Pagan Practices – Telling Stories

Last updated on: December 1, 2015 at 7:05 am by Gwion Raven

Pagan Practices – Telling Stories 2015-12-01T07:05:03-08:00 Gwion Raven

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I don’t know about you, but one of the most common questions I get from non-pagan folk is “What do you actually do?” There’s a Pagan version of this question too that goes something along the lines of “What’s your practice like?” The inquiry might seem simple enough, but the answer is a bit more complicated and nuanced. I hold that everything I do is part of my magical practice and so how do I parse out which pieces are more magical? How would I start to define my practice? What might I share with someone new to Paganism and what would I choose to keep silent about?

A big part of my practice revolves around telling stories. I love telling stories. I tell stories about the gods. I tell stories about the magical adventures I find myself wrapped up in. I tell stories about workshops and rituals and WitchCamps and festivals and that one time at Pantheacon in the Green Fairy Absinthe suite when…Well, you get the idea. Stories are kinda my thing. If you’ve got five minutes, and by five minutes I mean an hour, I’ve got a tale to tell you that has something to do with Magic.

Interestingly enough, I don’t just share these stories with people. Several years ago I started sharing my adventures with my local forest. It’s become a treasured part of my regular practice. Here’s how it goes.

I visited the Boreal Forest in Alberta, Canada this past September. The trees are quite different there than what I’m used to in Northern California. Maples, Birches and Trembling Aspen. Cottonwood, White Balsam and Poplar. There was a mossy undergrowth that was so thick, it felt like I was walking on a sponge. The trees appeared to grow in neat, well-spaced rows. I could peer deeply into the woods. The orderly nature of the trees can be deceiving though, I walked just a couple of hundred steps and everything began to look very much the same. There wasn’t that one, big Redwood stump or fallen Oak tree to use as a landmark. The woods closed around me pretty quickly.

Boreal Forest https://www.flickr.com/photos/kurt-b/

I must admit, I get all goose-bumpy at moments like this. Cernunnos is surely here, right? Am I about to find the witches hut? What’s that lurking behind those bushes? And that’s when I start listening, really attentively listening to the place I’m in. The trees of the Boreal forest had their own language. The way their leaves rustled, the directions that they grew in, the other plants and animals that grew and live alongside the trees, everything in the landscape had a story to tell.

I made a promise to the Boreal forest that I would bring their stories back home with me and that I’d share them with the trees I know. Here’s how that part works:

I walk in my favourite wooded spots. I describe the trees that I met. I share what I’ve been told, what I felt in the moment, the colours of the leaves and bark, the rich scents of the duff, the sounds of the birds and critters, all of it. I say it out loud, just like I would if you and I were having a conversation about a mutual friend I’d just visited.

One of my favourite redwood groves

Call me an eccentric romantic or tree-hugging weirdo or whatever you like, but I have a sense that the trees enjoy my company too. I often come away with the notion that I’ve heard “Gwion! Good to see you again. Where have you roamed since the last time we talked?”

As long as I’m hearing from the trees, I’ll keep telling stories. After all, one never knows what one can learn, just by sitting and listening to those we find ourselves in the company of.

Pagan Magical Practices

pagan rituals

Reclaiming

Tree Magic

Previous Post

October 27, 2015

13 Samhain Traditions (Well,at Least at Our House)

Next Post

December 10, 2015 A Winter Solstice Gift

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ancestor Work Art and Magic Athena Autumn Equinox Being a Priestess Being A Witch Being Pagan Belatane Beltane candle magic Cauldron Cernunnos cerridwen Choosing a magical name Circle Casting Community Coronovirus Coven Curious about magic Daily Practice Deity Depression Earth Ecstatic Practices Elements of Magic Every Day Magic Fae Food Magic Goddess Grounding House Magick Imbolc Ritual Kitchen Witch Knot Magic Lammas Life Ritualized Mabon Magical Healing Magical Practice Magical Teachers Magickal Tools Making Altars Many Gods West Mountain Magic Nature Witch New Year's Tradition Omens Pagan Books Pagan Camps and Festivals Pagan Food Pagan Gods Pagan History Pagan Holidays Pagan Humor Pagan Humour Pagan leadership Pagan Marriage Pagan Music Pagan Parenting Pagan Relationships Pagan Rituals Pagan Rules Pagan Tattoos Pantheacon Peaceful Home Pearl Pentacle Personal Power Politics Ritual Cleansing Ritual Drumming Samhain Samhain Practices saturnalia Skyclad Spells Spiralheart Witch Camp Spirits of Place Spring Equinox spring magic Summer Solstice Tarot The Magick Of Food Time Magic Uncategorized Winter Solstice Witch History Witch Words WitchCamps Work Magic Year End Review Yule

Select a Month March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 September 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz