The Green Witch: Your Complete Guide to the Natural Magic of Herbs, Flowers, Essential Oils, and More - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2017

Get to Know Your Corner of the Universe
Attune Yourself to Nature
Discovering the Green Witch

IN GREEN WITCHCRAFT, ONE OF the most important practices is constantly reestablishing your understanding of nature as it is now around you. Maintaining contact with your physical environment is crucial to maintaining a meaningful individual practice. If you lose touch with your environment, you lose the one thing that connects you to your natural surroundings.

Green witchcraft is always about the now, about the current state of your environment. Being aware of your environment means knowing the energies moving through it, the energies it produces, its health and rate of vibration. It also means being aware of how your own energy and mental or emotional state fit into your surroundings. If you’re not aware of the current state of your environment, then how can you evaluate what sort of work is required of you? You may think you know your environment, but you might be surprised when you stop to create a new relationship with it. One of the basic foundations of living the green witch path is forging a connection with nature and natural forces. It is imperative that you forge a connection with what it actually there, and not what you assume to be there.

Get to Know Your Corner of the Universe

If you live in an urban setting, then that city’s energy is the energy to which you must open yourself in order to be in tune with your neighborhood and your environment. It is crucial to interact with your natural environment as it actually is, not the nature you imagine or idealize. The environment you knew yesterday or last month is no longer the environment that surrounds you: energy is in a state of constant change. Thus, the green witch must also be aware, and always adjusting her knowledge.

You may think you know your neighborhood, but it’s useful to take the time to see it in a new way. Use all your senses to explore where you live. Ask yourself the following questions. Answer them honestly:

✵ How do the seasons change where you live? What changes can you see and feel?

✵ What influence does the moon have on you? What is the phase of the moon right now?

✵ What wild plants are common to your neighborhood? Name at least ten local plants.

✵ Of those ten plants, which are indigenous to your area and which were imported? When were they imported and by whom?

✵ What trees are most commonly found in your neighborhood? Again, which are indigenous and which were deliberately introduced? When and by whom?

✵ What wildlife is native to your area?

✵ Is the water that’s channeled to your tap hard or soft?

✵ What type of soil does your neighborhood have? Is it chalky, clay, sandy, or other? Is it alkaline or acidic?

What you don’t know may surprise you and perhaps disappoint you, too. You may know the name of the street that crosses yours, or what park is nearest to you, but what is basic and integral to your natural environment is often unknown or unrecognized. Taking the time to learn more about your neighborhood will give you a good solid base from which to learn more about how your natural environment functions.

Make a point of finding out the answers to the previous questions. Write the answers in your green witch journal.

Walking around your neighborhood with enhanced awareness can teach you more than you thought you knew. Engage in the following exercises, which are designed to help you observe as much as you can and make the most of each experience as you gather information.

INTERACTION EXERCISES

When observation is done with intent, you will discover more about your neighborhood. For this exercise, first choose a stone or a plant that you’re familiar with. Allow yourself to experience it again as if for the first time. Answer the following questions. Write your answers in your green witch journal.

✵ What does this stone or plant feel like to the touch?

✵ How does it smell?

✵ What does it look like?

✵ What sounds does it make?

✵ How does it taste? (Caution! Try to catch the taste on the air. Never place an unidentified plant or object in your mouth.)

Once you’ve done this exercise with a few plants or stones you’re already familiar with, try one you’ve not experienced before. Notes on these exercises will serve as the basis of your green witch lore and become the heart of your personal practice.