many creatures as they commune with and navigate using this energetic intelligence imprinted within their flesh; a memory perhaps from the womb of the Earth herself, running through her salted water. Marine animals such as loggerhead turtles will travel thousands of miles only to return to lay eggs on the same beach where they once hatched. Other species of sea turtles exhibit the same behaviour; if not the exact beach, they will return to the same region. The extent of this journey could be summed up by a leatherback turtle that swam 12,000 miles round trip across the Pacific Ocean. Other migratory marine animals, like elephant seals, salmon, and bluefin tuna, also reproduce using the geomagnetic imprint.
Amongst the dwellers of the winds, the earth’s magnetic field becomes a guiding force for some migratory birds. The homing pigeons detect it through magnetite (particles of iron) in their beaks and European robins through a light-sensitive protein called cryptochrome 4 (CRY4).
There is no concrete evidence of humans having a developed sense of magnetoreception (the ability to comprehend the earth’s magnetic field through the body), but there have been few experiences amongst sailors who, on being completely lost, have been able to tune into an intuitive force that is close to what could be perceived as magnetoreception.
Nainoa Thompson, a Native Hawaiian navigator, is reviving the traditional voyaging arts and polynesian navigation. The traditional Polynesia navigators were able to find their way in the open ocean without any instruments or charts. They observed the wind patterns, stars, and ocean swells and relied on their own unique technique of wayfinding that was passed down through songs from master to apprentice and from one generation to the next. However, when the island came into contact with the western world, they began to gradually lose this traditional knowledge. In 1980, Thompson took a journey of more than 2,600 miles on a voyage by canoe from Hawaii to Tahiti without any aid after being taught by an elder, Mau Piailug. When he reached “doldrums”—a rather stagnant region—he was stuck in a life-or-death situation. In a desperate moment, he came into contact with a deep intuitive awareness.
“When I sat back and leaned against the rail, I felt this warmth come over me, and all of a sudden I knew where the moon was. But you couldn’t see the moon; it was so black, and then I directed the canoe with all this total confidence at a time when I had already convinced myself prior to the voyage that I would have no confidence in knowing where to go. And I turned the canoe in this particular direction, got things lined up, felt very, very comfortable in this cold, wet, rough environment, and then there was a break in the clouds and the moon was there.”
Nainoa Thompson
via
A Role for Magnetoreception in Human Navigation?
Ben Finney (American anthropologist)
Another navigator from Argentina, Alberto Jose Torrob, documented that in a difficult situation, he thought of migratory birds and magnetoreception, so he tried relying on his senses.
“I slowly rotated my body and head 360 degrees, again and again, until I found that in a certain direction I had a different feeling. It was hard to say what it was, but it seemed that my mind was a bit more calm when facing that direction. And being in the southern hemisphere, I assumed it was south. So I kept sailing what I assumed to be west. And when the sky finally cleared one night, I realised that I was indeed going exactly west. I tried this procedure more times during my journey, and it always worked. The only thing I needed to make it work was to really need it, because it requires very strong concentration.”
Alberto Jose Torrob
via
Beyond the directional dimension of magnetoreception, our electromagnetic fields may interact with all the living organisms as each of them is surrounded by their own field.
Given that Earth herself is an electrically charged magnetic organism, all her living organisms with their electromagnetic energy become receptors of her information and, simultaneously, feed their information into this living system. Hence, our thoughts and actions become part of an interwoven Consciousness.
Perhaps this is why traditional practices such as prayer, meditation, and chanting remain relevant in the fast-paced modern world. They become portals to channel our individual energy, creating a sense of coherence within. This is then intrinsically reflected in our own electromagnetic field, and into the outer world.
Drs Charles Alexander and John Davies at Harvard University organised an experiment during the peak of the Israel-Lebanon war in the 1980s. They created groups of experienced meditators in Jerusalem, Yugoslavia, and the United States to meditate over a period of 2 years and 3 months, focusing their meditation energy on resolving tension in Lebanon. After keeping a record of all the variables, such as holidays, changes in group sizes, police activity, and other variants, the study concluded that the level of violence in Lebanon decreased between 40% and 80% each time a meditating group was in place, and the largest reductions happened with the numbers of meditators being the largest.
I understand that, as human beings, we are bound by our physical bodies and limited by our own experiences of struggle, surrender, and serendipity, but I wonder how witnessing violence, the murder of children, or corporations stealing rights from people and the planet is sitting in our hearts. During periods of stress and moments where we feel that we have no agency, we still grieve because, at the core, we are similar, sharing the singular heartbeat of the Earth.
Even if I’m not sure what will appear next in the realities of the Anthropocene or what hope could do, I do know the Earth is too vast, wide, mysterious, and surprising for us to know everything, and that organisms learn, adapt, and evolve in adversity.
I do know that there are creatures amongst us who will know when it’s time to leave their nest and be magnetised by the waters and the wind of the great magnetic earth. I do know there are human beings that might have developed a sense of magnetoreception in desperate hours and that there are people who meditate and pray to send their energies to distant places with a firm belief that the world would become more peaceful.
So today I could either choose to sadden my spirit by believing that nothing can be said, done, or offered, or believe that it is not so, and that the heart is tender but also resilient. It does carry the songs, the energy, the magnetism, and the medicine that could heal those that have become sickened and blinded by greed and power.
Words by Priyanka Parihar
Photos by Paul Cupido
