Ritual, Magick & Folklore
“Simply said, ritual is any gesture done with emotion and intention by an individual or a group that attempts to connect the individual or the community with transpersonal energies for the purposes of healing and transformation. Ritual is the pitch through which the personal and collective voices of our longing and creativity are extended to the unseen dimensions of life, beyond our conscious minds and into the realms of nature and spirit. Ritual is a form of direct knowing, something indigenous to the psyche. It has evolved with us, taking knowing into the bone, into our very marrow.”
-Francis Weller
I practice the old ways of nature based ritual and ceremony. The magick of nature imbues every teaching and creation I offer. Our human stories are deeply influenced by our environment, the earth and the plants and the other creatures that inhabit it. We have collectively forgotten how to live in simple alignment with the energies of the earth the way our ancestors once did. I believe unearthing these long buried tools, remembering the lost arts and writing our stories will breathe symbolic life into the bones of our ancestors and help us to heal. Our separation from the land and our roots is a deep trauma that must be healed in order to be able to continue writing our own stories and truly tap into our potential as humans.
The earths rhythms are made up of light and dark and pattern and chaos and we must learn to work with these energies to create true magick and healing in our bodies and our lives. Learn from the moon and sun, the change of seasons and the cyclical motion of the tides. Learn from the animals and quiet yourself and your preconceptions enough to hear even the quietest beings speak: the plants. Let them guide you and become your teachers.
Boheme Botanika is built around and inspired by my own Slavic, Germanic and Welsh ancestry and the folklore, stories and healing traditions that make up the regions that my great great great ancestors once inhabited. Through working with the myth, magick and medicine of my family along with the plants that created the backbone of many of their traditions and rituals, I am attempting to awaken an inner strength and truth that is as old as my DNA. It is my hope and belief that this work is healing bloodline trauma on a cellular level. I trust that this work is helping me to tread more lightly on and understand the land that I currently live on in unceded Abenaki territory, also known as Vermont, USA.
I believe that by healing our own ancestral traumas and repairing our connection with our homelands, we in turn heal our earth and can work in a more honest and compassionate way with others who have suffered severe intergenerational trauma and violence from being severed from their homes and cultures. By tapping into our own unique, non culturally appropriating ways to explore the earth, spirituality and personal ritual, we ensure a new generation of collectively healed and whole humans who are able to work in reciprocity with the earth and other humans.
Through my work with plants and their stories I strive to connect others with this inner magick and power. It’s my opinion that no matter what your spiritual beliefs or religious background, we as humans could all benefit from more simple and meaningful rituals in our lives. Many elements of nature magick, earth based ceremony and folk lore are interwoven in my course offerings and in my teachings but I am busy creating more esoteric workshops that will explore the wisdom of the plant world through this lens and guide others towards re-enchanting our everyday lives. Please sign up for my newsletter and consider becoming a Patron in order to stay abreast of new programs and projects!