On Nature and Witchcraft
‘‘And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.’’
~William Shakespeare
‘‘Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.’’
~William Wordsworth
I am an animist. I believe that everything in the natural world - trees, plants, animals, mountains etc - has a spirit, a soul. I truly believe, and have experienced for myself, that a strong connection with nature will have a profound effect on your witchcraft or spiritual practice. In fact I’d go further and say a relationship with nature has a profound affect on your life generally speaking.
Building a relationship with nature is a long process, always ongoing and evolving. But it doesn’t have to be difficult but it does require time and effort.
The deep and dark wild woods, mysterious and magical, have an almost mythic status amongst Pagans, indeed there is something so alluring about losing oneself beneath the canopy of the forest. But there is almost a fallacy about this idea in that it can detract from the nature that can be found on your own doorstep, and really the best place to start is somewhere close to you, somewhere you can visit daily or weekly. It can be a garden if you have one, or a local patch of trees, whatever. What is important is that you can get there as often as possible.
And besides, as much as we might think or want to believe that a beautiful relationship with some ancient forest would be, quite often the truth is the forest doesn’t want us there. Why would it? For the most part we have lost our connection to the land, instead seeing it as something that can be used, a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.
But that connection can be rekindled.
Get yourself some good identification guides, and familiarise yourself with what grows where you live. Learn the names, myths and legends of the trees and fauna. As the year passes and the seasons pass, watch the changes that occur within your local landscape. Are there birds that arrive at certain times of the year? What species are resident all year round? Make notes if you wish. Are there any patterns you can discern? What creatures are there? Insects too?
It doesn’t matter where you live, town, city or country, there will be nature somewhere near you for nature abhors a vacuum. If you can, meditate or just sit quietly beneath a tree then do it. Try and do this everyday or as often as you can.
Become a keeper of your area, a steward if you will. Clean up any rubbish and detritus. Look after it, cherish it and you will be rewarded.
Building a relationship with nature also includes accepting all aspects of it. Nature is nourishing, life giving and beautiful. Nature is also destructive and hard, seemingly cruel sometimes, indifferent ( of course nature is neither cruel or indifferent). I think this aspect is sometimes glossed over in modern Paganism, but it is important to recognise that nature is multifaceted and incorporate it into our practise. I guess I’m saying, that at the least, try not to be a fair weather witch. Make an effort to go out in a storm, in the snow, when it’s wet and windy. When it is uncomfortable and the allure of our centrally heated homes is strong. Try and go out at different times as well. The woods at night is a very different place than the woods in the day, and in winter than in summer, you get the idea.
I also think that building a respectful relationship with nature extends into your day to day life. Reduce, reuse and recycle, yes, absolutely, but there are other simple things you can do to be kinder to nature. Firstly, be aware of the products you buy ( I often say the only real freedoms we have are what to think and what to buy but there is a continuous war waged on these fronts too), both for your day to day life, and for your witchcraft. Are your cleaning and beauty products tested on animals? Is your meat factory farmed? Are your clothes made by some kid in a sweatshop? Try your best to shop ethically. It is hard, so hard when money is tight, so don’t feel guilty if you do have to shop at cheaper stores or have to put survival before your morals, such is the choice many people face, but make the effort to do what you can!
When it comes to your witchcraft, question whether you need this or that crystal, altar tool, statue, whatever (and if my own experience is anything to go by, you probably don’t). Question everything! Instead of mass produced tat that pollutes the earth, buy from crafts people, who having taken the time and effort to ritually create fantastic pieces. The most powerful altar tools are those which you have found in nature, things like interesting stones and driftwood, and those that you have created for yourself.
Getting to know nature is an adventure, and a good one at that! It’s an exhilarating feeling, to be out in the great outdoors. Feel the spirit of nature, let yourself be free! Feel the wind in your face, the warm kiss of the summer sun, or the cold of deep winter. Experience it all!
In my own practice, I work with the spirits of place, my genius loci, and this is perhaps the greatest gift getting to know nature has bestowed upon me. My genius loci include those whom reside close to my home, and those slightly further afield, but close enough to get to daily or weekly. This relationship has taken time and effort to achieve, and is something that will take time and effort to maintain, but of course, really, it is no effort at all because it is what I want, an integral part of my witchcraft.Whether you want to work with your own genius loci is something that you will have to decide for yourself.
There is a magic in nature, one that cannot be described by words alone. It is a soul deep feeling that nourishes and makes us strong. Losing that feeling, disconnecting from that nature is the root of many of today’s problems. It is what makes us use and abuse the planet, the environment, animals and other humans. We forget that all is connected, that there is one whole and whilst we all may be separate, individuals, we are also all connected. Destroy one part and we destroy ourselves.
‘‘One touch of nature makes the whole world kin’’
~William Shakespeare
“I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It's so fuckin' heroic.”
~George Carlin‘‘Everywhere we look, complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes.’’
~Vincent Van Gogh
EMMA KATHRYN
My name is Emma Kathryn, my path is a mixture of traditional European witchcraft, vodou and obeah, a mixture representing my heritage. I live in the sticks with my family where I read tarot, practice witchcraft and drink copious amounts of coffee.
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