Crossing the Hedge
As we wander down the path of the plant spirits, we come to a point where the work we do goes beyond the ordinary- it invites us to begin engaging with the plant spirits beyond just their physical expressions here in our world of name and form. This is the plant spirit path, the way of the wortcunner, the tradition of the herbwise. It brings us, through a variety of rituals and workings, into direct experience of the plants in their full forms- who they are on all the levels.
Part of this process, as is consistent with all visionary spiritual traditions such as Traditional Witchcraft, Shamanism, and the like, is in learning how to expend the perception beyond the physical and into the spaces that are normally imperceptible to the human person. We do this with a variety of techniques and spiritual technologies, but no matter how it happens, one thing is certain- we must cross the hedge.
The hedge, as I work with it, is a living symbol that references the imaginal boundary separating our world from the otherworld. I say ‘imaginal’ because there is no hard and fast boundary or partition- rather, all the worlds happen in the same place at the same time, running parallel to one another. The differences in these worlds make it hard for the inhabitants of one to perceive the presence of the inhabitants of the other. Their similarities mean that what happens in one does have some effect in the other.
My practice is heavily informed by the Faery Faith traditions of Western and Northern Europe. Because of this, my approach to the otherworld is done in a way that leans into the lore and support passed down over the ages. The things I will do and the things I will not do in regards to working with the otherworld are most often dictated by Faery lore. In the lore we find that the world of spirit exists as the original matrix of reality- it is the spiritual soil upon which our own world is planted. This world is inhabited by a host of beings, some we can perceive, most we cannot. These include ancestors, animal spirits, deities, the Faery beings themselves, and countless others. As I mentioned, this world is not somewhere else. It’s right here, part of the land, just like the world you and I occupy is. When you engage with a tree, you can assume that many other beings are engaging with that same tree- some you’ll perceive, most you won’t. The perspective of the ant or gnat is so radically different than our own that in some ways they occupy their own world, even though we intersect sometimes. Similarly, the spiritual beings of the otherworld are so different from us that we can be standing around the same tree and not be directly aware of each other’s presence.
Back to the subject at hand: hedge crossing and the cultivation of dual citizenship.
Hedgecrossing is a magico-ritual term that expresses how we must pass through this imaginal boundary between the worlds so that we can perceive and interact with the true person of the plants more directly. In otherwords, it explains how we can step through the differences and focus on the similarities. This hedgecrossing process allows us to perceive, engage, communicate, and work with our spiritual allies who reside in other worlds.
As I practice and teach it, one of the primary goals of all the energy we devote to the plant spirit path is the cultivation of dual citizenship. With this in place, we are able to fully stand in our world as we are, but also find ourselves comfortable and welcome in the otherworld. We put in so much work and nourish to many spiritual connections with the various denizens of otherness, that when we visit we are treated as locals. This can only happen by putting in the work, gaining the allies, honoring the rules of the otherworld, not assuming that the human perspective is the only or best one in the room, and by being guided and guarded by our familiar spirits.
In this week’s community class which is up now on The Green Arte channel, I’m chatting all about this concept and process and what it can look like in plant spirit work. Enjoy!
