Can you talk more about how you work with your local area?
unsure if you mean in general or me working with my area specifically?If you mean in general I will just go with that!
Every region has it’s own unique energy and expression of nature. You should get in connection with that magic because our magical community has been dominated by western culture/magic which does not apply to everywhere in the world. Especially doing this bioregional animism (a fancy word for describing a belief that every climate/terrain and region has it’s own unique spirit, natural magic and group of spirits) project I’ve learned that the climate in the northeast of the US isn’t even the same as western (UK area) europe. The only places that share the same climate is way north west of washington state and that’s it. That’s a miniscule fragment of the US to have in common with an area we take so much of our magical practice from. It’s not surprising that so many witches feel disconnected with the nature that surrounds them in the US since most of us base our practice on what we think should be ‘traditional’ which just comes from England or Ireland. Every witch should get to know their land and work with the nature that surrounds them. It’s also possible to keep the culture of your heritage while doing this. Even if you are an immigrant, there have been many that had to move to other lands and adapt to the nature there while holding on to their roots. Examples of this would be like the Bracherei (Pennsylvania Dutch Magic) group that brought their germanic magic to Appalachia and fused the two together to get that country root folk magic culture. Another is the Hoodoo rootwork culture that have held on to African practices that survived slavery’s abuse and works with local roots, dirt and sticks of eastern America. Even if you come from another land you can still take your cultures practices and adapt it to the nature around you. Nature is magic so it’s always good to adapt to the climate wherever you are!
Also the more I am getting into herbalism and plant sciences the more I am realizing how powerful plant magic is, whether it be alchemy, herbal medicines, simple teas, tinctures or house plant familiars, nature has so much to offer and its having a constant conversation with us whether we are aware of it or not. Plants are everywhere and they always have a purpose which is powerful. To elaborate on that statement I am near a very metropolitan area (NYC) and the plants that grow here naturally are all ‘weeds’ like Stinging Nettle, Dandelion or Red Clover. What’s fascinating about these “weeds” is that they are all cleansing plants that can pull heavy metals and pollutants from the ground. (It’s funny it reminds me of the Miyazaki film, Nausicca which is about toxic mushrooms that are helping the earth heal but anyway..) It’s why you don’t want to touch or consume those weeds that grow in urban spaces (well one of the reasons since an animal could have peed on them), but its important to acknowledge that they are growing in spaces that they are filtering out the pollution. In the desert a lot of plants store water or like Aloe have substances that can help heal and protect against heat. In colder climates there are a lot of plants like firs or pines that obviously can resist the cold but their nettles have vitamin C and other things that helps the body with nutrients to survive the harsher winters. Also they have a lot of trees with rich resins that helps the tree with nutrients while hibernating but the syrup we get from maple’s sap has it’s own power too.
Almost every region has plants that are banishing and cleansing, (various sage, lemongrass, st johns wort, papaya, jalepeno), plants that are calming (lavender, kava, passionflower, mint, aloe), plants that are energetic (ginger, cayenne, rhodiola rosea, ginseng, citrus fruit, sugar cane), or plants that can help you fly (datura, peyote, shrooms, heather flowers, mandrake). It’s important to be allies with these entities that can help you in your magic, not only to draw power from the energy around you but also cause our community just gets information from- once again, a very small section of the world which only has 1 climate and opinions on the things that just grow there. It’s sad how white sage is endangered because of ignorance when there are many other herbs/roots/plants you could use to cleanse your space. (Even just regular sage which is not endangered lol).
I won’t ramble on much more cause I am still unsure if you mean me working with my area specifically or someone in general working with their area. Anywhere there are more tips in this post that I really like. Here is also an article about 'magical terroirs’ if you feel like reading some more. I hope this was helpful!
