If you’re interested in listening to the place where you live, in cultivating your relationship with the more-than-human world in your neighborhood, in turning that instinctive feeling of joy or thanksgiving at the turning of the seasons into a simple but powerful ritual, in celebrating being alive and just feeling more human, then this will be a good place to start.
Read MoreAnimists see a world that is full of other-than-human persons, including salmon persons, tree persons, and even rock persons. It is difficult for many Westerners to understand the concept of other-than-human persons, especially when talking about (seemingly) “inanimate objects” like rocks. But for the animist, there is no such thing as inanimate matter, because it is all a part of the complex self-regulating living system called Gaia. Animism is not about the projection of consciousness or agency onto non-human things, but about respect and reciprocity within a more-than-human community that transcends the subject-object dichotomy.
Read MoreIt takes an artist’s eyes—or a lover’s—to really see. It takes a willingness to get our hands dirty, to get up close and personal with messy nature, and to use all of our senses. But most of all, it requires a willingness to be open to receiving, as well as perceiving—an openness to being “touched back” when we touch nature.
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