There are a few reasons, really. I\u2019ve alluded to them in previous posts, but let\u2019s name them explicitly, and unpack them a little more.<\/p>\n
Checking Your Alignment<\/h3>\n
I\u2019m not here to tell anyone what they should believe, nor how they should practice. With that said, I\u2019m a proponent of our practices being aligned with our values, and of being aware when those things are misaligned. For instance, if someone were to tell me they\u2019re vegetarian for ethical reasons, but that they wear leather for fashion reasons, I\u2019d probably question the alignment of their beliefs and their practices. Me, I spend a lot of time railing about the deleterious influence of Amazon on local economies\u2014including that of my home city, where they\u2019re currently headquartered\u2014but that doesn\u2019t stop me from giving them money for books I can\u2019t find at my Friendly Local Bookshop. I network with activist friends, donate to causes, and try to stay informed and engaged with current events, but I do a lot of that on a smartphone made in China, almost certainly by child or slave labor.<\/p>\n
Am I a hypocrite? Are we all hypocrites? To some extent, yes. Most of us have these misalignments in our praxis. It\u2019s a human thing; we know what our values say we should<\/em> do, but we also know what would be easier, or faster, or more comfortable. We may believe these shortcuts around our beliefs aren\u2019t a big deal in the long run, that \u201cit all comes out in the wash,\u201d or we may simply choose to ignore them, because the alternative is to completely dismantle our way of living, move into the wild, and become feral. This may sound utopian to some, but it\u2019s entirely impractical, even inaccessible, for others.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard enough to process this when we\u2019re merely talking about life in the day-to-day world of work, school, traffic, shopping, family, and friends. Once we start to touch on the less quotidian world of gods, spirits, and the elemental forces which comprise and propel the whole of the universe, things get a bit stickier. Those issues of alignment are bad enough when our consciences are chomping on us for not doing more to support charities or demonstrating against racial and social injustice, but when you add sorcerous or divine influences to the mix\u2026 hoo, boy.<\/p>\n It\u2019s at this point that I\u2019ve often found my own practice, and that of many other polytheists, Pagans, and magical practitioners, to be more than a bit out of alignment with our stated values.<\/p>\n What do I mean? Well, as an example, how many of us invoke and call upon the powers of Earth in our rituals, either in an abstract \u201celemental\u201d fashion or in the person of a specific deity? More than a couple, I\u2019m guessing? Now, how many of us drive or ride in gasoline-fueled vehicles, buy food from grocery stores, use products made from plastic, or in any other way contribute to the consumption and depletion of petroleum? Everyone reading this. After all, this is published on the Internet, which means computers, which means an entire infrastructure built on petroleum resource depletion, which\u2026 well, you get the idea.<\/p>\n Even as we invoke the land, we contribute to its destruction.<\/p>\n So, back to the question. Why listen to the land? Why open ourselves up to abuse? Why do something so patently unpleasant and potentially dangerous? Here are three reasons, related but separate, to get us started. As time goes on, I have every faith that you\u2019ll find your own to add to this list.<\/p>\n This one is pretty simple: We live here. It\u2019s in our own best interest to listen to the land on which we live, move, and have our being, if for no other reason than to save our own asses from disaster. The land is crying out in every language it possesses, trying to warn us that we\u2019re defiling our own home and our own natures, blaspheming against the spirits of our siblings and ancestors\u2026 and, let\u2019s be honest, here\u2019s the kicker: we already know this.<\/em> We\u2019ve known it for a long, long time. This isn\u2019t \u201chippie talk\u201d or radical eco-anarchism. The simple truth is that, on our present trajectory, we\u2019re doomed. For a Pagan perspective on this, both explicitly and implicitly, John Michael Greer<\/a> has written a number of books<\/a> on the subject, which you\u2019re likely to find educational and depressing in about equal measure.<\/p>\n \u2026or, to phrase this another way, if you know something is wrong, do something about it. Of course, that\u2019s incredibly easy to say, and a lot harder to put into practice. Then again, I literally don\u2019t know a single person who got into magic, Paganism, or polytheism because they were easy<\/em>. If you\u2019re reading this, you already know there are problems all around us, ecologically and spiritually. One of the consistent components of p-word spirituality is that we don\u2019t get a \u201csavior.\u201d No one is coming to save us; no Jesus, no Superman, no Tony Stark. We are all we have, which means that we\u2019re the ones responsible for saving us, if we\u2019re to be saved at all. This, of course, points back to item #1, \u201cenlightened self-interest.\u201d The first step in saving ourselves is knowing what we need saving from<\/em>, and the only way to learn that? Listen. Open your ears to the land and its spirits, even though they rage and wail and curse. Only by listening can you learn the full measure of their pain and sorrow, and work to heal it.<\/p>\n On top of that responsibility incurred by awareness is the responsibility incurred by complicity. The land and its spirits are wounded, sick, violated, profaned, and defiled: of this, there can no longer be any reasonable question. Who did the deed? We did. Us, our ancestors, their ancestors. All of us who partake of modern society are the inheritors of a world created by our forebears, and \u201call of the privileges, rights, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.\u201d We use the machines and mechanisms of modern life, all of which are fueled by destruction. As I mentioned before, we can\u2019t all simply forswear modern life and adopt an Edenic, utopian lifestyle, but neither can we simply bury our heads in the sand and pretend that change isn\u2019t coming. The debt incurred by our ancestors and our earlier selves is coming due, and we are accountable. If we want to live here\u2014if we want to breathe this air, drink this water, warm ourselves at this fire, feed ourselves from this soil\u2014we have no right to ignore the land and its spirits. We owe them, and that begins by hearing the full account of our debt. We must become a witchcraft with a renewed sense of meaning and purpose, of responsibility to the land which is in crisis, or we are simply consumers of the earth which will all too soon eat of us. [\u2026] Witchcraft is profoundly animist, and that means we have responsibilities to fulfil. There is no hierarchy of actions, no purity test as to how practitioners use this knowledge, each will find their own innate response that is generated from their own circumstances and the needs of their community of spirits.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I don\u2019t expect everyone reading this to be a witch, or indeed to be a polytheist, a Pagan, an occultist, or any sort of magical practitioner. I do expect, however, that all of you are human. Whatever our practices or beliefs, or lack thereof, we have a shared destiny, and a shared responsibility. We will stand or fall together based on the actions we take, each and all of us, individually and collectively. I can\u2019t tell you how to respond to the needs of the land on which you stand because I\u2019m not there, and I\u2019m not you. I can only implore you, from the core of my being, to start by reaching out and listening. From there, you can act in alignment with your own values, and with the spirits of place.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the beliefs and values we claim are irrelevant. Show me what you do, and I\u2019ll know what you believe.<\/p>\n Until next time, dear ones, try to be both wise and kind. \u2665<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even as we invoke the land, we contribute to its destruction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3023,"featured_media":1658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[476,362,467,251,401,443,371,473,11,37,34,12,470,13,76,464,48,5],"class_list":["post-1589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alignment","tag-animism","tag-belief","tag-capitalism","tag-communing","tag-communing-with-the-land","tag-ecology","tag-john-michael-greer","tag-magic","tag-occultism","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-peter-grey","tag-polytheism","tag-praxis","tag-values","tag-witch","tag-witchcraft"],"yoast_head":"\nEnlightened Self-Interest<\/h3>\n
Awareness Incurs Responsibility<\/h3>\n
We Are Accountable<\/h3>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/790\/2018\/05\/ken-treloar-468615-unsplash.jpg\")