thoughtful thursday: land spirits

I just began reading Creating Sanctuary by Jessi Bloom. According to Ms. Bloom, in order to begin creating our own sanctuary, we must start by “listening to the spirit already present in your own space.” She provides some steps to make it easy to do this. I love this and I’m going to give it a try here at my own place.

Do you believe that places have a spirit? Maybe it is more that spaces evoke a specific feeling in the people inhabiting or visiting that space. I am definitely on board with this. I am eager to get through more of this book and make some changes to my space that will foster that feeling of sanctuary and connection with the land.

Intrigued with the notion that land or places have actual spirits, I found that this is an age-old idea. There is a bunch of information available online. Here are a few of the interesting articles I found, in case you are interested in this, too.

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From the site Norse Mythology for Smart People:

“Land spirits (Old Norse landvættir) are, as the name implies, the spirits who dwell within particular places or features of the land. They wield considerable influence over the well-being of the land and all who depend on it.

They can bless or curse those who live or travel within their land, and be blessed or cursed by them in turn. They’re fierce protectors of their native lands, seldom tolerant of mistreatment and dishonor, and seem to have a very passionate disposition in general.”

Love it! If there are land spirits here at my place, I want to get to know them. Maybe. Only if I find favor with them.

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Another take on land spirits, from a blog post by Yvonne Aburrow, on a pagan-based site:

“The Otherworld does not consist only of deities. There are also land wights, landvaettir, genii loci, land spirits, and spirits of the hearth and home.”

I love this author’s thoughts on making contact with the land spirits.

“Building and repairing relationships with land spirits entails doing something to repair our relationship with nature as a whole. This will mean different things for different people. Personally, I have felt much more attuned to Nature since I stopped owning a car. Your approach may be different, and I don’t presume to dictate what it should be.”

Go on over and have a read!

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And of course, a chat about land spirits should include a bit about Native Americans and their beliefs. Knowing only the bare bones about this, I read this article, Mountains Made Alive: Native American Relationships with Sacred Land, by Emily Cousins. She has done some extensive study on this topic.

This excerpt struck me:

“Safely back at home a few days later, we told a Blackfeet friend where we had camped. “You camped there?” he asked, shocked. “There are strong spirits there. That is a powerful place.” His reaction made me think. I had recognized the power of the weather, of the aesthetic beauty, and of the human artifacts, but I had not accessed the power of the place itself. Like so many non-Natives, I had traversed a piece of the American sacred landscape without connecting with the spirits of the land.”

She concludes with (excerpt):

“Learning about Native American religious traditions can help non-Natives in this process, because they offer a model of what constitutes a spiritual relationship with the land. Seeing this model may encourage non-Natives to reflect on their own traditions and cultivate those strains which foster a sense of sacred land. For Jews, that may be the wisdom of the Psalms, or for Christians, the lessons of the Desert Fathers or Saint Francis. Placing a relationship to the land in a religious context, as opposed to an economic context, may help make the life force of the land seem less remote. In may also help non-Natives come to see the land as a distinct being deserving of respect.”

Good stuff! What are you thinking about today?

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