This is a beautiful piece of writing, and I want to name something in the spirit of care for our community. The framework here: the mythic rhizome erupting through history, the vegetal Jesus executed by empire, the dying gods as composting cycle, is very specifically the intellectual architecture of Sophie Strand's (@sophiestrand) work, particularly The Flowering Wand. In addition to crediting Stephen Buhner, I'd love to see Sophie named here too, it would only deepen the piece.🙏
Thank you. As you name this I see her influence in that passage in ways I was not conscious of while writing the words and her work is beautiful and important indeed. (Stephen's was anchored so in the particular memory of the moment in Vermont.). When next I am at my laptop I will find a way to properly edit amd acknowledge (not at home now and have great difficulty typing on phones but wanted to make at least a quick reply in the moment.)
<3 I really appreciate this response and your acknowledgement. I would hope that you'd mirror back to me in this way if (when!) I do the same. Glad to be walking this road together...
We recently moved across France from the bountiful Dordogne to wild savage mountains near the Italian border. It was quite trauma to leave my sacred grove , well, tress and plant and animal friends I have had for quite ong all the trees that saw grow,those I planted (who got an extra mini wassail from e for all their years of joy and peace and bounty we shared.) but in this savage place we live now I am having a tough tie ti connect to the land and find the spirits a of tie and place and learn the plant dialect of here. I was soooooooo happy to find a huge stash of mullein and wormwood when collecting hay and was permitted to harvest (and got a bottle of home made literally the old fashioned way ) plants i brough any cuttings and pots with e but you now mullein is a wid child like me and refuses to grow in captivity. Everyone was coughing as we were crawling around the hayloft and tossing hay bales and then I made us all mullein tea . Bothe ancient owner who never knew what treasure he had and my sceptic friend coud not argue with the benefits a few in minutes after the tea. Now the old an is going to brew mullein dad as he has bees this I want to try!. I also pointed out his wonderful Elders and then asked about plants i dont know apart from wild thyme but sadly he did not know. But is am finding plantains and cleavers and nettles of course and i found an AWEN TREE so building a little stone circle from rock picking the hiorses new field. Great article Thomas and true all you said.
We all need to feed our wild inside. Love your essay. I am between the two worlds ATM. One foot in (the city) the other out in (the wild of the land, and for me, as a thalassophile, the sea). It's a battle :) Gaia's calls are so soft in amongst the busy noise. And yet they are all I hear.
Thank you for this. Just wanted to share I'm making a collection of upcycled linens right now with hand- printed images of the spirits of Nettles, Blackberry, and Mugwort. The collection is called "Hedgerow," inspired by the threshold between civilization and Wilds. Small, sweet, vast world.
“…to make political change within this culture, you need to be of this culture, and I never have been.” Oh so well stated! Thank you!
This is a beautiful piece of writing, and I want to name something in the spirit of care for our community. The framework here: the mythic rhizome erupting through history, the vegetal Jesus executed by empire, the dying gods as composting cycle, is very specifically the intellectual architecture of Sophie Strand's (@sophiestrand) work, particularly The Flowering Wand. In addition to crediting Stephen Buhner, I'd love to see Sophie named here too, it would only deepen the piece.🙏
Thank you. As you name this I see her influence in that passage in ways I was not conscious of while writing the words and her work is beautiful and important indeed. (Stephen's was anchored so in the particular memory of the moment in Vermont.). When next I am at my laptop I will find a way to properly edit amd acknowledge (not at home now and have great difficulty typing on phones but wanted to make at least a quick reply in the moment.)
<3 I really appreciate this response and your acknowledgement. I would hope that you'd mirror back to me in this way if (when!) I do the same. Glad to be walking this road together...
Sounds most fascinating
The Wild will have its way! Love the depth of your lived experience.
You would love a book o read recently- Hymn to Dionysus- it’s a novel by Natasha Pulley
We recently moved across France from the bountiful Dordogne to wild savage mountains near the Italian border. It was quite trauma to leave my sacred grove , well, tress and plant and animal friends I have had for quite ong all the trees that saw grow,those I planted (who got an extra mini wassail from e for all their years of joy and peace and bounty we shared.) but in this savage place we live now I am having a tough tie ti connect to the land and find the spirits a of tie and place and learn the plant dialect of here. I was soooooooo happy to find a huge stash of mullein and wormwood when collecting hay and was permitted to harvest (and got a bottle of home made literally the old fashioned way ) plants i brough any cuttings and pots with e but you now mullein is a wid child like me and refuses to grow in captivity. Everyone was coughing as we were crawling around the hayloft and tossing hay bales and then I made us all mullein tea . Bothe ancient owner who never knew what treasure he had and my sceptic friend coud not argue with the benefits a few in minutes after the tea. Now the old an is going to brew mullein dad as he has bees this I want to try!. I also pointed out his wonderful Elders and then asked about plants i dont know apart from wild thyme but sadly he did not know. But is am finding plantains and cleavers and nettles of course and i found an AWEN TREE so building a little stone circle from rock picking the hiorses new field. Great article Thomas and true all you said.
may the wild around you keep weaving you in
We all need to feed our wild inside. Love your essay. I am between the two worlds ATM. One foot in (the city) the other out in (the wild of the land, and for me, as a thalassophile, the sea). It's a battle :) Gaia's calls are so soft in amongst the busy noise. And yet they are all I hear.
I learned so much about communing with plant world through Stephen Buhner. Thank you.
bless you friend.
Thank you for this. Just wanted to share I'm making a collection of upcycled linens right now with hand- printed images of the spirits of Nettles, Blackberry, and Mugwort. The collection is called "Hedgerow," inspired by the threshold between civilization and Wilds. Small, sweet, vast world.
go h-iontach! go hálainn!
We are what we eat!