Totemism Every Day
Rituals are an important part of many people’s spiritual practices. However, they’re sometimes the only special occasions in an otherwise mundane life. For some people, the big challenge is making their spirituality an integral part of their everyday experience. While some of the exercises offered in this book encourage you to have daily awareness of the world around you and the totems you work with, this chapter in particular is designed to help you align your spirituality with the rest of your life.
The integration of daily life with spirituality is something I believe is neglected all too often. Spirituality is often treated as something separate from the rest of our lives, a way of thinking that stems in large part from the tendency to see the physical and spiritual as distinctly separate realms. While for the sake of easier teaching I’ve spoken of the “physical” realm and the “spiritual” realm in meditations and other exercises, I tend to think they gradually blend into one another rather than be sharply divided.
Spirit-body dualists usually see the spiritual as being inherently better or more pure than the physical. Natural processes like the creation of body fluids and the process of death are seen as proof of the corrupt nature of the physical, and the spiritual is held up as some perfect alternate reality in which all the problems of the world are supposedly transcended. Unfortunately, this way of thinking was sometimes used as an excuse to not only neglect the physical world but even actively destroy it—after all, if we have somewhere better to go, why care about this place?
I won’t get too far into theology. Suffice it to say that I don’t think this old world of ours deserves the abuse we’ve heaped on it while waiting for some paradise to escape to. In the same vein, I don’t see spirituality as something to be relegated to the high holy days or one day a week or even one hour a day. If we combine spirituality with everything else then everything becomes sacred. You’re already heading in that direction anyway by practicing totemism; you acknowledge the powerful beings watching over different parts of nature.
But if everything is sacred, why practice spirituality at all? As I mentioned earlier, it’s a way to feel connected to something greater than the self, and being able to feel that at any given time in any situation can be incredibly comforting and grounding.
When we feel reverence for something we often want to care for it. The earth and everything on it is in dire need of some TLC, and part of why I present totemism as I do is to invite people to not just take what they want from the totems but also give back and be a healthy part of the community of nature.
In this chapter we’ll go over some ways to integrate your totemism into everyday life and begin seeing the sacred all around you. Then we will go into more detail on how to give back to the totems who have helped enrich your experience of life as you’ve worked with the material in this book.
Hands-on Work
I keep telling you to go outside—and for good reason! Totems are born from the natural history of their physical counterparts, and it’s rather pointless to work with totems without having at least some knowledge of the parts of nature they embody. Obviously there are some you may never get close to, such as particularly elusive animals, but you can still appreciate the biotopes they inhabit and the other beings sharing those places.
Most of what you’ve been doing is simply being outside, observing and exploring places throughout your bioregion as well as meditating and other spiritual work while you’re there. There are other ways to connect on a daily basis, and you don’t necessarily have to make special trips to do so. What follows are all activities people engage in every day; you might even already be doing some of them. I’d like to tie these activities to totemic work a little more as a way of integrating your spirituality with the rest of your life.
Wildcrafting, Hunting, and Related Quests
These days you probably don’t have to look much further for food than the nearest grocery store. But there are still communities around the world where foraging and hunting are central to their way of life, and many other people supplement their diets with wild foods and medicines. These people all maintain a close relationship with the land and its denizens out of necessity and because they appreciate the beauty and splendor of the places from which they draw these resources. It’s impossible for nature to remain anonymous when you’re immersed in it for your survival.
Wildcrafting is a form of foraging for wild plants, though not necessarily in wilderness settings. A skilled wildcrafter knows what plants (and in some cases fungi) to pick for food, for medicine, for weaving and other crafting materials, and for more specialized purposes. They also know which ones are poisonous or irritating and which ones have parts that are safe while the rest is to be avoided. In an urban environment, the opportunities may be fewer, but even in the city there are green things growing we can gather for more than just decoration.22
A hunter captures and kills animals for food and other resources. Hunting is not the act of wantonly slaughtering animals for the sake of watching them die. Done correctly, a clean hunt quickly kills an animal that was able to live a wild and free life eating its natural diet, and a responsible hunter makes use of as much of the carcass as they can. One deer can provide meat for a family for weeks, along with bones for nutritional supplements, a hide for clothing, and much more.23
Whether you are a hunter, wildcrafter, or both, gathering resources from nature is a good opportunity for totemic work. Even if you’re taking from a species whose totem you wouldn’t normally work with, there are chances to reach out to them as well as totems of the land itself.
Even if you aren’t sure what you’ll find once you’re on your way, you can speak a general prayer to the totems of your bioregion asking for success. Assure them you won’t take more than you need and you’ll treat whatever you take with respect. Promise, too, that while you’re out you won’t do things that harm the soil, water, or air to the best of your ability.
Continue your reverence when you take a plant, animal, or fungus for yourself, particularly if you have to kill it to do so. Make the kill as clean as you can, and thank both the spirit of the living being itself and its totem. Once you’re heading back home, give another prayer of gratitude, and again when you’re handling the remains of the animal, fungus, or plant you collected. Remember always that in order for you to live, something else must die; I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty but simply to help you not take that fact for granted.
If you aren’t sure what to say, here’s a good all-purpose prayer you can use or adapt as you see fit:
Totems of the land, sea, and sky, I greet you and I ask you to watch over me this day (night). May I treat your children with the care I would want to be shown myself. May I honor and respect them and their sacrifices, and may I never forget where they came from. Even once I have eaten my fill, created what I need, and stored away the rest, may I always remember I am connected to all things and that none of us are alone in this world. I am grateful for the company.
Gardening
I love to garden. Ever since I moved to the Pacific Northwest I’ve found ways to grow at least a few plants for food and other purposes, sometimes in planter boxes, sometimes in community garden plots, and once in a swimming pool full of dirt on a neighbor’s roof!
Many of the same concepts of wildcrafting and hunting apply to agriculture, particularly regarding treating the plants, animals, and fungi with respect. We carry extra responsibility to the totems’ children because we are the ones taking care of them: wild beings can fend for themselves, but cultivated ones rely on us for food, water, shelter, and other needs. We also have a greater and more immediate effect on their living arrangements; we get to choose, for example, whether our small flock of chickens will live in a tiny coop all the time or they’ll have access to a larger space in which to roam.24 We determine whether to augment our garden’s soil with caustic chemicals or more organic alternatives. In short, it’s about as close as any of us will get to playing God.
Interested in planning a garden with totemism in mind? There are a couple of ways to go about it. You can plant what you would normally plant and then try contacting the corresponding totems as you go along, or you can be more intentional about it, dedicating part of your garden to your totems. Setting an intention doesn’t include only planting or otherwise embedding the physical counterparts of plant and fungus totems—it can also mean adding plants that are beneficial to your animal totems’ children too. If you’re creating a garden from scratch, try not to displace more native species than needed; you may also wish to make apologies and offerings to their totems as well.
If you really want to follow this book’s message in a big way, you can even create a microcosm of your bioregion if you have the room in your garden or yard. If your garden is meant to produce food, look into raising some local edibles. Planting native plant and fungus species is a good idea in general; they’re more adjusted to the soil and climate where you are, and they provide shelter and food for native animal species. You can turn your yard or porch into a sacred space for totemic work and a haven for the totems too. It’s a lot like creating an outdoor altar of curiosities, only it incorporates living beings. Remember to avoid adding invasive species; just because a particular plant grows in your bioregion doesn’t mean it’s native.
As with wildcrafting and foraging, you can send a prayer to the appropriate totems before, during, and after the harvest when harvesting from your garden. Make sure you compost any leftover stems and other scraps so they can go back into the soil as well.
Speaking of the soil, it also needs care and upkeep. Most commercial pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and chemicals are bad for the soil and the things living in and on it. This includes not just beneficial animals like worms and bees but also the fungi in the soil that help plants absorb nutrients. It’s also true that every time you take away vegetables, fruits, and other things from the garden, you’re taking away nutrients that would normally return to the soil as the plants died and decayed in the fall or as native animals digested them and left them as droppings. You’ll need to fortify the soil every so often to make up for that; many good organic alternatives exist. This includes everything from base components like bonemeal and composted manure to natural fertilizer blends. If you aren’t sure what your soil needs, talk to your local garden shop or greenhouse. You can even have the soil tested if you want to be extra thorough.
Thank all the totems that help the garden grow, too: Soil and various mineral totems, Rain, Sun, and the rest. Your salad isn’t a pile of leaves that grew by accident—it’s an entire production by a cadre of players, all of whom came together in just the right way.
Outdoor Sports and Other Leisure Activities
While some folks may think football is a religion given the fervor of its most devoted fans, it’s a little tougher for most of us to see sports as anything other than entertainment. But millions of people make use of parks and other green spaces every day to play sports and games, take walks alone or with companions (human and canine alike), or to simply stretch in the grass and watch the world go by. Other leisure activities are even more nature-oriented; bird-watching, hiking, kayaking, and surfing are just a few of the many things people like to do in the Great Outdoors.
Now some of these activities require more of your direct attention than others and aren’t particularly conducive to nature watching. If you’re the catcher in a baseball game, your mind’s going to be on things besides how the totem Granite is connected to the big blocks of stone that outline the parking lot where you left your car, or wondering whether the grass in the outfield is sprayed with pesticides. And even when it’s your turn to sit on the bench while the other team takes the field, you’re going to be paying attention to the game. But see if you can find a moment, if not during the game then after, to breathe the air and feel the sun on your skin (or rain, if it’s that kind of day) and feel a moment of connection to the land around you.
On the other hand, a lot of outdoor activities are specifically designed to get you more in touch with the land, water, or air. Even the most intense whitewater kayaking trip is about you and the river. While you may have to spend some of your time making sure you don’t end up drowning, dropping off a cliff, or getting lost in the woods, there are plenty of opportunities to pause and briefly communicate with the totems where you are. Take a moment to appreciate their physical counterparts and thank them for allowing you a place in their home. Let yourself be awed by the diversity of nature around you.
Keeping open communication with totems becomes easier with practice, too. The more you promote self-awareness of your environment when you’re in that environment, the more likely you are to have that awareness even when you’re focusing on the activity at hand. Too often we see the outdoors only as the setting for our activities but if we learn to see them as important in and of themselves, too, it enhances our experiences in nature—even if we’re also focused on trying to score points for our team.
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Kevin loves surfing. Ever since he was a young child he loved watching people ride the waves, and once he was old enough to try it out for himself it was as though he was born for it. Every day after school and on weekends and breaks, he’d be out on the beach as much as possible if conditions were right. Even if the ocean wasn’t cooperating, he loved to explore the sand and the tidepools and sometimes just watch the waves roll in and out. Now as an adult, Kevin has more responsibilities and misses the freedom he had when he was younger. But he still gets out as much as he can. Few things rejuvenate him like the feeling of the ocean beneath him, supporting him and carrying him along with its power. His very favorite moments are when he’s surfing a barrel wave that curls over him in a tunnel; that’s when he feels closest to the ocean and for a few moments it’s just him and the water, moving as one.
Natural Products In and Outside the Home
We touch nature every single day. As I’m typing this, there’s a small cardboard box on my desk. This box is made of fiber from tree trunks—chipped, pulped, flattened, and dried. Even though the fibers have gone through lots of changes, I can still feel the cellulose that gave the wood structure now doing the same for the box. And if you’re reading the paperback version of this book, you’re also holding what was once a tree.
I couldn’t tell you where the trees that gave their cellulose to make this box or your book came from; the same goes for the metals in my computer and the cotton of my shirt. But they all came from bioregions somewhere, and I choose to honor them when I use these products.
Closer to home, I’m a bit of a locavore, preferring food and other products that came from within one hundred miles or so of Portland. The Pacific Northwest has a lot of natural resources as well as many small businesses that make responsible use of them, and I like finding out exactly where in my bioregion these items come from and giving a thank-you to the totems of those places. Since it’s what I buy more than anything else these days, it’s easiest to stay local with food, and there are some artisans here who make furniture from locally-sourced wood, hand-woven baskets from native plants, and other things I’d also like to purchase as I have the money.
Beyond what we use are some intangibles as well. I am fortunate in that my electric company offers a 100 percent green package, which is mostly composed of hydroelectric power fueled by the Columbia River, along with a smaller amount of local wind energy. So instead of paying for energy from fossil fuels from far-off lands, even the power that’s helping me write this book is locally sourced.
Why is all this important to totemism? It’s all too easy in our consumption-driven society to take for granted the fact that all the resources we consume have to come from somewhere. Part of my awareness of the origins of the things in my life is connecting with the totems of the beings and phenomena that produced them. The Columbia River is already a central part of my spiritual practice, so I thank the totem River for watching over its children and helping me connect more with both the Columbia and the Willamette. I give gratitude to Soil for the rich dirt that feeds me every time I eat locally grown food and to Rain for the health of this land and its denizens. These totems watch over other rivers and soils and places where the rain falls too, and so they teach me to appreciate other bioregions as well as my own.
You’re welcome to add this practice to your life as well. If you aren’t sure what local products you’re consuming, start with your water. With rare exception, everyone’s water comes from within their own bioregion. When you turn on the tap, do you know where your water comes from? And when you watch it flow down the drain, do you know where it goes? If you aren’t sure, you can call your water company to find out. Every time you take a shower or wash the dishes or have a glass of water, take a moment to remember your watershed. Thank the totems River and Rain as well as Aquifer if that’s where your water comes from. Thanks the totems of the fish and other creatures living in the waterways for sharing their home with you, and thank the plants and animals and other beings that drink from the river for also allowing you to quench your thirst and wash your clothing.
Water’s just the start, and it’s a good one because it’s so universal. Now think: what else in your life can you trace back to your bioregion? What totems watch over the beings that gave of themselves for your food, shelter, clothing, and other possessions? What could you be sourcing more locally while remaining sustainable as well? All these can help you be a more responsible member of your bioregional community, and the totems tend to appreciate this awareness.
Greeting the Neighbors
Remember in chapter 1 when I described some practices for daily awareness? What follows is a similar concept, and you can certainly draw on those practices here. It’s quite simple: whenever you’re outside surrounded by lawns, gardens, urban trees, wildlife, pets, other animals, and all the other manifestations of nature around you, do your best to acknowledge them as you might notice another human being. You don’t necessarily have to walk around saying hello to every blade of grass (that could take a very long time!), but at least take the time to see your fellow beings as more than just the background to your life.
Recall when I talked about plant blindness (the phenomenon of seeing plants only as scenery rather than as active parts of an ecosystem) in chapter 3. Plants are a great starting point for opening up your awareness of the world around you. If you’ve been making use of the material presented here, you’ve probably already increased your knowledge of local flora; maybe it’s become something of a specialty for you. The real challenge is to make it part of the way you view the world all the time.
The way I started was seeing how many of the plants and fungi I could name while walking around my neighborhood. If I found any I couldn’t identify, I took pictures with my camera and looked them up when I got home. While I still don’t know the name of every single thing growing around here, knowing some of them has helped me be more conscious of the plants and fungi as individuals, not backdrop.
The concept of familiarity can also be spread out. While the land here has been contoured a bit to allow for development, I can still imagine what it looked like when it was a forest. I watch where the rain falls and where it flows and think of it eventually making it to the Columbia. I am grateful for those neighbors who don’t spray their lawns with chemicals and instead are letting the soil recover.
Every instance of this awareness also gets me in touch with the local totems, even if only a little. There have been times where I’ve called on local totems in situations like asking for help in getting my garden to grow, and having this ongoing relationship of daily greetings made them more amenable to giving me aid. It feels better to live in a place where I can say hi to my neighbors … and not only the human ones.
Bringing It Back to the Human Community
Humans are a part of nature and we shouldn’t ever forget it. More than any species on this planet, we are changing the ways ecosystems work, shifting the shape of the land, moving and removing countless species, and doing so in more varied and far-reaching ways than any other force in the history of the planet. We tear open the land like a giant earthquake. We spew gases into the atmosphere like a huge volcano. We chew up other animals like a hunting predator. And like a plague of locusts, we devour all that is before us.
On the other hand, we have the capacity to appreciate and honor the world more than any other species on this planet. Through poetry and other writings, numerous visual media, and the medium of our imagination, we have drawn out countless interpretations of our fellow beings and the places we share. As far as we know, locusts don’t recognize the devastation they leave in their wake, but we humans are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of our actions. If a pack of wolves successfully manages to somehow hunt all the elk in a given area, they don’t know how to reintroduce their prey; the wolves have to wait for other elk to filter in from elsewhere. We, on the other hand, are seeing what happens when we remove all of a given species from a place. Instead of hoping that another population will fill the void, we actively try to restore balance.
For better or for worse, we are a driving force on the planet. Totemism is a way to reconnect with the nature we are having such massive effects on, and in doing so learning to be more responsible in our actions. If all we do is brag to others that “my totem is such-and-such, I feel so enlightened,” we are missing a great opportunity to save the very things we claim are sacred. This section addresses some starting points for those wishing to grow their practice in this direction.
Caring for the Human Animal
If we are going to bring the human animal back into the community of nature, we have to treat our own species with as much care as we treat others. We may think we live in a state of luxury and don’t need any more pampering, but the sad fact is that we often treat each other pretty terribly. Here in Portland, we have a pretty significant homeless population, and while there are some services to help, they’re far from adequate. Most people simply walk by, turning a blind eye to those less fortunate. There are people worldwide made homeless by war, natural disasters, prejudice and bigotry in their communities, and increasingly, the effects of global climate change fueled by our pollutants. And that’s just looking at the issue of homelessness and things directly linked to it.
But many of the things harming people also harm the rest of nature, too. Poaching, for example, is often perpetrated by people who believe they have no other options for income or to put food on the table. War eats up huge amounts of resources and leads to a lot of hazardous waste, not just toxic chemicals but also buried land mines; war-torn areas often lead to habitat loss, and the wildlife is often killed or driven away by conflict. Humans do not exist in a vacuum; what we do affects others as well.
Many of the solutions for the environmental challenges we face also address human inequalities as well. Environmental injustice is a concept that demonstrates the disproportionate burden of environmental destruction on poor and otherwise disadvantaged people, among other things. A good example of this is Cancer Alley, the stretch of Mississippi River in Louisiana between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Not only does it have one of the highest concentrations of industrial plants in the country, but the rate of poverty and proportion of minorities in the population is higher than average. These people are exposed to more toxins in the soil, water, and air than in other areas, and less is being done about it than if residents were more affluent. This sort of pattern repeats itself countless times worldwide, where disempowered people are taken advantage of in the same way as the voiceless land they live on.
While it’s ostensibly possible to fix the pollution problem in Cancer Alley and elsewhere without addressing the inequalities, it’s that same callousness that allows the abuse of both the people and the land. What can be done? Empowering people is good for the environment on a variety of levels. Recall in chapter 1 where I talked about how helping the environment also helps the people who live on it, particularly since environmental degradation is often heaped upon the poor and marginalized.
As mentioned, poverty often leads people to damage the environment out of sheer desperation through actions like poaching and clearcutting land for agriculture. Communities in which women are educated and have reliable access to birth control have a lower birth rate, easing strain on the land to a greater extent. Even if you’re a single-issue activist focused solely on saving the environment, an improved standard of living for the local human community often leads to better treatment of the environment, and so is an important step in environmental activism.
Many of the communities most adversely affected by environmental degradation and other problems are comprised of indigenous people who maintain a connection to the land and its spirits the rest of us have lost and are only now rekindling. We owe these people protection, first and foremost of their persons and their remaining land because it’s the right thing to do. Indigenous communities often also carry a great deal of knowledge and wisdom about the land that has all too frequently been ignored in the name of “progress.” Had we listened, we might not be in the fix we’re in now. Better to listen now than never.
I want to make an important distinction about listening to and respecting the wisdom of indigenous people: we should not attempt to shoehorn our way into their communities just to learn their spiritual secrets and have them teach us to “become one” with the land. Some indigenous cultures are quite private about their religious practices and prefer not to share. Some are more open to sharing, and you should feel fortunate and grateful to be invited to learn from them not with a self-centered intent to gain “great power” but to honor the relationships these people have with the land they live on. While the ways in which they relate to the land and its spirits may not be exactly the way it works for you, we can all gain quite a bit by sharing our experiences and working together for the good of all.
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For a few years, Melinda has been working with an organization focused on reintroducing gray wolves to the western United States. They’ve identified a location near a busy national park that would be ideal with plenty of open spaces and a healthy population of elk, deer, and other prey animals. However, some farmers in the area are concerned about wolf predation. Until about a decade ago, most of the people in the area worked for a local sawmill. When the economy took a downturn, the mill closed and many people lost their jobs. Some of them turned to subsistence farming of crops and cattle to meet as much of their food needs as they could and maybe produce a little extra to sell. They worry that the wolves will prey on their livestock, though some have no real ill will toward the animals. Melinda spends time researching inexpensive and nonlethal ways in which the people could keep wolves away from their stock, and she helps educate them about their options. Her organization convinces the state to put aside a pool of money to reimburse farmers who lose stock to verified wolf kills and drafts a plan to relocate wolves that prey on livestock. Finally, she helps some of the residents draft a plan to create a tourism industry centered on the wolves and other wildlife as well as the beauties of the country itself. Five years later, the reintroduced wolves are thriving. People who once made money from the mill now lead nature tours and photography “hunts,” and they have built and run a rustic-themed hotel that opened just outside the park. One enterprising local has even started making souvenir plaques from plaster casts of wolf tracks; “The closest you’ll get to taking one of our wolves home!” she proudly says.
Education and Outreach
While some people already have their own ways of living close to the land, many people especially in more developed countries could use some help in reconnecting. You know how you’ve been spending a bunch of time getting to know the land you live on and who you share it with? Well, you are now a walking wealth of information, and that’s more valuable than you may think! Most people couldn’t name ten birds in their neighborhood or explain what a bioregion is, but you can, and you have the opportunity to share that with others.
Mind you, this doesn’t mean going door to door and asking people if they have a minute to talk about Our Savior, Lady Gaea! For the most part, people really don’t respond well to preaching and proselytization unless they were already halfway to converting anyway. Even people who do go door-to-door on behalf of environmental organizations have to deal with a lot of rejection; I used to work as a field canvasser, and it would be a great night if one in ten people I talked to signed my petition, never mind donated money.
People’s resistance or ambivalence doesn’t mean there’s no opportunity to tell people how awesome you think nature is; it just means you need more tact in knowing when to speak up and when to keep it to yourself. An example of a good opening is when talking with friends or family about current events; sometimes the topic may head in the direction of environmental issues or things tangential to them. Or maybe you’re discussing gardening with someone and you are asked about what you do to take care of your garden.
What’s even better is to give people opportunities to start the conversation themselves, often by asking questions. We humans learn a lot by watching others, and if you model good behaviors in front of others, they’re more likely to be interested. Since I started gardening, I’ve blogged about my progress and posted pictures online. I don’t say “You should be doing this, too!” Instead, I wait for people to ask questions and answer them to the best of my ability, and over the years I’ve managed to inspire several people to pick up their own gardening efforts again, or even try it for the first time.
It’s the same way with totemism. Part of why I write and talk about it so much is so that people who may be interested in the practice know they have someone they can ask about it. I also go into it with the belief that there’s no such thing as a stupid question. Everybody has to start somewhere, and sometimes concepts I take for granted are things they had no idea existed. And if they end up deciding it’s not for them, I don’t try and change their mind.
After all, the goal is not to pressure people into becoming. Instead, all you want to do is give them information. It’s up to them what they do with it next. If they decide they want to learn more about organic gardening, or bioregionalism, or working with totems, then do your best to help them get the resources they need to get started.
Group Practice with Bioregional Totemism
Occasionally you may find other people in your area who like your practice enough that they want to emulate it. If you’re a solitary practitioner like me, you may be content to share resources (including, if you like, recommending this book to them) and answer their questions. For those spiritual people who like to practice together, what follows are some activities you could do together:
• Go on group outings around the bioregion. If you each have a favorite place, go to one per trip and let the person who suggested it give a tour. You can also introduce the group to the totemic ecosystem there; guided meditation in a group is a good option where the person most connected to the place guides the others through the meditation.
• Meet up every so often to talk about your individual totemic work, compare notes, and provide support to each other. You could even dedicate each meeting to one totem in particular; one person could present their experiences with the totem and the rest of the group could ask questions, share observations, and so forth. The other group members might even try working with that totem and report their results at the next meeting. If the group is so inclined, you can also use these times to do meditations together or even practice group rituals. You might meet once a month, at the solstices and equinoxes, or whenever is convenient. You can also keep in touch more informally in between, in person and online.
• Adopt a park or other place; you can take care of it by cleaning up litter, and removing invasive species and planting native ones if allowed. Check with your state or local department of natural resources or a local environmental group to see if there’s an official program to adopt a river, park, or other place. Remember that you’re also welcome to do general litter pickup in any public area, even if it isn’t “official.” Make sure you recycle what you can and safely dispose of the rest.
• As your group becomes more cohesive, you may wish to ask a bioregional totem to be a group guardian. It’s better to put a call out and see which totems respond rather than picking one; just because your group thinks a given totem would be a cool symbol for what you’re doing doesn’t mean they want to be responsible for you. You might try doing a group meditation to see which totems appear for each person and if there’s any common ground. Alternately, if you all are in agreement of a totem you’d like as your group guardian, you can respectfully approach that totem and ask if it would like to watch over you. The group totem often protects the members during rituals and other spiritual work but also may work with you individually in between meetings. The totem may also help foster a sense of group unity, representing everything the group stands for.
Keep in mind that your group is meant to be supportive of everyone’s work; if you’re all going in different directions in your personal practice, that’s okay! You don’t have to have a single religion shared among everyone. Even if all you do is meet up once a month to have coffee, some small talk, and spend some time discussing your totemic work, that’s plenty. Let the group evolve organically.
It’s likely that the person or people with the most experience may end up taking more of a leadership role, which doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve become the teacher and everyone else their students. The person with more experience may field more questions because they’ve been doing this longer. Every member of a group is important, and everyone has the opportunity to teach and learn alike. One thing that helps distribute the responsibility of leading is to have each person be in charge of the meeting for a given month; Person A may lead things for the month of June and talk about environmental news that affects the bioregion, while Person B is in charge of July’s meeting and gives a presentation on how to work with the totems of waterways.
Another important thing to keep in mind: your group should not be seen as a recruiting tool. I am not a fan of heavy-handedness, and people do not respond well to being guilted into being more eco-conscious or adhering to a particular spirituality. While some are open and receptive to learning how to be more environmentally friendly, those who aren’t will be even less likely to come around if others are trying to shove them down “the good green path.” Any group work you do should be for those who are in a good place for it whether that place is ready and raring for more or sort of curious about it. And should someone decide they no longer want to be a part of it, don’t be hard on them. Group work isn’t for everyone, and sometimes people prefer to go their own way.
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Anya and Felicia have been practicing bioregional totemism, though Felicia has been practicing for longer. They enjoy sharing ideas with each other and have learned quite a bit that way. They’ve also been able to show each other places in their bioregion they might not have gone to otherwise, and they sometimes go together to volunteer opportunities offered by the city’s parks and recreation department. Their friend Benjamin has recently become curious about all this, and he asks them to help him find out more. Soon Benjamin’s girlfriend, Angel, joins them, and it becomes clear that there’s more interest in this than Anya and Felicia had first thought. They begin meeting every month at a local bookstore and get permission to put a small flyer on the bulletin board. At first, it’s just the four of them, with the occasional curious person looking in, but interest increases after a few months, and they’re joined by everyone from neopagans looking for a more nature-based spirituality to environmentalists wanting to understand their bioregion better. Even a retired biology professor from the local community college attends their meeting. Some only stay for one meeting, while others show up regularly. Even with all this momentum, Anya and Felicia still make time to go out together, and other group members often engage in smaller-scale activities on their own. The monthly meeting becomes an introduction that allows attendees to figure out their own best paths.
Giving Back to the Totems
Throughout these pages I have emphasized that totemism— especially bioregional totemism—is a two-way street. It is not solely reliant on what the other denizens of the world (physical and otherwise) can do for us; we are instead encouraged to reintegrate ourselves into the ecosystems of which we are a part. What I present in this book is not the One True Path of Connecting to Nature. It is an invitation to have a more complete series of multilayered relationships with the beings and phenomena around us.
Too often with animal, plant, and fungus totems we focus too heavily on what they can do for us and what we can get from them. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help or learning new perspectives. But as with so much about modern-day culture, there’s a decided self-centeredness to it. Animal totems do not exist only to impart great wisdom upon us. Plant and fungus totems are not around just to help us heal other humans or experience psychoactive trips. Land totems do not just preside over our construction projects.
Bioregional totemism isn’t a way to approach several layers of totemism at once. Think of it as a more systemic approach to being an inhabitant of the Earth, taking our anthropocentric tendencies down a few notches (without making us feel guilty for being human), while increasing our awareness of our wider community in addition to the actions resulting from that awareness. If you think of anthropocentric awareness and bioregional awareness as being on the ends of a continuum, the bioregional totemic approach helps slide our location further toward the bioregional end.
How, then, do we give back to the totems and their children who have given us so much? Think about what you might do for another human being who has helped you out. You might take them out to eat, give them a card or gift, or tell them in detail why you appreciate what they did for you. If they ask you for a favor later on, you’ll probably be even more motivated to help them than before, assuming it’s something you’re able to do.
Of course, you can’t go to the local card shop and get a “Thank you, totems!” card, but there are many ways to show your appreciation for the totems and their kin. Here are some of my favorites.
Volunteering and Donations
I have to admit that volunteering time and making financial donations to environmental nonprofit groups is probably my favorite offering of all. A list of some of my personal favorite organizations appears in Appendix B.
Volunteering is a great option for many people because it doesn’t require you to spend anything other than whatever it costs to get to the volunteer site. Most organizations have a variety of things requiring help: tree planting, litter pickup, and other outdoor activities are popular, but if you’re physically incapable of participating in this way, you may be able to help with something more low-impact like clerical work or envelope stuffing. If you like talking to people, some organizations have information tables at street fairs and other events and need a few volunteers to staff it.
You don’t necessarily have to volunteer under the aegis of an official organization. Going around your neighborhood and picking up trash does plenty, and cleaning up litter in places where others may see you shows them that someone cares. Hopefully it makes potential litterbugs more likely to think twice before tossing a cigarette butt or empty cup in the gutter. All the trash you pick up is trash that won’t get washed into the storm sewer and from there into the rivers and ocean.
If you have more money to spare than time, consider giving some to the environmental nonprofit of your choice. Donations are important because you’re giving more resources to people who may be able to do work you’re not able to, like lobbying for lawmakers and organizing reintroduction efforts for endangered species. You don’t have to make huge, three- and four-figure donations to be effective—often it’s just a matter of choosing to spend your money a little differently. Instead of buying a t-shirt with a wolf on it or a stuffed toy walrus, put the money toward groups that protect wolves and walruses. Keep in mind that even if an organization offers you a shirt, tote bag, or other souvenir as incentive to donate, you can refuse it and let them keep the money it cost them to obtain that prize in the first place.
If you really want to combine the two forces, volunteer to do some fundraising. Your contribution can be as simple as holding a yard sale maybe with the help of a few friends, and donating the proceeds to the organization of your choice. Another option is asking the organization if you can put together something more elaborate like an art auction or a fundraising night at a local restaurant.
Physical Offerings
Just as there are no totemic greeting cards, there aren’t totems with post office boxes to receive them. That doesn’t mean you can’t make or buy a gift for your totems—you just have to be a little more creative in how you get it to them.
Let’s say you’re in a thrift store and you see a statue of a seagull that reminds you very strongly of one of your totems, Herring Gull. You buy it, but now what do you do with it? If you leave it by the water where the gulls congregate, at most they’re going to poop on it until someone decides to throw it out or it gets carried away by a wave. Why not take it home and add it to your altar of curiosities, or even start a new one that’s made of nothing but offerings to your totems? These make especially good “guest rooms” for the totems when they’re visiting because it’s something you acquired especially for them. That statue could be a good place for Herring Gull to stay in your home.
Maybe you don’t have a lot of space in your home for knickknacks, even if they are spiritually oriented, but you can’t bear to leave that absolutely perfect statue behind. One possible way to move it on to a new home is to sell it in a fundraiser for a nonprofit that benefits the gulls, perhaps a group that cleans up litter along the beach or advocates for maintaining wild, undeveloped coastline. If the statue itself isn’t all that impressive by most people’s standards and you feel up to a creative project, you could incorporate it into a more elaborate piece of artwork. Or you could take it around to different places where herring gulls can be found and take pictures of the statue there to raise awareness of the gulls and their habitat and then sell the statue with a set of prints to raise money for the group. The organization might even have some ideas to help you with your fundraising, too.
An alternate (and less involved) idea is giving the gift of Gull energy. In this case, think of someone who might benefit from meeting Herring Gull. Maybe you know someone else who works with totems and is fairly new to the concept. You could use the statue as a way of introducing this person to Herring Gull and providing him or her a way to start working together. You may wish to ask Herring Gull for permission before doing this and also allow your friend the ability to say “thanks but no thanks” as well. It may just work out that you’ve managed to offer Herring Gull a new ally.
Some of you may be asking, “Why not buy some fries at a fast food place and give them to the gulls as an offering?” It does sound pretty easy, given that gulls are notorious scavengers of human detritus. However, just because gulls eat our leftovers doesn’t mean it’s good for them.
For one thing, we eat a lot of things that aren’t particularly good for wildlife. (To be fair, some of those things aren’t exactly healthy for us, either.) People like to feed bread to ducks and geese at park ponds without realizing that there’s very little nutritional value in it for them. The ducks and geese fill up on the bread and then don’t eat food that actually nourishes them which makes them sick, malnourished, and can even lead to permanent deformation of their wings.25 Feeding wildlife no matter the species also makes them more dependent on humans for food, which can lead them to stop looking for natural sources of food. It puts them in greater proximity to humans, which can lead to them getting hit by cars, attacked by dogs, shot by humans, getting into garbage cans and gardens, and having to be relocated or killed as nuisances—in short, it just doesn’t go very well for the wildlife. While there are exceptions—in the United Kingdom, for example, many wild bird species are threatened enough by extinction that backyard feeders are invaluable in preserving the populations that remain—as a general rule, giving food to your totem’s physical counterparts isn’t a good idea. There are other ways to offer food, however. As mentioned earlier, you can grow plants and fungi that support local wildlife if you have a garden or yard; try planting red honeysuckle or red trumpet vine (after making sure you can keep them contained if they aren’t native to your area) instead of a hummingbird feeder if you want to make offerings to Anna’s Hummingbird. Even if your totem doesn’t directly benefit from what you plant, having native species around to support local pollinators and other creatures is good for the ecosystem and everyone in it.
My favorite way to offer food to my totems is to have a picnic with them. I pack up a lunch and head out to one of my power spots or other appropriate location, or I formally invite them into my home. I lay out food with a prayer of thanks to the beings whose remains I am about to eat, and then I invite the totems to partake of the spiritual essence of the food. Once they’ve had their fill, I eat the food and thereby have the benefit of the physical nutrients. (And so betwixt us both, you see, we lick the platter clean.)
Rituals
For some totems, a ritual celebrating your bond is a wonderful offering indeed—we humans aren’t the only ones who like to feel appreciated. So take some time out to create a sacred space and time where you show your gratitude to the totems that have helped you, and perhaps tell others about their generosity, too.
Rituals can also be used to augment other offerings. When I was talking about using your bioregional map for ritual work, I mentioned letting the map represent a place you’re trying to protect and doing a ritual to add the totems’ energy to your efforts to protect the place. A ritual can also be a rallying point for you and other volunteers to get motivated just before digging into a patch of invasive species or collecting signatures on a petition to support an eco-friendly law. And if you do turn that gull statue into an amazing work of art to sell, you can do a ritual of blessing before sending it on its way.
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Marcus is going to a protest a local environmental group is organizing against a coal company that wants to remove the tops of several local mountains to mine the coal inside them. The children of one of his totems, Black Bear, live on and around these mountains and would be driven out of their habitat by the mining. Marcus wants to dedicate his efforts to Black Bear and the bears themselves. He clears out a space in his home where he intends to make the sign he’ll hold during the protest. He lays out on the floor his posterboard and markers, a statue of a black bear dedicated to his totem, and a bowl of honey. He asks Black Bear to watch over him and invites the totem to partake of the spiritual essence of the honey. Then he quiets his mind, and as he writes out his message on his sign, he thinks of all the black bears on the mountains and how he wants to keep them safe. In one corner of the sign he draws a bear on top of a mountain with a red circle around it to protect it. When he is finished, he eats the honey and says, “Let this honey give me strength today as I fight for you, and let me have a victory as sweet as this food.” Then he takes his sign and heads out to meet the rest of the protestors.
Living Green
This chapter is about ways to make bioregional totemism a part of everyday life. For me personally, a big part of that is living in such a way that minimizes my effect on my bioregion as much as possible. I live in a small apartment rather than a big house; I drive a car with good mileage and a roof rack instead of a gas-guzzling SUV, and I try to walk or take public transit when I can. I garden and buy organic and free-range food when I can afford it. Most of my possessions are secondhand, and when I get rid of something I find the best place to donate it, or leave it on the curb in a “free box.” I make art with a lot of reclaimed materials and donate part of the money to environmental nonprofits. And yes, I’ll donate a bit of the money from this book, too.
The common theme here is that all these things fit within my schedule and financial means. What living green means to me may be different for someone with enough money to buy a house and retrofit it with solar power or buy an electric car. It’s also different from what someone may be able to do if they’re trying to support a family of five on one income, are only living on social security, or have a significant disability. If you want to live a greener life, decide how you’ll show the totems that you’re invested in protecting the home you both share, even if you can only make a few small changes right now.
You may need to do a little research to see what your options are; for example, you may never have considered where the electricity in your home comes from or if it’s derived from fossil fuels or greener sources. A quick call to your electric company should get you some answers. If they offer a renewable energy option, get an estimate of how much more your bill is likely to be if you switch and determine whether this is in your budget.
When it comes to making green choices, there’s often debate as to which is the best. Should you use your dishwasher because it ultimately uses less water, or wash the dishes by hand because it doesn’t use electricity? Do you buy a brand new desk made of bamboo grown in a plantation, or a secondhand wooden one? And which is really better: paper or plastic—or are reusable bags better than both? Be wary of greenwashing, where a product, service, or company that’s supposedly eco-friendly really isn’t. Some bigger household chemical companies have produced “greener” cleaning products as specialty items but still make most of their money on harsher, traditional chemicals.
Specialty “green” items can get pretty expensive, as companies know some people are willing to pay more for a supposedly eco-friendly option. Would you believe that some of the best alternatives are the cheapest? Continuing with cleaning products, one of the best household disinfectants and all-around cleaning solutions is a 50-50 blend of water and white vinegar. Baking soda is as good an abrasive as any, and old clothes make excellent cleaning rags that save you money on paper towels. As for secondhand items, they are almost always cheaper than new ones; I once restocked my kitchen at a thrift store and spent less than $50 on the dishes and other cookware I needed. Oftentimes what’s better for the earth is also better for your wallet.
There will always be someone disagreeing with your green choices, even those who also want to be better to the earth. It can be overwhelming at times, and sometimes it does feel a bit like a part-time job trying to stay on top of the latest news and information. As with all things, do the best you can with what you have, and adapt as you find better solutions. It’s best if your efforts to live green are a means to feel like a better part of your bioregional community, not a big source of stress. The totems will appreciate whatever effort you’re able to put forth.
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Really, whatever efforts you can make to help the totems is what this entire chapter (and book) are about. I’m giving you a toolkit you can use as you see fit, but you’re the only person who can determine the best ways to incorporate your totemism in your life. If there are things here you like, run with them. If you want to adapt them, change what you need to. And if they spark new ideas in your mind, go ahead and give them a try. The most important thing is that they work; the rest is details.
22. An excellent book on urban wildcrafting is Rebecca Lerner’s Dandelion Hunter: Foraging the Urban Wilderness.
23. Again I refer readers to Miles Olson’s excellent book, The Compassionate Hunter’s Guidebook: Hunting From the Heart.
24. Most of the animals involved in agriculture aren’t native species, but were specifically bred for food and other purposes. While I’m mostly focusing on planting native species in the garden, please treat all beings you care for with respect.
25. Yes, really. Check out the article at https://my.spokanecity.org/news/stories/2014/04/08/dont-feed-the-ducks/ for more information.