Training as a Green Witch

We seek to find our calling and to
develop the will and the wisdom to follow it.
- Spiral Steps, Step 13

I am a Green Witch. (1) I begin the formal training in my tradition with an older woman in California who is, among other things, writer, an artist and a naturalist. I have loved animals and nature since I was a child and before I began working with her, I had many years experience working with groups that protect both. Among other things, I had worked for over a decade as a volunteer with companion animal and wildlife rescue groups. I was also an avid gardener (most often using herbs and native plants) and while I wasn't a hard body hiker, I loved being outdoors and often did my rituals and mediations in wild places. So why, then, did I feel the need to train with this woman? Well, for one thing, I admired her skills and her renaissance mind. I also wanted to understand her connection with Gaia, which was different from my own. I'd heard from someone she had trained that she choose to work with very few students over the years but I was not told why. That sounded a bit daunting. Nevertheless, I went to her home, and asked if I could learn from her. When a student comes to her, she says this:

"Find a place that speaks to you. Adopt that place. Go there at least once a week. Pick up any trash you find there. Do not disturb the animals, do not remove anything from that place that belongs there. Make it known that you are there as a guardian and as a student. Do this for a year and a day. Take notes. Make sketches. Look at the clouds. Note the changes in weather. Take photos. Record your observations about the animals you encounter, what flowers bloom and when and where they bloom. Find out which birds come and go. Learn the names of the trees. Sit quietly from time to time, and just listen. Do this for four seasons. When you have done that, come back here and we'll begin. (2)

And this is why she had so few students. To many, it seemed like too much work. They wanted some spells and some ready-made answers. Most wanted power the easy way. Word to the earthwise: There is no easy way.

My mentor knew that she had a great deal to teach, and also a great deal left to learn and she wanted share this journey with those who also shared her passions and her dedication. The older I get, the more I understand this.

I did what she asked. After a year and a day I went back to her with my journals, sketches, photos and field notes. I thought she would ask me a great many questions. I was ready for this test in a way I hadn't been since graduate school. She brought us both some tea, and invited me to sit. She looked at my notes, briefly, while I admired her art collection, and petted her cat. Then she looked at me, and said, "So. How did this experience change you?"

That was it. That was her one question. When I look back on it now, I see that it's a vital question because it deals with the soul and center of our craft. (id. at 1) But just then I didn't know what to say. So we drank some more tea while the cat made a nest in my lap. I looked into it's golden eyes, and thought about my answer, and then I began to talk...and talk...and talk. Because when you look at it that way, I had a great deal to say. None of it was factual in nature. What I had learned from that place had gone so deep in me that it was now an instinctual, gut level awareness. It had nothing to do with my field notes, and everything to do with my love of this place and my relationship to it and to the beings that live there. She wanted to know how this connection had affected me, and how I had affected this place, and whether or not I got it. I had. From that day on, we began to work together, and we have done so for over a decade.

The central question in my tradition is this: "What are Witches for?

Each of us has to answer this question in our own way. (3) For me, it means I work with licensed groups that rescue and rehabilitate injured and orphaned wildlife, and help return them to the wild. I also am a foster mom for kittens and I work to find homes for cats in need. I work with native plants and help educate others on the importance of preserving wild lands and native habitat. I also help to organize events and raise money for grass roots organizations that do this sort of work. I still have to make a living, so I do this as service, as an unpaid volunteer, in my free time, along with thousands of other people just like me. This work has brought me a wealth of experience and enriched my life immeasurably. It's what I'm meant to do.

Whatever our spiritual practice, if our tradition is meaningful
then part of our life lesson is finding out what we are meant to do.
The rest is doing it.

When we ask the universe for teachers or lessons, they come to us. Very often they are not in the form we looked for. They might not be human. They might be an experience or an animal guide or an attraction to a place. The lesson might involve letting go or it might involve love and care. And the learning never stops. At some point in our lives we might be asked to mentor others, and this will lead to yet more connections and change.

After 25 years as a Pagan, this is what I know: We don't choose this path, it chooses us. Then we spend the rest of our lives trying to understand and use the gifts we receive along the way.

Best of luck on your journey,

Sia

Art: Storyteller by Susan Sedden Boulet

Link: Spiral Steps

Endnotes:

(1) To find out what I mean by that, read Pratchett and the Pagans

(2) Many Green Witches do this instinctively, don't we? She knew that.

(3) Another one of her students was a software engineer who loved horses. So she worked on a horse ranch as a volunteer, and she was given the same basic quest. Same experience, different paths. She now helps kids with disabilities learn how to ride and she rescues abused and neglected horses.

Three Sisters

Somewhere in Suburbia....

A tall set of pine trees graced our southeastern fence line for many years. They were a stately trio, planted as a group forty years ago, around the time our home was built. Since they had grown up together we called them The Three Sisters.

The Sisters gave us dappled shade in summer and offered a home to small birds and squirrels all year round. At night we'd sit around a backyard fire drumming with friends and watch the moon arch up and up and up, over our redwood fence till it seemed to dance in their branches. After a long day, we'd relax within their gentle shadows, sip tea, watch the birds at the feeders, and enjoy the breeze. If there is music more beautiful than wind song in pine trees, I have yet to hear it.

I planted a shade garden under the pines, using native wildflowers, herbs, and woodland plants. Over the years this little plot became a source of varied riches for our family. It offered soothing scents for us, pollen for the bees, food for the birds, digging spots for the squirrels and jays, a cool resting space for the dog, day long entertainment for the cats, and some glorious color; all of this in a small, magical place watched over by The Sisters.

One day my neighbor decided that she did not like these "messy old trees". Since they grew on her side of the fence she had the right to cut them down, which she has just done. Now I know how the Ents felt when they saw the destruction wrought by Saruman.

Our shade garden won't last the summer. The birds and the squirrels will have to find new places to live. It is nesting season now, and there is less and less habitat for wildlife in Silicon Valley, so they'll have a hard time of it. People here just don't seem to understand what it takes to have a healthy local ecosystem, and how that, in turn, affects the whole. In fact, few people ever stop to consider how the environment they create, protect, neglect, or destroy directly affects the quality of their lives. Some of us are working to change that, but it’s a slow process.

I performed a simple ritual to bless and thank the trees. Then I pulled out my gardening catalogs to see what life giving plants and herbs I can grow under these new, much harsher conditions. Gardeners know that we can make only so many changes to the land and the soil around us. We love to create an abundant paradise of peace, but we have to work with what we have. Which is why I love whoever said that a garden is "A thing of beauty and a job forever".

Sia

Northern California, 2005

Endnotes: I wrote that post two years ago, just before we moved to a mountain in Oregon. I now have a multitude of trees on our property, and I am involved in efforts to save wild lands and old growth forests where we live now, but I will never forget the Three Sisters and the magic they brought us.

Pagan and other friends of mine who live California continue their attempts to educate the public on the importance of using of native plants and trees, providing habitat for birds and animals, and waterwise gardening. California is going to need this wisdom in the years to come, as water becomes an issue around the globe.

Check out the native plant nurseries in your area or visit the websites for the various Native Plant societies.

Master Gardeners also offers a free phone line for questions. These folks will be happy to give you information about the right plants and trees for your garden.

If you outside of the U.S. or Canada, use the Internet and keywords like (your area) + native plants.

Some Links of Interest:

National Native Plant Nursery Directory (U.S.)

Native Plant Societies of the United States and Canada

Master Gardeners (U.S.)

8 Steps to a Water-Wise Garden

The Sierra Club

National Audubon Society

ENTS: Eastern Native Tree Society
The Eastern Native Tree Society (ENTS) is a cyberspace interest group devoted to the celebration of trees of the eastern North America through art, poetry, music, mythology, science, medicine, and wood crafts.

Western Native Tree Society

Articles:

Admiring a Great Pine in Oregon

The Facts About Clearcut Logging

The Ecology Fund: Help Save Land Around the World (it's free)

John Muir on the Need for National Forests:

The outcries we hear against forest reservations come mostly from thieves who are wealthy and steal timber by wholesale. They have so long been allowed to steal and destroy in peace that any impediment to forest robbery is denounced as cruel and irreligious interference with 'vested rights,' likely to endanger the repose of all ungodly welfare. Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would be hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides, branching horns, or magnificent bole backbones. Few that fell trees plant them; nor would planting avail much towards getting back anything like the noble primeval forests. During a man's life only saplings can be grown, in the place of old trees" tens of centuries old" that have been destroyed. It took more than three thousand years to make some of the trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierras. Through all the wonderful, eventful centuries since Christ's time and long before that God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand straining tempests and floods; but He cannot save them from fools, only Uncle Sam can do that.

Beauty & Meaning: Gardening Like a Green Witch

Off The Shelf:

Natural Landscaping: Gardening with Nature to Create a Backyard Paradise by Sally Roth

Welcoming Wildlife to the Garden: Creating Backyard and Balcony Habitates for Wildlife by Catherine Johnson.

The Secrets of Wildflowers: A Delightful Feast of Little-Known Facts, Folklore and History by Jack Sanders.


The best part of being on a Pagan path is that once you begin, you find that your life is filled with beauty and meaning. Nothing exemplifies that for me so much as my garden.

We have four acres now, some of it wild, some of it planted with the decorative plants and shrubs. The decorative plants are pretty, but useless. They give nothing back. And there you have it. Pretty is easy. But Beauty has depth and breadth, and a sense of Her own self. She connects with others and works for the common good. She fits, Beauty does, whereas Pretty preens and stalks and talks of nothing worth hearing. She goes from place to place, causing all kinds of havoc, wanting only to be noticed. Beauty gives. Pretty takes.

I was reminded of the uses of beauty when I toured a native plant garden here in Oregon. As we walked the ground with Lori, the owner, we talked to her about the dreams for our land. We live on a mountain now. We haven't been here very long and we want to do right by our local wildlife. With her good advice we choose some wildflowers that were right for our lower field. They will provide food and habitat for the creatures here, as well as color and scent for us; just the balance I was looking for.

Who Invited Them?

I could have just ordered a packet of seeds on line, but I know what I would get: a mix of some of the right seeds and many of the wrong ones. These would clutter my field, and my neighbors' fields, as well, with intrusive, useless non-natives. Such plants push out the natives and they would not feed the birds and animals here. They would, in fact, be harmful for our whole mountain. In a way, putting in the wrong plants is it's rather like choosing the wrong kinds of friends; they may look good at first, but the fallout later is huge, not just for you, but for everyone around you. You can spend years cleaning up the mess.

Good Fences

Mind you, I'm not a purist. I can have my decorative plants and my beloved herbs, as well. These have to be kept in their place, in pots and small fenced plots, so that they don't do any harm to these wild lands. They can add beauty, strength, and meaning to my life, as long as I am careful as to when, where, and how I use them. Using any kind of power is like that, be it natural or otherwise; you need boundaries, some knowledge and a bit of common sense.

I Can See It Now

Lori lives in a lovely old house near her nursery, and she invited us to see her bit of land to see what she had done over the years. I was gabberflasted. She has the most wonderful ponds and steams, rose scented corners, flowering meadows, and stately trees, as well as some charming alcoves for reading (jealous,jealous, jealous). Oh! for a duck pond, now that spring is here.

The kind of wild habitat I wish to make will take between 5 - 10 years to complete. (When I asked Lori how long it took her to build her own garden, she told me that it took 20 years.) When I am done, this place will be a sanctuary for the creatures here, and one for us as well. But I have a lot to learn. I'm working with new plants, new weather conditions, new soil and new wildlife, and I'm trusting that my hard work will make something wonderful. Once again, this experience reminds me of my spiritual practice. When we moved to Oregon I felt many of the same feelings of uncertainty and ignorance I experienced as someone new to Paganism. Some days you just has to "act as if" and trust that it will come to you. Most days, it does. I try and keep the greater good in mind, while living in the process, and I don't take the easy way out. OK, you caught me, some days I do choose the easier way, and then I pay the price for that, and start again.

A writer named Kari King calls this a "blesson", it is a combination of a blessing and a lesson. My garden is my blesson or, to paraphrase the poet it is A thing of beauty and a job forever. I welcome the work, and the quiet time, too, and I will remember to enjoy the view, when the day is over. My partner and I spent 13 years in the salt mines of Silicon Valley. We worked at demanding jobs by day, and did non-profit work for Full Circle and various animal rescue groups on our nights and weekends. Learning to stop and smell the very tea roses I had planted was my blesson from that hectic, fruitful time. I've brought that hard won wisdom with me to the Pacific Northwest. Woe to me if I forget it.

Change Happens:

Like any Green Witch, I am closely tied to the land, and there are many days when I miss hiking in the California foothills or birding at the San Francisco bay. It's a palpable ache. Anyone who has lived in and loved two places will understand.

Among the things I miss is my little suburban garden in Northern California. It took me six years to build a bird and butterfly garden out of clay soil that hadn't been worked in decades. By the time I left it was a lovely, sweet smelling haven with a thriving population of birds, butterflies and bees. As Pratchett once said about Nanny Ogg, I was happy in a little place. Pick a time of the year, any time, and I can tell you what would be blooming there, and what my former neighbor's garden's are like, as well. For some reason, the universe has decided that I need to expand my horizons while becoming less involved with certain people, places, and things. Is making a new, wild garden from scratch a part of my spiritual path? For me, the answer is "Yes".

Little Altars Everywhere

The trick to any practice is to use what you have. One can be just as Pagan in an urban setting as they can roaming the glen. One can also create a small garden on a balcony and grow herbs in window pots. I know, because I've done that. It's all in how you use your space. That includes the space inside your head and heart, as well as the space you call your home.

So here's to beauty and meaning, where ever you may find it. But if I may make a suggestion, you might wish to take a walk in a garden. Better yet, build one yourself.

Sia

Art: This sculpture is titled The Goddess of Spring. It was a gift from Full Circle to Gaia's Oasis for hosting our wonderful Spring Staff Retreat in 2004. Gaia's Oasis is a beautiful retreat in the Sierra Foothills of California, not far from Yosemite. The Owners of Gaia's Oasis are careful to keep the wild lands they hold in trust healthy and thriving. If you ever have a chance to visit this wonderful place, by all means, do so.

Humanism and the Green Tradition

Someone wrote to me today asking about the difference between Humanism and a Green Tradition, which is my personal Path.

I gave him the short answer (the long one is very long and requires that one sit up with friends far into the night, preferably in front of fire, with chocolate, cats, good reference books and a beverage close to hand).

I wrote:

This might help: Visit Full Circle and read the first page, which discusses the Pagan Path.

In brief:

A Green Tradition involves working with plants, Gaia's energy and animals. We believe that these are sacred, that each has different energies and needs that connect with the larger planet-as-Gaia, and that each requires our protection when threatened. People are a part of that, but not the only part and not always the most important part.

Living on earth is not about command and control, but connection and communion. Common Sense helps. Perhaps because it is not so common.

Most of us are involved in the environmental movement or in companion and wildlife rescue. Many of us also work with children, who are threatened, as well. As Terry Pratchett says "A Witch speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves".

We like people (more of less) but we think that we, as a culture, pay far too high a price for making man (or woman) "King Baby" and indulging his worst appetites and excesses. I say this as someone with a degree in Renaissance Literature who respects the fundamentals of Humanist thinking :-)

That's the short answer. I hope it helps.

Sia