Rituals of Animism in Plant Spirit Work
At its core, my work with the plants can be pretty cerebral. I spend a great deal of time in study, research, compiling folklore, thinking about how to best share information with you all, meditating, journeying by spirit, engaging with the imaginal realms, and on and on. Lots of this stuff happens in my head… and that’s fine- but animism and all forms of folk sorcery are fundamentally based in ritual. This is so to the extent that in many traditions we see axioms that go something like ‘what you think isn’t as important as what you do’. An example of this comes from many streams of British Traditional Wicca (influenced by ancient animist practices in some ways) wherein the dedicant’s belief system means very little- it’s the rituals that are crucial and will lead one to wherever they do.
Without ritual, things stay stuck in our heads. As human beings, we’re made of the same stuff that the world is made of and so our work should really be done in the world. Consider many myths from various Indo-European traditions where it is explained how cosmological parts are lined to human parts: bones to rocks, skin to soil, hair to plants, blood to rivers, eyes to sun and moon, brain to clouds, breath to wind, and so on. We are made of the same stuff the world is made of and this means that we are in a deep and abiding relationship with all of it. To make our work completely cerebral will divorce us from the source of our actual power- and our very lives!
We all come from the earth and to the earth we will return. This is fact. Many of the newer and new age streams of spirituality will tell you that the world is a trap, an illusion, or a lie and that our primary spiritual concern should be to escape, transcend, ascend, or reach some heavenly ‘out there’ realm. This is not only new, it goes directly against earth-based and animistic perspectives of the spiral spiritual journey. Like the spiral, we emerge from the dark womb of the land and walk our paths only to journey right back into the land from which we came. Like the plants, our deep ancestors, we spring forth and die back all in the context of earthiness. The word matter has linguistic roots connected to the word mater, the root of our modern word mother. The land is our mother and all form is her body- we come from her as fleshy beings and to her we shall all return.
Ritual, then, engages us with our primordial source and pulls us deeper into connection with the way of things. It is also the most effective way to truly embody our practices. When everything is cerebral, it stays in our heads and spins out like a tornado. When we engage with ritual, all three cauldrons of our body (energy centers of head, heart, and hands) are activated and we truly embody the work. It happens first in our heads, then in our hands via the ritual actions, and the combination of these two polarized paces engages the heart center which is our liminal space within and allows the work to go so much deeper.
The question that often comes up in this conversation centers just how we might engage with ritual. Some of us have established traditions we’re part of that teach us how to do empowered rituals, others of us seek out inspiration in lore or write our own. Ultimately, I have just a few guidelines for what I think makes exceptional ritual when working with plant spirits:
The ritual should be simple. Simplicity is natural for us. While the big, flashy rites with their many tools and symbols can be fun to watch, they are often too complex for us to maintain the most important thing: intent and connection. It’s hard to focus on the plant spirits being worked with if we have so many ritual actions to consider. I always like to think ‘what would my deep ancestors in the heart of the wildwood do for ritual… how simple would it look?’
Intent and sentiment are super important. We need to know why we’re doing the ritual, who it involves, and what the connection between us is. If we can hold that, then we’re in a good place.
The ritual, even if it’s as simple as lighting a candle with prayer, should be an act of beauty. Harmony is generated when beauty happens- so make your rituals beautiful for you in how they look, feel, and express.
A petition should be able to be recited on the spot without being previously written. If you can’t extol the virtues of a plant spirit while asking them to participate in your ritual and its goals, then the first step will be working on that relationship before asking for something. Always remember how much the plants already give!
Here’s a full class I invite you you watch on this subject… it’s part of my community class series which I post each and every Friday on my YouTube channel. Enjoy!
