Reawakening our Spiritual Connection to Nature - Vol 2 Sneak Peek

As I stepped out of my car into the cold night, I could feel my senses begin to glow.

I stood above the strandline and the sound of waterbirds was everywhere: the horns of geese, the whistles of oystercatchers and the mellifluous bubble of curlew. The air swirled with their sound, the breeze stirring their calls all around me. I took a deep breath, soaking it all in and then turned my gaze up, to the northern sky, where across its breadth the Aurora Borealis danced faintly. The Aurora, or Northern lights, are rarely strong in Orkney but it is one of the best places to see them in the UK. Sometimes it is just a lighter patch in the night sky and other times you can see them dancing vividly, but it is always softer and lighter than you would expect, and somehow, altogether more authentic.

Standing there, leaning against my bonnet and watching the green light flicker calmy across the sky, I wondered what it would be like to have seen this view thousands of years ago and all at once I was overwhelmed by a deep feeling. A sense of belonging and connection. I felt I belonged to it all. To the calling birds of the night. To the wind. To the night sky.

The concept of spiritual energy is an ancient idea. It is an inherent part of many religious and spiritual practices, and its importance has been a major theme for ancient civilisations throughout human history.

In his book Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez notes the interconnectedness of all things and the importance of understanding and respecting the spiritual energy of nature. He writes, “If we approach nature and the environment from a spiritual perspective, we recognize that we are deeply connected to every living being and the earth itself.”

This goes against the mainstream view in modern society, where nature seems to have been pigeonholed away as an object to be used and abused. It has been swept out of sight and out of mind by exploitation and degradation. We have become separated from what we are in this natural world and live in a state of, what the Indigenous activist Nemonte Nenquimo calls, “widespread spiritual poverty”. In the hearts and minds of so many of us, nature is something separate…

Words by Craig Dibb

Artwork by Nathalie Dickson