You talk to your dogs or cats, you may even already talk with your houseplants or your tomato plants in your vegetable garden. But what abut the land itself? It is sentient, just like the animals and plants you live with everyday and your life (and the life of the land) can be enriched by energetically connecting with it.
So how do you energetically connect with the land?
First, a note about “ownership”. I try to stay away from that word when it comes to land and property mainly because it's not a concept the land understands. So many humans have come and gone in the memory of the land, we are caring for it for the tiniest sliver of time. I much prefer to say that we are stewards or caretakers of our land in this particular moment. The choices we make for it can significantly improve or degrade the land so our presence is very important, but the land doesn't believe that we “own” it.
The other tricky part about “your” land is that the spirits have a hard time discerning where your land ends and the next person's begins. This happens to me all the time in property readings where a tree is calling out as the grandfather tree on the property and sometimes I can see that it's on the other side of an existing fence or sometimes I just sense that it could be.
The tree wants to be recognized and honored and it is certainly caring for you, regardless of where the fence line is, but you may have some explaining to do to a neighbor if you want to give an offering to a tree that's in their yard!
That being said, you do want to give the spirits some guidelines as to where you are able to work with them. You can do this by walking your property line and establishing it as the primary boundary of the land you are caring for. Using sound or music is a great way to do this – you can walk the property line while drumming, or singing, or clicking two rocks together. Take a few moments before you begin by closing your eyes, grounding your energy, and intending that you are setting an energetic boundary around your property.
I also suggest, especially when you are new to the property, that you spend as much time as you can outside, sitting with the trees and the plants and asking what they want. You'll have to use your intuition and imagination a bit here, because plants usually talk in pictures or ideas. Go outside, ask if there's anything they need and then sit quietly for a few minutes.
If you see a picture of something, or get a sudden idea, or just think of something specific, that's nature communicating with you.
Trust it and, if possible, find a way to fulfill their request! Often it's more water, or planting seeds, or pruning some branches, nothing too difficult for us humans to handle, but impossible for them to do themselves!
Another great way to connect with your property is to meet the Spirit of the Land.
Get into a meditative state (you don't have to be outside, but it helps!), ground and protect your energy, and ask to meet the Spirit of the Land. Be patient and don't discount what shows itself to you. It may not be a creature native to your climate, or it may be something you consider mythical, or even a cartoon character. It took me months to meet the Spirit of the Land where I live now, although that's pretty unusual for it to take that long.
Sprits of the Land are typically overseeing a larger area of land where you live and are not specific to your property. You can ask them if they have a message for you or if there is anything you can do to be helpful to it. Once the spirits know that you are aware of them and eager to help, they will put you to work, but also reward you for your efforts!
Another way to energetically connect with your property that I recently read about on The Druid's Garden is to find an “anchor spot” on your property where you can sit, observe and connect with nature. We are so often moving through nature rather than a part of nature. The rest of our surrounding environment will begin to respond to us differently when our energy is such that we are part of the landscape instead of separate from it.
And finally, give your thanks and offerings to the land.
This could be seeds or flowers or cornmeal or a song. The land appreciates it and will work together with you when it feels honored and appreciated. Treating the land as an entity equal to us as humans will open up an entirely new world both for us, and for the spirits you share the property with and you'll be surprised at how your surroundings will flourish!
