According to a common definition, animism is the belief that ‘everything has spirit’. You hear people talk about ‘the spirit of the tree’ or ‘the spirit of the river’.
This might make it sound as though animists believe that there is a spirit entity attached to, say, a tree, that is somehow separate. An inhabitant of the spirit world that looks after the tree.
That’s not how I see it. The spirit of a tree is the deepest reality of the tree itself. It reveals itself in the shape of its branches, in its flowers and fruits. It is the tree in all its aliveness, connected to the soil that holds it and the air that feeds it.
The spirit of the tree is also part of the spirit of the place where it grows. Each locality is filled with spirit, which is made up of the life and presence of everything there.
If the tree is old, if it has shared in the life of that place for a long time, it may have become a guardian. Its spirit will be very noticeable as part of the spirit of place, like a repeating melody in a piece of music, or a dominant colour in a painting.
But everything there, from the tiniest pebble to the quality of the light, contributes to the spirit of the place. It all sings together of the magic of life as it expresses itself in that particular place.
The room you are in right now has its own spirit. If it is your room, your own spirit will have created much of it, choosing objects and furniture according to your taste and personality.
Each of those objects, the materials they are made of, the fabric of the building and its history also contribute to the spirit of your room.
I am writing this in the tiny flat we have made in our house while it is being renovated. Fire is burning in the wood stove. Some washing is drying next to it. The oven is cooking our dinner. My husband is doing something on his own laptop. This is the house he grew up in, and we are still living with some of the furnishings his parents left behind. The spirit of this room has many stories to tell.
What spirits are sharing your space right now? How do they combine to make up the spirit of the place? How can you acknowledge them?
(picture from pixabay.com)
Reblogging this as a prelude of things to come. Old Frater T will be starting a new blog soon (in addition to Scroll of Thoth). Watch for it!
In my most ambitious dreams, I illustrate my own version of the tarot. So, occasionally I just like to draw one-offs for fun. I tried to incorporate some of her usual attributes and symbols of the card’s meaning into her tattoos. I also did an overlay of gold mica on her so she’s shiny! there’s sort of a bit of a gif of it on my insta (x)
The Star is also just a really great card, and one I feel like we as a community could afford to draw right now – a symbol of hope, perseverance, and personal inner power.
The Hermetics of the later Greco-Egyptian era employed great
creativity in explaining complex mythological/archetypical concepts. One method
used was the creation of hybrid gods that more closely expressed the ideas they
wished to explore. The most famous being Hermanubis, a combination of Hermes,
in his role as a psychopomp, and Anubis who prepared the dead for their
journey. Of course, it is well known that the Hermetics saw Hermes and Thoth as
analogous (Hermes Trismegistus). Classically, Thoth also had a role as a
psychopomp, recording the weight of a person’s heart when they died, so that
they may be judged by Ma’at and found worthy to enter the afterlife. So I
present Thoth-Anubis, my Halloween costume for this year. I expect this mask
will show up in a future ritual.
