Spirits of Place

The longer I practice witchcraft, the more I feel connection to the Land is one of the most valuable practices you can have. Understanding where you live and the spirits of that place enriches your life, your magick, and provides valuable information for your path. Any witch worth their salt has a relationship to the Spirits of Place who reside along with them.

Spirits of Place – What are they?

Simply put we can break them down into four categories

Big Forces

These are the mountains, lakes, meadows, marshes, forests, and big energy spaces around where you live. They have a vast power to them  which is felt from far away and impacts the surrounding landscape. These energies are easier to feel and notice because they take up so much space.

Small Forces

These are the smaller energies or entities which might live with or around you. The Spirits in your apartment, back yard, neighborhood park, or other green space. They might be Fae who live in your home or other types of Spirits which inhabit the world around you. They are a bit more subtle to feel, but easier to develop a personal relationship with.

Nature Forces

These are the green bloods and wild animals who share space with you. They are the rows of grapevines, a patch of dandelions growing in the cracks of the sidewalk, a curated rose garden, racoons, crows, possums, foxes, deer, hummingbirds, etc. The animals and green bloods who live around you are also part of the Spirit of the Land.

Allies

These are the specific Spirit, plant, and animal allies who you have fostered relationship with. These could be entities who have lived with you your entire life or Land specific relationships which develop where you are now.

Sprits of Place – Why should I care?

Witches and pagans are more than just spiritual practitioners. We are stewards. We have chosen this path because we understand the importance of relationship with others; not just human others. In order to be a good steward of the land, you must have a relationship with that land. You wouldn’t make a decision that would impact your entire block without understanding how it might impact the other people who  live there right? (I mean, I really hope that is true.) The same can be said for the Spirits of Place. They are our neighbors, we need to take their needs into consideration.

The modern witch movement is starting to see something I’ve felt for a long time. Certain practices many of us have taken for granted, like the Wheel of the Year for example, don’t really work for all of us. It doesn’t matter that the ancient people of Scotland celebrated a specific festival at a specific time of the year. I don’t live in Scotland and my weather and landscape is also nothing like Scotland. Why should I practice an ancient festival that doesn’t really make any sense for where I live.

What is more important than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, is to figure out what your land is like. What are the seasonal shifts and changes where you live. How can you tell the seasons have turned? What is the real Wheel of the Year for you.

Spirits of Place – How to?

The best way to connect to the Spirits of Place is to simply pay attention. Go outside, look out the window, watch the subtle (and not so subtle) shifts and changes in your weather. What do you notice in the plant and animal life around you? What do you notice in the shifts of air pressure, rain, snow, heat, etc. How does your Land shift with the turning of the sun?

When you have awareness of this cycle, you start to live your own life in connection to your local cycle. This brings you back into connection with the Spirits of the Land and your own wild nature.

It is different for all of us. Which is what makes us special and unique. Enjoy it. Celebrate it. Be it.

Wanna go deeper? Check out my book, What is Remembered Lives