A Song for Your Supper
“A young woman asks poet, environmentalist, Buddhist Gary Snyder: ‘If we have made such good use of animals, eating them, singing about them, drawing them, riding them, and dreaming about them, what do they get back from us?" . .
‘Excellent question,’ replies Snyder, ‘directly on the point of etiquette and propriety, and putting it from the animals’ side. The Ainu say that the deer, salmon, and bear like our music and are fascinated by our languages. So,’ continues Snyder, ‘we sing to the fish or the game, speak words to them, say grace. Periodically, we dance for them. A song for your supper. Performance is currency in the deep world’s gift economy.’"
-from Performance Is Currency in the Deep World's Gift Economy An Incantatory Riff for a Global Medicine Show, Ronald L. Grimes
In developing our own authentic, earth-honoring spiritual praxis, the second tenant we focus on is Ceremony.
Becoming a Good Ceremonialist demands that we learn to pay attention - to our bodies, our communities, the seasons, the flora, the fauna. It requires that we open our hearts and minds to learning the language of the land and her spirits. The way they show us a need is asking to be addressed - the way the spirits teach us, through ceremony, how to remediate.
When we are at a loss for what actions we can take to participating in healing the man-made systems of the world around us, we can look to the calls of nature, and respond, as good earth stewards, with our discipline, with our offerings, with our attention, with our ceremony. In taking this occult action, we are inspired and motivated to address the ways we do have agency and capability to create change - big and small - in our internal and external worlds.
In Back to Basics, students come to understand how reconciliation to the Land is supported through sympathetic magic paired with material realm action.
Students discover how to know when Good Ceremony is needed - through intuition, mediumship, and open-hearted observation, and the techniques and tools (from our imaginations to the physical) to offer it to our Mother Earth.
Being a steward of this Good Earth isn't just about tilling the soil - it's about singing to it. Whispering to the seeds. Speaking gratitude to the rain and Sun.
A song for your supper. A pinch of tobacco for the guardians of a trail. A dance for your dead.
Back to Basics is a new, self-paced offering for discovering your Earth-Honoring Spiritual Praxis. In Back to Basics, students receive the tools, technique, and experiential wisdom for returning to an Earth-Honoring Spiritual Path.
You can learn more about the program and sign up for early enrollment discounts here. This is the last week to access early bird discount pricing before we officially open enrollment.
"In the best version of this world, there will always be work to do, to take care of ourselves, one another, and our planet.
The Good Spirits show us the work that sparks our soul. The ways to show up for ourselves, our communities, and our planet that bring us fulfillment, pleasure, joy, rest, and access to the resources we need to thrive."
All My Love,
Mother 🌹
