Dedicant Path: Week 31 – “The Three Kindred: Nature Spirits”

When I first started the nature awareness portion of the Dedicant Path, it first started as a strictly physical observation of the land around me and my relationship towards it. However, very quickly it became an exercise in not only knowing the physical side of things, but the spiritual as well. Early on in my trips to Silver Lake, I felt it was the right thing to do to start leaving offerings for the land wights. I have been leaving regular offerings to this day. The rationale for this is simple in that I am a guest in their home. Not only are my offerings a token of my respect for the land wights (and the Earth Mother), but they are also an attempt to build a closer relationship with them. What started as a purely physical interaction with the natural world evolved into a spiritual awareness of the spirits of the land, but it didn’t stop there. Now, it is a fully integrated relationship in which these two aspects of interaction are now one and awareness has translated into action. Whenever I take my trips to Silver Lake, I bring along a bag to pick up trash along the trails in order to take care of the land. I have also made an effort to increase my knowledge of nature by bringing along pocket guides to help in my identification of plants. If I am going to befriend the land and its denizens on a physical and spiritual level, I feel that these efforts are crucial in building that relationship. I feel that these efforts haven’t gone unnoticed and I’ve had some rather interesting responses to my prayers and offerings, from birds crying out to me from above while making my prayers to gusts of wind that have passed over my area of the forest shortly after making my offerings.

In my attempts to connect with the land through offerings and prayer, I have come into contact with some of these spirits. They have remained formless to me, like a presence that moves under the canopy of the trees and who make their homes in the deep, tangled underbrush. One such spirit has made itself known to me in the form of the sweet gum tree. It was a relationship that formed unexpectedly. On one of my trips, I was attempting to find a symbol of the land wights to include on my home shrine. While pondering this, I approached the spot I use for observation to find a gumball, in nearly perfect shape, sitting on the bench where I normally sit. Throughout my life, and all of the places that I’ve lived, I can always remember that particular tree for its unique fruit. It has been in nearly every location I’ve lived in and it struck me that this tree has been like a guardian to me, watching me as I’ve grown up. Now, as I reach out to the land, it has made itself known to me. I now regularly commune with the tree on my trips, meditating under its branches, touching, and feeling its energy.

My interactions with the land wights haven’t always been good. I remember one time I found a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. It had no feathers and was craning its neck awaiting food it desperately needed. Thankfully I had my phone on me and I was able to look up a correct course of action. This turned out to be, in fact, nothing. There was nothing I could do to help and my intervention could actually threaten the life of the bird. Hopefully the mother bird was around and would come to take care of the baby, but it was pretty heartbreaking. I learned a lesson from the land wights that day that sometimes nature must take its course, one way or another, even if it seemed cruel. Nature can be a soothing and healing force, but it can also be unpleasant and unpredictable.

Regardless of my experiences, which are pleasant for the most part, I always thank the land wights and the Earth Mother (Nerthus, in my case) after each visit. This brings every trip full circle, in which thanks and praise are given at the beginning with offerings, and thanks are given at the conclusion of the trip for the experiences I have had during my time at the park. As we greet friends when we see them and then say our goodbyes when we part, this is another aspect in building that relationship with the land wights. I think it’s also important to note that while Nerthus may be an Earth Goddess and not necessarily a land wight, without her there would be no land for the spirits to reside in, and no proper order for them to maintain. Her existence and presence is tied to the existence of the land wights, and I believe there to be some overlap between the two (also when it comes to river goddesses, regional land goddesses that folks may honor), so I think it’s proper to include her in some degree when discussing and honoring the land spirits.

Nature awareness (continued):

On my way to Silver Lake for my weekly nature awareness trip, I noticed that more of the corn fields have been harvested. It was a cloudy and cool trip. The leaves on the trees are slowly beginning to change their colors. I even saw one on the ground that was a brilliant shade of red.

I made my offering to Nerthus and the land wights in the thicket and said a spontaneous prayer to both, praising them and calling them to accept my offerings. As I was making my prayer to Nerthus, a bird cried loudly in the trees above me. When making my prayer to the land wights, it sounded like a whole flock took to the air above me. I was somewhat distracted by some people traveling in the woods nearby, so I stumbled a bit in my prayers, but I’m happy with the response. It may have been because the people were walking nearby, but deep down I felt that this wasn’t entirely the case. While I like spontaneous prayer ,I would like to try a written prayer so that I can say my words without having to search for them so much.

I took to the trails soon after, feeling the cool air as I observed the forest around me. I watched a rabbit bound up the trail ahead of me, frightened by my movements. I began to notice more leaves on the ground, as they have begun to fall from the trees.

I sat in my spot for a little bit. The forest was quiet around me, which is quite a change from the past couple trips. As I listened to the land around me, I could hear the unmistakable sound of a train whistle in the distance. I couldn’t help but notice how discordant the sound was a opposed to my quiet, natural surroundings. There were more people at the lake today and I must admit that I was trying to avoid them. I like my time in nature to be between myself, the land wights, and the Earth Mother alone, but I do realize this can’t always be helped. People are a part of nature too. I just feel that sometimes when I can hear them hooting and hollering that it’s a bit disrespectful in some ways. I’ve been trying to reconcile this feeling, and most people I see along the trails seem friendly, but my reveries tend to get disrupted when a group of loud teenagers come through the area. Perhaps that’s where some of my resentment lies.

Soon after, I communed with the sweet gum, asking the tree to lend me its strength and patience for all facets of my life. I even went to check on the oak with the large acorns and discovered that they appeared to have been taken, perhaps by the critters to store up for winter. It’s starting to get darker much earlier, so I decided to head back to my car and call it a night.

I disposed of some trash I had found, thanked the land wights and Nerthus for the experience, then departed.