Feeding the Birds as a Spiritual Practice

When I moved into the house I’m living in now (about 13 years ago), one of the first things I did was to set up a couple of birdfeeders. I’d never been able to do this in the previous places I lived, either because I had outdoor cats—and it always seemed kind of cruel for me to put out food for the birds, knowing that some of them were going to get attacked when they came to eat—or because I was living in an apartment with no good place to put a feeder.

As a Pagan, I look at feeding the birds (and the other critters who are attracted to the seeds that spill onto the ground underneath) not just as a fun thing to do, but as a part of my spiritual practice. Allow me to explain.

Witches and Pagans follow a nature-based religion, for the most part. For me, the act of feeding the birds is a way of helping to sustain the creatures that live nearby, as well as adding beauty to my daily life. Instead of just observing the occasional passing flock, I become a part of their life cycle, and they become a part of mine.

Where I live in upstate New York, the winters can be brutal. Last night it was well below zero. There is very little growing that the birds and other animals can eat—a few berries left on bushes, the old apples still hanging from my trees, and whatever else they can scavenge. Obviously, the birds that hang around here in the winter are designed to be able to survive in this environment, but that doesn’t mean it is easy.

So I do my best to help out. It can get expensive (I attract enough birds that I can easily go through a ten dollar bag of birdseed in under a week), so I only do it from the end of fall to the beginning of spring, when they need it the most. And, of course, it isn’t always fun, having to go out into the cold and dig a path through the snow to get to the feeders to refill them. But I am rewarded with the cheery sight of a bright red cardinal when everything else outside in black and white or brown, and when I eat my breakfast, I can look out the window and watch the birds eating theirs too.

I get lots of other incidental visitors as well. I’ve seen deer (although more often just their tracks, since they tend to come in the middle of the night), rabbits, chipmunks, and of course, squirrels. Earlier in the season, I even had a grouse showing up on a regular basis. (A kind of wild game bird that looks kind of like a big chicken.)

I may be feeding the birds and their friends, but they are feeding me in return; feeding my spirit, filling my eyes with beauty and my heart with joy, and reinforcing my connection with the natural world. This seems to me to be an awfully good return on the investment of a few bags of birdseed.  

Rabbits!

Not everyone can feed the birds, of course, but you don’t have to do it on a regular basis to make it a part of your own spiritual practice. If you live in an apartment, they make feeders that attach to the outside of a window, or you can hang a small feeder outside if there is space—even on a fire escape. Or go to a local park and feed the birds there, if it is legal wherever you live. If you have a house, try putting up one feeder to start, or even a simple bird treat made from a pine cone rolled in peanut butter or suet, and then rolled in seeds. You can hang this kind of homemade feeder from a small branch or a stick pushed into the ground. Another easy-to-make disposable bird treat is an apple rolled in peanut butter, which can be hung from a string that is pushed through the middle of the apple. If you don’t want to spend money on birdseed, try just tossing stale bread or over-ripe fruit out where the birds can get it.

There are many ways for us to integrate the natural world into our busy lives, but for me, feeding the birds is a simple and satisfying way to keep my promise to the Goddess to treat Her creatures well and make them a part of my everyday life.

Do you feed the birds?

Making a Joyful Noise: Drumming & Chanting

There are many ways to celebrate your spiritual path, whatever that may be. But virtually every society has used some form of music as a part of their communion with deity, from Buddhist chants to hymns sung in church. For Pagans and witches, making a joyful noise and sending it out into the universe often involves chanting or drums or both.

My group Blue Moon Circle often integrates one or the other of these into our rituals, although not always in the same way. Drumming is usually used to build energy, which is then channeled as extra power into a spell or magickal working. Chanting might be used as we cast or dismiss the circle, or as part of the ritual itself. On the last full moon, we simply stood out underneath that glorious bright light and sent our song up to the goddess in praise of Her beauty and grace.

When done as a group, drumming or chanting can bring the individuals together and form them into one voice, one beat, one song. When done by yourself, the sound can connect you to the world outside yourself—to all those who came before who sang or beat a drum and to the gods themselves.

Drumming is associated with spiritual practices in so many cultures because it can be done in a rhythm that mimics the human heartbeat. It is easy to learn, and you can create a drum from scratch if you can’t afford to buy one. (Ask anyone with a toddler—all you need is something to bang on that makes a cool noise, and maybe a stick to hit it with.) You don’t have to be a talented musician, and while it is nice if you can keep a beat, even that is optional.

In the same way, you don’t have to have a great voice to sing or chant. The gods don’t care that you would never win American Idol. They hear the true spirit in your voice and that is enough. If you have a hard time memorizing long complicated chants, you can print them out on a piece of paper, or use ones that are short and simple.

Here is the one that Blue Moon Circle is using the most of late:

Earth my body, Water my blood, Air my breath and Fire my spirit

 

It doesn’t get much simpler than that, and yet when sung from the heart it can be tremendously powerful. There are times in circle when the sound is so deep and strong and true, it gives me goose bumps. You can find all kinds of chants on You Tube, too.

One of the women in the group told me recently that she had a tough time getting into the drumming. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it—in fact, she spent years playing snare drum in a bagpipe band, marching in parades in front of large crowds. But that was something very different. In professional music, the emphasis is on perfection and control. Spiritual music, though, is all about NOT worrying about perfection—about whether the rhythm is steady or the song sung exactly in tune. Letting go and embracing your own music in all its glory, perfect or not.

Making a joyful noise is really just that: taking the joy (or sorrow) you feel and sending it out into the universe. Drumming in thanks or praise or celebration, singing from the heart and soul. You can drum by yourself to get into a meditative state, or chant in the shower to start your day off right. Either way, the gods don’t need you to be perfect. They only want you to be present, in your own life, and in the world. The vibrations that move through the air on a beat or a breath are just another way to connect with your own inner voices, or send your energy out to connect with the rest of the world. And that’s enough.

Spiritual Fall Cleaning

Yes, you read that right—I said FALL cleaning. I know we usually talk about spring cleaning, and in fact I have written articles and given classes that focus on what I call “Spiritual Spring Cleaning.” But in the last few years, I find that I am more likely to do my big cleaning and clearing push in the fall instead.

There are a couple of reasons for this. For one thing, here in the cold and snowy Northeast, we tend to get stuck in our houses a lot during the winter. [There are people who actually go outside for such winter sports as skiing and skating. Please see “cold and snowy” above for why I’m not one of them.] If I am going to spend all that time in my house, I like it to be clean and neat, and have good energy.

But it also seems to me that clearing and cleansing and protection work fit well with the waning energies of the season. In the fall, things are slowing down; the nights are longer and the days shorter, there is less light. All around us, the natural world is dying off or getting ready to slow or cease production—leaves fall from the trees, gardens get put to bed, birds fly south for the winter. This makes it a good time to make your own “nest” ready for the quieter, darker, colder months to come.

I like to start by clearing away “crap.” Each of us has a different definition of crap, of course, and I’m not suggesting that you toss your collection of vintage bottle caps if it you have a deep, emotional attachment to it. I’m talking about the accumulation of useless stuff that most of us have lying around—things we meant to sort through and throw away, but never got around to. Old paperwork, letters and cards from people you don’t even remember, clothes you never wear, tools you never use; you know what I mean. Start by doing a clear-out. Throw things away, donate them to the needy, find a friend who will actually use whatever it is. (For instance, when I started going through the room where I store most of my craft and Craft supplies, I discovered I had enough candles stowed away for three or four lifetimes. So I let the folks in my group pick out the ones they wanted, and brought the rest to the Salvation Army.)

Once you’ve cleared out the clutter, and organized whatever is remaining, then it is time to do the big fall clean and cleanse. If you want, you can start with yourself. Take a ritual bath or shower and wash away the busy, hectic summer season that lies behind us. Maybe do a fast for a day, or take a couple of days to just eat really healthy to prepare your body for the tougher winter months. Fall is the perfect time to do this; since there is such an abundance of wonderful fresh fruits and veggies, you can eat healthy with virtually no effort at all.

Then clean and cleanse your house. I took a good look at my broom (my regular cleaning one, not my magical one) and realized that it was over ten years old and falling apart. So the first thing I did was to buy a new broom, and consecrate it for cleansing work. Then I went through the house from top to bottom and swept every room, being mindful of not just sweeping away dirt, but negative or stagnant energy as well. I finished up by going through the entire place with a sage smudge stick and a salt and water mixture, clearing and cleansing all the places (like windows and doors) where energy can come and go.

Fall is also the time I do my yearly protection work on my house. I make up a mixture of sea salt, basil, sage, garlic (just a token amount if I’m using it inside) and a pinch of cayenne pepper. This year, I added some charcoal from the Midsummer bonfire, for an extra boost, as well as some magical protection oil I’d made up previously. You can add anything else that you like that is protective in nature. I go around the outside of the house, paying special attention to doorways, and then I go around the edges of my property (which isn’t very large). I ask that the house and those who live there be protected from anything harmful, whether intentional or accidental, and I focus all my energy on placing the house and property within a protective bubble. If you are in an apartment (or a neighborhood full of nosey people) you can always do this inside instead of outside. [Don’t forget your mailbox, since lots of things come into your house that way.]

When I’m done, the house is neater, the energy clearer, and I feel ready to settle in to my “inside” time of year, without the baggage left over from the previous, more active seasons. Of course, come spring, I’ll do another cleansing to prepare for that energy, but for now, I can sit on the couch with a cat (or three), a mug of mulled cider, and a good book. Who could ask for more?

Spring Forward: Time for Change

Anyone who has ever read one of my books (or articles, or talked to me for more than five minutes) knows that I believe that spirituality isn’t something that should be limited to a few special days of the year. Like most witches, I celebrate the full moons and the Sabbats (the eight holidays of the Pagan Wheel of the Year). But I also try to find ways to turn days not usually used for religious practice into an excuse for stretching my spiritual muscles. This kind of thing doesn’t just work for witches, either. Anyone can do it.

Take tonight, for instance (or tomorrow at 2 AM, if you want to get technical). For most of the United States, this marks the time change, when we move our clocks for Daylight Savings Time. Since this can be confusing, at both ends of the year, people often remember with this mnemonic device: Spring forward/Fall back.

Look at what we’ve got here—Time Change and Spring Forward. If this isn’t a good time for changing our personal patterns and moving forward with those changes, I don’t know what is!

I decided to use this day as a springboard for making one positive change. In this case, I’m going to push myself to finally act on a goal I’ve had for ages. For months (OKAY, years), I’ve been saying I was going to get back to a regular meditation practice. I’ve had times in my life when I meditated daily, and it always made me feel calmer, more balanced, and more energized.

But for some reason (ahem—probably having to do with obsessively working on my writing—ahem), I haven’t managed to move forward with this goal. I’ve even gone so far as to take out my beautiful handmade mediation cushion and put it on the couch so I would see it every day, and be reminded that I want to be doing this. And periodically, I’ll notice it, and say, “Oh, yeah—meditation cushion!” But that’s as far as it got. [Please tell me this isn’t just me. It’s not, right?]

So here we are, at the Time of Change, Springing Forward. And I have made a commitment to myself that starting tomorrow, with the new time shift, I will make at least 10 minutes every day to sit on my cushion and meditate. Moving forward with positive purpose. The time change is kind of annoying, since at this point in the year we will be losing an hour of sleep for a night. But we will also be gaining more daylight, and therefore more “active” time. I intend to put that to good use.

If you decide to use the time change to move yourself into forward motion, what one thing would you pick to change or move forward with?