Without further ado, then, here are some questions to think about; you don't have to answer them all or in any order, certainly -- they're just some thoughts to get the ball rolling.
How important is the idea of "nature" within your religion?
How is nature conceptualized within your religion?
How does nature -- concepts, imagery, attitudes toward -- function within your religion?
Where do things like agricultural festivals fit into your religion overall?
If you practice magic, how is nature figured -- is it *the* source of power, *a* source of power, totally irrelevant, what?
Etc. etc.
My path over the last few years has become an 'un-path' so I guess I speak from the perspective of having integrated my spirituality into my day to day life to the degree that no action is not spiritual, be it mowing a lawn, writing an e-mail or drinking beer. Everything is layered.
Something I've recently realized. Perhaps the reason that animals are both revered, in some American Indigenous paths, but those who go off the deep end making everything into omens are faced with some scorn is that if you're looking for animals, they are everywhere. If you're looking for nature it's everywhere. It's amazing. They are EVERYWHERE! Today I saw at least a hundred birds, some of them types that I favor, a couple nests, a baby deer, two baby rabbits, a snake, a group of turtles and lots of plants. But they were always there.
Once you've trained yourself to 'see' these things, you first trip out on them all, and then you realize they were there all along. You might not have interacted with them before, but they were there. Just like the guy in line at the 7-11, he was 'there' and you understood that when he nodded and averted his eyes that you were politely acknowledged and politely you both went about your business. He probably had nothing to do with you, but if he was carrying something unusual - or usual he might stick in your memory for awhile.
If you make a point of interacting with him, he might be someone cool, or he might be boring as all get out. Nature is the same way. I mean pretty much everything around you when I say nature. I'd be hard pressed to find something 'outside of nature'
It's the super-normal of everyday existence. Every day becomes a package to be opened. Like the magicians hat, things just keep coming out. You ramble along and life comes to you.
Agricultural festivals... festivals? Back to that un-path thing. I've gotten really basic. I'm sort of throwing away organization and living, and revering moment to moment. Every weekend is a festival to me. How many vultures party on a deer carcass? As many as got there in time. Come friday night I got there in time. Throw something on a fire and melt cheese on it and I'm a happy girl. So long as I've got my nose to the ground and wings to the sky, it's a party right up until it rains.
In all seriousness I have about a week where I notice winter ends. I have another where I notice summer starts. The 'rituals' that come with them, are usually work. Planting, raking, mulching, cutting back, building up, cooking for... the mental shifts, punctuated by actions.
Nature magic, well; being alive in general I've come to think of as a life force. Being able to see it, understand it and shape it is the basis that I feel 'pathys' (em, tele, etc.) come from. By understanding that your energy (life force) only flows so many ways in response to any given thing gives the awareness to know where it is most likely to go, and in turn what you are likely to do because of it really simplifies things for me. Water naturally runs downhill.
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