The Tenacity of Living Things

Last updated on: August 26, 2015 at 9:46 pm by Jason Mankey

The Tenacity of Living Things 2015-08-26T21:46:51-06:00 Jason Mankey

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When I moved onto the Oak Court* Ari and I’s rental house wasn’t quite empty. There were a couple of potted plants sitting outside on the front porch. Unsure of what to do with them I mostly left them alone the first few months we were in our then-new (rental) house. I probably would have gotten to them sooner but it was February and indoor festival season, and within a month of moving I started writing at Patheos, it was a pretty busy time in my life.

I don’t generally like killing things and I tried hard to find a use for the plants that were gifted to us upon moving in. One was easily pulled out of its pot and and transported to a prime location near our front porch. That particular plant was always so lush and green that putting our Ceres statue directly behind it seemed appropriate. It grows like a weed, and I have to trim it every few months so that we can still see our Goddess of the Green as we walk into the house.**

Our other plant “leftover” was too big for a spot in front of the porch so I used it to hide a strange grass-less corner of the front yard where we hide our charcoal grill. Besides, this other plant just wasn’t all that pleasing to the eye. Hiding it in an out of the way place seemed the like the way to go.

After moving our mostly unwanted plant to cast-away-corner I mostly ignored it until this past Spring. As it sat there, year after year, season after season, it refused to die, and I began to find that charming. I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for underdogs, and this plant was an underdog. By June of this year I had just sort of fallen in love with the plant’s lust for life. It was just tenacious, holding on no matter how much it was neglected. So I decided I would let it put some roots in the ground, take it of the pot, and let it find the earth.

When I finally went to dig a whole for my plant I was amazed at what I found. It had already dug its own hole, shattering its clay pot and somehow burrowing through a piece of plywood that the pot was sitting on. Its roots were already in the ground, and deep into that ground. There wasn’t much I could do for it, it had done everything already! Respect. Forget the rose bush or the orange tree, this little unwanted plant that blooms in August is now my favorite plant or tree at the house.

When I have a bad month (and let me tell you August has sort of stunk in the Mankey household) I think about my plant. I’m probably not going to burst through a clay pot anytime soon, but I will get through the barriers and obstacles in my life eventually. I can survive the shit-storms, the negativity, judgements from people who don’t know me, and others calling me an archetypalist (whatever that is). That stuff sucks but I can and will get through it.

So many living things on this planet are tenacious. When people talk about the end of the world due to climate change I think they are mistaken. Our time might be ticking, but this world will survive. It will be different and scarred, but it will still be here in 10,000 years, it’s just that we won’t be unless we clean up our act (and our Mother!). I’m guessing the plant that inspired this ramble will probably still be around.

When people wonder about Paganism, not Witchcraft, but Paganism, I want them to look at those roots seeking solid ground. That’s the power of the natural world, the magic of nature, the triumph of life. Sometimes the wild things don’t just exist in the forest, they can be found in our own front yards.

*Long time readers will probably recognize “Oak Court” as the name of my coven, it’s also the name of the street I live in. So much for creativity!

**You’ve probably figure out by now that I do not know much about plant varieties/species. It’s just not my thing.

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