How Regenerative Farms Can Save Your Soul As Well As The Soil
- Brainz Magazine
- Jun 25
- 10 min read
Written by Gemma Gains, Director
Gemma Gains is a Space Holder and Facilitator in the world of healing and transformation. She specializes in the subtleties of reading and harnessing energy.
I start this article on a glorious Sunday evening, I have taken myself off to a remote side of the farm I live on, I sit in the hedgerow, sun on my face, red kites circling over the cut grass as I watch an elegant doe walk towards me, and I think about what I am about to write, a tear rolls as I think about how wildly privileged I am in this moment.
How do we ever know when we are doing the right thing?
Working as a holistic therapist changed massively when I started spending time with regenerative farmers. An epiphany swept over me, that our health as a society has as much to do with the way we connect with the land, nature, and ecosystems as it does with our day-to-day choices. The micro and macro touched down and met in symbiosis.
I write this article inspired by an Aubrey Marcus podcast I heard this spring, where he talked about healing the tale of 2 brothers, Cain and Abel. He spoke emotionally about healing the separation and destruction. And it dawned on me from his life choices that he may be looking in the wrong place, as most of us are, not by choice but by misinterpretation.
When I work with clients, my main focus is on undressing the stories they tell themselves. Programs, if you will, are uploaded by parents, society, and media. If I generalised, mainly being attached through the mechanism of a lack of sovereignty and self-actualisation. Believing that they are wrong and everything external is correct. Together, we rewrite those stories by going to their Genesis and talking through how there could have been misinterpretations and intentions for those stories to be told. Punishment, control, and entertainment, soothing, etc.
Stories have been told for as long as humans have had ears to hear them. The myths, the legends, the tales, and the bedtime stories. Stories are powerful! They can lift, inspire, and connect, harm, cause destruction, induce emotions, and separate. They are a tool.
Our whole being here on this earth is a story; there are many variations, who we are, what we are doing here, what we should and should not be doing, and how we should live. All stories. How we make a living in this day and age seems to be making a huge impact on our general health and the health of the planet we inhabit.
The power of misinterpretation and the balancing of curiosity
What if the story of Cain and Abel (one of the oldest stories) from Genesis 4 was not about jealousy, divine favouritism (which I believe is the biggest clue that this story is disingenuous), sibling rivalry, and murder? What if it’s a story about what it means to be human? Why are we here? How should we live, and how should we make a living?
What if it had been used to justify land ownership? Hierarchy? And disconnection from nature? And therefore, the destruction of humans’ nomadic ancestry, the reciprocal relationship we once had with nature? Our living?
Abel and Cain, two heads of the same coin
Doing some really light research into the story, it is quite easy to see the narrative fall apart. After going deeper into other biblical references, I believe that the names are, in fact, more about the meanings of the names, rather than them being an actual person’s name. (mainly because you would not be able to name someone at birth with the meaning of what they would do as an adult, but completely open to be wrong about that).
Cain is the firstborn son. His name means Acquire/Possessor, “I have gotten” is the translation of Kaniti or Kayan used for Cain. Cain was described as a farmer, a worker of the soil. Harvesting. Which requires a stationary existence, boundaries, and ownership.
Abel means Breath/Vapour. “The fleeting nature of life.” Hevel is often translated as “not lasting, temporary of human existence. Ablu (an Assyrian word) meaning “passing.” But the sentence that really landed for me was “the air that remains after you exhale”. Abel is described as a nomadic shepherd, moving with the rhythms of the land.
What if God’s ‘favouring’ was not about man to man, or the sacrifices they made to God, but about how they acquired the offering? Was God pointing out that the way the men lived was the greatest offering? To themselves and Mother Earth?
Possession: The first sin
The Earth, humans, matter, trees, rivers, lakes, and animals were created! Amazing! All this beautiful goodness in the world to eat and enjoy. Life is good!, If you look to the natural world and our animal cousins, they travel, Orcas navigate full oceans, Elephants across continents, and chimps loop around their territory to collect food and water. The beautiful and very natural circles of life, evolving and dismantling, growing and dying.
If all this belongs to no one, how do you claim part of it as your own? And why would you? Fear? Hunger, Conflict? Or could you have believed that from your birth, you were inherently wrong? Sinful? Evil? Not worthy? Thrown from your harmony? (I write about this in Articles found on Brainz)
No, demonic or spirit possession is not considered the original sin in Christian theology. Original sin refers to the sinful state inherited by all humans as a result of Adam and Eve's transgression in the Garden of Eden. While demonic possession is a real and serious issue, it is a separate concept from original sin.
Possession, in which Satan or demons take full possession of a person's body without their consent.
Found these on a brief indulgence into the word possession. How do you change a belief system? When do you want to control? Dominate? Or take power? Take something that does not belong to you? A story, if believed, could take possession?
Cain felt he was snubbed by God, in his wrath, he took Abel into the ‘field’ and killed him with a rock. This is the peak of the story; the symbolism is strong. Cain’s offering was not accepted by God, not randomly or out of spite, but because it came from domination and control. Cain’s choice of murder through the eyes of envy came from an insecurity of his original sin, possession. He wants to be seen as more worthy through his lens of ownership. “My worthiness lies in acquiring”. Abel’s death in the field, in the pen, the sealed enclosure, was symbolic of the death of the nomadic way of life and so much more
Worship of possession and the loss of the sacred
In our current climate, ownership, the beliefs of worthiness coming from acquiring, are powering consumerism and the destruction of the natural world. And I don’t know why but avocados always spring to my mind, up until very recently most of the western world had never experienced an avocado, let alone considered it a ‘Super food’, packed with life affirming nutrients and minerals that we did with out for thousands of years, now land that was once jungle, wild and bountiful, teeming with life, now fields of avos, solely harvested to meet the unrealistic expectations of nations now believing that they can’t have brunch with out one.
This story has depth in all manner of sin, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, and Sloth. The narrative twisted to invent ‘property’, land control, and the Empire. I hear so often how our soil has degenerated to an alarming degree, with some saying we have 60 years of topsoil. Land has been poisoned, scorched, and exploited with no thought of consequence, while a few men have gotten ‘Fat’ off the land, watching many men toil and labour (another inherited sin from the Eden story). Agriculture, which started some 11,700 years ago, was not inherently negative. The idea was not born from the intention of Depletion, but from genius, from working with the natural world to provide sustenance for growing communities.
With this new innovation, the sin of possession could feed the ego. Fuel the few that needed power and control. Through the ‘might makes right’ principle, claims to land were made. The aptly named ‘Doomsday’ book was our (England’s) first documented record of land ownership. And as the nomadic reverence of the land disintegrated, the Feudal System rose, cutting off land to dwellers and into the hands of Barons and the church (look at that).
Many men who worshipped the land, lived their lives by the cycles of the moon and sun, who could smell when rain was coming, and who had intimate relationships with the land and all who inhabited it, were given jobs. Paid to manage the land they once prayed to.
The cost: Ecological and spiritual collapse
Most of us are not aware of the state of the soil. Society has completely disconnected itself from the very thing that keeps us all alive. We have no idea of the devastation that comes from agriculture, monoculture, and desertification. But what we are starting to see in society is the chronic disease that is being fuelled by fertilised crops. Social media is filling up with so many individuals talking about ‘Roundup’ and other chemicals being sprayed all over our food. Talking about the devastating drop in bee numbers and insects as a whole. But if your social media algorithm isn’t wired up for health, you would never ever know.
I speak in pretty much all my work about the importance of our connection to nature, so I’ll not go into the same thread, but what I will do is bring up the destruction and genocide of Native American Indians, whose connection to the land and Buffalo was sacred. Living alongside the animals, using every part of their kill to facilitate overwhelming abundance to their tribes, building shelter, clothes, food, and spiritual tools and weapons. Believing.
“wealth is not determined by how much you have but by how much you give away.”
After Cain kills Abel, God tells him. “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (I feel this to be a metaphor of the Carbon leaving the earth, with the deeper meaning of Abel’s name, see above)
The ‘curse’ that God bestows on Cain is actually the path to reconnection, into the nomadic reverence, exiled into wandering the world to find wonder again. To find fresh earth, to give his land a break to heal, to facilitate renewal.
Reclaiming the sacred in the nomadic
After meeting many souls from the Regenerative Farming Community, I have looked at spirituality in a completely different way. They are more ‘spiritual’ than all the men/women in beads I have met at retreats and events. Divinely connected to their land, animals, and the intrinsic symbiosis of all life and how we shepherd, harness, and nurture it. Using consequence and intuition to strategise plans to fulfil the needs of the community as well as the nature that supports it. Willing to share information, help one another to succeed, and team up for the greater good.
The land we live on, the life that we live, is not permanent. We do not own the body we live in, in the same way that we do not own the earth; we must care for them in the same way. A sedentary life will not help a body in the same way it harms the earth. Couch potato screen transfixed entertainment, escapism, is causing spiritual, emotional, and physical harm. Our culture of consumerism, overeating, overindulging, and wanting so much all comes from a collective wound of not feeling enough. Feeling powerless.
Rewilding ourselves is as much about individual health as it is collective. Sharing what we have could be the very thing that changes us. Reusing, reinventing, and collectively pursuing indigenous perspectives, Earth-based spirituality rather than New Age Cosmic escapism would ground us in the now, into what really matters. Building the bridge back to our nature, to more movement, to more sun, more freedom, to a less is more ethos, we could change the future of what making a living looks like! For us and future generations.
Modern-day spirituality has become an industry, and the demand for more crystals, retreats, ceremonies, kaftans, yoga mats, ponchos, beads, and incense has left us wanting; the whole has not been filled because the story is weak. Possession will never lead you to wholeness.
The stories we tell: Myth as mirror
Stories have the ability to fence us in and keep us small. To bring feelings of unworthiness and loneliness, and they also have the power to liberate! To empower and to inspire! I’m thinking of ‘Dances with Wolves’, if you haven’t, watch it, it will make this article make sense if it has not already.
Some stories just are not true, and with so much of the work that I do with my clients, we find this to be the case. Sometimes it is not that we find the story changing hard to grasp, but mostly we feel sad, angry, and confused as to why it was changed at all!
Fortunately, God has an opponent, a balancing force that we get to play with, and we get to show our power and choose. To discern is, for me, the greatest ‘spiritual’ act we can choose for ourselves, to question with a child’s mind. And in that curiosity, we see so much more.
Power will have you believing that you don’t have it, to hide that they don’t either. That is how the opponent works. Creating an illusion so it can confuse, manipulate, and increase fear.
Cain was in fear when he chose. You don’t have to choose fear. You can see false power when it claims it! Goliath also fell at the hands of David (the shepherd); Goliath means corporation; if you are interested in undressing some more stories.
The story of Cain and Abel is a cautionary tale about losing our sacred connection to life by trying to own it.
(I started building a business 6 years ago. Called Eden (Everybody’s Den), when my son was born, my whole outlook on life changed. I was not living before; I was existing. My intention is to build regenerative farms that centre communities not just with food, but with education, safety, connection, support, and nurture a brighter future for all. The parish was once the centre of many communities, and it became parasitic in nature. Using aid to front the exploitation of taxes. This still goes on today. Our sovereignty, or lack of, needs attention; the story of how our societies are governed needs rewriting. The math ain’t mathing as my friend would say. Things may seem far too big to challenge or change, but if you speak to a regenerative farmer, they will say how big the little changes are. We are nature, and like a wilting plant, if you change the environment, we will grow. Exponentially! I write to inspire research, new thoughts, and reflection.)
Read more from Gemma Gains
Gemma Gains, Director
Gemma is a space holder, guiding you as a compassionate, protective, and dedicated shepherd through the subtle energies of your field. With patience and wisdom, Gemma uses her intuitive card readings, deep conversation, and body work to help release blockages and heal generational traumas, realigning your energetic flow. Drawing on principles of quantum physics, Gemma can help you understand how your inner world reflects your relationships with yourself, others, and the Earth. As your unwavering guide, Gemma is dedicated to supporting you in returning to a "right" relationship with yourself, while leaving you with full autonomy over your healing journey. Her intention is to empower you to reconnect with your true self and cultivate harmony within your body, energy, and the world around you.
