Animism as a guiding light
The beauty, ritual and reciprocity of treating everything as if it is all alive... because it is
Hello Soothers! I’m writing you from the banks of the Tippecanoe river, a place I go every summer with my boyfriend, AJ, who is from this northwest part of Indiana. Starting the summer of 2020, when the pandemic was still at its heights, we decided to leave DC for a bit and AJ found this one Airbnb with a massive deck so we’d be able to invite his family over and see them outside. And here we are, four years later, having made the journey every single August since. It’s a lovely and incredibly meaningful tradition for us and we are so grateful we get to do it.
Since I’ve re-read Braiding Sweetgrass I have been trying to tune in more to my reciprocity to nature and making more formal my gratitude and appreciation for the land around me, the river, the wildlife, and our visit here gives me extra opportunity to practice this outside of our own home. I’m an animist, which simply means I believe that all beings, humans, animals, plants, lands, and waters, are alive and live within an interconnected web of spirituality.
Animism applies personhood and agency to non-human beings. Even things like words, or human-designed objects.
So yes, I think everything around me is thrumming with life and consciousness, including, say, my dishwasher, as much as that squirrel on the deck post, and the river in front of our Airbnb definitely has a soul… in fact, our Airbnb has a soul and an aliveness, too…and I try to act as such.
My favorite definition of animism comes from Graham Harvey, who describes animism as a way of seeing the world as full of persons, most of which are non-humans. (hee hee)
I think it’s particularly important to treat the land you live and/or visit and/or stay on for periods of time as a being who deserves honor and respect and appreciation. At the nature witch cottage, I’ve done several land rituals I’ve learned in my feng shui practice, as well as simple things like regular weeding, maintenance, planting, watering, filling the bird feeders regularly and appreciating, greeting, and naming the wildlife that comes to visit.
Here in Indiana, where we stay for a month, I try to do some simple things as well:
We do fill the bird feeders that are already hung where while we stay. Feeding animals who live on your land is a beautiful way to pay respect and give reciprocity.
We watch the river wildlife every morning and name every animal we say (most of whom are repeat visitors, like the great blue herons and the wild turkeys, and there’s even a totally crazed pine squirrel we’ve named Rocky) and we say hello and great them, as well as the river
Upon arrival we greet the house and land and thank it for letting us stay here and protecting us for the month, and we usually bring it a new candle and some fresh flowers throughout our time
We donate to indigenous tribes who originally stewarded this land and were taken or forced from it in violent ways. Around here the history is particularly horrible. The Potawatomi Trail of Death runs through here and the Battle of Tippecanoe happened quite close to where we stay.
We leave gifts when we leave (sometime it’s just extra bird seed re-filled and scattered around the land for the squirrels too; last year I created a nature mandala of discarded items I had found and left it on the dock; it could also be as simple as leaving fresh flowers).
And particularly, we just express constant gratitude and wonder and thanks for the land.
May these things inspire you a bit too, if you are looking to bring more meaning and ritual with nature into your life.
If you live in a city/apartment, you can do these things too. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
Introduce yourself to your home. Treat it with dignity and respect. If the building has any history, see if you can read up on it. Who else might have lived there before you? Say hello to them, too, and see if you can learn about what their lives might have been like
Find a tree or a spot at a park that calls to you and visit it regularly in all seasons and leave it gifts (pretty rocks, pretty leaves, flowers, a piece of fruit, etc)
Introduce yourself to your land, your yard, your plants, your local park
Volunteer for local land clean up or to clean up the land that your apartment building is on or near
Grow plants in your apartment, or hang a bird feeder if/where you can
Start saying hello to wildlife, trees and plants that you pass, even if it’s just a local seemingly mundane robin or bush
Research the plants and wildlife native to the land you live on and find out local ways you can support them; even simply reading and knowing more about them is an act of gratitude as most of us are so separated from the knowledge of the land we live on
Similarly, read books and educate yourself on the stories and histories of the indigenous peoples who lived on the land before colonization. Simple awareness and knowledge of the basic history is a sign of respect and beginning to enter a relationship of awareness
All children inherently are animistic. I’m sure you were too or if you have kids you can see that they are as well. In fact, research has shown that there are psychological stages of animism, and sadly we often outgrow it by age 10 if not before.
I invite you back into re-starting an animistic belief practice, no matter if you’re 18 or 81. It’s never too late to connect with the world around us and see its inherent aliveness, consciousness, beauty and wisdom.
In other news, I’m still taking a bit of a summer break from my full Sunday Soother list. Particularly my writing is now focused on principles of feminine and conscious leadership as I work to promote the Highly Sensitive Person Leadership Academy, which will open only to the waitlist (at a discount) on September 5.
Ahead of the opening of HLA I’m writing an HLA-waitlist-only email series about aspects of leadership I believe are relevant to highly sensitive people. I just wrote this week about understanding the principles of feminine energy and how they can be applied in leadership — and why we are at a moment when feminine leadership principles, and the people who can embody them, are needed, more than ever.
Next week I’ll be writing about how we can recover from traumatic experiences in the workplace or under leadership so that we can then see power not as a tool to be exploited against others, but to be used for good. I’ll also be writing about impostor syndrome, how to use your voice more confidently and more throughout August - make sure you are on this waitlist (from which you can unsubscribe at any time) to read those pieces.
For anybody on the waitlist I’ll also be inviting you into the Highly Sensitive Person Leadership Summit, a free 3-day event I’m teaching in September.
So, lots of stuff going in in that part of my world and if it’s of interest to you I hope you will join!
Finally, the other thing I have going on Monday, August 21 is a small workshop called Playful Purpose with my beloved energy teacher and healer, Missy Toy Ozeas. Open to only 6 participants, Missy will use her intuitive gifts to reveal your life purpose talents to you (she believes each of us have 6 or 7 specific ones) and then I will be sharing with the individuals on the workshop about their North Nodes, an astrological point in your chart which reveals methods for how to leave behind old conditioning and step into your life’s path of purpose. 5 spots left, tix for that are here.
A few other things I’ve been enjoying/reading/noticing in the past couple of weeks…
The Hunger Fed by ‘Barbie’ and Taylor Swift Women are longing for communal joy and catharsis. [NYT]
From Maya in the Soother Slack: Fellow chronic pain folks - I'm seeing so much of myself in this podcast, I think it might really be helpful:
From Melissa in the Sunday Soother Slack: An inner child explanation and tip that really made things click for me:
Survival of the Thickets on Netflix has been an absolute joy to watch.
Honestly that’s about it - haven’t been doing a ton of consuming of media or otherwise these past couple of weeks! Just lots of sitting and starting at the beautiful and alive river :)
Enjoy this newsletter coming on a Friday instead of a Sunday - just sort of felt like sending it out!
Have a beautiful weekend, Soothers, and maybe I’ll see you on the HLA waitlist to talk more leadership and growth next week.
Xo
Catherine