If, like me, some of your most important relationships have been with birds – or with trees or flowers, amphibians or reptiles, insects or stones, or particular places – you may well have been following recent debates about new animism with great interest. This fledgling blog has been set up as a space for musing upon animist spirituality in a postmodern Western context.
I take animism to refer to a sense or belief that the teeming complexity of nature, understood as a matrix of interdependent communities of beings amongst whom humankind exists as a problematic member species, is pervaded by Spirit and/or mind and consciousness, by multiple intelligences, and relationships of many kinds.
What might respectful relationship mean? What happens when we humans relate ‘spiritually’ to other-than-human beings? What do we mean by spiritual? How are we to talk and write about such intimate experiences? I’m hoping to include contributions by other writers on the broad theme of dialogue with sentient worlds. If all goes to plan, one or two new pages or posts will appear each Moon.
A Right Royal Visit, There’s Toads About, Yellow Bird’s Nest, and Late Snow, are recent responses to the natural natural world not far from our doorstep.
Peregrine Dreams – 2, Equinox Greetings, and the Kingfisher page, record a more directly ‘spiritual’ or divinatory engagement with other-than-human-beings (or people if you prefer).
Natural Magic responds to Nigel Pennick’s ‘Natural Magic’ from a postmodern animist perspective.
Brian Taylor.
A Touch of Pollen, Detail. Peter Goode 1994.
The photograph of a Bee Orchid was taken at Conwy R.S.P.B reserve, in July 2012. Bee Orchids not only mimic the appearance of a female bee, but emit pheremones in order to lure male bees into ‘pseudocopulation’ as a method of pollination. The species’ northward spread is being monitored in relation to climate change.
All photographs are my own unless otherwise stated.If you would like to contact me, please leave a message here:
