Foraging as a Sacred Art …
an online foraging course, building bridges between the tangible and the mystical nature.
When I started my first foraging group it was December and we were in lockdown, during the Covid pandemic, here in the UK. I had a very strong impulse, what I would call spiritual guidance, to start such a group - and the only way was to do it was on-line.
Where I live the community is spread out over several peninsulas, each leading off the main road, through the area, of approx. 30 miles - so you can see how the 5 mile rule was an issue - some lived further than that from the nearest shop. But this is a creative community and I am simply illustrating this context for the purpose of sharing about starting my foraging group.
We met online to talk, share knowledge and research the various food and other foraged resources available locally. While in-between meetings we would do our own explorations. I feel this developed a resilience and self-reliance of learning to trust our own skills and instincts, while still having the support of the group. Together we pooled an incredible amount of information from coastal foraging to willow weaving and of course my favourite - fungi.
When the rules changed to allow groups to meet outdoors for therapeutic purposes, our foraging group served this purpose and so some of us started to meet and go foraging together. We did willow weaving outdoors and I ran a couple of mushroom foraging and identification walks.
Through this, though I’d been foraging for years, I felt encouraged to explore other aspects of utilising our natural resources further. So I looked into bushcraft courses and ended up on a survival training course during a bumper mushroom season …. and was invited back to run foraging courses. And so as the times shifted again those of us in the group went our separate ways - for it had served its purpose.
Being online creates a very different experience, one that is not being limited by place and distance.
By it’s nature it curates a more immediately independent relationship with the natural world - one for your own contemplation, discovery and sense of food and natural resource sovereignty. As well as increasing and building bridges of understanding ethical, reciprocal relationship and consideration of the sentience of nature.
When exploring the lands where you reside and are already connected with, rather than those as a visitor, something magical occurs. Starting to deepen the relationship that you have with the land in your immediate vicinity, differs from an experience as a visitor … there is a sense of entering another world - within the one that you believe you already know. I’ve aways had this experience with the land, especially the woods, though it is only in relatively recent years I was able to start naming and distinguishing the energies of the land, the plants and the signature of their individual spirits as separate from the underlying energy of Mother Earth and Elen of the Ways.
We do plan to run more of these workshops, with Silver Birch and Nettle being the next we’re considering, so there will be an opportunity to return and share your experiences - though currently we are tentatively gauging interest in this way of working before we commit to a whole series of workshops.
By starting with Fly Agaric ~ Amanita Muscaria in February we are also introducing you to her landscape, the places that she loves to be, including beautiful Birch tree. Through this series of workshops you will be gently drawn into the experience of these rich landscapes and discovering your own closer to home … which will make the discovery of your first Amanita Muscaria this autumn all the more special.
We look forward to sharing this journey with you,
with much Love,
from my Heart to yours,
Tania Aurora White Crow
