As I make my way across the east of Ontario (Vinland) and experiencing the elements and landscapes of different ecosystems, the notion of bioregional animism and personal place has been a certain advent influencing my mind.
Recently I took on a two and a half month trek for tree planting and moving through the small almost nigh ghost towns of the North. My first location was near Ottawa, chocked full of isolated farmsteads, cliffs, silent lakes, and evergreen woodlands.
I can’t say I did not feel a certain positive vibration from wildness of these regions, mostly untamed. The lakes begged for company, and the cultured state of the homestead communities yielded to my heart. Yet at the same time I had sensed a relative unease. A kind of intimidation. The forest did not seem so inviting all the time. The influx of logging here and dull flavor of the repetitive scenery at times was more trapping, eluding to a place that had it imminent destruction written out.
It was not until I had relocated, driving back on HWY 11 that I felt a nostalgic presence. I used to live in several places along this long stretch of modern road. In North Bay and further into the small mining/native towns of old. It has always had a powerful effect on the way I open up. Merely seeing the trainline and lush hills travelling through these areas
was even cathartic. In relation to the lands closer to Ottawa, they are relatively similar, but it is the beauty of arrangement I think that has its way with me. The closeness of the wights to my spirit, are like my guides giving their speeches in every eloquent manner they see fit. It pleases me.
I am now currently residing halfway between Sudbury and Parry Sound, in a lodge setting a find myself romanticizing on the ways of the ancestral folk who put forth their great work to make it what it is, and instill it with the heritage it has. The plant life here is more diverse than I have found elsewhere, and you can’t drive through any town without passing at least one Native trading post. Farms take up half the residence, nobly sitting in place. The animals share their homes with the naturalist, the bushman, and the tramp alike. Canoe and kayak is the preferred method of travel, and the weather is truly a matter of interest. Many of the mother godesses secrets have been given to me in this land, so I have developed a relationship with it over times of intimate comfort and profound experience. I know I may not be able to stay here for much longer, and will soon migrate to the UK, bringing an entire different array of sensual awareness to me, but it is in occupying it while I can that right now I feel the growth and truth of this particular bioregion.
:aferalspirit: 