Toward a Local Practice

I love Fencraft and find the way it's described delightfully inspiring, but very much about the place where it's located. My practice is also very much about where I'm located, and as that implies, it's shifted over time and when I've moved from one place to another.

Other influences include Waincraft and bioregional animism. Many of the people I saw writing about bioregional animism are/were from the Pacific Northwest, and so it naturally felt more local to me.

Bioregional animism had a bit of a Moment ten or fifteen years ago, and has largely disappeared from the discussion now, but the descriptions some authors used and they way they spoke about understanding the place where you were very much resonated with me. It originated with Marcus McCoy, who has written at least one book:

What then is the viridis genii? The translation of viridis genii is the green spirit which is there for the collective autonomous force that animates the green world within the bioregion, the soul of the forest, swamp, desert, and prairie plants, and all of the green growing things composing the genius loci. Every tree, fern, blade of grass, whether native or introduced, that grows within the natural boundaries of a bioregion, collectively makes up the intelligence of the viridis genii. The viridis genii is wise beyond words. There is not a single herbalist, alchemist, or even scientist that has not gloried in wonder at its vast intelligence and wisdom. Though it be called and known in other ways, morphogenetic fields, the glory of god, evolution, or attributed to some pagan deity from some other far off land, its glory is still known. What is important however to the wortcunner, the magical herbalist, is again the congress with spirits, and in this case specifically plant spirits. The Genius in the Bottle: Bioregional Animism and the Viridis Genii

He wrote a piece on Substack about why it disappeared, in 2024:

I began writing about it on blog spot and then created an online forum about it on a no defunct platform called tribes. I learned how to connect deeper and deeper into the intelligence of place and as I did so bioregional animism developed more and more, and with a greater articulation of what it was and how to learn to BE place, not a bioregional animist, but PLACE Itself. What Happened to Bioregional Animism?

Sarah Anne Lawless had a good overview article on her blog that can still be found in the Wayback Machine:

So far bioregional animism may seem more of a practical way of life than a spiritual one, but again we must remember the line between the sacred and the mundane is invisible. Bioregional animism is not a spiritual path, it is not a denomination or a tradition, it is the way you choose to live your life every day and the conscious choice to interact ethically with nature. It is a lifetime commitment requiring every day action and practice. You will never stop learning as there is so much knowledge to attain and to put into practical use. I see this as a beautiful thing – striving for perfection and complete knowledge all the while knowing you can never achieve it. The Song of the Land: Bioregional Animism

Also the idea of getting to know your bioregion by doing research as well as reaching out directly to the land is a good idea:

There is a lot to learn, and a lot to pay attention to so it is good to have a solid base to start from. Creating a written profile of the genius loci of your area is a good way of doing this. Then you know what local animals to research the folklore and symbolism of, you can learn what types of land spirits there are and what types of offerings they like, you will know what plants and trees to research for the medicinal and magical properties as well of the best ones to make ritual tools with… so many things can come from a simple profile. How to Create a Genius Loci Profile

Some other sources to check out

• Northwest Witch is the blog/site of a witch who lives in my area and writes about working with local land and particularly plant spirits.
• Lupa Greenwolf works with nature spirits and has written about related subjects as well: Ecopsychology and Neopagan Relevance
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer has gotten a ton of attention/discussion since it came out, but it's well earned and I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't read it that wants to have a relationship with the land
• Iwígara : American Indian ethnobotanical traditions and science by Enrique Salmón is also worth reading and I found the initial section particularly valuable
• Alex Wrekk wrote a zine summarizing their trip to the 2023 Viridis Genii Symposium and also sometimes posts about very local work they're doing here in Portland.

I think Alex was the first person I saw actually talking publicly about working with the "local" Joan of Arc here in Portland.

I've got ideas for things I'd like to write about regarding very-local paganism. I've written bare minimum posts about Portlandia before. I'm especially fond of Portlandia and I've had feelings about St. Joan long before moving to Portland, but I also like working with the rivers, I had excellent results working with very small tributary that ran behind an apartment I lived in for several years (I still miss it!) and there are other spirits of place I've tried reaching out to over the years I've lived in the Portland area.

Also one of my favorite things to experiment with is "calling the corners" with non-traditional directions. My first experience with this was actually in college, where we joked that there were five cardinal directions because four dorms were named after the directions and therefore the fifth was an additional direction we should call on, and that idea has bloomed a bit since, especially since the Portland areas are very unbalanced in terms of size and personality: officially, Portland has a North, Northeast, Southeast, South, Southwest and Northwest. I personally feel like South and Southwest aren't a very strong delineation, but ymmv. One can also align with the ocean in the west and the desert in the east, if you're reaching a little further… there's many ways to understand your position in relation to all of the world around you.