Photo ©H.K. Gresham, www.hkgresham.com
In August I wrote about the importance of connecting with the land energies in whatever part of the Houston area you live in. This week I got an email from a reader (Let's call him Jack) who wanted more detailed information on how to do that.
Jack explained that his family had owned land near the Trinity River for many years. He spent a lot of time there when he was growing up, and he felt a great affinity for it when young.
The land is no longer in his family, and Jack wants to regain that kind of connection to the energy of the land, even though he now lives in the city. He wrote, "I'm sure I can find similar energies in this area if I knew where to look for them."
It is not a matter of where to look for land spirits. They are everywhere. It is more a matter of how to feel and recognize them.
As I wrote in that earlier article, it is much harder to feel the land spirits where there are many people and much concrete. And as my Chicago friend put it, where there are too many people, the trees spirits seem to withdraw or go to sleep.
I found the Arboretum at Memorial Park, for example, to be sort of tired and sick. But most people go on weekends. Maybe on, say, a Friday morning, when it had had a few days to recover, it would be better.
However, in the main part of Memorial Park, if you go just a little ways into the woods, you have a much better chance of interacting with the land spirits. To me the park itself feels much more alive than the arboretum.
Some of the state parks that get few visitors are good. Brazos Bend is not too bad in some parts if you go when hardly anyone is there. The only problem with Brazos Bend is that it is on the site of an old plantation. There was slavery, and a lot of bad stuff happened there. The bottom land by the river feels the worst.
The less traveled parts of Buescher State Park (on Hwy 71 at Smithville) are really good, especially if you can be there during the week.
Enchanted Rock also has a somewhat sad history, but the energy is strong if you go during the week while school is in session. To me the other granite dome (next to Enchanted Rock) has much nicer energy (though less strong), and the saddle area between the two domes is amazing.
Unfortunately Enchanted Rock has become famous and fashionable, so on weekends and during the summer, it is miserably crowded and noisy. Even during the week, during the school year, the best time to climb the rock is at dawn.
The strongest experiences I have ever had with land spirits were at Enchanted Rock and in Big Bend National Park in West Texas. The land spirits were very easy to sense and interact with at Big Bend. But we were there in February (perfect weather, not too hot) during the week. We were able to hike for miles without seeing another soul.
I must stress that there are land spirits everywhere. It is simply easier to learn to feel them where human presence has not beaten them down. When you know how that feels, you can learn to experience them in populated areas.
Probably that is why Jack was able to relate so well to his family's land. There were not too many people around, and he had the time to really get to know the land and spirits.
All that said, I have had friends who communed with tree spirits in the Heights and Montrose areas near downtown Houston, in old parks and cemeteries where hardly anyone ever goes anymore.
I do not recommend cemeteries. It is too dangerous to open yourself up to feel spirits in a cemetery. But there are some parks in Houston where hardly anyone ever actually goes.
It helps if the land area is not too small, so that you can feel the transition as you move from one spirit's area to another.
You might try Mercer Arboretum in Humble. It is really big and, from what I've seen, not usually very busy. Or try the park around it. Weekdays would be best.
Some kind of nature preserve could be good, such as the Armand Bayou preserve just off Bay Area Blvd in Clear Lake. It includes marsh and forest land that has been left as wild and undisturbed as possible.
You could get out a map of Houston and just let yourself be drawn to some place intuitively. Or you could dowse the map.
Dowsing a Houston map for energies is a project we have talked about doing in the Houston Shamanism Meetup group but have never actually done yet. We were originally thinking of looking for "good" and "bad" energies by dowsing, and then driving to the locations where the dowsing showed the energies to be strong, to see what we felt there.
But simply looking for strong land spirit energies would be a good idea, too. You can easily give that a try. Then actually got to the place where the energy is strong, and see what you feel.
Do not trespass on private property, though. Stick with public parks or other land that is open to the public, and you will have plenty of land to explore.
Important: Do not go into a trance or lose track of your surroundings in a public place unless you have a friend along to watch out for you. It is never safe to become oblivious to your surroundings in a public places, In some areas it could be downright dangerous.
I have a sense that it is easier to feel land spirits where there is a lot of rock. At least it has been for me. I had not really thought about that before. That may be why mountains are so revered in so many cultures.
Once you have interacted with land spirits, it gets easier and easier. Eventually you should be able to feel the land spirits beneath individual buildings in the city, as the Tibetan lamas can. (I'm not there yet.)
And please come back later and leave comment about your experiences.
I hope this helps.
For more information on classic shamanic practices, see the list of links to shamanism-related web sites near the lower right corner of this page.
White Cranes has been studying and teaching shamanic practices for over 20 years. Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/whitecranes and http://www.twitter.com/shamanista.
To learn to do shamanic practices in Houston, you are invited to join the Houston Shamanism Meetup group, http://www.meetup.com/houstonshamanism.
Comments
I can relate to what Jack says about the river. My family had ranch land near Sweetwater for almost 100 years & I feel a genuine love for the place. It's covered with flint & petrified wood. Too bad the older generation has sold it off. That's another loss I'm greiving. My 2nd favorite place in Tx is Palo Duro Canyon, esp the remote places in the canyon. Spent much of my childhood there. Saw it again about 10 yr ago & it's very touristy now.
Randy, thanks for your comment. I am so sorry about the loss of your family land. I hope you can find another place to become connected to. Some of the great places like Palo Duro are still accessible in the off season, during the week. Maybe you would still be able to experience it in the old way in those off times? It has worked for me at Enchanted Rock. Anyway, I hope you find somewhere closer to home, too, because we all need the spiritual nourishment of being connected to the land where we currently live.
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