Recently I've been considering the spiritual side of my Life, or more properly the lack of a real spiritual side. I have been discussing this in a recent post in the Eleventh Circle of Green Wizardry on Spirituality, Magic and Religion found here:

An Introduction To Shamanism

This thread began as an introduction to the occult discipline of Shamanism but has evolve into a discussion on my own spiritual journey.

Shamanism is a very old practice of mediation between humans and the spirit realms of animal, plant and elemental forces. You find it in every early culture from the people of the far Northern regions of the Arctic, to the aborigines in the Amazon rain forests. You find it in the nomads of the harsh dry deserts of the Middle East and the tribes of the gentle ocean islands of the Pacific. In a world were there were dangers all around you, having someone who could enlist the unseen spirits to be your friend and ally was a powerful thing. It meant your very survival.

I kind of think of it as a "Spiritual Kung Fu" in that its a spiritual skill most often associated with monks (or wizards) but has a useful practical side. It is a forgotten skill that I believe every Green Wizard should learn, and yet it might not be best discussed here on this site. That is why I'm introducing another blog.

---

Lets step back for a moment, shall we?

For a long while now I've been so wrapped up in the day to day bullshit we all have to deal with, the working long hours, coming home tired and wore out, the grind of having to prostitute myself for money to live in this World that is slowly collapsing around us. I know the toll its been taking on me both physically (at 62) but also mentally. I am worn out and tired. To my credit, I have been slowly working towards a exit plan, and that plan is just about ready. Not as ready as I would have liked, but ready enough.

On the 11th of next month, October, I will be leaving my current job and the established moneyed economy and taking on my own personal collapse.

I had thought I would have more years to prepare, perhaps working until 65 and then retiring completely, but in many ways that is just a cop out. Seems like for the past couple of years, since I redid this site, I've always been meaning to make a new push to expand the message of Green Wizardry. And yet, every time the rat race that is our daily life just seems to piss in my beer mug, putting distractions and problems in my way that pushes back my intended plans. Its like the modern Gods of Progress, Media and Money don't want anyone to offer up an alternative to what we have now.

Those of us who have read Greer for any length of time know this isn't true. Like it of not, we're all about to get a harsh lesson in what trickster gods can bring if you believe in the lies they preach. Green Wizardry can only help if it is prepared. Right now it isn't.

That needs to change.

Over the last few months, I've been feeling more and more the same feeling I get when a big storm is just over the horizon and making its way towards me here in St Louis. I get nervous and the hairs on the back of my neck raise up. St Louis has some amazing storms too. You can see them coming, a great dark wall of storm clouds across the western sky, looming at you like some orcish army about to crash on your castle walls and lay siege. Perhaps you have felt it too.

Its not just the political side, of the circus of Trump and his opponents. Its also economic. Too many stories of how our capitalistic overlords are seemingly on a path of loot it all, no matter what it looks like. Maybe they feel the same storm coming.

Climate change and resource depletion too, are riding that storm.

So I need to get this ship of Green Wizardry ready to ride the harsh and heavy waves to come. That means a focus on what tools we need to help us. And it means being ready for the unprepared whose lifeboats appear around us seeking help. But it also comes with it a awareness that people fleeing from a disaster can be highly emotional. We can offer them help with a good hot bowl of stone soup but if we look like pirates some may chose to drown.

In a crisis, one of the things people cling to is their religious upbringing. The current crop of Big Religions have demonized spiritual practices like Shamanism and other skills our ancestors used to navigate in a harsh and dangerous world. Some people with time will be open to relearning those skills, others never will. Those Big Religions seem to be headed toward conflict. Christians are fighting Christians. Buddhist are fighting Hindus. Muslims are fighting everyone and they all expect their followers to join their crusades. I'm not sure that they will have time for those of us who don't want to pick up a sword.

Maybe its time to seek smaller allies. To relearn how to recognize and make friends with the animal, plant and elemental spirits our ancestors venerated and sometimes worshiped. Maybe a partnership of shared respect and obligations, much like we suggest here between neighbors and among your local community is what we need. Maybe having a guardian spirit to watch over your home will be just as valuable as having Ring on your front door. Maybe getting to know the spirits of the plants you depend on to feed you in your garden is better than just buying a bag of chemical fertilizer. Maybe learning to work with the Elemental spirits of Fire, Earth, Water and Air is just as important as insulating your home and installing solar.

So I've decided to move my discussion of Shamanism and other old skills, to a smaller more personal site found here: Explorations In Shamanism

I expect my journey of self discovery, or relearning that old skill will be very personal and private, and yet it is a journey I feel needs to be shared. I hope you will stop by there from time to time too. I'll keep a fire burning and a pot of stone soup warm and waiting.