Paganism: The Spirituality of Earth and Sky


Practically Magick: The Essence of Paganism and Connection to the Land
In this episode of 'Practically Magick', host Courtney Pearl discusses various aspects of paganism. She begins with a tarot card read from the True Heart Tarot deck, connecting the Eight of Swords card to the idea of trust. She dives into the concept of Ostera, a pagan holiday embodying both pagan and Christian traditions. Courtney shares a story from Ostera about the transformation of a bird into an egg-laying bunny, possibly the origin of the Easter Bunny. She also explores her personal shift towards paganism, drawing on Celtic and Native American influences and emphasizing the importance of connecting deeply with the land. She encourages listeners to see the magic in daily life, particularly in nature, and navigate their spiritual journeys according to what feels true to their heart. Courtney concludes by discussing healing through colors, previewing the next episode's topic, and answering a listener's question about color preferences shifting from purple to emerald green.
#PracticallyMagick #Paganism #TrueMagic #NatureSpirituality #AncientWisdom #HealingWithColors #ColorTherapy
00:00 Introduction and Personal Background
00:32 Tarot Card Reading: The Eight of Swords
04:11 Introduction to Paganism and Ostera
07:17 The Story of Ostera and the Easter Bunny
09:05 Paganism, Christianity, and Cultural Blending
10:39 Personal Journey to Paganism
13:37 Paganism and Relationship with the Land
20:18 Ancestral Connection and Land Acknowledgement
24:12 Pagan Practices and Personal Experiences
31:16 Listener's Question: Color Preferences
37:14 Conclusion and Contact Information
00:00:05,947.4907989905 --> 00:00:08,387.4907989905
Hello, and welcome to Practically Magick.
2
00:00:08,457.4907989905 --> 00:00:09,747.4907989905
This is episode six.
3
00:00:09,937.4907989905 --> 00:00:12,267.490798991
We're going to talk a little bit about paganism.
4
00:00:12,277.490798991 --> 00:00:14,217.489798991
This is Courtney Pearl you're listening to.
5
00:00:14,237.489798991 --> 00:00:22,77.490798991
Pagan witch, card reader, healer, spiritualist, Celtic priestess, teacher, artist, and mystic seeker.
6
00:00:22,807.489798991 --> 00:00:29,147.490798991
I have been on a discovery of true and real Magick in the world and I wish to share that with you.
7
00:00:30,237.490798991 --> 00:00:32,337.490798991
We're going to start as we do each episode.
8
00:00:32,337.490798991 --> 00:00:38,837.489798991
I'm going to pull a card and I am using a tarot deck called the True Heart Tarot.
9
00:00:39,507.490798991 --> 00:00:55,702.489798991
This deck was actually a gift it was my first tarot deck and I was told that some tarot readers especially old world tarot readers, believe that you have to be gifted your first tarot deck or that in order to use decks, you have to be gifted them.
10
00:00:55,832.490798991 --> 00:00:59,222.490798991
A lot of people don't subscribe to that myth and they'll buy their own decks.
11
00:00:59,282.490798991 --> 00:01:00,752.490798991
I buy my own decks mostly.
12
00:01:01,372.490798991 --> 00:01:10,772.490798991
But it's nice that my very first one was a gift from my sister and she was just you, I think this is something you'd be into and it turns out I am into it.
13
00:01:10,792.490798991 --> 00:01:12,32.490798991
I'm very into it.
14
00:01:12,722.490798991 --> 00:01:20,472.490798991
So I appreciate that because now it's a big part of my life and reading cards is one of my favorite things to do.
15
00:01:21,72.490798991 --> 00:01:27,32.490798991
So, I'm pulling a card today for us, for this episode, and for anyone who's an audience member today that needs to hear this.
16
00:01:27,552.490798991 --> 00:01:31,82.490798991
I'm joined today by my cat Titian, my black cat.
17
00:01:31,402.490798991 --> 00:01:33,172.490798991
Of course, every witch needs her black cat.
18
00:01:33,232.490798991 --> 00:01:34,32.490798991
I have mine.
19
00:01:34,42.490798991 --> 00:01:38,542.489798991
She's sitting on my lap right now, so hopefully she doesn't cause any problems in the recording.
20
00:01:39,82.489798991 --> 00:01:42,852.48979899
I am pulling a card today that is the Eight of Swords.
21
00:01:42,867.58979899 --> 00:01:52,827.48979899
And this is an interesting artwork because it actually shows kind of the, the woman in the card who's typically surrounded by the swords.
22
00:01:52,847.48979899 --> 00:02:00,727.48979899
In this card, she is actually floating above the car, the swords, and she's a black silhouette of a woman.
23
00:02:01,257.48879899 --> 00:02:04,157.48979899
And in this card, she's always tied up and blindfolded.
24
00:02:04,657.48979899 --> 00:02:15,917.48979899
And That's true of this card also, but it's interesting because her hair is flowing down and each part of her hair is tied to the swords.
25
00:02:17,57.48979899 --> 00:02:30,667.48879899
And in this particular deck and different decks, I read them a little bit differently, but in this deck, I do like to read the swords as the air element or the element associated with intellect and communication.
26
00:02:31,487.48979899 --> 00:02:51,52.48979899
And when I look at this card for us today, I am getting the impression that we are meant to rise above, but also stay grounded and connected to that which protects us, that we have an element of trust as we do this work today.
27
00:02:51,612.48979899 --> 00:03:03,532.48979899
So as you're on your Healing journey and your self awareness journey or in your seeking Magick journey that this is telling us that we need to trust ourselves and staying grounded.
28
00:03:03,612.48979899 --> 00:03:04,602.48979899
We're protected.
29
00:03:05,282.48979899 --> 00:03:22,187.48979899
And even though we are tied up or blindfolded, or can we see what the benefit is or where this is taking us? I think that this is a very much of a card of trust and Although it seems like it's a little bit scary.
30
00:03:22,207.48979899 --> 00:03:28,947.48979899
A lot of the artwork in Tarot seems like it's negative or that it's scary or like they're swords and she's tied up.
31
00:03:29,497.48979899 --> 00:03:37,857.48879899
But I think that the message that we're meant to get here is trusting that the universe has provided for us exactly what we need.
32
00:03:38,212.48979899 --> 00:03:43,752.48979899
That we're on a path of discovery and that these swords are actually our protection.
33
00:03:43,762.48979899 --> 00:03:47,982.48979899
They're like creating a wall around us to be able to safely explore.
34
00:03:48,592.48979899 --> 00:03:55,582.48979899
And that even as she's blindfolded and unable to see, she is trusting that she's in the right place.
35
00:03:55,892.48979899 --> 00:03:57,272.48979899
She's doing what she needs to be doing.
36
00:03:57,322.48979899 --> 00:04:04,12.48979899
And she's even in this card floating or rising above it to be able to Get her where she needs to be.
37
00:04:05,382.48979899 --> 00:04:10,602.48979899
So I want you to take that into consideration in your life right now and see what that card might mean for you.
38
00:04:11,242.48979899 --> 00:04:17,342.48879899
And to introduce us to the topic of what we're going to talk about in this episode today, I have a little story.
39
00:04:17,982.48979899 --> 00:04:23,732.49029899
This episode is going to be released around the time of we're getting ready for Ostera.
40
00:04:24,252.49029899 --> 00:04:36,457.49029899
And this is a pagan holiday, but what I love about this holiday specifically and all of the wheel of the year holidays, The wheel of the year means the wheel the year has been broken up into about every six weeks.
41
00:04:36,517.49029899 --> 00:05:07,767.49129899
There's some kind of a celebration or festival that old and ancient pagan or indigenous ancestors would have maybe celebrated because and this comes from a Northern European kind of practice, but it follows the wheel of the year as far as the planting, the harvesting, the wintering, the sort of natural Aspects of living life on this planet in that hemisphere of the earth.
42
00:05:07,867.49129899 --> 00:05:20,217.49029899
So Austerit is great because it actually is a very blended kind of holiday or festival or time of year with pagan and Christian traditions.
43
00:05:20,677.49129899 --> 00:05:26,757.49129899
And since we're going to talk about paganism today a little bit, and hopefully not scare you away from what Paganism is.
44
00:05:26,777.49129899 --> 00:05:54,737.49129899
Once we've clarified what Paganism is you'll understand that Ostera is a perfect example of the melding of these cultures because Ostera, although that is the name of a German goddess of dawn and spring is a representative of the Earth coming back to dawn and the springtime, the seeds and the bulbs that we've planted around Imbolc are now finally going to start popping up out of the frozen earth.
45
00:05:55,777.49129899 --> 00:06:00,192.49129899
And Ostera is the name of this goddess of dawn.
46
00:06:00,562.49129899 --> 00:06:06,162.49129899
It's also the melding with the Easter traditions.
47
00:06:06,372.49129899 --> 00:06:08,902.49129899
So Ostera is also Easter.
48
00:06:09,332.49029899 --> 00:06:10,622.49129899
And that is beautiful.
49
00:06:10,642.49129899 --> 00:06:11,472.49129899
They mean both.
50
00:06:12,72.49129899 --> 00:06:16,552.49129899
And a lot of the symbolism around Easter is from pagan roots.
51
00:06:17,122.49129899 --> 00:06:23,672.49129899
We've adopted it into a Christian tradition where we like to be like, Oh, the, the.
52
00:06:23,917.49129899 --> 00:06:37,697.49129899
Resurrection of Jesus Christ is also symbolized in rebirth, and we like to use the symbolism of bunnies and eggs and all of that, but actually the hair is a Celtic symbol of moon infertility.
53
00:06:38,187.49129899 --> 00:06:39,617.49129899
Of course, we know bunnies.
54
00:06:40,232.49129899 --> 00:06:42,172.49129899
reproduce quickly and a lot.
55
00:06:42,362.49129899 --> 00:06:48,732.49129899
So them being a symbol of spring is really appropriate because we are talking about rebirth.
56
00:06:48,762.49129899 --> 00:06:53,612.49129899
We're talking about the fertility of the land and planting our seeds and crops for the new year.
57
00:06:54,412.49129899 --> 00:06:59,882.49329899
And even the the symbol of eggs is an old fertility symbol.
58
00:06:59,922.49329899 --> 00:07:15,767.49329899
And there has been some really beautiful tie ins with the Christian tradition of With eggs and the story of Mary Magdalene and the egg that she turns red from her faith you can weave all these traditions and stories and symbols into each other.
59
00:07:15,777.49229899 --> 00:07:16,507.49329899
And I love that.
60
00:07:17,237.49229899 --> 00:07:19,647.49329899
So I'm gonna tell you a little story about Osterra.
61
00:07:19,677.49329899 --> 00:07:21,237.49329899
There is a story that goes.
62
00:07:21,412.49329899 --> 00:07:44,752.39329899
The goddess Ostera is walking through the forest and she comes to a bird who's been injured and she sees this bird on the ground and she picks it up and with her goddess powers, she says to the bird, I can heal you and I can let you be free again to to roam the earth.
63
00:07:45,382.39329899 --> 00:07:48,132.39329899
Would you like that? And the bird says, yes, please.
64
00:07:48,822.39329899 --> 00:07:49,932.39329899
My wing is broken.
65
00:07:50,207.39329899 --> 00:07:53,27.39329899
And I would truly die here if you didn't heal me.
66
00:07:53,197.39329899 --> 00:07:57,147.39329899
So the goddess says I can heal you, but under one condition.
67
00:07:57,167.39329899 --> 00:08:03,627.39229899
I can, I can only heal you if I can turn you from a bird into a hair or bunny.
68
00:08:04,747.39229899 --> 00:08:12,137.39329899
I realized bunnies and hairs are not the same thing, but as we are telling the story, it doesn't actually matter which one it is.
69
00:08:12,227.39329899 --> 00:08:14,157.39329899
So let's say it's a bunny.
70
00:08:14,557.39329899 --> 00:08:15,837.39329899
I can turn you into a bunny.
71
00:08:16,177.39329899 --> 00:08:18,57.39229899
So you will no longer be able to fly.
72
00:08:18,692.39329899 --> 00:08:20,52.39329899
But you will be alive.
73
00:08:20,652.39329899 --> 00:08:26,302.39329899
And the bird says, Okay, I will concede to this deal.
74
00:08:26,742.39329899 --> 00:08:31,512.39329899
However, I do want to remain the ability to lay eggs.
75
00:08:32,402.39329899 --> 00:08:39,292.39329899
For this ability to lay eggs as a bird is really important to me, and mothering in that way is really important to me.
76
00:08:39,722.39329899 --> 00:08:44,302.39329899
And so Osteria says, Okay, I can, I can give you that.
77
00:08:44,482.39329899 --> 00:08:46,382.39329899
I can leave you with the ability to lay eggs.
78
00:08:47,272.39329899 --> 00:08:55,957.39329899
And thus, The bird was turned into a bunny who can lay eggs, and this becomes the Easter Bunny or the Osterra Bunny.
79
00:08:56,997.39329899 --> 00:09:04,567.39129899
And that is a story that perhaps predates the the stories we have of the Easter Bunny, and that may be where that story comes from.
80
00:09:05,247.39029899 --> 00:09:43,332.39029899
And then these symbols of fertility, it's, it's amazing that for the last 2, 000 years, Paganism has gotten a pretty bad rap, and a lot of that is due to the campaign of Christianity overtaking the earth and conquering civilizations of pagans and saying paganism is evil, these are heathens, they must come unto Christ and believe in this now, and there is doctrine associated with that, and so that's when paganism was mixed in with the sort of idea that it was evil or that it was against Christianity or that they were not one in the same thing.
81
00:09:43,352.39029899 --> 00:10:10,157.39029899
And so I love that Ostara is an opportunity to say, actually, there were a lot of cultures when the Roman Catholic church was on conquest and conquering Celtic traditions, that there was, people in the Celtic and Nordic areas that said, let's try to blend these together rather than to squash our traditions we've had for thousands of years, things our ancestors believed in.
82
00:10:10,617.39029899 --> 00:10:13,917.38929899
Let's try to meld them together and let's incorporate them together.
83
00:10:14,837.39029899 --> 00:10:17,17.39029899
So that's what we're going to talk a little bit about today.
84
00:10:18,77.39029899 --> 00:10:37,562.29029899
Is that whether you are Christian or Hindu or Buddhist or even atheist, paganism is something that welcomes all and everyone to an idea that can be practiced or can be understood under any other religious or spiritual realm.
85
00:10:37,902.39029899 --> 00:10:38,612.39029899
theology.
86
00:10:39,442.39029899 --> 00:10:42,942.39029899
And that is where I came to be a pagan.
87
00:10:43,732.39029899 --> 00:10:47,962.39029899
And I was grown, I grew up in more of a fundamentalist Mormon tradition.
88
00:10:48,2.38929899 --> 00:11:01,472.39129899
So, although my parents weren't necessarily fundamentalist their parents were, and I am descended right from the Mormon pioneers who came across the plains after Joseph Smith.
89
00:11:01,522.39129899 --> 00:11:09,42.39129899
I can't even tell you exactly which ancestor that I have that converted to Mormonism, but it's pretty early in the church days.
90
00:11:09,632.39129899 --> 00:11:30,412.39229899
Which would seem like it goes back pretty far, but actually the Mormon church is a fairly new branch of Christianity in that it's only been around for A few hundred years, but because I live in Utah, it's very, very much ingrained into our government, our culture and everything that we are here in this country.
91
00:11:31,262.39229899 --> 00:11:32,772.39229899
in this lovely state.
92
00:11:33,442.39229899 --> 00:11:46,882.39229899
So I do want to say that that is more of a fundamentalist come from that I have, but my journey into paganism was looking for something that was a little bit more rooted in the Gnostic what is true to your own heart kind of way.
93
00:11:47,292.39129899 --> 00:12:03,747.39129899
So I actually came about it in looking into Gnostic Gospels of Christianity, that there was the house and Gospel of Mary and Thomas and Philip that were preaching more of the feminine come from or the feminine energies of the Christian church.
94
00:12:03,787.39229899 --> 00:12:10,487.39229899
Things that were Of course, taken out of what we now have is the Bible.
95
00:12:10,977.39229899 --> 00:12:14,307.39229899
And I love this quote by Graham Harvey.
96
00:12:14,357.39229899 --> 00:12:16,617.39129899
He's a kind of a religious leader.
97
00:12:16,967.39129899 --> 00:12:33,337.39229899
He talks about how the difference between fundamentalist or going from a fundamentalist to a Gnostic or fundamentalist to a pagan spiritual belief is like the difference between a tree and the forest.
98
00:12:34,227.39129899 --> 00:12:35,467.39229899
So if you were to say.
99
00:12:35,712.39229899 --> 00:12:42,182.39229899
Let's say, for example, that the, the doctrine or religion of Christianity is like the tree.
100
00:12:42,492.39229899 --> 00:12:44,362.39129899
So it has its root or its trunk.
101
00:12:44,402.39229899 --> 00:12:55,252.39229899
The start of Christianity started somewhere and became a doctrine when? and a rigid set of rules or way of living.
102
00:12:55,372.39229899 --> 00:13:03,592.39229899
And there are many branches from that tree, which Mormonism would be a branch of a branch of a branch, right, of that Christian church.
103
00:13:03,632.39129899 --> 00:13:10,812.39229899
There's a doctrine involved, the Bible and the New Testament, and then a branch from that, which is the Book of Mormon.
104
00:13:10,812.39229899 --> 00:13:13,622.39229899
There's a doctrine to follow.
105
00:13:14,352.39229899 --> 00:13:20,792.39229899
But paganism is more like Instead of the tree, there's a forest.
106
00:13:21,232.39229899 --> 00:13:24,912.39229899
And it isn't that you have to follow with one doctrine.
107
00:13:24,942.39229899 --> 00:13:37,412.39229899
It is kind of like there are many doctrines and many theologies, many ways to come into paganism and you can actually be pagan and also any of those other things that you want to be.
108
00:13:37,822.39229899 --> 00:13:40,572.39229899
It's coming into relationship with the land.
109
00:13:40,672.39229899 --> 00:13:42,982.39229899
It's the spirituality of earth.
110
00:13:43,962.39229899 --> 00:13:45,912.39229899
It's the spirituality of sky.
111
00:13:46,892.39229899 --> 00:14:03,372.39229899
And that is something that felt more true to me in whatever spirituality you might believe in, because for me, it's hard to deny that nature itself is already pretty Magickal.
112
00:14:04,322.39129899 --> 00:14:37,242.39229899
That once I came into relationship with the land, instead of what was maybe what my Christian ancestors relationship with the land was in ownership, or if you kind of subscribe to the, the idea that conquering, colonizing, manifest destiny, that when we are in relationship with the land as its owner versus the pagan idea that We are in relationship as a steward of this land.
113
00:14:38,452.39229899 --> 00:15:10,407.39229899
What I find interesting is that we as as descendants of Northern European ancestry, or us white folks, to put it bluntly, us white folks come from a sort of background of understanding That Christian or religious, fundamental Christian background with the land is that we were told in doctrine that this land is given to us by God and that we are in ownership of it, that when we see a tree.
114
00:15:10,592.39329899 --> 00:15:12,992.39329899
We are allowed to use that tree however we want.
115
00:15:13,142.39329899 --> 00:15:14,312.39329899
We cut it down.
116
00:15:14,312.39329899 --> 00:15:15,252.39329899
We use it for lumber.
117
00:15:15,892.39329899 --> 00:15:16,652.39329899
It's our tree.
118
00:15:17,422.39329899 --> 00:15:18,732.39329899
God has granted us this tree.
119
00:15:18,732.39329899 --> 00:15:20,252.39329899
It's our right to have the tree.
120
00:15:20,572.39329899 --> 00:15:24,232.39329899
Same thing with the land and same thing with all of the creatures of the land.
121
00:15:25,182.39329899 --> 00:15:39,482.39279899
And when I started going on this journey I joined a group called Nourishing Kin, which helps us to trace ourselves back to where our ancestry or our homeland came from and say, before Christianity, that wasn't how we had relationship with the land.
122
00:15:40,52.39279899 --> 00:15:44,182.39179899
And we're trying to rekindle that and understand that in a different way.
123
00:15:44,732.39279899 --> 00:15:57,932.39179899
But I find it interesting that as white folks, we tend to idealize or appropriate or really just glob on to the Native American cultures here, people who live.
124
00:15:58,457.39279899 --> 00:16:01,957.39279899
are indigenous peoples to this Turtle Island that we live on.
125
00:16:02,307.39279899 --> 00:16:13,767.39379899
And if you don't want to know what I mean by Turtle Island, I would go back and listen to one of Fresh King Benjamin's last episodes of Vibing the Apocalypse because he explains Turtle Island very well.
126
00:16:14,357.39279899 --> 00:16:25,242.39279899
But it's The idea that this land wasn't America first, that it was Turtle Island, that a lot of the indigenous people that lived here had their own relationship to this land that we now call North America.
127
00:16:26,332.39379899 --> 00:16:35,692.29329899
And we love the idea of like having relationships with the plants and animals the way that the Native Americans or indigenous peoples.
128
00:16:36,312.39329899 --> 00:16:37,52.39329899
do here.
129
00:16:37,552.39329899 --> 00:16:49,502.392299
So much so that we act like them or we adopt their practices and we start doing things that they do or wearing things that they wear because it's fun and interesting and different.
130
00:16:50,572.393299 --> 00:17:06,452.394299
And one of the ideas that we in Nourishing Kin try to bring forward is that we don't need to appropriate Indigenous people's practices because if we come from Northern European roots, we actually have our own.
131
00:17:06,697.394299 --> 00:17:10,67.394299
really beautiful indigenous practices.
132
00:17:10,797.394299 --> 00:17:21,987.394299
So, like, my family's ancestry comes from Scotland, Denmark, Wales, Ireland, England.
133
00:17:22,497.394299 --> 00:17:26,547.394299
I have kind of a, a mixture of those Celtic ancestry.
134
00:17:26,937.393299 --> 00:17:32,277.393299
And I feel very drawn to learning about what was it that my peoples did.
135
00:17:32,632.394299 --> 00:17:38,322.394299
before Christianity told us that we were in ownership of the land, but when we had relationship with the land.
136
00:17:38,882.394299 --> 00:17:58,332.393299
So I really love to learn about the folklore of Ireland that we have folklore like the Caliach, who is the woman, the old wise woman who in some stories she grows like a giant and she has rocks in her apron and she places those rocks around on the land, making the hills and mountains.
137
00:17:59,42.393299 --> 00:18:00,702.393299
That is Ireland and Scotland.
138
00:18:01,507.393299 --> 00:18:08,927.393299
And to me, that means there is a spiritual or there is a very deep rooted connection to the land itself.
139
00:18:10,27.393299 --> 00:18:29,397.393299
And something else that Nourishing Kin and that group has helped me with is to claim or take notice of the grief that we feel in having a disconnect from that land because it is no longer our homeland or it is no longer the land we reside on.
140
00:18:29,787.393299 --> 00:18:43,572.393299
Being descendants of immigrants here to this Northern American land, we have to sort out the feelings we feel of like never really truly making this our homeland because it is our adoptive mother.
141
00:18:44,82.392299 --> 00:18:46,932.392299
And so we want to make sure we're respectful in that way.
142
00:18:48,92.391299 --> 00:18:53,712.391299
And what this means for us, if I can try to Untangle myself from my kitty.
143
00:18:54,852.391299 --> 00:19:02,372.391299
We're confronting our own relationship to ancestral trauma or cultural appropriation with this idea of animism.
144
00:19:03,22.391299 --> 00:19:05,862.390299
So instead of the land being an it.
145
00:19:06,797.391299 --> 00:19:26,482.391299
We try to associate with the land as a they or them, or he or she, that this land has a sentient relationship or that it's, it's sentient in the way that we can communicate with trees and with plants, with animals, and that it is in fact sacred.
146
00:19:27,372.391299 --> 00:19:32,42.391299
the land itself, that it was sacred to the people who lived here before me.
147
00:19:32,732.391299 --> 00:19:43,962.391299
And we always start off our meetings, Nourishing Kin, we always do a land acknowledgement, which I have grown to appreciate and practice, even in other things that I do in my life.
148
00:19:43,992.391299 --> 00:20:17,332.391299
If I'm doing some kind of a ritual or if I'm doing anything, any type of gathering, I try to acknowledge or start thing that I do with an acknowledgement that the land I currently am on, my home, where I'm recording right now, is the indigenous land of the Timpanogos, Shoshone, and Paiute tribes of Utah, and that they had a sacred relationship with this land, that this land was abundant with resources.
149
00:20:18,272.391299 --> 00:20:20,792.390299
They understood the medicines that grew here.
150
00:20:21,242.391299 --> 00:20:31,652.391299
They understood the kin or the animal life that lived here, and that their stories and their folklore are connected with this land.
151
00:20:32,702.391299 --> 00:20:48,542.391299
And while I can't be on the land of my ancestors, I do get to appreciate and acknowledge that this land was sacred to those people and that I can hold a sacred relationship with this land on which I reside.
152
00:20:49,592.391299 --> 00:21:06,822.391299
So what that means to me is trying to decolonize myself, trying to understand The relationship I have with land that comes from my ancestors, my more recent ancestors, is that manifest destiny, the idea that God granted me this land and it's mine.
153
00:21:07,342.391299 --> 00:21:10,512.391299
Well, instead of that, I need to see it as relationship.
154
00:21:11,52.391299 --> 00:21:19,382.391299
And some ways that I have done that, which I have gotten from books that I've read, like Braiding Sweetgrass, helps me to understand that relationship.
155
00:21:19,432.391299 --> 00:21:33,842.391299
Root and ritual so for example, I might plant a garden in my backyard, but even as I'm doing so, I am using it as a spiritual practice of asking the land or the land spirits.
156
00:21:34,442.391299 --> 00:21:42,302.392299
In the Celtic tradition, this would be like fairies or the fae folk or there's some belief that every home has a home.
157
00:21:42,627.392299 --> 00:21:43,307.392299
Gnome.
158
00:21:43,777.392299 --> 00:21:48,897.392299
Now, you don't have to believe in fairies or gnomes, but I believe that those are connected to land spirits.
159
00:21:49,67.392299 --> 00:21:57,107.392299
That there is a spiritual aspect to my garden outside my own home has its own protectors and its own spirits.
160
00:21:57,807.392299 --> 00:22:17,377.392299
And if I ask the spirits, what do you want planted here? What? What can I plant here? Or ask permission, can I plant tomatoes here? And just getting a feeling of either yes, that is allowed, or that's acceptable, or no, those plants that you're wanting to plant are invasive and not indigenous here, and we would rather you didn't.
161
00:22:18,27.392299 --> 00:22:20,827.392299
That's just my own personal feeling about it.
162
00:22:21,17.392299 --> 00:22:30,787.392299
So I get to have those, those moments, those quiet and peaceful meditations to ask the land spirits if what, what I can and can't do.
163
00:22:31,347.392299 --> 00:22:51,217.392299
And it also means that as I plant my garden, I am being very careful about making offerings and gratitude to my plants and to my kin, that I am not in ownership of those plants, that I am actually they're a part or a member of my family or a member of my kin that I.
164
00:22:51,657.392299 --> 00:22:52,787.392299
Have relationship with.
165
00:22:53,507.392299 --> 00:23:01,837.392299
So I might save my eggshells and my coffee grounds and go outside and make a point to offer those to them.
166
00:23:02,217.392299 --> 00:23:14,437.392299
And I love doing this with my children because then I actually get to pass along those ideas to them and they have a different relationship with land than our our ancestors would have had.
167
00:23:14,967.392299 --> 00:23:18,387.392299
So they get to see it and experience it and actually engage in it.
168
00:23:18,607.392299 --> 00:23:22,167.392299
And so I say to my children, like, we're going to go offer the plants some of these.
169
00:23:22,722.392299 --> 00:23:28,272.392299
coffee grounds and these eggshells, things that fertilize and nourish the soil and that they love.
170
00:23:29,352.392299 --> 00:23:32,812.392299
And my blueberry plants especially love the coffee grounds.
171
00:23:33,762.392299 --> 00:23:49,412.392299
So, when it comes time to pick the berries and tomatoes and harvest the fruits and vegetables, I do not walk out to my garden and just assume that all of those Fruits and vegetables are mine because I planted them.
172
00:23:50,272.392299 --> 00:23:54,872.392299
I need to have respectful, consensual relationship with my plants.
173
00:23:54,992.392299 --> 00:23:59,392.392299
And so to me, that just means asking permission before we take.
174
00:24:00,242.392299 --> 00:24:04,352.391299
And this also applies to when we're out hiking and we go and we.
175
00:24:05,12.392299 --> 00:24:07,882.392299
We're foraging and scavenging for plants and things.
176
00:24:07,892.392299 --> 00:24:12,162.392299
Like maybe I want to take some rose buds from rose bushes.
177
00:24:12,492.392299 --> 00:24:17,772.392299
Well, instead of just taking, I always stop and give a moment to ask.
178
00:24:18,802.391299 --> 00:24:25,912.392299
And when I teach this to children, I make sure to help them understand this isn't like talking to the trees with my voice or with English.
179
00:24:25,922.392299 --> 00:24:27,692.392299
You can do it that way if you'd like.
180
00:24:27,742.392299 --> 00:24:28,22.392299
But.
181
00:24:28,972.392299 --> 00:24:31,452.392299
It is rather a heart to heart conversation.
182
00:24:31,512.392299 --> 00:24:48,32.393299
So it is something that I reach out with my energy, with my higher self, my spiritual self, and I ask the plants, is this okay? Am I allowed to take this? And then I give it a moment to feel what messages are coming through.
183
00:24:49,142.392299 --> 00:25:01,702.392299
And this might sound silly at first, but I'm going to encourage you When looking for Magick in your life, this is one excellent way to really see Magick unfold in your own life.
184
00:25:01,912.392299 --> 00:25:05,362.392299
It's pretty amazing when you get a chance to see how that feels.
185
00:25:05,962.392299 --> 00:25:23,32.392299
I took my art students out one time and we were foraging for leaves and buds and plants and I taught them to ask permission and I said, you are gonna just take a moment to think, does this plant offer this? Or am I just taking and I don't want to just take.
186
00:25:23,712.392299 --> 00:25:33,42.391299
And it was amazing to see these students of mine who are not from a Pagan background, by the way, these are and children who this was their first time ever doing something like this.
187
00:25:33,792.391299 --> 00:25:36,522.392299
And they were so in tune.
188
00:25:37,32.391299 --> 00:25:42,812.392299
I could hear them saying to me, they would come to me and say, Oh my gosh, Mrs.
189
00:25:44,52.392299 --> 00:25:49,812.392299
Miss Courtney, that plant does not want me to take those, those.
190
00:25:50,447.392299 --> 00:25:51,357.392299
Flowers right now.
191
00:25:52,7.392299 --> 00:25:52,977.392299
I could hear it.
192
00:25:52,977.392299 --> 00:25:54,57.392299
I could feel it.
193
00:25:54,707.392299 --> 00:25:56,167.392299
And I said, very good.
194
00:25:56,177.392299 --> 00:26:06,487.392299
That is a really great way to develop a relationship with your plants and with these plants on the land we occupy.
195
00:26:07,867.392299 --> 00:26:10,557.392299
So it's really about finding Magick in your landscape.
196
00:26:10,617.392299 --> 00:26:31,667.392299
Understanding that the mountains outside of our window might just look like a nice, pretty view to us, but that that actually represents a spiritual and sacred connection for the indigenous people who lived here and figuring out how that feels to you and whether or not you have that same relationship with the land.
197
00:26:33,97.392299 --> 00:26:50,37.392299
Understanding that things like the Great Salt Lake, which is in danger because it is drying up, and if it dries up, it means that all of the people who live around the Great Salt Lake are going to die from the arsenic that's going to be released into the, into the world.
198
00:26:50,407.392299 --> 00:27:00,177.393299
And while all that's a big problem We have the idea that the Great Salt Lake is just existing for us, that it is there for us to enjoy and to look at.
199
00:27:00,337.393299 --> 00:27:21,697.393299
Well, if we have a shift in our perspective that the Great Salt Lake is not an it, but actually has a If we call the Great Salt Lake she, and we say she is dying, it already has a very different feel than it's drying up.
200
00:27:23,177.393299 --> 00:27:28,737.393299
So if we have that relationship in that same way, we will be able to have that shift in perspective.
201
00:27:29,667.393299 --> 00:27:35,587.393299
So those are some great examples, and I want to this broad understanding of how this feels.
202
00:27:35,717.393299 --> 00:27:49,647.393799
And I want to tell this story about When I went to England, and I was very excited to go to England because, as I said, I've been working for years with Nur Sin Kin.
203
00:27:49,647.393799 --> 00:27:57,557.394299
I was wanting to have a better understanding of my relationship with the land here and the land of my ancestors.
204
00:27:57,687.394299 --> 00:28:02,407.394299
So getting to go to England meant actually getting to go to the place my ancestors were from.
205
00:28:03,347.394299 --> 00:28:05,117.394299
And that is very sacred to me.
206
00:28:05,827.394299 --> 00:28:24,467.394299
So on the Pilgrimage that I went on, we were going through sacred sites of England and Wales and we were brought first on the first night we were staying in Glastonbury, which is a very energetically Because it is on ley lines.
207
00:28:24,467.394299 --> 00:28:32,957.394299
And if you don't know all about Glastonbury, look it up because it's a very spiritual place, but to save time, I'm just going to tell you that it was sacred to me to be there.
208
00:28:33,17.394299 --> 00:28:37,907.394299
And the first night we were doing a ritual on the base of the Tor.
209
00:28:37,927.394299 --> 00:28:41,597.394299
The Tor is a hill, a sacred hill in, in the middle of Glastonbury.
210
00:28:42,67.394299 --> 00:28:46,287.394299
And it has a tower on it that was from an old church from 1100 AD.
211
00:28:46,287.394299 --> 00:28:47,37.394299
It's amazing.
212
00:28:48,117.394299 --> 00:28:51,757.394799
And we were doing a ritual to open the week to.
213
00:28:52,197.394799 --> 00:28:54,627.394799
We spent this week together as a sisterhood.
214
00:28:54,767.394799 --> 00:28:59,527.394799
We were standing in a circle and we were just going to set our intentions for the week.
215
00:28:59,527.394799 --> 00:29:09,427.394799
What was it that we were looking for? And I actually wanted to connect with the land on a very personal level, so I took my shoes and socks off and I stood on the ground.
216
00:29:10,597.394799 --> 00:29:24,372.394799
And as I stood there, my feet getting to feel the soft green grass under a very lush and green Deep, moist earth.
217
00:29:25,312.394799 --> 00:29:28,702.394799
The land in England is very different than what I'm used to in Utah.
218
00:29:28,742.394799 --> 00:29:43,77.294799
Utah is a dry desert, so being there was like standing on a pillow of softness and just being able to understand this is the place my ancestors bones are buried and I get to be here.
219
00:29:43,827.394799 --> 00:29:47,497.394799
And I try as a pagan to connect with my ancestors quite often.
220
00:29:48,527.394799 --> 00:30:03,487.393799
When you're trying to connect with your ancestors in North America when you're so far away, it does feel like a, a radio that is not quite in tune, and the station isn't quite coming in clear, so you're like, just hearing a lot of static.
221
00:30:04,557.393799 --> 00:30:14,637.393799
But standing there on that day and getting to connect with my ancestors, it felt like someone had just turned the knob on that radio just a tiny titch.
222
00:30:15,577.392799 --> 00:30:21,717.393799
And in that frequency, I was able to like hear it clear as a bell.
223
00:30:23,7.393799 --> 00:30:31,857.393799
And the first thing I heard when I was listening with my heart was the voice of an ancestor saying, Welcome daughter.
224
00:30:32,857.393799 --> 00:30:40,637.393799
And I cannot begin to express to you the immense feeling of emotion that came with hearing those words.
225
00:30:42,537.392799 --> 00:30:49,537.392799
With the whole purpose of my travels to be to connect with that ancestor or those ancestors.
226
00:30:50,127.393799 --> 00:30:51,597.393799
And I felt them all around me.
227
00:30:51,597.393799 --> 00:30:57,87.393799
I felt that they were there with me, but they were also welcoming me as their daughter.
228
00:30:57,817.393799 --> 00:31:01,207.393799
And this felt just exactly what I needed.
229
00:31:02,207.393799 --> 00:31:05,517.393299
Sorry, if you could hear that alarm that was I learned that my kids are getting out of school.
230
00:31:06,27.393299 --> 00:31:13,337.393299
What timing too, right? We're sitting here having a moment, but that was a very powerful moment for me.
231
00:31:14,687.393299 --> 00:31:16,277.393299
And so I want to challenge you.
232
00:31:16,277.393299 --> 00:31:31,287.393299
If you don't quite know or understand paganism yet, even after this episode and our, our conversation here and listening to what I, how I describe paganism, I want to ask you these questions.
233
00:31:31,477.393299 --> 00:31:36,287.392299
I want you to sit with them and see what they, what feelings come up or how you feel about it.
234
00:31:37,287.392299 --> 00:31:48,787.392299
If you have ever looked at the moon and You find its very existence up there in the sky, in the night sky, to be Magickal.
235
00:31:49,817.392299 --> 00:32:48,77.392299
If you ever wonder what a tree has witnessed in its lifetime on this planet, if you've ever pondered at the intricate beauty and workings of a cell, or the beauty of a snowflake, or the stars in the sky, if you love butterflies and you compare their journey of life to your own, The cycles, if you find peace in nature, if you thank the sky for rain, to cleanse the air and earth, if you feel the gratitude at the garden you planted for producing food and the marvel of all you had to do was plant it and cultivate it and you've got food to eat, if you ever clear the weeds and trash to make room for your plants to grow.
236
00:32:50,37.392299 --> 00:32:55,387.392299
If you bring plants indoors, just so you can benefit from the look and feel of having real plants in your home.
237
00:32:56,387.392299 --> 00:33:14,387.392299
If you've ever stopped to think about how the Earth itself, Mother Earth, She will take your shit, your snot, very outward breath from your body.
238
00:33:15,472.392299 --> 00:33:21,742.392299
And use it to make food, shelter, air, and beauty out of it.
239
00:33:23,682.392299 --> 00:33:26,172.392299
Any of those things have ever been true for you.
240
00:33:27,982.392299 --> 00:33:31,352.393299
You might be a pagan and it's okay to be a pagan.
241
00:33:31,932.393299 --> 00:33:35,992.393299
And it's okay to be a pagan in any other sense and way that you want.
242
00:33:36,992.393299 --> 00:33:38,522.393299
to have a relationship with that.
243
00:33:40,212.393299 --> 00:33:42,122.393299
And I'm going to leave you with this one last quote.
244
00:33:42,122.393299 --> 00:33:47,672.393299
This is one of my favorite comedians, Ricky Gervais, who is a very notorious atheist.
245
00:33:48,2.393299 --> 00:33:57,382.393299
He's known for a lot of it, a lot in his comedy talking about God and being very much of the belief that there is no God and there is no afterlife and this is all you get.
246
00:33:58,132.393299 --> 00:34:03,72.393299
But he says, Nature is super enough.
247
00:34:04,72.393299 --> 00:34:11,732.393299
And his come from there is that, honestly, why believe in all of that other stuff when really, if you look at what we have in nature, it's enough.
248
00:34:11,732.493299 --> 00:34:14,802.393299
It's wondrous enough.
249
00:34:15,722.393299 --> 00:34:21,532.393299
He goes on to talk about how, like, amazing and weird and creative and crazy that an octopus is.
250
00:34:21,932.393299 --> 00:34:28,632.393299
Which if you think about it, he's got a good point and I just want to I'm finished here with a question from a listener.
251
00:34:28,632.393299 --> 00:34:33,522.393299
So I did have a question come forward this week that was specifically from a listener of the podcast.
252
00:34:34,212.393299 --> 00:34:34,472.393299
Yay.
253
00:34:35,102.392299 --> 00:34:41,882.393299
So if you have questions from listening to this podcast and you just want to know more about the things we talk about, please send in your questions.
254
00:34:42,452.393299 --> 00:34:42,812.393299
She.
255
00:34:44,87.393299 --> 00:34:49,237.393299
wanted to know a little bit about the colors we had talked about before.
256
00:34:49,277.393299 --> 00:34:55,817.394299
So she was saying, it's interesting when you talk about colors and our gravity towards a certain color.
257
00:34:55,817.394299 --> 00:34:58,867.394299
She said, I used to always love purple.
258
00:34:59,917.394299 --> 00:35:01,717.394299
Purple was her favorite, favorite color.
259
00:35:01,717.394299 --> 00:35:04,727.393299
But she says lately I'm leaning more towards like an emerald green.
260
00:35:06,502.394299 --> 00:35:12,12.394299
And what does this mean? And again, all of this is just a proposal.
261
00:35:12,52.394299 --> 00:35:26,972.395299
So I'm going to propose what I think this means for her is that with the green being associated with the love, with the heart chakra, it really is about love of self, opening up your heart to the flow of love.
262
00:35:27,32.394299 --> 00:35:29,902.394299
And that's that deep emerald color that's associated with that.
263
00:35:30,642.394299 --> 00:35:39,12.394299
And the purple color has a lot to do with our relationship to God or to authority or to our higher power or to mom and dad.
264
00:35:39,22.394299 --> 00:35:42,862.395299
It's usually like a spiritual it's, it's the color of royalty.
265
00:35:42,922.394299 --> 00:35:45,822.394299
So think about it that way, connecting to authority figures.
266
00:35:46,762.395299 --> 00:36:09,647.394299
And I would suggest that maybe the shift that's happening for her in her life right now is Seeking love and approval from authority figures is not as important as it once was, and now that shift is going towards needing approval from self, finding love within rather than from those outward sources.
267
00:36:10,527.395299 --> 00:36:14,427.395299
So she's going through this shift right now where she's discovering that self love.
268
00:36:15,717.395299 --> 00:36:17,527.395299
And I'm just proposing that that could be.
269
00:36:17,877.395299 --> 00:36:21,567.395299
an explanation to that shift in her preference of color.
270
00:36:22,337.395299 --> 00:36:28,87.395299
So if you have a question about that or anything that is coming up in life I have people ask me about angel numbers.
271
00:36:28,127.395299 --> 00:36:35,87.395299
Why are certain angel numbers showing up or why is a certain animal always showing up in my life? Those are really great questions.
272
00:36:35,137.394299 --> 00:36:40,597.395299
And especially if you're going more towards a paganism belief system than that might.
273
00:36:41,167.395299 --> 00:36:42,257.395299
ring true for you.
274
00:36:42,347.395299 --> 00:36:52,327.394299
A lot of the druids and wisdom keepers kept a very, very close eye on certain animals and birds that would show up a lot because they considered them to be omens.
275
00:36:54,67.395299 --> 00:36:54,877.394299
So stay tuned.
276
00:36:54,887.395299 --> 00:36:58,907.394299
And next week, we're going to talk a lot more about the Magick of color.
277
00:36:58,927.394299 --> 00:37:08,997.395299
I want to really do an extensive episode explaining more about healing with colors and the importance of colors in our frequencies.
278
00:37:09,987.395299 --> 00:37:13,247.395299
So come back next week to learn a little bit more about that.
279
00:37:14,597.395299 --> 00:37:21,487.395299
You're going to learn to use Magick in your everyday life to strengthen relationships, to heal, to prosper, and to thrive.
280
00:37:22,387.395299 --> 00:37:25,897.395299
I would like to challenge you to reach out to me on social media.
281
00:37:25,917.394299 --> 00:37:28,17.395299
Follow me on Instagram at Prism.
282
00:37:28,362.395299 --> 00:37:31,882.395299
Underscore healing or Facebook.
283
00:37:31,932.395299 --> 00:37:44,312.395299
I'm Courtney Pearl, and you can find my page, Courtney Pearl's prism healing for more information on events such as my healing through art workshop and coming up this month.
284
00:37:44,697.395299 --> 00:37:50,167.395299
Also is going to be a heart smart art workshop for kids and parents.
285
00:37:50,407.395299 --> 00:37:51,107.395299
Don't miss that.
286
00:37:51,107.395299 --> 00:37:52,117.395299
That is so amazing.
287
00:37:52,127.395299 --> 00:37:58,937.395299
I love doing workshops with art for parents and their kids to learn about their deep feelings and understanding themselves better.
288
00:37:59,507.395299 --> 00:38:01,17.395299
So those workshops are excellent.
289
00:38:01,117.394299 --> 00:38:04,277.395299
You can find me at my website, prism healing.
290
00:38:04,507.394299 --> 00:38:11,817.395299
com, which you can book private sessions for card readings or healing work or any of my workshops and events coming up.
291
00:38:12,497.395299 --> 00:38:14,277.395299
This is also where you can get more resources.
292
00:38:14,752.395299 --> 00:38:17,542.395299
Resources pertaining to this podcast.
293
00:38:18,32.395299 --> 00:38:33,412.395299
I am doing a weekly blog post that follows each of these episodes that gives you a lot more information or can go into detail or even give you resources like books to read that have the information of some of the topics we've talked about today.
294
00:38:34,192.395299 --> 00:38:37,902.394299
So please private message me any questions you have on any of these platforms.
295
00:38:38,647.395299 --> 00:38:41,797.395299
anything about Magick or things you're wondering about.
296
00:38:42,297.395299 --> 00:38:51,597.395299
And you may even have personal situations that you'd like to get more clarity about that maybe I can direct you in the right direction to go.
297
00:38:52,657.395299 --> 00:38:53,107.395299
All right.
298
00:38:53,157.395299 --> 00:38:58,537.394299
Some of the resources that we talked about on this episode are Root and Ritual by Becca Piestrelli.
299
00:38:59,587.395299 --> 00:39:02,817.395299
Celtic spirituality, if you'd like to know more about that.
300
00:39:02,972.395299 --> 00:39:17,287.395299
I suggest the book, The Mist Filled Path by Frank McKeown, and more about Gnostic Christianity, I suggest your first book, you should go look at is Mary Magdalene Revealed by Megan Watterson.
301
00:39:17,287.495299 --> 00:39:24,167.395299
If you're looking for something a little bit more about feminism in Christianity, that is a excellent resource.
302
00:39:24,557.395299 --> 00:39:35,357.395299
And she also talks a little bit more about a new New Testament, which is a Bible for the 21st century combining traditional and newly discovered texts compiled by Hal Tusig.
303
00:39:36,117.395299 --> 00:39:39,847.395299
That is an excellent resource if you're wanting to know more about Gnostic Christianity.
304
00:39:41,57.395299 --> 00:39:44,67.395299
I would like to thank Ride the Wave Media.
305
00:39:44,802.395299 --> 00:39:57,222.395299
Just Blane for producing and managing my podcast and editing and Daybreak Treasures Boutique for featuring me as an artist in their boutique and sponsoring my events.
306
00:39:58,382.394299 --> 00:40:01,542.395299
And I would like to thank everybody who is listening.
307
00:40:01,632.394299 --> 00:40:12,22.395299
Please keep listening and share and follow this podcast to help me grow my following and allow more content to be available to you.
308
00:40:12,762.395299 --> 00:40:13,712.395299
Thank you so much.
309
00:40:13,792.395299 --> 00:40:14,842.395299
I will see you next week.
310
00:40:14,962.394299 --> 00:40:15,752.395299
I can't wait.