Singing to the Sí

At the start of the year I decided what little tasks I’m going to do every day (energy permitting) to build up my routine and become more ‘present’ in the world. It’s a handful of things that range from ‘get dressed’ (when you’ve spent many years horizontal in bed with the curtains closed and dragging yourself to the toilet, then ‘get dressed’ is a step), to 5 mins of Irish to ‘exercise’ (a little 7 min low impact routine). Recovery is not like it is shown in television and films, you do not get out of your hospital bed after being at death’s door and start to skydive in two weeks.

Recovery is slow, it is tough, it is cruel and it takes you to places you never thought you could go.

Some days I manage all my tasks (of which there are 8). Other days, not so much. The task that has managed to stick and become an important and welcome part of my day is my morning stroll. I pick a Tarot card, then take it on a walk. I walk the same route every morning and talk to myself about the card, how I interpret it, how it’s relevant to my life in some way and mull over its relationship with the one I picked the day before. It’s a great little practice that seems to be the best way for me to learn the cards as well as getting some fresh air.

A few days ago I went to an online Treadwells lecture about Psychogeography. It was run by the very friendly and knowledgeable Julian Vayne. Julian talked about the different facets of Psychogeography and gave us practices to use whilst out and about to connect and *see* the landscape more. To change your behaviour when you walk and notice how the space you are in affects you emotionally, to become part of your journey and not separate from it.

This chimes very well with me, being an Animist, a massive tree hugger and nature becoming a big part of my life and recovery. A lot of my magickal practice is also about working with the genius loci. I have admittedly being feeling very stuck of late, magically flat. Feeling out of ideas about how to progress my practice and have a more magical life.

Then came the synchronicities. Jumping around the podcasts I listen to, one after another, there were different guests on different shows talking about connection to the land and how they view ‘place’ and how it intersects their life. As well as that, the next books I had to read on my book pile were all about ritual and reconnecting to the land and then Julian and his lecture came at the right time too.

The message I was receiving over and over again was about keeping things nice and simple. I think I always look for the whizz bang, the huge revelation, when I know that this is not the reality of magick, at least not for me.
As I listened to each teacher I realised I was already in magic, I was already doing the things that kept me right with the land and myself. I talk to trees and rocks and yes, they do talk back. Sometimes I can look at a plant and it will tell me its name (this is not a 100% hit rate), literally, I will look at a plant and wonder in my head ‘ooh that’s lovely, I wonder what it is’ then I will ‘hear’ the name in my mind. This is not a thing to write lightly on the Internet, I’m aware how ridiculous it sounds.

My takeaway from this past week has been to stop looking for the big mystic experience and continue to collect rocks that ask to come home with me or say hello to the trees as I pass. With this in mind I went on my walk this morning with the Ace of Swords and began to utilise some techniques to disrupt my usual stroll, I stopped every now and then and looked around and up to see if I could notice anything different. I zigzagged along the road, I noticed new wild flowers and I finally stopped and sang a song as loudly as I could towards the Sidhe that sits in a field next to the house.

Standing in beautiful surroundings, singing noisily and unashamedly from the heart, blue cloudy skies with the warm wind whipping around my head – what is more magical than that?