Sacred Phenology and Phenomenology

As the seasons turn, we are invited to witness and honor the subtle shifts and rhythms of nature as sacred forms—holy hours that call us to deeper awareness. These seasonal changes are not just natural occurrences; they are Earth's own ceremonial practices, rhythmic rituals repeated as expressions of the Sacred Wild. By attuning ourselves to these cycles, we engage in the practice of sacred phenology—the attentive observation of the wild beings around us as manifestations of Divine Mystery.

In Celtic spirituality, nature is seen as a living, breathing scripture, where every creature, plant, and landscape is a verse revealing the Sacred. As you intentionally observe the life forms around you, consider how this deepened attention transforms your relationship with them. Phenomenology invites us to be fully present to the conscious shifts within ourselves and our interactions with other life forms through direct experience. When you view these beings as sacred, how does it change the way you engage with them? How does this shift your encounters from an impersonal I-It relationship to an I-Thou connection—one marked by mutuality, presence, and a profound sense of the ineffable?

Following is an example of a phenology wheel—a tool to help you track and record the seasonal patterns and beings you observe. This wheel serves as a personal map of your journey through the year, allowing you to document not just the external changes in your environment, but also the internal transformations these encounters inspire. Consider printing out a few copies of the provided Rewilding Wheel and use them to record your observations the seasons to come. What are you witnessing in the natural world (sacred phenology), and how is it changing you (phenomenology)?

Engage with this practice as you would with any sacred ceremony. Before you begin, consider blessing your senses—perhaps with a drop of water or oil on your eyes, nose, lips, ears, and hands—to attune yourself fully to the world around you. Then, step outside and commune with creation.

Pay close attention to the wildlife in your homescape:

• Who do you notice? Sink deeply into your senses and observe who is present in this life-giving Earth.

• Notice sun light and shadows; where is the sun in the sky/horizon line?

• Where are the shadows, and where is the coolness?

Practice a seasonal exercise: An example for a winter practice could be walking in the dark, whether in the early morning or evening. Depending on your location, you might even experience a darkening walk in the late afternoon. As the darkness gathers, observe how the wildlife behaves:

• Where do they go?

• What are their energy levels?

Reflect on how the more-than-human world interacts with this time of day and this season of the year. What mirroring behaviors are you invited to consider? As you deepen your connection with the Sacred Wild through this practice, allow the wisdom of the natural world to guide you in embodying seasonal rhythms.

Wild Wander

Here is a refined sacred eco-spirituality practice that integrates the art of mindful walking, or what I like to call a Wild Wander, with a pine-needle tea ceremony. This practice invites you into a profound sacramental connection with the forest.

Wild Wander Meditative Walk

Embody Sacred Awareness: Begin with a mindful awareness of each step. In our modern pace, we often walk heel-to-toe, but returning to an ancestral toe-to-heel stride honors the land with gentleness. Lift your foot deliberately and place the ball of your big toe softly on the earth. Let your foot slowly roll to the outer edge before finally grounding the heel, creating minimal impact and sound. Each step becomes a reverent act, deepening your communion with the Sacred Wild underfoot.

Practice Sacredly at Home: Before stepping into the forest, try this grounding technique barefoot at home. Feel the texture beneath you and adjust your steps to move in near silence. Keep your knees slightly bent, hands relaxed, and place them on your thighs to enhance balance. Known as the "Fox Walk," this practice nurtures a quiet, sacred relationship with the land and attunes your senses to the subtleties of the natural world.

Synchronize Breath and Presence: As you walk, allow each step to merge with your breath, creating a sacred rhythm that harmonizes with the landscape. Move slowly, let your senses guide you, and pause often to take in the presence of the forest. Embrace the profound stillness, letting it fill you. Notice the whispers of the leaves, the scent of the soil, the subtle interplay of light and shadow. This intentional slowness, drawn from Shinrin-yoku forest bathing, opens you to the presence of the Divine in every step and breath.

A Wild Wander Meditative Walk is not just a journey; it’s a ritual of presence, an invitation to walk with the earth rather than over it, and a way to tune in to the quiet wisdom of the Sacred Wild.

Sacred Pine-Needle Tea Ceremony

Forage with Reverence: As you wander, gather fresh sprigs of pine needles or fir tips with intention and respect. Allow your heightened awareness to guide you in this sacred act of foraging, connecting deeply with the land.

Release the Sacred Essence: Gently massage the pine needles or fir tips to release their aromatic essence. Hold them up to your nose and inhale deeply, inviting the forest’s sacred wisdom to permeate your being.

Prepare the Sacred Brew: Place the needles into a thermos of hot water or a boiling kettle. Allow them to steep for 5-7 minutes, infusing the water with the forest’s essence.

Savor the Sacramental Moment: Pour yourself a cup of the tea. As you inhale the aroma, let it transport you to the heart of the forest. Sip slowly, savoring the rich, earthy flavor. This act of drinking the tea becomes a sacramental communion, deepening your connection to the sacredness of the natural world.

Embrace the Sacred Communion

Through this practice, you enter into a sacred dialogue with the forest. The mindful walk, coupled with the pine-needle tea ceremony, becomes a form of sacrament—an invitation to deepen your reverence and connection with the natural world.

As you engage in these practices, may you experience a profound sense of belonging and a renewed relationship with the sacred wisdom of the woods.

Forest Tea Ceremony

Creating a Forest Tea Ceremony is a delicious and meaningful way to ceremonially be within your wild sanctuary. Bring along a hot thermos and mug in a basket with you as you enter temenos time (latin for sacred clearing). Assuming you have the proper knowledge of which plants are edible (or not), move through the landscape with gratitude, eager to accept the nourishment and healing that comes through the sacrament of the land. As you find ones who will nourish and feed you, bring in small amounts to your thermos allowing them to steep. Once you have your tea to steep, find a place where you can sit and sink into the presence of the Sacred Wild. Sip your tea in a spirit of thanksgiving and loving presence. Pour out the last bit of tea to the earth as a gesture of gratitude for all you have been given.

This ceremonial practice is really very simple and solely relies on a few elements:

• Tea
• A Ceremonial Worldview
• Gratitude

Let's look at these features individually.

Tea

I make my tea from foraged plants and trees in my homescape or bioregion. This requires a knowing relationship with our plant allies and forest friends. As a long-time urban naturalist, I'm fortunate to have a robust sense of what is edible and full of great nourishment. I prepare a thermos of hot water with a splash of honey and some lemon. Mindfully and with a posture of permission, I walk around the land asking permission from trees and plants to have a bit of their essence for my tea. In my bioregion, I will often ask Cedar and Douglas Fir to be the base of my tea. Depending on the season, I will add other plants like Nettle, Blackberry, or other seasonal berries; sometimes even herbs from my garden will be combined. I will allow this to steep for about 20 minutes.

"Learning how to forage is a major game changer for any human. These skills are our birthright, but sadly most of us didn’t grow up learning them. Gathering medicine and food from the wild connects us to the natural world, our ancestral heritage, and our wild animal selves. When we are more personally involved with our foods and medicines (by growing or gathering), we can be assured that they are fresh, of high quality, and harvested in a sustainable fashion. We also weave ourselves indelibly into the great food chain of life, which instinctively encourages us to steward and tend our sources of sustenance." ~Juliet Blankespoor

It’s essential to properly identify any plant before you harvest it for food or medicine.

If in doubt, do NOT harvest! Consult your local extension agent, master gardener, or trusted herbalist if you need help with identification. If someone else shows you a plant, do your own homework and make sure that they are right before you harvest. This ritual is a wonderful way to invite you into profound relationship with your local landscape, your homescape.

Ceremonial Worldview

We are able to intentionally engage acts of ceremony when we move from within a sacralized world view. When we see the Earth as God's Body (as Sallie MacFague frames it), or as the Sacred Wild as I refer to this Divine ground of being, then we are surrounded by the numinous; nature is full of sacred presence. This invites us to see every earth-based act (which, as earth-bound creatures, this is most of our activities!) as a

ceremony. This has profound ramifications for how we connect to our places and treat the earth with profound respect.

Says, Charles Eisenstein:

"A ceremony, then, is a special kind of ritual. It is a ritual done in the knowledge that one is in the presence of the sacred, that holy beings are watching you, or that God is your witness.

Those whose worldview has no place for the sacred, holy beings, or God will see ceremony as superstitious nonsense or, at best, a psychological trick, useful maybe to calm the mind and focus the attention.

Now hold on. In a worldview that does have a place for the sacred, holy beings, or God isn’t it true that He or She or They are always watching us, watching everything we do? Wouldn’t that make everything a ceremony?

Yes it would – if you were constantly in the felt presence of the sacred."

When I move through the forest by myself or accompanying others within a sacralized worldview, we move in the presence of the Holy Wild. Therefore, the gathering of the tea elements even becomes a sacred ritual. The preparing the tea and creating an intentional space is all part of ceremony. But stretch this out further. Everything becomes an act of ceremony and we all--even the more-than-human ones--become officiants. We become members of ministry ordained to serve our Earth as the Body of God.

Gratitude

Once you have prepared a space in which to drink your tea (I will often co-create a nature mandala or draw a quadrated circle upon the land and sit within it), settle in. Pour two cups (at minimum); one more cup than the number of people receiving the tea. Breath in gratitude for your emplacement and for all the lives that are in communion around you. Attune your senses to the winged whispers of the wild. Sip. Make it sacramental. I will play with the eucharist

language, expanding it to include this forest ceremony. "Take and sip, and see that the Earth is good!" Enjoy the tea and the

perceived presence of the wild communion around you. When you have finished your tea, take the extra tea cup and intentionally pour the tea into the earth. This is a gesture of gratitude to the Spirit of a place.

This ceremony has created the kind of meaningful and intentional closure that I have desired to honor the more-than-human world for their presence and the wisdom they offer me in how to live better upon this Earth.

Sacred Sit Spot Practice

Go to your Sacred Sit Spot and pay special attention to weather: breezes, clouds, etc. Feel them as external parts of passing moods or internal feelings: the introversion of fog, the clarity of bright sunlight, the settling down at twilight, the sense of awakening at dawn. Watch for the moment when the weather shifts, or when animals move from place to place.

How does weather-as-mood affect the movements of insects and animals? How does it move in your mood and body? Weather can be nondual, erasing the inner-outer distinction: we feel different because of it. We can judge weather (like we judge ourselves), or simple allow ourselves to be with it.

Are we able to see the rain and say, “Yup, its raining,” instead of listing a litany of reasons why we don’t like the rain? Sit with the changing weather moods of the day and practice noticing and not judging. This practice extends itself to ourselves and gifts us with grace for ourselves and our responses to current events and situations.

Wound Walk

As we carry a lot of anxiety and a variety of different stresses these days due to Covid-19, this spiritual practice in nature may be therapeutic. Do it whenever works in your routine, but consider doing it before Easter, perhaps on Good Friday, a day of grief and lament. 

Wound Walk (adapted from "Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche" by Bill Plotkin)

• Before you start, take a bit of time to ground yourself - take some deep breaths, release any tension your body is holding, and find a  place of prayerful calm within.

• Go for a walk, and look for something in nature that looks or feels wounded. For example, a scar on a tree, a pile of garbage, a bulldozed lot, a polluted stream, an area where an invasive species has taken over... (Or, if you can't get out, look for an image online.)

• Allow the wound you find in nature to evoke an empathetic response of sorrow or compassion in you. 

• Sit in that place, and open your senses to it. Touch it, if you can. Speak (aloud or silently) what you observe; bear witness to the wound. Imagine what may have caused it. Pay attention to your emotions.

• Now recall a past or present wound you are carrying - physical, psychological, social, or spiritual. Speak your story (aloud or silently) to this thing or place you are with. Or, think of speaking to the Divine Presence who is also with you, listening. Do not attempt to suppress any painful emotions - allow yourself to release them.

• Sit together, and when ready, start to ask questions of healing and resilience. What resources can you access to begin to find healing? In what way might your wound be of service to your future resilience? Do not worry about coming to answers, but open yourself to insights or revelations that may come.

• Close your time with a word of gratitude or prayer.

• Consider taking time to journal about your experience.

Adapted by Wendy Janzen, pastor of the Burning Bush Forest Church. Shared with permission.

Sacred Sit Spot Practice #1

“A good way to start thinking about nature: talk to it, talk to the rivers, to the lakes, to the winds as to our relatives.”

— John Fire Lame Deer (Lakota)

Find a spot outside this week, a place you are exposed to the elements and can watch animals and insects. This could be in a wilderness area, neighborhood greenspace or park, your own backyard or front porch stoop, or even a balcony or designated balcony where you can see outside. For this practice you are intentionally distancing yourself from other humans so you can focus your senses on all of the wild others that also occupy that space.

Spend at least 30 minutes getting to know the place with all your senses, consciously waking up your animal body. Notice the lay of the land, what the air feels and smells like, where the wind comes from, how the water (if any) moves. Which plants, animals, and insects live there?

After you have spent time noticing the landscape with your senses, introduce yourself to the place. This of course will feel strange, and that is okay! We are discovering that anything “normal” is subjective and fleeting anyway. Verbally articulate who you are, where you come from, even why you are to your place. See if anything happens in response - at first nothing may, because places need time to know us. As John Fire Lame Deer (Lakota) said, “A good way to start thinking about nature: talk to it, talk to the rivers, to the lakes, to the winds as to our relatives.”

You are beginning the practice of seeing the land and wild ones as what Thomas Berry would call, “a community of subjects, not a collection of objects.” The simple act of deeper noticing and self-introduction begins the critical shift needed to see creation as a community with whom we can be in communion. This is essential for creating your wild sanctuary.

Nature Mandala

The mandala, which is ancient Sanskrit for “circle,” is a symbolic circular design that portrays balance, symmetry, and wholeness. Mandalas are found in almost every culture, and can serve as a sacred reminder of the path we seek to walk. My nature mandalas, which I co-create monthly, are a continuing practice of learning the land—connecting to the plant and tree life that make up my homescape, learning from them of the medicine and food they offer, leaning into their seasonal stories, and remembering our interrelatedness and meant-for-ness. 

This is a practice of forming what theologian Steven Bouma-Prediger calls an ecological perception of place. That is, a practice to get to know your ecology by becoming familiar over time with as many components of your ecology as you can. In other words, this is a process of learning to listen and attune your self to storied and sacred land.

1. Enter into the more-than-human world with a posture of permission, an attitude that is not rapaciously consumptive, but rather courteous and respectful of the life that thrums around you, and hopeful of what will be revealed to you. 

2. Honorably harvest plant life and materials from nature. Gather with gratitude. Introduce yourself to the plant/shrub/tree and state your hopeful intention. Take with care, taking as little as you need, and using all that you have taken.

3. Begin by placing an item for the center. Look at who you have before you and let them speak to you. From here, continue to create geometrical patterns that move from the inside out. Continue to move outwards allowing Nature to express her beauty and energy in your co-creation. 

4. Use this practice as a time to get to know the plants with whom you are working. Learn their names, properties (are they medicine, food, or fiber?), and what makes them flourish. Commit to a relationship with them. It has been said that you cannot love that which you do not know. See the making of the mandala as a courtship with creation. This is in response to what mythologist Martin Shaw understands when he says, “What we need is a great, powerful, tremulous falling back in love with our old, ancient, primordial Beloved, which is the Earth herself.” 

5. Delight yourself in this discipline that causes your soul and the soil that surrounds you to become the sacred ground of your belonging! 

Nature Hand Loom

Nature Hand Looms are beautiful ways to symbolically weave ourselves back into a sacred relationship with the wild world. This practice provides a form through which one begins to attune to the all of the wild life that surrounds them and creates a woven piece that can be placed upon one’s home nature table or altar.

Find four smaller sticks that are relatively stiff and firm. With twine or yarn, bind the four corners together until you have a solid shape. This creates the frame. Using the same yarn or twine (or a different color or variety), create the warp of the weaving—this is the lengthwise or longitudinal warp yarns, which are held stationary in tension on the stick frame or loom.

Take this loom in hand and walk out into your wild sanctuary. Prayerfully invite signs and symbols to come through from nature. You might feel that a fern frond represents something very powerful for you. Ask the fern for permission to partake in this creation. You may come across grasses that speak to you of the resilience of the plains. Respectfully request that they become part of your loom. These wild ones become the weft of your weaving.

This practice can be completed during one time out in your wild sanctuary or over the course of time, becoming a dynamic place for meaningful experiences and messages to be held. I like to place my nature looms by my nature altar as a way to daily return to the revelations received in the wild.

Story Stick

The Story Stick is a way to document your journey, whether through seasons, through terrain, or through meaningful moments in your life. Inspired by the Australian aboriginal practice of conveying their homeland and communicating their collective dream time through message sticks, the Story Stick is a way to witness this time through the natural world.

Find a stick that resonates with you—it can be larger like a walking stick, or a smaller one that fits in your hand. With yarn, thread, or twine, create color bands. These colors might represent emotions, landscapes, or hopes. Leave a longer tail of thread after you tie off your color block. This tail will be used to tie wild ones into your stick.

As you go out into the natural world, as the Sacred Wild for a symbol or message that gives form to your feelings and states of the heart. The Story Stick can represent an experience in the wild, creating a form of witness for how you felt on one particular day. Or the Story Stick can be dynamic and become something you bring with you out into the more-than-human world on several occasions. Over the course of time, the Story Stick becomes a way to remember how your story, and the stories within the wild world, are interconnected. This is a wonderful activity for children and adults alike. It is grounding in nature and invites fun, respectful, and sacred ways of seeing.