Spiritual Collaboration with Land and Places

Many years ago I participated in a Druid ceremony where we were asked to speak out loud the name of the land we steward and to proclaim our promise to collaborate, protect, and be in service to it. In a large group of women we each stepped forward and announced our title and promise.

I remember the teacher reminding us to be mindful of what we say to the land, that it and all the spirits and creatures were listening to every word. To claim this service to the land felt like an initiation of sorts. We then held hands and began a traditional spiral dance that moved inwards and outwards. As we moved together as one, some of us began to notice that swarms of black grasshoppers in the tall grass at our feet had joined us, hopping around us vibrantly. When the dance stopped we stood there for a moment observing the thousands of grasshoppers in delight. A sign from the land that we had been heard.

It was a wonderful experience I was grateful to take part in, and I felt my connection to my land shift on a much deeper level. I just didn’t really know what that meant at the time but it didn’t take long for me to find out. Within a year the land where I live and offer healing on began to show me the shadows that linger nearby. It also wanted to me to understand that there were some things breaching the boundaries of the space I was trying to hold here. Events occurred that downright traumatized me as I witnessed horrible things that I never would have imagined myself. I sobbed, I bled, I experienced all the horrid sensations of awakening to what must be removed in order to hold proper boundaries for what I was in service to do on this land.

Although challenging and horrible, it wasn’t long after a few of these events passed that I remembered that initiation I had done a ways back, and that I had particularly stated that I was here to protect this land…and so I was shown and was being asked to remove the shadows that we’re violating this place. You see, it’s not just your boundaries that need to be tended, it also your space and the place you inhabit. The land we live on has also witnessed things, has a consciousness, and a vibe that everyone can feel when they step onto it. The land wants to work with us, nature wants to reach out to us and help us heal, and I was being asked to get all the yuck out of the way and seal the leaky boundaries to allow this exchange to occur more freely.

Since my work on clearing and placing new boundaries around the perimeter of our land, its been quiet and calm. A restful and healing energy emits no matter where I sit. The nature spirits have their space back to move the energy and create the incredible magick they are here to do.

This kind of work is something I will be talking about more in my new class Unbound & Unfuckwithable: Boundaries for the Spiritual Practitioner.