One of my favorite parts of doing fieldwork in geology and paleontology was spending time in the wilderness. As a student who was located in California, that meant spending time out in the desert at all times of the year. Given the extreme temperatures in the Mojave in the late spring and summer, late fall and winter were a favorite time for fieldwork. I have many fond memories of going off on my own and just sitting for hours on a rock outcrop in Dark Time, that period between Samhain and Imbolc, working with Spirit. 

As a Ced traditional witch, I work with all types of spirits, but the spirits of nature and the primal forces of the Earth were some of my first working partners. Much like the Dark Times of Old, there is a harsh starkness you experience when working with the primal dragon forces of the Earth in the cold winter in the desert. The cutting winds that feel like ice, moving swiftly through canyons and along the profile of the Earth, cutting and shaping the landforms just as they can move through you, carrying away memories of things that are long over and no longer serve. 

Working with the physical winds and the rocks in all their vastness, still connected deep into their Mother, the Earth, can be both cathartic and restorative. As I connected with those spirits and their incredible power to transform and transmute, I found that time flows differently. Those rocks, with their vast density and gravitational force, experience time on a different scale. Like the rune Isa, whose name means Ice, there is a similar energy that you sense in the winter desert. Life, in stasis, is seemingly frozen in time. You can feel the spirit of a frozen stillness, solid and unmoving, yet with a sense of danger underneath. But that spirit also holds incredible strength and a power so vast it creates a backbone that spans through time. It is important to remember that rocks, like frozen ice in the tundra or in glaciers, are living spirits that are always in motion, they just experience time and motion at a vastly different scale than we do. As witches, our spirit can commune with the spirit of those rocks, and as our spirits merge we too can experience the flow of time as they do. 

I think in dark times and periods of strife like we are experiencing today, we can all use a moment where time seems to stand still, and we can take a moment to rest. Moments like that can be a gift in difficult times. Moments where we can catch our breath, restore our spirits and nourish our souls, instead of being swept up and constantly lost at sea in the ceaseless tides of today’s mundane world. So much of the time in our daily lives we are lost in an ocean of endless interruptions, our lives filled with unrelenting social media noise and a constant hum of electricity. So I say let those moments out in the wildness of nature be a lifeboat, a brief respite from a constant cycle of demands on our time and energy. Demands that quite frankly, only seem to increase as the world around us grows more complicated and uncertain. 

We can choose at times to step away and align ourselves back to the primal forces of the earth. We can tie directly into the powerful life force energy of what some may call Gaia. I believe that in connection with these ancient primal forces, we remember that not all spirits of this earth come from our blood ancestors. Rejoining, we remember her ancient wisdom and the lessons she has to teach. We can sync our spirits in harmony with her, and feel the strength and vitality of the mighty dragons of the Earth pulsing in time with our own primal selves. 

So make some time for yourself this season, and go out to a forest, or the desert, or find an old ancient cave. Go out to a quiet field, a local park, or even your own backyard. Find a place in nature where your spirit senses her wildness and remembers. Stand there and feel the pulse of the Earth beneath your feet. Hear the soft crunch of the dirt as you walk. Listen to the rustle of leaves and hear the whispers of Spirit speaking in the winds. Like a drum beat, the thrumming of hooves thumping in time with the life force of the Earth will stir beneath you. Let a sense of wonder fill you, and feel the certainty and a deep knowing that ancient spirits dwell here. Spirits who have shaped and been shaped by the forces of life and time itself. Spirits, who perhaps have existed since before time began. Breathe in and out, and allow your spirit to flow and merge, to slow down and sync up with the flow of time within this sacred place. 

In this place of nature, everything around you becomes still at that sacred meeting point; at the gateway between you and the rock and stone, or ancient tree, interlinked by a golden thread of All, ever connected and intertwined as One. Here, your spirit can drink deep in the well of the Earth. Let her nourish you in her embrace. Draw on her vitality and strength, and let her fill you with her energy if only for a moment. Let that time in nature be her gift to you.