Nature's Release #ReleaseandRenewal

I was so excited about this OWC however it took me a while to settle on a topic. But 3 drafts later and I think I have my topic:

How I connect to nature

Nature has always been a big part of my life. I was born early 2000s and spent elementary school years wondering around the streets and mountains in my small Montana town. We moved in 5th grade and I miss the mountains but have learned to enjoy the nature around me where I am now, there are some mountains, just not one that I could walk to from my house..

My weekends were often spent outdoors hiking, biking, picking berries and mint leaves, running through fields and splashing in rivers or lakes. I've always felt happiest when in nature.

I being on a church youth trip in New York, where one of our stops was the Sacred Grove in Palmyra NY. This trip was at the time when I was starting to get interested in witchcraft and paganism. So looking back, it doesn't feel strange that the only time I "felt the holy spirit" as they would've called it, was walking through the Sacred Grove.

They gave us time to wander alone, with instructions to stay on the path ofc, and told us to try and feel the spirit and sacred Ness of the small forest.

real quick if you don't know the sacred Grove, in Mormonism ( the church of Jesus christ of Latter day saints-not to be confused with the other groups of Mormons) it is where Joseph Smith *the founder* went to pray to God, when he was 13 or 14 years old, to know what church to . Instead of a little voice in the back of his head, he claims he saw a vision of God and Jesus standing in front of him (they believe God and Jesus are separate beings, Jesus being God's son) telling him none of the churches are 100% true and that when/ if he would be ready he would be the one to bring back the "true" church. Take this as you may idrk about it but I'm biased lol I just wanted to give some background knowledge as to what happened here.

Anyways while wandering on my own ing the lovely music some lady had played on her violin before and as we entered the Grove. I felt at peace, looking back, I feel like I was connecting to the nature more than whatever the church was talking about. It was so pretty I wish I could've found the Pictures I took, I'll attach some from online though.

I miss being out in nature and want to bring this back into my life. With the weather getting warmer I wanna start taking my daughter on hikes, we've already started small walks and going to the park. I'd like to have some alone time in nature again to, to just read, journal, meditate, I used to all the time when I had more time.. getting older am I right?

Anyways I usually have 2 hours to myself on Sundays, my mom takes my daughter to church to go to nursery and be around other kids her age-since she's not in DayCare or anything but she is so social. With this I'd like to start going out to the hiking trail or forest near my house to get a hike in, maybe find a place to stop and relax, or meditate, journal a little.

I'd also like to start having little picnics with my daughter and fiance, I feel like it'd be fun to start, she's still a little young but we could try ofc!

I have always loved gardening, so I've started planting some herbs for spells and kitchen witchery-which I want to start doing more- I'm excited to be more connected to the herbs I use as I'm growing them all from seeds. None have sprouted but I'll either edit this post or maybe do a separate plant update post-we'll see

So far I've planted Lavender, Basil, Parsley, Rosemary, spinach, chamomile, onions, garlic chives, and jalapeños. I am planning on adding strawberries for sure as well, to be used as offerings for Freyja, and to eat obviously!

I'm so excited for the weather to continue to get warmer and to start doing more outside. I love nature and all that it does for us. It's lovely to connect to the elements outside in their natural habitat. I'm excited to renew this part of my path, as it has been a big one for some time, that I've fallen out of with how busy I was this winter not to mention how cold it was :sweat_smile: .

Hope you all enjoyed, thank you for reading!

#ReleaseandRenewal