Earth magick

[earth_dragon]

So I've come to realize lately that I have more power, more focus, more connection, and better results with Earth magick than with any other kind of magick. Simple works best for me. Releasing a handful of sand into the wind; using a stick to draw in the dirt; scratching a rune/picture/word onto a rock and carrying it around with me; calling the winds; throwing herbs into a small fire; dipping my hands into the water of a stream. All of these things are so simple and yet so effective and appealing to me. I have also found that things work even better if I am facing a certain direction (which ever is most appropriate for the working) and I ask the  wind from that direction to assist me.

So I was wondering what everyone else here thought of Earth magick. Yea, nay, ehh? Have you tried it? What was your experience like? Was there anything in particular that worked for you, or didn't work? Something you would recommend or caution against?

What do ya'll think?

[Annie Roonie]

So I've come to realize lately that I have more power, more focus, more connection, and better results with Earth magick than with any other kind of magick. Simple works best for me. Releasing a handful of sand into the wind; using a stick to draw in the dirt; scratching a rune/picture/word onto a rock and carrying it around with me; calling the winds; throwing herbs into a small fire; dipping my hands into the water of a stream. All of these things are so simple and yet so effective and appealing to me. I have also found that things work even better if I am facing a certain direction (which ever is most appropriate for the working) and I ask the  wind from that direction to assist me.

So I was wondering what everyone else here thought of Earth magick. Yea, nay, ehh? Have you tried it? What was your experience like? Was there anything in particular that worked for you, or didn't work? Something you would recommend or caution against?

What do ya'll think?

Hecks YEA!

Growing up with a bit of the folk magic and my grandmother being quite poor, this was something done. I cannot blame it or credit it all to her though. It has always seemed natural.

My experiences with it have varied. On the beaches is where I have made my most concentrated efforts, but with successes only in recent years. As I have aged and become less bull headed and more open about what I want in my life, it has been much more successful. For example, in my teens I would wish for things or relationships and throw a lucky stone into the waves. Heartbreak would not cease or would soon follow. These things, had I achieved them, would have turned out poorly I realize now, but then it was ME WANT. Now, I feel I can swim with the flow of what is best for my soul, so when I write in the sand or store a stone etc, there is a slow success that brings me peace of mind.

On one specific beach where I have done some things recently, it feels like I have opened a portal of sorts. I get strong flashes there now and signs maybe. I have come to think that if I use magic in a place it is like turning on a beacon of sorts. So there may be mystical caution to observe in that regard, but as yet I am a fool and am letting come whatever may.

In the woods I do only those things that the woods seem to be friendly toward and for the place itself not myself (that it exists is enough for me). If I am scratched and bitten to bits, I don't try to do anything, even say thanks. I just head out. There is a pretty complex system there and I do not want to disrupt it. So magic there is more of accepting what magic it gives rather than actively doing anything there. Though the little I have done has been successful but has worked with what is already going on there. What I have received from there is intensely rewarding both spiritually and physically. Putting my hands in the plants, my feet in the dirt, my bum on the rocks of the creek banks and in the rock mounds. Better than most medicines and therapies I've tried. Great for anger and stress reduction. I just take what it gives.

The biggest words of caution I have are practical. Allergies and poisons. I try not irritate the the former or touch the latter. I suppose if you find yourself in a protected place, it would also be wise to know what rules to adhere to. Like at a nearby estuary where bald eagles have made their nest so close to the observation areas that it is a problem if anyone disturbs anything in the area, I'd not touch a thing. Also, knowing what I might be leaving in terms of natural oils, scents or bacteria could come into play. I wouldn't want my interactions to screw anything up. In bigger bodies of water, understand and know how to get out of rip currents.

I have no formal knowledge of why to do this, but have always done it: Thank the place and everything in it. If I have the love in me, share it. If I have the hate in me, release it. And then give thanks again. I do not know if this matters to the places or not.

I do very much like flying by the seat of my pants with what is around me. I think it is deceptively simple and very appealing.

[earth_dragon]

Hecks YEA!

Growing up with a bit of the folk magic and my grandmother being quite poor, this was something done. I cannot blame it or credit it all to her though. It has always seemed natural.

My experiences with it have varied. On the beaches is where I have made my most concentrated efforts, but with successes only in recent years. As I have aged and become less bull headed and more open about what I want in my life, it has been much more successful. For example, in my teens I would wish for things or relationships and throw a lucky stone into the waves. Heartbreak would not cease or would soon follow. These things, had I achieved them, would have turned out poorly I realize now, but then it was ME WANT. Now, I feel I can swim with the flow of what is best for my soul, so when I write in the sand or store a stone etc, there is a slow success that brings me peace of mind.

On one specific beach where I have done some things recently, it feels like I have opened a portal of sorts. I get strong flashes there now and signs maybe. I have come to think that if I use magic in a place it is like turning on a beacon of sorts. So there may be mystical caution to observe in that regard, but as yet I am a fool and am letting come whatever may.

In the woods I do only those things that the woods seem to be friendly toward and for the place itself not myself (that it exists is enough for me). If I am scratched and bitten to bits, I don't try to do anything, even say thanks. I just head out. There is a pretty complex system there and I do not want to disrupt it. So magic there is more of accepting what magic it gives rather than actively doing anything there. Though the little I have done has been successful but has worked with what is already going on there. What I have received from there is intensely rewarding both spiritually and physically. Putting my hands in the plants, my feet in the dirt, my bum on the rocks of the creek banks and in the rock mounds. Better than most medicines and therapies I've tried. Great for anger and stress reduction. I just take what it gives.

The biggest words of caution I have are practical. Allergies and poisons. I try not irritate the the former or touch the latter. I suppose if you find yourself in a protected place, it would also be wise to know what rules to adhere to. Like at a nearby estuary where bald eagles have made their nest so close to the observation areas that it is a problem if anyone disturbs anything in the area, I'd not touch a thing. Also, knowing what I might be leaving in terms of natural oils, scents or bacteria could come into play. I wouldn't want my interactions to screw anything up. In bigger bodies of water, understand and know how to get out of rip currents.

I have no formal knowledge of why to do this, but have always done it: Thank the place and everything in it. If I have the love in me, share it. If I have the hate in me, release it. And then give thanks again. I do not know if this matters to the places or not.

I do very much like flying by the seat of my pants with what is around me. I think it is deceptively simple and very appealing.

 
EEEEEEEEEEEE! LOVE!

Folk magick has always held such an appeal for me. Honestly, tho I've been Pagan for a very long, I've never practiced much magick. I've read about it, studied it, etc. But I just always felt ridiculous in the highly stylized rituals that required so many *things*. That's not to say that that form doesn't work. To each their own. But for me it's not about *things*, it's about elements and the connection to all of them. I work so much better when the tools are the good black dirt in my hands and the water flowing over my body.

I've never been to the ocean. I want to see it so bad. Even from a totally landlocked state I can feel the ocean's power. The sand and surf, the moon and sun on the water, the wind rising and carrying the calls of the gulls. I love it.

We do view the woods a little differently. I have so much connection to them. But then, I grew up in the woods. We had a farm and I constantly played in the woods, literally hugging the trees. I can step into a forest and immediately feel its power, but for me it's very calming. I feel at one with it. I'm rarely ever bitten or scratched, anything like that. I think I probably feel more in connection with the whole universe when I'm in the woods than I do at any other time. If I'm going to do spellwork, tho, it does need to be of a particular kind, usually either healing (oh, trees have such healing energy!), spiritual, emotional, or mental work. If there's something I physically need then I try to be somewhere else to cast. The woods do have a particular kind of energy and I feel it's best to work with it.

What have been some of your experiences with the beach and ocean, or other places/things, if you don't mind me asking? It's so cool to have someone to discuss this with!  

[Annie Roonie]

EEEEEEEEEEEE! LOVE!

Folk magick has always held such an appeal for me. Honestly, tho I've been Pagan for a very long, I've never practiced much magick. I've read about it, studied it, etc. But I just always felt ridiculous in the highly stylized rituals that required so many *things*. That's not to say that that form doesn't work. To each their own. But for me it's not about *things*, it's about elements and the connection to all of them. I work so much better when the tools are the good black dirt in my hands and the water flowing over my body.

Sometimes things play a part for me, sometimes they don't. They have their places and purposes for me. Still, your last sentence resonates with me very much. That kind of connection hits me more the more I can get out in it and feel that power.

I've never been to the ocean. I want to see it so bad. Even from a totally landlocked state I can feel the ocean's power. The sand and surf, the moon and sun on the water, the wind rising and carrying the calls of the gulls. I love it.

I live near Lake Erie so no ocean for me. The only times I been to those have been road trips and family vacations. I grew up a half a mile from the beach in our town. Pretty much everyday in all seasons from about 8-18 I spent time on the beaches. As I got older I spent many nights on them. Downtown was a boating town with the lake people (blerged about them). I live farther away now, so I get there 2-3 times a week when it is not winter and about twice a month then.

There is this old wives' tale that if you walk naked between high and low tides under a full moon then you are a witch consecrated by the elements themselves. The tides on Lake Erie are pretty small so almost any shore line is between high and low tide. I'm pretty sure that makes all of my high school peers including myself witches a few times over. Ha!

Gulls galore though. The grocery store parking lot is always full of them in my hometown.

We do view the woods a little differently. I have so much connection to them. But then, I grew up in the woods. We had a farm and I constantly played in the woods, literally hugging the trees. I can step into a forest and immediately feel its power, but for me it's very calming. I feel at one with it. I'm rarely ever bitten or scratched, anything like that. I think I probably feel more in connection with the whole universe when I'm in the woods than I do at any other time. If I'm going to do spellwork, tho, it does need to be of a particular kind, usually either healing (oh, trees have such healing energy!), spiritual, emotional, or mental work. If there's something I physically need then I try to be somewhere else to cast. The woods do have a particular kind of energy and I feel it's best to work with it.

I am fairly new to the woods. Only about 6 years in them. It makes sense the way you feel there growing up in and with the woods. I am only beginning to understand them here. They are mystical to me. I'd love to see them through your eyes. There would be so much second nature to you that I have not even begun to contemplate.

What have been some of your experiences with the beach and ocean, or other places/things, if you don't mind me asking? It's so cool to have someone to discuss this with!  

Like with any place one loves there is so much magical to talk about. And I don’t want to bore you. So I am going to pick the most strange of the weird I’ve experienced on the beaches.

~~~
I went to my favorite hidden gem beach just after the winter thaw this year and there were two wave beaten trees - ghosts of trees really - stuck in the sand right at end of the break where the waves peter out. They were angled like they were pointing at one another and there was a spot between them open. Standing in the spot, both trees gnarled roots pointed at me, I centered and unshielded completely and opened my ears to the things I usually tune out in the workaday. I wanted to invite everything in. I decided to move back and take off my shoes and socks no matter about the cold. I wanted to stand in that spot bare footed.  I stood there until my feet had sunk ankle deep in the sand.  I heard things, and when I shut my eyes tightly against a wind I saw a beach that wasn't mine, feet and legs that weren't mine. I usually just tune in to my own history, but some other history was making its way to me.

(Here is a pic of a calm shore break from a different beach: [attach=CONFIG][/attach] A ghost of a tree on that beach at a different time:  All of the tree has nearly been washed out of this one:.)

I finally stepped back and not really knowing why I was doing it, I grabbed a long piece of driftwood and hurried back to that spot and wrote some symbols between the trees in the sand. I'd watch each one wash away and then I would write another. Sometimes it seemed like a word. Sometimes just a single symbol. It was so strange to be doing it purposefully and not knowing why. I felt I must look like Lavinia from the movie version of Titus writing out the names of her violators in the dirt for her father. But I said "no" out loud as soon as I thought it out and wrote again. I remember that next symbol was Berkanan. Runes were not the only symbols I wrote that day. I know I wrote some Greek and then some other things I did not understand. Maybe they were nothing. I felt gleeful, awed, rushed and even a little frantic. When it stopped washing over me, I stood back and said ineloquently, "So I guess there you have it. So be it, eh?"
~~~

That's happened a half dozen or so times in my life at beaches. Most times I just get in touch with the universe, you know? I ask that all things be as they must but with compassion. I ask for everything to be okay in the end and know it will be and that it already is. But these times are very different. It is as if I am a utensil. I don't even picture the symbols as or before I write them. I just see them wash away. I have always been in love with impermanence. The way it is more permanent than anything that actually stays. Watching things disappear and move on to other things sets my mind so far away I tend to need a call back. I have only remembered very few of the things I have written in the sand due to what I suspect is akin to a lovestruck daze.

Since this recent time, when I go to that specific beach I have taken to finding a stone and after combing the boneyard of sun bleached driftwood for lucky stones, I lay down and close my eyes against the sky and pound the rock against the sand at my side. Three times and a flash for a second or two of that other coast. Three times and a flash over and over until there is only the blue of my eyelids left.  

I don’t know what it means, but it sure feels like a kind of magic to me. I want to know what it all means, but I also like the puzzle of it. A bonus that comes with times at the beach is a good exhaustion. Feeling like a piece of driftwood with the heaviness washed away.  The kind of tired where limbs are not heavy but light. Thoughts are ephemeral and chores inconsequential. I get home and do not collapse into sleep, but sort of float down into oblivion. I wake up feeling great, alert and ready to work!

Other thing of recent note: I know the animal species that hang out at the beaches and crows are not among them typically. But one came and cawed at me persistently over a period of a few weeks. Finally, in what felt like a frustrated stab in the dark, I related it to a person from this board and took it as a nudge to reach out. I did. Since then, no more crow.

The bugs and shells at the beaches do not harm me. Whatever bacteria or algae bloom is in the water hasn't infected any open foot blisters I've had walking in it yet. Perhaps there is an acclimation after a time. Or I'm lucky! A fish bone pierced the skin once straight through my shoe. So maybe I'm normal.

Now, you! I know there is something of those woods you could tell. But if you cannot share it here, I understand. I was reticent to share this in public myself, but I am foolhearty and sunsick from fence scraping. (Actual painting begins in the morning. Sigh and ugh.)

Still, telling of an experience is a great way to have those feelings again. Daniel Kahneman’s talk on happiness and memory has me deciding to write again and about these types of things. It could be rewarding to do it! Who knows? What you been up to in those woods?

[MoonCrone]

So I've come to realize lately that I have more power, more focus, more connection, and better results with Earth magick than with any other kind of magick. Simple works best for me. Releasing a handful of sand into the wind; using a stick to draw in the dirt; scratching a rune/picture/word onto a rock and carrying it around with me; calling the winds; throwing herbs into a small fire; dipping my hands into the water of a stream. All of these things are so simple and yet so effective and appealing to me. I have also found that things work even better if I am facing a certain direction (which ever is most appropriate for the working) and I ask the  wind from that direction to assist me.

So I was wondering what everyone else here thought of Earth magick. Yea, nay, ehh? Have you tried it? What was your experience like? Was there anything in particular that worked for you, or didn't work? Something you would recommend or caution against?

What do ya'll think?

I couldn't agree with you more. The beach is a wonderful source of magical power, as is the forest, the riverbank, the mountain, the moor and so on.  Improvisation in these kinds of settings puts us to the test, and as good witches, we rise to the challenge in my humble opinion.

[Mithril]

So I was wondering what everyone else here thought of Earth magick. Yea, nay, ehh? Have you tried it? What was your experience like? Was there anything in particular that worked for you, or didn't work? Something you would recommend or caution against?

What do ya'll think?

Earth magic is what drew me to witchcraft in the first place. It's always been effective for me. Planting spells in the ground, dispersing spells on the wind, things like that. I also agree with Annie Roonie that I like to thank the places I visit. I like to leave a crumb of bread as a token with my thanks. I think it's important because it encourages a spirit of humility and thoughtfulness that makes it unlikely you will harm a place, even unintentionally. I also like to pick up litter when I visit a place. I feel like that also  helps encourage the partnership between myself and a place -the place gives me magical energy and materials to work with, I help keep it healthy.

I'm definitely a forest person. I walk into the woods and feel the power of the trees with joy. Woods almost always feel sacred to me. Every year I go to a specific spot near my grandma's house and hike. I feel like I have to, to recharge my batteries. If I'm late going some year, for whatever reason, I start feeling tugged in that direction.

[earth_dragon]

~~
I went to my favorite hidden gem beach just after the winter thaw this year and there were two wave beaten trees - ghosts of trees really - stuck in the sand right at end of the break where the waves peter out. They were angled like they were pointing at one another and there was a spot between them open. Standing in the spot, both trees gnarled roots pointed at me, I centered and unshielded completely and opened my ears to the things I usually tune out in the workaday. I wanted to invite everything in. I decided to move back and take off my shoes and socks no matter about the cold. I wanted to stand in that spot bare footed.  I stood there until my feet had sunk ankle deep in the sand.  I heard things, and when I shut my eyes tightly against a wind I saw a beach that wasn't mine, feet and legs that weren't mine. I usually just tune in to my own history, but some other history was making its way to me.

I finally stepped back and not really knowing why I was doing it, I grabbed a long piece of driftwood and hurried back to that spot and wrote some symbols between the trees in the sand. I'd watch each one wash away and then I would write another. Sometimes it seemed like a word. Sometimes just a single symbol. It was so strange to be doing it purposefully and not knowing why. I felt I must look like Lavinia from the movie version of Titus writing out the names of her violators in the dirt for her father. But I said "no" out loud as soon as I thought it out and wrote again. I remember that next symbol was Berkanan. Runes were not the only symbols I wrote that day. I know I wrote some Greek and then some other things I did not understand. Maybe they were nothing. I felt gleeful, awed, rushed and even a little frantic. When it stopped washing over me, I stood back and said ineloquently, "So I guess there you have it. So be it, eh?"
~~~

 
That sounds utterly amazing and I'm so glad you had that experience. As I said, even from a land locked location, I can just feel that the beach and ocean has so much power. I was going thru some stuff tucked away in a box today and found a small shell. It made me think of you and this conversation.  

Earth magic is what drew me to witchcraft in the first place...

I also like to thank the place I've been in. Sometimes I use physical things, but then sometimes I like to come back at a different date and just give the place some of my energy. That's something that seems to work very well for me, and it helps keep me magickaly and spiritually connected to those places.

I couldn't agree with you more. The beach is a wonderful source of magical power, as is the forest, the riverbank, the mountain, the moor and so on. Improvisation in these kinds of settings puts us to the test, and as good witches, we rise to the challenge in my humble opinion.

Complete love and agreement. When using Earth Magick I think sometimes it's best to improve, at least a little bit. It makes you think on your feet and you really have to use what's around you, all the natural tools, and this helps me feel closer to the place and elements I'm working in and with.

[Phaedric]

So I was wondering what everyone else here thought of Earth magick. Yea, nay, ehh? Have you tried it? What was your experience like? Was there anything in particular that worked for you, or didn't work? Something you would recommend or caution against?

What do ya'll think?

 
For me it's always been woods, water and sky. I had the experience that set me on this path (although I didn't know it at the time) when I was around 10 years old. We had miles of woods and fields around our rural home that my brother and I roamed. In one remote spot there was an ancient tree with a shallow stream running under its exposed roots, making a small waterfall and pool at its base. I could sense old magic there, feeling it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck, but I kept going back to that spot until we moved away. I can still picture it in my mind today, many years later.

[Elementalist]

So I was wondering what everyone else here thought of Earth magick. Yea, nay, ehh? Have you tried it? What was your experience like? Was there anything in particular that worked for you, or didn't work? Something you would recommend or caution against?

What do ya'll think?

 
I've been a lifetime barefoot...:p I need to feel the earth under my feet in order to be properly energised. The compulsion to remove shoes it alarmingly strong for me much to the weird looks of regular folk in city parks.

[MadZealot]

The compulsion to remove shoes it alarmingly strong for me much to the weird looks of regular folk in city parks.

"Earth walking"!  

I do the same thing, get the same funny looks.
Why is it OK to go barefoot at the beach but not at the park?   :confused:

[Elementalist]

"Earth walking"!  

I do the same thing, get the same funny looks.
Why is it OK to go barefoot at the beach but not at the park?   :confused:

Dog poo maybe....: Who knows, a lot of people are really uptight about life in general I guess they see it as aberrant behaviour. I'm happy to be aberrant though.

I also have a tiny balcony in which I sow various seeds in a random and haphazard manner. My garden is a mix of whatever will grow there and I allow all plants to complete their natural cycle without my interference. At the moment I have sweet pea's, borage, carrot and calendula all doing their thing in my little wild patch. :ange: It's looks weedy and wild and that's how I like it. My 'pots' are jute sacks. I also did a bit of guerilla gardening around my apartment block and we now have a couple of sage bushes and a huge nasturtium taking over the empty patches.

[sparrow]

What do ya'll think?

This is most of what I do, and it's the most natural practice to me too. Congrats on finding a path that works so well for you, you sound like a natural!