When entering a wild area to find a site for a ritual, find a place that feels good. Then do the following,
either individually or, if in a group, as a guided meditation.
o Relax while standing upright and focus on your breathing. Breathe deep breaths from the diaphragm.
Breathe together if in a group. - Feel the wind and let it relax you and awaken your spirit within, as your
deep breathing takes you into non-ordinary reality. - Picture in your mind's eye a light inside you. As you
breathe, feel the light expand, purify and energize you - as it expands to fill your aura. - Feel yourself
glowing, balanced, purified and full of power. - Connect with your inner self (your higher self) and feel
your intuitive self operating.
o Feel yourself as: - The wind, full of life and intelligence, communicating with all round. - The Sunlight,
warm, alive, channeling the power to communicate with nature and energizing all around. - Water,
emotional, intuitive, refreshing and connected with nature. - The Earth, and note how your physical body
is able to wander while remaining part of Mother Earth.
o Focus on your spiritual self, and - Note the light within and feel it as love, - Expand the light and love
beyond the immediate aura of your body to the surrounding area - where you will go to find a power spot.
o Telepathically (by thinking while channeling the love and light energy) send out signals to nature spirits
to emerge and be aware of your presence. - Say why you have come and invite them to join in sharing,
mutual celebration, and the work you intend. - Visualize the light and love energy you are channeling
extending out and merging with the light from distant places. - Feel the power of the Earth flowing up
through your body and feet. - Feel the power from the sky, and channel this power also to further
energize the carrier signal of light and love for communicating with nature. - Visualize the light expanding
and merging. - Continue to send out telepathic signals.
o Now go deeper. - Close your eyes, sit on the Earth, and feel your connection while you channel more
light and love. - Continue modulating the light and love with your thoughts - inviting receptive spirits to
join with you and make themselves known. - If in a group, someone should start playing a drum at a rate
of about one beat per second, and you should listen to the drum and let the drum take you deeper. -
Affirm that you are a nature magician, a medicine person, who knows and communicates with nature. Let
this part of yourself emerge to full consciousness. Let the drum and the connection to your inner self
awaken that part of yourself that naturally communicates with other life forms. Let it awakn your
telepathic sense. - Continue sending telepathic signals to nature. - When you feel ready and an inner urge
to begin, open your eyes a crack and look around while continuing to channel love and light and
telepathically calling for a response. - You may see light coming from certain areas that are receptive.
You may get other signals, such as a feeling of power or love returning in a certain direction. Perhaps the
type of response to this work will be unexpected; follow your intuition in interpreting it. - You may test
your connection by communicating (mentally) instructions for signals for yes/no responses (such as light
getting brighter for less and darker for no) and then mentally ask questions and observe the responses.
o When you have found an areas that seems to be responsive and receptive, begin walking to the area,
while beaming love energy. Extend your aura to the area and sense the energy.
ENTERING A POWER SPOT:
o Before entering a power spot, ask permission to enter. If the response is good, enter; if not, locate
another more receptive area.
o When entering the power spot, look around. Perhaps the responsive energy will be concentrated around
some singularity (a bush, a tree, a specific branch, a moss covered rock, or other entity that stands out).
Perhaps the energy will be more general. Use your intuition and feedback from the spirits to guide your
actions.
o If it feels right, send out a signal that you would like to touch the singularity (or the ground) for
better communication. If the response is good, approach beaming love energy, touch or hug the
singularity (or the ground).
o Treat the spirits as you would other Pagans you meet for the first time - be sensitive, open, and listen.
DEEPENING COMMUNICATION WITH NATURE SPIRITS:
o Now that you have made contact with spirits that seem receptive, deepen the communication. -
Breathe deep breaths from the diaphragm, and with each breath, feel more refreshed. - Now imagine
that your spine is the trunk of a tree; and, from its base, roots extend deep into the Earth. Deep into
the rich moist Earth. - With every breath, feel the roots extending deeper, - Feel the energy deep
within the Earth and within the waters of the Earth. Feel your roots absorbing nourishment from the
Earth and from its waters. - Now feel the energy rising. Feel the moist, warm energy rising. - Feel it
bursting up from the Earth and rising up your spine, like sap rises in a tree. - Now imagine that you have
branches, branches that sweep up and then bend down towards the Earth, like the limbs of a willow. -
Feel the branches extending and interweaving with your surroundings. - Feel the warm, moist energy of
the Earth flowing through your branches. As it flows, feel your mind being purified, centered, and
connected to the Earth. - Feel the power from the Earth flowing through your branches and then down
back to the Earth, like a fountain. - Note how your branches absorb energy from the air. Also, feel them
receiving light (fire) from the sky. - Feel the energy from above penetrating deep through your body into
the Earth. - Feel the warmth of the Earth rising also. - Feel the energy circulating.
o Notice how your branches intertwine with the branches and energy fields of your surroundings. -
Notice how your roots also intertwine. - Feel the energy dancing between you and your surroundings. -
Notice how you and the life around you are rooted in the same Earth, breathing the same air, receiving
the same fire, drinking the same water, sharing the same underlying essence. You are one with the
magical grove.
o Telepathically mention the time in the past when nature spirits and people communicated regularly and
the need to establish such communication now.
o Test your connection by asking questions and observing the responses.
WORKING WITH NATURE SPIRITS:
o Explain to the spirits the purpose of your coming to them and the nature of the ritual you plan.
o If the spirits you contacted are receptive: - Explain to them the details of the ritual and invite them
to provide ideas. - Listen, you may receive suggestions on how to improve the ritual. Such suggestions
may come in the form of hunches, visions, or answers to yes/no questions using pre arranged signals, or in
other ways. - Ask what the best place to perform the ritual is. - You may see light or get other psychic
signals leading you to other sites, or you may be at one of them. - Before you leave the power spot, tell
the spirit you have contacted when you plan to return to do the ritual (visualizing the associated lunar
and solar aspects can help with this communication). - Invite them to join in the ritual when you return
and to bring their friends. - Ask if it would be best to return silently, with drums, with chanting, or with
some other form of approach. - You can also ask the spirits to provide guidance for working in balance and
to provide a teacher to provide further guidance.
o Before you leave the power spot, - Thank the spirits, - Channel love energy, - Trigger your memory of
the experience, and - If it feels right, leave an offering of tobacco, or beer and honey poured on the
ground (or other suitable material).
o Leave in peace and love.
o Proceed to other sites that were indicated by the spirits, doing similar meditations at each site.
o If you need something, like a staff, a Maypole, or a wand, you can also ask where you can find it and
follow the guidance you receive (not slavishly, but as you would guidance from another Pagan).
o Before leaving the general area in which you found power spots and contacted nature spirits, - Channel
love energy towards the receptive sites you found, - Thank the spirits of the land, - Pull back your roots
and branches, - Ground any excess energy into the Earth (placing ones hands on the Earth, breathing in
any excess energy and channeling the energy down your arms, while visualizing and feeling the energy
going into the Earth), and - Leave in peace and love.
o Naturally, you should leave the area at least as clean, and preferably cleaner, than you found it.
o If you work with techniques of Wicca or Ceremonial Magic, you may find that by casting a circle, calling
the Elements, the Goddess, the Gods, and the local nature spirits while you are at receptive sites, you
may be able to greatly increase communication.
o Through the use of drums and other power raising techniques, it is even possible to energize receptive
nature spirits. The results can be very interesting. If with a coven, such circles can be done as part of a
group attunement to a power spot you have located.
o If you do not get good feelings in response to your explanation of the ritual and are unable to come up
with a ritual that gives good responses, do not try to force a good response. You would only be fooling
yourself. - Thank the spirits for their attention. - Ask them why they are not receptive (if they are
communicative). - Trigger your memory. - Pull back your "roots and branches," return any excess energy
you feel into the Earth. - If it feels appropriate, leave an offering of tobacco or other appropriate
material, out of respect for the spirits. - Move to a more receptive site.
o If it is hard to find a site that is really receptive, you should also: - Consider any impressions you got
of why the nature spirits weren't receptive in the area you were in, and re-think your plans for a ritual,
as necessary and appropriate. - It may also be appropriate to look for another general area in which to
find a suitable power site that is receptive to the work planned.
WHAT TO DO WHEN RETURNING:
It can be very powerful to purify and center yourself and to attune to the spirits of the land using the
technique previously described for calling nature spirits immediately upon returning to the site.
Then approach the site ritually using the previously arranged technique. You should have the details
worked out with the Spirits of the land. A procession through or past receptive power spots, inviting
nature spirits to join and proceeding to the central power spot for the main ritual, can be especially
effective.
Be sure to invoke the nature spirits, to ask them for their help during the ritual, and to thank them at
the end.
When consecrating space in the wild, or casting a circle, do not set up the perimeter as a barrier to all
outside forces; it should be a beacon to attract friendly nature spirits, a container for holding magical
power, and a barrier to spirits who it isn't right to be with.
One thing that is fun and worthwhile in nature is to bring instruments, such as a rattle, a flute and/or a
drum, to tune in to nature's sounds, and to make music in time to nature's sounds. You may be able to get
some very interesting back and fourth exchanges of music going with selected creatures of the wild, and
get into an amazing jam session.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
There are other ways of working with nature spirits. This is one approach. The author thanks Selena Fox
for teaching the basic guided meditation technique for locating and contacting nature spirits at a
tranceworking session sponsored by the Chameleon Club (part of the Association for Consciousness
Exploration) in 1981, Isaac Bonewitz for the outline of the expanded tree meditation, and Carlos
Castenada, Black Eagle, Pasha, the Goddess, the Gods, and various nature spirits for teaching the rest of
the good methods.
RIGHTS TO DISTRIBUTE THIS ARTICLE:
This article is written by Larry Cornett and is copyrighted l988, and hereby placed by the author in the
public domain, providing it is not modified without the explicit permission of the author and providing the
author is acknowledged. It may therefore be distributed freely to any BBS or other Electronic Forum.
Permission to reprint in a publication for sale may be requested from the author, and will generally be
granted in exchange for a copy of the publication containing the article. This copyright takes precedence
over any copyright expressed or implied by any BBS or commercial system on which this file is posted.
To make the most out of working magical ritual in the wild, one should find power spots where nature
spirits are receptive to the ritual planned and approach the spirits with respect, as equals. In my
experience, the most effective power spots for working with the living intelligences of nature are
located in wild areas with diverse active ecologies.