Wild Consciousness

In the old ways of the British and Irish Celts, music, song and poetry were the fabric of society, and indeed they still are today.

From what I know of my traditions, this dedication and devotion to song came from the recognition that music is where the communication between us and the Otherworld takes place.

The Otherworld, as the consciousness of the land herself (and, yes the land was often seen as the feminine), speaks to us through song, music, and poetry. This is how ecstatic inspiration is bestowed upon us, and why poets were such esteemed members of society, having the power to fell kings.

Yet, when we domesticate our consciousness, we no longer are able to hear the song that all the world carries so well. When we see the world as resources for the taking rather than sovereign intelligence, we forget how to hear her.

In my ancestral traditions, all of the natural world was understood to be infused with conscious awareness. This intricate understanding of the interconnectedness of being is what we now often refer to as “animism”.

When we step back into this understanding, one of the first signs we are “getting it” is that we start to hear the earth and ecology singing.

This is when it stops being a casual pursuit, and becomes a profound cracking open into relationship with the cosmos.