PBP: Bioregional Witchery

Tags

2014pbp, bioregionalism, pagan blog project, witchcraft

I tend to talk a lot around here about loving where you live…in fact, last year for the letter B, I had yet another post on that very subject (also for the letter P, the letter L, the letter F…heck, even some of the letters I *didn’t* get to were going to be on that subject!).  So, it should be of absolutely no surprise what-so-ever to my regular readers to greet this topic again.

A bit of a crash course (in case you declined to follow the links):

Bioregion: An area with similar natural characteristics, including plant and animal life, human culture, climate, and continuous geographic terrain.  Varies by scale, from a larger ecoregion (akin to a biome), to a very localized bioregion, depending on the features being considered–smaller bioregions nest into one another, and into larger ecoregions, and can overlap as well.

Bioregionalism:  Emphasizes the bioregion as the basis for a healthier co-existence between human culture and the natural environment and sees humanity and its culture as a part of nature, and calls upon people to build positive, sustainable relationships with their bioregion.

Spiritual Bioregionalism: Considers the bioregion, and its inhabitants (including people, past and present) as the originating inspiration for religious and spiritual beliefs.  Uses both the ideas of human cultures and ecology as the framework for a personal (though share-able) and organic religious tradition.  Is firmly rooted in the idea of “spirit of place” and celebrates the cycles of nature in relevance to individual bioregions, as well as those personally relevant in an individual’s culture.

Spiritual Bioregionalism (as I conceive it) is bound to a single idea–showing responsibility towards the environment and ALL of its inhabitants (including fellow humans) and respecting their capacity for self-determination.  It is centered in the notion that the bioregion can take the place of a central deity (without being a deity, unless you wanted it to be one), and be interacted with and celebrated using traditional human ideas of godhood.  This interaction may (or may not) include belief in gods–whether it be one god, shit tons of gods, or no gods at all, and whether the nature of belief in said gods is literal, symbolic, or non-existent, whether said gods are a historical or created pantheon (or are the natural features of the bioregion themselves).  Spiritual  Bioregionalism calls upon us to worship (or not) in any way that  brings  ecstasy  and  reverence  while  honoring  the cycles and stages of the bioregion and its inhabitants, and may or may not include the practice of magic (however one chooses to believe in it).

So, when it comes to being a witch, it may come as no surprise that one of my most sacred ideas is that “witchery starts where you live”.  It starts with rooting yourself where you live, and learning to love it–as an act of devotion.  It calls means  grounding yourself in the energies of your locus–your landbase, your bit’o’land, whatever you want to call it (and wherever it may be located–your backyard, a shady spot in a local park, a tree in a courtyard).  It calls upon is to make peace with the history of our locus–in this area of Virginia, that includes the displacement of the native people, two wars fought in this area specifically, and the bondage of thousands of human beings.  It includes reconciling the disparate origins and cultures (new, and old) of the people that share one’s locus–they (and the structures they have erected–buildings, statues, even parking lots and strip malls) are as much a part of its energy as plants and animals and rocks and things.

And speaking of rocks and trees and river otters and horseshoe crabs…  Part of bioregional witchery is knowing your own flora and fauna, and the distinctive energies and feel of your local species.  It is finding the place where you can forage for peppergrass (I just used my last bit up) and where the mulberry trees are (I’m running low on those too), knowing which tree on the drive in to work has the bald eagle nest and where the deer like to hang out in the early morning.  Its is knowing your land well enough to grok where to put that protection charm, or dispose of an old spell, or where to make an offering to…whom ever you are making an offering to.  Its knowing which plants are invasive to the native ecosystem and getting rid of them, even if they are pretty…and even if they have a “traditional” correspondence that is useful.  It is finding new correspondences using native species (ethically and legally sourced, of course) and using traditional correspondences obtained from local sources when possible–knowing where to shop is just as important as knowing where to forage!

Bioregional witchery is about making magic with the immediate energy of the world around you, and co-creating relationships with the entirety of one’s surroundings.

A post for the letter B, click here to check out more!

Serving the Elements: Air

Tags

air, elements, magic, pagan, ritual, witchcraft

*air is invisible but felt all around us and seen only by its influence*

Blessing of Air
May the blessings of the air be upon you,
A soft breeze to refresh you,
A strong wind to lift you up,
Great golden wings to enfold and heal you.

– blessing from a Pagan handfasting ceremony
(via The Blessing Files)

The strongest quality of air is truth.  Air is an element of intellect, of thoughts, and of the mind…whether bright and clear or dark and clouded.    In ancient Greece, the element air was sometimes associated with one’s spirit.

Scientifically speaking: What we call “air” is really our atmosphere.  Our atmosphere is mainly composed of Nitrogen (78.1%) and Oxygen (20.9%).  The remaining 1% (due to rounding, it looks like 1% with the numbers I’ve used, but really its more like 0.97%) are Argon (0.93%) and Carbon Dioxide* (0.035%), as well as even smaller amounts (in order) of Neon, Helium, Methane, Krypton, molecular Hydrogen (H₂), Nitrous Oxide, Carbon Monoxide, Xenon, Ozone, Nitrous Dioxide, Iodine, and Ammonia.  Another component of the atmosphere is, of course, water vapor (its not included in these calculations of percentage, though it makes up an average of 0.25% of the atmosphere by weight, ranging from 0.oo1%-5% locally). (source)

Our atmosphere is divided up into layers, a bit like a cake.  There’s a mnemonic to remember the 5 principle atmospheric layers–The Strong Man’s Triceps Explode (or Thoughtful Schools Manufacture Terrific Experiences…or Terrible Sun Melts Tiny Eskimo!) , which stands for (from the surface of the Earth, out) Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, Exosphere.  The atmosphere, in some ways, behaves like the oceans, in that there are tides, and currents, and waves, that move energy and molecules.

The troposphere is where weather happens–it contains about 80% of the atmosphere’s mass (including 99% of its water and other aerosols) and extends 4-12 miles above earth (the heights it reaches depends on a location’s latitude and altitude).  Nearly all weather occurs here

In the stratosphere, the coolest temperatures are found closest to Earth, and the highest temperatures are the furthest away.  Other than airplanes (people) and birds, which can fly in the lower parts of the stratosphere, bacteria is the only life form that can be found in the stratosphere.  Also, the stratosphere is quite dry, and it is home to the ozone layer, which protects us from the Sun’s UV rays.

Scientists don’t actually know much about the mesosphere, compared to the other layers of the atmosphere–its too low for satellites and too high for planes and weather balloons (between 31 and 53 miles high).  One thing we do know, though, is that it is the place where meteors burn up in the atmosphere…but its really cold, around -90 degrees C or -130 degrees F (they burn up because of friction with the gas molecules in the mesosphere).  Its also home to a couple of neat phenomena–noctilucent clouds (wispy, almost glowing clouds visible around and after sunset) and sprites (a type of lightning that occurs over thunderstorms, glows red, and is best visible from sky).

The thermosphere, in contrast to the mesosphere, is hot.  Really hot.  It increases in temperature the further from Earth one travels, and the temperature varies between night and day and what is known as the solar minimum and the solar maximum (which has to do with sunspot activity), but the average temperature range for the upper thermosphere is 500-2000 degrees C (932-3632 degress F).  Space shuttles and the International Space Station orbit Earth in the thermosphere…this is also where the aurora happens!

Lastly, we have the exosphere.  Depending on where one gets their information, it is either the last layer of Earth’s atmosphere, or the first “layer” of space…some sources actually consider “space” to start in the thermosphere (How high is space anyhow?).  Either way, this region is where the lightest elements wind up, still bound by Earth’s gravity…but tenuously.

Traditional Correspondences: East, flying, sound, yellow, mountaintops, wind-swept plains, cloudy skies, knowledge, recovering lost items, fragrant herbs and flowers, light stones (such as pumice) and transparent stones (such as mica), wind instruments, birds and winged insects, airplanes, balloons, bubbles, spring, dawn, wands (magical tool and tarot–but beware the “controversy”, in some systems swords are associated with air, and wands with fire), feathers, incense smoke, divination, concentration, visualization, wind magic

Deity Correspondences:  There really aren’t any gods of air, specifically.  There are, however, sky deities and wind deities. My “favorite” is Aeolus, the Keeper of the Winds from Greek mythology.

In the natural world, Air is associated most closely with the sky, wind, and clouds. Mountain peaks, which seem to touch the sky, are also Air. Birds of all kinds belong to this element, and hawks and eagles are especially associated with Air because they fly so very high and make their nests at such high altitudes. A stork or duck, by contrast, is a less powerful symbol of Air because, although these birds fly, they live in and near the water.

In a person, Air is associated with thought and with the intellect, corresponding in the Witches’ Pyramid to “To Know.”1 Ideas are said to come from Air, as is inspiration, a word that also means “to breathe in.” Logic and scholarship are Air functions, which is perhaps why academics are said to live in ivory towers as opposed to ivory basements. People who spend all their time thinking “have their heads in the clouds,” and if they’re “airheads,” they mistake imagination for real life and are impractical (because practicality is an Earth quality, which they lack).

The direction of Air is the East, and since the Sun rises in the east, Air is associated with the morning, with the spring (the beginning of the agricultural and astrological year), and with beginnings of all kinds. Anything that “dawns” is a thing of Air. The things in our lives that dawn, be they projects, creations, or careers, dawn with an idea. Often inspiration feels like the sunrise; a bright beginning full of promise and possibility. Since seeds are beginnings and are associated with the spring, seeds, too, belong to Air.

Deborah Lipp, The Way of Four

Getting to know air:

• Go fly a kite (made of natural materials that will biodegrade without causing damage).  But DO NOT release balloons!  They just become pollution.
• Take a hot air balloon ride
• Spend an afternoon (or morning) watching the clouds roll by
• Skydive, parasail, bungee jump, etc
• Volunteer at a bird sanctuary or wildlife refuge that rehabilitates birds
• Keep track of a nest
• Get to know your backyard birds–put up a bird feeder and pick up a field guide
• Make a set of windchimes
• Create a shrine to the four winds (or to another spirit or deity associated with air
• Plant a tree and study photosynthesis and respiration
• DO NOT collect feathers from migratory and native bird species in the US, if you would like to collect feathers, go through someone that is properly permitted
• Learn your native birds and winged insects
• Make a bee box, a bat box or a bird house (or all three!)

How I do it differently…Adapting Correspondences:

If you’ve been a reader of my my blog for awhile, it comes of no surprise that I’ve made some changes, adaptations, etc to the conventional correspondences that fit my practice and beliefs better.  I’ve mentioned many times over that I’m a big believer in witchcraft being an extension of one’s geography–that part of our job is to *grok* the forces and cycles that are native to one’s location and to work with them, forging our own relationship, rather than some formula from some book by some guy (or gal).  Now, if it just so happens that those correspondences work for you, that is awesome…and if you aren’t sure, try on the traditional correspondences for a bit, and shift them as needed for your environment.  I promise, you won’t break anything!

So, for me, air is now.  Its an end-of-summer, fall thing (hurricane season), its a North correspondence, and air, as an elemental force, reaches its peak around Samhain…

Serving Air:

Through ignorance and carelessness we have poisoned your clean air. For monetary gain we have reduced verdant forests, the lungs of our world, to barren wastes. In our craving for more we have plundered your beloved creation and driven many of our fellow creatures to extinction. Only recently have we begun to realize the dangerous future into which our current patterns of consumption and waste are driving us, especially in relation to earth’s climate. Only recently have we begun to see our need to find a wiser and better way of life, before it is too late and our choices are limited by the consequences of inaction. Lord of the Winds, in your mercy, hear our prayer.3

I pray that I may draw a lifesaving breath. This is the most important element of health, to breathe clean and unpolluted air.

(from my Prayer for Clean Air)

Plant a tree.  Stop smoking.  Plant another tree.  Drive less.  Plant a tree.  Turn off your lights and wash your clothes in cold water.  Plant a tree.  Write your representatives to support limits on air pollution by industry and fuel efficiency standards for vehicles and alternative energy.  Plant another tree.  Stop buying furniture made from rain forests.  Plant a tree.  Stop buying ANYTHING made from rain forests, unless it is ethically sourced and fairly traded in a way that supports local peoples.  Plant more trees.  Plant sea grass.  Let your lawn grow as high as you can without getting a citation.  Plant a tree.  Get rid of your lawn, and make it a certified wildlife habitat, and a place for birds and bees and butterflies.  And for goodness’ sake, plant another tree!

Read the rest of the series: Earth, Fire, Water, Intro

Ring in the New Year With a Tree

Tags

bioregionalism, native plants, trees, witch, witchcraft

So…I’ve been doing a fair amount of internet browsy-browsy out of sheer laziness on my part.  Part of it is because I’m still recovering a bit from the ick, but mostly its because the weather has also been a bit ick…and I find the combination of the two to be a bit draining.  The Hubby sometimes makes the joke that I’m solar-powered–I have to have sunlight just to function.  I don’t fully wake up til the sun streams in the window and I need the shades open and fake lights off to really do justice to the day.  Working nights when I wa in the military was difficult, mainly because it was so darn hard for me to sleep in the day.

But my solar powered-ness isn’t really the point of this so much as some of my browsy-browsy ponderings, and what they suggest for our family for the new year.  I have a couple I’ll probably be turning into posts, but right now, this is the one I’ve been thinking upon for most of the day:

If Druids indeed live all over the planet then we need to know the magical trees and their lives and uses more than we need to know the trees of Britain I would think. Indeed I think it’s kind of lazy not to know what is around you and waiting for your attention. So who is outside your window waiting for you to notice?

From Adventures and Musings of a Hedgewitch

Holly-effing-loo-lah!

Seriously, I’ve been wondering this forever.  Its not just Druidry and trees–thumb through just about any herbal correspondence.  Same thing there too.

Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) & photo for Day 2 of the First 31 Photo Challenge, taken on my cell phone since my real camera is in the car, which is at work with The Hubby!

I’ve said it enough times that I think I’m a broken record on the subject, but part of being a witch is being part of one’s environment.  That means knowing my local plants and animals, knowing where my water comes from, what my geography means for my weather patterns, what the natural AND human history of my land base is, and where my soil comes from. That means darn well knowing what my local trees are!

We have birch, and willow and ash too…but there ain’t no bald cypress in England (or, for that matter, any outside of a fairly narrow range in the southeastern US).  And any witch worth her salt within spittin’ distance of a bald cypress should be able to tell you that its one of the most woo woo plants out there.  Not to mention sassafras, the paw paw, live oak…

Every one of us lives in a unique ecosystem with a unique history.  Our ecosystem can strengthen us, can teach us, can shape us…if we let it.  If we know how to talk to it–and more importantly, if we know how to listen to it.

Which brings me to this year’s bloggy goal (I prefer goals over resolutions): Be more bioregional in purpose and practice.

And that gets us back to trees…

Which tree species are in your yard?  On your block?  In your neighborhood?  In your bioregion?  How many of them are native vs. naturalized?   Are any of them invasive?  What animals make their homes in them? What do they provide to the ecosystem?  What do they look like in the different seasons of the year?  How do they disperse their seeds?

What do they say to you when you sit under one of them or climb into its branches?

Get to Know Your Tree Resources:
Leafsnap, an Ipad app (as I twiddle my thumbs waiting for the android version…)
The Arbor Day Foundation (has tons of stuff, from an online tree guide to growing info)
Making an herbarium
Our family’s Year of a Leaf Meditation
A Must Read Book

Serving the Elements: Earth

Tags

earth, elements, magic, pagan, witchcraft

Blessing of Earth

May the blessings of the earth be upon you,
A sheltering cave to bring you to birth and securely hold you,
The fertile soil to nourish you,
The green grass to lay soft under you.

– blessing from a Pagan handfasting ceremony

(via The Blessing Files)

Sadness of Gaia by Josephine Wall, used with permission

If Water is the element of flow, Earth is the element of deep stillness and slumbering power.  The element of caverns and fertile fields, of sandy shores and granite peaks.  Earth is the embodiment of Nature–every rock and every tree, the living landscape of life and the recycling of itself in death and in the grave.

A human being’s Earth is her body. From Earth comes solidity, stability, and commitment. We call Earth our home, both the home of all life that is Mother Earth, and the house or apartment we live in. By extension, Earth is hearth and family and all those qualities that make us feel “at home.”  To be an earthy person is to be pragmatic, realistic, and tactile. Good Earth qualities in a person make her “the salt of the earth,” but an excess of negative Earth qualities make her a “stick-in-the-mud.” Earth is that deep, solid, immobile place, both in the negative sense of stubborn and in the positive sense of patient. The Witches’ Pyramid describes this quality in the attribute “To Be Silent.”

Deborah Lipp

Scientifically Speaking:
Earth (unlike water)  is a bit of a complicated element…when it comes to “earth” from a scientific perspective.  It can refer to the planet in its entirety (either as a geological phenomenon or a ecological one), or it can refer to the solid stuff we walk on, known collectively as rocks and/or dirt.

Rocks: A rock is any naturally occurring mass of mineral matter.  All rocks fall into one of three broad categories that are based on the formation of the individual rock type.  Rocks are made  (and destroyed) in a cycle known (how’s this for complex naming systems?) as the Rock Cycle (lol).  The first type of rock, igneous rock, is made when molten rock cools and hardens, and includes granite, obsidian, basalt and pumice.  The second sort of rock is sedimentary rock, which is formed by the layering of deposited pieces of igneous, metamorphic and other sedimentary rock, as well as dead animals and plants, which make fossils.  Common types of sedimentary rock include sandstone, shale, limestone, coal and gypsum.  The third type of rock is metamorphic rock, which forms when sedimentary rock or igneous rock is heated or pressurized, and includes marble, slate and quartzite.

Dirt: Soil forms the outermost layer of our earth. It is composed of minerals (45%), organic matter (5%), water (25%), and air (25%). Soil is formed by a combination of geological, chemical, and biological processes–geology determines the rock type and mineral composition while chemical weathering, erosion and organisms such as fungi, lichen and plants (roots) break up rock to help form soil.  Developed soil forms layers called “horizons”, which make a cross-section of soil look a bit like a layer cake.  All soils have at least one horizon, but most have 3 or 4.  While the soil profile of any given location varies, the most common profile is the O-A-B-C-R profile, which is an abbreviation for the progression of horizons (Organic, A horizon–hummus, B horizon–subsoil, C horizon, Bedrock).  The different compositions of soil form various soil types, which are globally sorted into 12 orders.  In the United States alone, there are at least 70,000 soil types (though different countries have difference criteria and terminology for soil types and profiles).

World Map of the 12 Soil Orders

Etymologically Speaking…

In this worldview, the elements that made up existence were categorized quite broadly as the Classical elements of Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. Our term ‘Earth’, consequently, is derived from a much older word which meant simply ‘the ground’, or ‘the opposite of the sea’–much the way the word ‘earth’ can be used today. These early words for earth, in turn, are references to the Norse goddess Jörð, mother to Thor.

source

Traditional Correspondences:
Star Signs: Tarus, Virgo, Capricorn
Direction: North
Gender: female
Other Correspondences: cattle, pigs, goats, salt, money, winter, fruit, pregnancy, midnight, milk, preservation, fertility, stillness, pentacles (Tarot), caves, fields, bears, bulls, rabbits, lions, stones/rocks/crystals, sand/dirt/soil, seeds and grains, cabbage, potatoes and root vegetables, coins, pentacle, gnomes, goblins, root chakra, the grave
Magical Associations: fertility magic, prosperity rituals, money spells, home protections and blessing, crop/garden blessings, grounding rituals and meditations, rituals and spells for jobs or business success, dying/rebirth rituals, death rituals
Colors: Brown, Black, Greens
Deities: Geb(♂) , Gaia(♀), Emesh(♂), Enten(♂), Hou Tu(♂), Cybele(♀), Magna Mater(♀), Veles(♂), Asase Ya(♀), Asintma(♀), Daikoku-ten(♂), Ninhursag(♀), Beira(♀), Dhara(♂), Coatlicue, Erecura(♀), Proserpina(♀), Enki(♂), Persephone(♀), Demeter(♀), Diti(♀), Pachamama(♀), Ida(♀), Jörð(♀), Sif(♀), Ki(♀), Ops(♀), Prithvi(♀), Liluri(♀), Tu Di Gong(♂), Mat Zemlya(♀), Zemyna(♀), Voltumna(♂),  

Getting to Know Earth: After water, earth is probably the element I feel closest to.  Earth is what stabilizes and grounds us when we walk upon it.  It holds our energy when we need release, and recharges us when we are replete.  But not everyone is an earthy type, and even the earthiest of us can get to know Earth a little bit better.

“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ”

~ Michael Pollan

• Play in the garden: if you don’t have a garden, volunteer at one or plant some plants in pots.
• Try out the art of rangoli–I once read something I have never forgotten the idea of (though I don’t remember the place, and its paraphrased because the exact wording is long forgotten, lol): “our feet are sacred because they are the place where our bodies are always engaging with Earth” and discussed the use of art such as rangoli (which has the added earth connection of its primary medium being sand or flour) or even the use of rugs and floor cloths as a way to more consciously think about how our feet meet the Earth.
• Go for a hike in the woods, walk along a trail in the park, or just sit under a tree
• Learn a bit about earth science or geology–from plate tectonics to types of rocks, learn about the mechanics and the physical properties of the Earth and of earth and how they work.  I haven’t finished reading it yet, but Amazon has a free earth science high school textbook for the Kindle; and there are a number of field guides available on rocks and minerals at the library or book store.
• Make a sand castle, jump in a mud puddle or dig for earthworms
• Pick up trash at a local park or vacant lot, better yet, re-purpose the trash you collect into art (even plastic starts out as part of the earth)
• Sleep outside, just you and a sleeping bag or blanket …either as a nap, or all night long.  I don’t recommend directly in the grass though…getting to know the earth is one thing, getting to know chiggers is something else.

Alternative/Adapted Correspondences & Earth in Ritual:

In my post about water, I wrote that I believe that witchcraft is about being able to *grok* the forces and cycles that are native to one’s location and to act as a force of change.  The witchcraft I practice is an extension of geography and ecology and self…and that means that sometimes traditional correspondences get modified…and sometimes they don’t.  My correspondences for Earth mostly match that of the traditional correspondence of Earth with winter and the North, as well as other traditional correspondences.  In terms of deity, I tend to associate Earth as Gaia, but I also recognize deities such as Demeter and Persephone, as well as deities such Pomona and Floralia, as being connected with the earth.    I also consider money to be a fantastic symbol for earth, as earth’s associations have to do with fertility and growth and abundance and prosperity (while this has been an association that I have seen bother some, historically, salt itself was used as currency).  And something else (a bit random) that many people don’t think about–plastics are part of the earth element…they are manufactured from oil (which is really fossil goop) in the ground.

We can draw upon the energies of earth and of the Earth to energize ourselves and our rituals.  While earth energy can be used in any ritual, it is more suited to some types of magic and/or ritual than others.  Earth as an element works very well as a  key component of spells and rituals for prosperity and fertility, in life-cycle rituals, and in grounding in ritual and meditation.  In cooking magic, earth can be represented by milk, salt, potatoes and carrots, cabbage, grains, etc.  These foods often make good offerings to the Earth itself or to the elemental energies or spirits of earth or of the land (with the exception of salt, which isn’t usually good for the soil).  Tobacco is also often considered an acceptable offering in North America (since it was used by many Native American tribes) for land spirits.

Serving Earth: There are a number of threats facing soil specifically and land in general.  Among these are soil erosion, deforestation, soil contamination, habitat fragmentation, urban sprawl, invasive plants and animals, desertification, solid waste pollution, wetland loss (drainage), suburban expansion and loss of farmland, and loss of biodiversity.  All of these problems though, boil down to issues of land use.

Land use is one of the most striking manifestations of humans’ presence and physical impact on the planet. More fundamentally, humans have altered the global patterns and prevalence of species and ecosystems. Several recent studies confirm that human-dominated ecosystems now cover more of earth’s land surface than do natural or “wild” ecosystems. According to one estimate, more than 75 percent of the earth’s ice-free land shows evidence of alteration from human residence and activity, with less than a quarter remaining as wildland…

…Changes in land use can affect the distribution and type of land cover (such as forests, cropland and urbanized areas), the ability of ecosystems to provide valuable services that support life, and even elevation and terrain.

(source)

So, what are some things can you do, wherever you are?

• Replace a portion of your lawn with Certified Wildlife Habitat.  Talk to your local school about creating a Certified Wildlife Habitat.
• Plant a native garden and get rid of invasive plants in your landscaping (like Bradford Pears, honey suckle, and some 1500+ other species)
• Support tree planting efforts locally and globally, to help prevent desertification.
• Get involved with local ecological restoration efforts! Nearly every community has them, and often they need help.
• Compost your kitchen and yard waste, rather than sending it into the waste stream.
• Reduce, reuse and recycle.  Try to avoid falling into the “planned obsolescence” trap that companies have set up for you by thinking you just *have to have* X product. Check out the Story of Stuff.
• Eat locally.  Buy from your local farmers… especially if they grow food sustainably (sustaibably is not always organic)
• Know about where your stuff comes from and try to buy it as close to home as possible (plus it creates jobs here), and with natural materials whenever possible (for example, cotton not Lycra)
• Pick up trash when you are out and about, at the park, walking down the street, etc.

Interesting Stuff:
Salt from seawater
Plate Tectonics Animations
Hymn to Gaia
Earth Meditation Ritual
Online Gallery of Minerals
History of Salt
Tree Meditation
Wikipedia Article on Earth as a Classical Element
Supreme Pentagram Ritual of Earth

*part 2 of my Serving the Elements series*

Thalassa’s Witchy Manifesto:

Tags

Divinity, magic, personal philosophy, witchcraft

1. I believe that the uni(multi?)verse is the physical “body” of the Divine and that the nature of the Divine is essentially unknowable in its entirety.
2. I believe that the non-physical expression of the Divine is through unseen energies/powers/forces/elements (though these are probably inaccurate/inadequate terms as well) that we are (as of yet) unable to objectify.
3. I do not believe in dieties in the literal sense, but rather as anthropomorphic archetypes (generally embodying these forces) that we have created in order to interface with Divinity (I use Divine/Divinity because they are the least limiting terms in the English language with the least baggage that I have managed to come up with yet.).
4.  I believe that witchcraft is the interaction between the self and the essence of the Divine–and not *just* its physical ‘body’ and that it can be used as a pipeline/channel for one to use Divinity (whether it be via working with the archetypes or elements) to achieve a desired result
5.  I use witchcraft to achieve a sense of nuanaarpok/nuanaarpuq (an Inuit term with a multitude of spellings that means something akin to taking extravagant pleasure in the act of living) for myself and my family, to find the sacred in the mundane (and sometimes in the profane) in our everyday lives, and to make our home (and ourselves) a sacred space.

*caveat emptor*  unfortunately the English language is some what inadequate to express many things…IMO, in any discussion of spiritual ideas, this becomes even more evident…this being the case, I apologize  for being unable to properly express myself here.