The spirit of place

My good friend Frater POS made a post about land and energy here. http://doingmagick.blogspot.com/2010/04/of-land.html Druidry is outdoor magick. It is magick of the land, sea and sky. We do at times use man made alters we also use natural alters of stone or just the earth. Druidry is also magick of the heavens. Unlike so many magickal systems out there that focus on either the energies of the heavens or of the earth druidry is very much about balance and using both. The Oak tree is an amazing tree. One of it's special qualities is that its root system is the mirror of its branching. It's roots run as deep and as braod as its branches. Druidry tries to be like the oak in this (as well as other ways)way. Firmly rooted in the earth taking up earth energy and magick as well as nutrients. At the same time, it reaches it branches toward heaven taking in the sunlight and the magick and energy of the heavens. Thus the oak grows strong and supple, full of power and wisdom.
Different places on the earth have different energies and thus can "feel" different. Learning to sense this energy and make use of it is, in my opinion, important to successful druidic magick. It can take time when in a new area to adjust to the energy of a new place. Living in the desert like Frater POS and then traveling up to Oregon over my spring break and spending time at the home of my parents, well the energies of place are very different to say the least. It's hard to put into words. The energy of my parents place in Oregon was so "thick" and "full". One evening after my parents had gone to bed, I felt as if the spirit of the place, made up of all the spirits of the plants and animals, came to visit me and "check me out". I just felt it as a presence. Perhaps it remembered me and was coming to say "hello, welcome back, come and run through my woods again." Sadly, I didn't get to do that. My days were filled with my children and Chemistry homework.
The energy of where I live daily, is much "lighter" and resides deeper in the earth. I would say its much more subtle. Some would probably describe this as "less". I, however, don't believe that it is less. I have been able to work strong magicks here in the desert, I have just had to learn to reach "deeper" in to the earth to tap into it. I have had to learn to draw more from the solar currents as well then I ever did before. I would add that I feel the energy of here in the desert is much least stagnant then the energy of the woods where I grew up. Frater POS is correct in saying "if you can do magick anywhere, you can do it anywhere". Find the energy of where you live. Talk to the spirit of that place. Get to know it and befriend it. Make a partnership with it and you can do magick there.