The Yew Tree

Putting down roots

When you move to a new area, you feel uprooted. It takes a long time to put down roots and settle in the new place. That said, there are many magical techniques which can help you with this process.

How to attune yourself magically to a new home

When you move in, you may need to cleanse your new home of vibes from previous owners, then install your own vibes and a protective aura. To install your own vibes, simply walk around your old home before you leave with a candle, visualising burning negative vibes and storing positive vibes.

When you get to your new home, first talk to the house, get to know it and any wights that might live there. Only when you are sure you have their permission can you light incense in each room, sprinkle water and salt, and ring a bell. Then call upon the four elements to protect the house. Touch every wall in each room. Then light your candle in which you stored the vibes from your old home, and walk around the house, visualising them being spread into each room. You also need to assert ownership of your new house - one very effective way of doing this is putting up at least one picture as soon as you arrive. You may also find there are house brownies or other elementals sharing the house with you. Be careful not to disturb them with the cleansing of the house. They like airing cupboards and other warm places. If yours does not yet have a name, ask it if it would like one.

However, magical attunement to the new home is not just about the immediate hearth and home, but also the local landscape. All landscape is sacred, so attuning yourself to a new landscape is not just about visiting the obvious sacred sites, but also making your own connections with the mythology of the landscape. You must connect with the landscape, learn its pattern, contact its guardian deities, let your personal mythology and favourite deities fit in with the landscape about you. Link the mindscape to the landscape. It is very important, however, to show respect to the spirits of place - do not impose your will on the land, let it talk to you.

Go walkabout

Walk around your new landscape at different times of the day. Walk north, east, south and west. Look for landscape features which appeal to you - trees, rocks, hills, streams, ponds, etc. Do they correspond to a particular deity or element? Can they be incorporated into your rituals? Do they want to be incorporated into your rituals? What are the sounds, sights, smells, tastes, sensations there? What emotions do they evoke in you? Talk to the spirits of place. Do a circular walk, noting landscape features on the route. Anglo-Saxon land charters were written by this means - describing the features around the edge of a domain. Many parishes re-establish their boundaries in this way each year in the ceremony of "beating the bounds".

Sacred landscape

Look for a feature in the North which corresponds to Earth, a feature in the East for Air, in the South for Fire, in the West for Water, and in the centre for Spirit. Again, seek inspiration from the land-wights. Now draw a magical map of your landscape which shows these features. It need not bear much resemblance to physical reality. Here is one I drew for southern Scotland, which uses mountains as the points of reference. Obviously you can't do this in a flat landscape, you'd have to use rivers or hills or whatever. The central point should be at or near your covenstead or place of working. You could use any hills or other landscape features of your choice.

diagram of elements and quarters mapped onto the landscape of Scotland

Establishing a working space

Always ask the spirits of place before working anywhere - show respect to the land and the land-wights. Don't leave litter (psychic or physical), candles, tea-lights, incense, scorch-marks, unclosed circles, crystals, graffiti, or conspicuous libations. Take time to feel the energies of the space. For more on this, see Maura McHugh's article on sacred sites; the excellent articles A Plea to Practising Pagans and The effects of physical damage to sites.

This process of personal attunement to the landscape is the quickest way that I know of becoming rooted in a new place. The only problem is, if you decide to move on, it's very difficult to uproot yourself again!

Presumably it would be even more powerful if it was the collective vision of a group, as is the case with tribal mythologisation of the landscape. The landscape dreams its own dreams - attune yourself to these and your connection will be even deeper.

Some more suggestions...

Further reading