
Cody’s Column
The Land Spirits Are Still Calling

It’s Winter in the Northern Hemisphere here along the Magic Skagit River in the beautiful and wet Pacific Northwest. The bears have decreased their movement across the land but their claw marks on the apple trees are still visible. Black-capped chickadees are flocking by the dozens to glean the small seeds of chicory and lamb’s quarter. Our farm cats crouch in the crumpled grass with a glimmer in their eyes. The snow is still wandering in the upper hills and mountains and has not come down to the riverbed yet. Land spirits are here, I can feel their calls, they are a whole community, from the tiniest to the largest, working together and sometimes apart. They exist because the land exists.

I am a dahlia farmer alongside my wife. We grow flowers and sell tubers. We grow the flowers because they are beautiful, and I have a strong nostalgic relationship with the dahlias of my grandfather’s garden. I remember his large dinner plate dahlias looming over me as I wandered through the patch looking for a bloom that would go on the kitchen table. The shapes and colors were so wild yet mathematically precise, they captured my imagination as a young boy. Now as a man, seeing them grow on our farm today is the inspiration for writing to you about how to hear the call of the land spirits. I want more people to hear the call of land spirits and work more closely with the land they live on.

We tried growing many different crops on this land before deciding to grow dahlias. Our sandy soil and warmer temperatures in summer months makes it challenging to provide food crops with enough nutrients and water to thrive. We had to try growing those other vegetable crops though because that’s all we knew before arriving in the Skagit Valley. Our first month on the land, I felt an urgent call to go into the forest just beyond the old wood barn. Within moments of entering the forest, I heard a loud crashing sound coming up the hill from the lower field. I froze. At first all I saw was antlers, big ones. Then the bull elk made his full presence known not 15 feet from where I stood. There the elk stood, a true land spirit, I could even smell him! As a child, I visited the game farm along the Olympic Peninsula with my mom and the elk would try to snag the bread from our car window. This elk did not want to be fed, but he did want to tell me something, so I followed his trail after our greeting. His path swathed through the forest until we made it to the lower field where he had vanished from sight. “Something big is going to happen here,” was the message I received from the elk, the first up close encounter for me in the wild. He left me with a view of Sauk Mt. We call her “Sleeping Lady” now because of her profile in the winter. She is another careful watcher land spirit like the elk. You may want to come up with your own names for the land spirits you encounter or try asking them what they want to be called.

Something big happened here on the farm for us. In the following seven years we grew deeper in love with the land, I discovered that I have Bipolar Type I, our daughter was born, and we started growing dahlias with success. Each of these events were met with guidance from the land spirits because we wanted to partner with them. They are interested in us still. If you are looking to belong, here is something to consider… Take a walk in your neighborhood, in your backyard, even through your house and keep an open, meditative mind for what land spirits may be speaking to you.
Land spirits are ancient but not so unfamiliar with modernity. Just as the elk have had to adapt to the land being cleared, their herds removed, and subsequently reintroduced to the land, the land spirits carry a story as well. If you live in North America, you’re standing in Indigenous land, and it would be a good start to find out which tribe lived where your home and land is now. I acknowledge the Indigenous Sauk-Suiattle people when I work with the land spirits on our farm. Some of the land spirits are the same now as they were in the past as I have learned from the Indigenous elders who still pay respects to and acknowledge them in ceremony. Your local library may have books about your local tribe. It is worth checking out. We lucked out with “The Valley of the Spirits: The Upper Skagit Indians of Western Washington,” a detailed and informative account of the people who still call this land home.

Start small when connecting with the land spirits. I once observed a snail rear itself up in a spiral fashion and begin building its own shell! To grow, the snail must provide its own shelter with precision. I asked the snail why it did this acrobatic feat, and she shared with me that she is a lover of beauty and the great movement of the spirit which moves in a spiral fashion. Since this encounter, I have dedicated two gardens to her spiral shape and find great pleasure when I see snail hanging on a leaf of my plant in this area of my garden.

You might be interested in reaching out to the land spirit that is mostly in charge of the land you are working or living on. Again, you are most likely on ancestral tribal land, so I recommend taking an interest in your local tribe’s history. Even better if you can establish a relationship with an elder of the tribe. Offer to do something for them, chopping wood or gardening for instance. Tree spirits are in constant communication with the keeper of the land. Trees also have lots to offer! I will be writing more about them next month.
We have a Tree of Wonders, an ancient Maple nestled next to Grandmother Cedar and within sight of Grandfather Fir. I provide offerings of precious stones, feathers, apples for the animals and birds. The trees provide a place to sit and meditate throughout the year. In exchange for taking an interest in their being, I receive stories of the forest, inspiration, courage, and wisdom.

Next month, I will focus on tree spirits as well as our land spirit who is in charge and how we established a relationship with them as well as lessons we have learned. Until next time, find the oldest tree near you and spend some time sitting near this tree. May you receive more guidance pertinent to the land you live on!
I am a husband, father, farmer, and friend. I live on the banks of the Magic Skagit River, ancestral lands of the Sauk-Suiattle people. I practice rune reading, tarot, land magic, and work with many spirit guides. My life began Pagan but I veered off into the Christian church in college. I found my way back to my Pagan and ancestral roots in 2005 and have journeyed along this path since then.
