Understanding Nature Magick

Nature is everywhere, and even though it sometimes seems to be sidelined by modern life, its presence is vital to our existence.

Nature is all around us and has always been with us. Our ancestors lived much closer tro nature, working for thousands of years in the same ways and patterns: hunting and gathering foods, making their own clothes and medicines, and toiling the earth to reap a good harvest. They observed nature to enhance their understanding of the world.

The Return to Nature

Even today in the world's busiest cities, when we look up at the stars and see the same night sky as our ancestors did, we experience the same sense of awe. A walk in the woods stll calms the spirit.

Modern society prides itself on its "sophistication," a word derived from the Latin "sophisticas," meaning "tampered with." Many people, however, are rediscovering their natural roots and starting to work in harmony with nature rather than conflicting with it.

Rites and Festivals Celebrating Nature

Early human societies were dependent on working with nature for their survival, thus rituals and ceremonies arose to help preserve the special link. Hunters would celebrate rites in which they assumed characteristics of the animals they sought to hunt; this helped them to become one with the animals and also to feel that they were a part of the natural world.

As humans settled into agricultural communities and developed more complex social structures, they still continued to observe closely the seasonal cycle. Religions, such as Christianity, eventually came to overlay their own festivals on the old rites of nature and gradually changed their meaning and significance to reflect their own belief systems.

Nowadays, many people are returning to the wisdom and magick of the nature religions, in order to find their own spiritual paths through modern life and its obstacles.

The painted eggs we give at Easter celebrate the fertility of spring, when flowers bloom and animals give birth.

Your Key to Nature

Key parts of nature include objects as small as insects, as old as trees, as intangible as the elements and as awesome as the Moon in the night sky.

The Moon

The moon's magick works through its cycles of dark Moon, new, waxing, full and waning. By recognizing the link between the Moon and their menstrual cycle, women can choose the best time to work magick. Gardeners often sow certain plants on the waxing and waning Moon.

The Moon has always played a key role in humanity's need to commune with nature.

Trees

Trees span generations, while their branches, trunk and roots span heaven and Earth. They all have particular qualities according to their growing habits, and these magickal associations are harnessed in the runes. Tree magick can be absorbed by hugging or sitting under a tree.

Trees live very long lives and, as such, play a special role in the world. Make friends with a tree to get in touch with nature.

The Elements

Groups of four recur throughout nature: there are four seasons, four winds and four main points of the compass. Correlating with the latter are four elements: earth, air, fire and water. In some traditions, these are seen as the foundations of the universe.

Certain qualities can be attributed to the elements because of their connection with other groupings; for example, fire is outward and expressive, and relates to the warmth of summer. This element is placed at the south of the magickal compass.

The four elements correspond to the directions of a magickal compass: earth (north0, fire (south), water (west) and air (east).

Herbs

Herbs and flowers have been used throughout the world for thousands of years, for medicinal and magickal purposes, as well as in the kitchen. Nature provides remedies for all ills - notice how when somone is stung by stinging nettles, there is usually a dock leaf nearby to rub onto the skin to take away the pain.

Growing your own herbs helps to imbue them with your personal energies, and is a lot of fun, too!

Animals

Animals provide an essential link to the natural world by acting as spirit guides. The qualities in a particular animal can reveal to us hidden qualities we possess - and by calling on the power of an animal, we can draw into ourselves the strength of that creature's essence. This varies from animal to animal.

All kinds of animals, from wild animals to domestic cats, can help us to connect with nature.

Metals and Minerals

Metals, minerals, crystals and gemstones come out of the ground and have, in many cases, been there as long asthe planet itself. They each have their own "vibration" which can be matched to those emitted by our own bodies, an idea embraced by crystal healers. Minerals can be single elements or compounds of elements.

We can work with crystals or metals to acquire particular vibrations; this helps bring us into balance when our bodies are in some way out of natural sync. This belief has endured for thousands of years.

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