The Web of Creation

(And our responsibility to the earth.)

The Web of Creation is something that people such as Druids, Shamans, Witches etc are able to see, feel and interact with, but it is not limited to these people.

The web lies all around us, and runs through us and, like a spider, we weave our own parts of that web and can feel the vibrations of the other beings, events, actions, and, if we are sensitive enough, even thoughts in the whole of the web. It is through this web taht we recieve "psychic" messages in the form of "telepathy", "omen" or "precognition" and how we can often feel what other people are feeling, almost, even what they are thinking. And yet, as Humans, the majority of us are unaware of the web, we are simply passive residents, unaware of how it affects us or, how we can affect it.

In hindsight, saying that we are passive is not strictly true, we are active within the web, it's just that we are unconscious of our effects on it. And here I'd like to explain both where we can more easily see the web around us, and how we, both as a species and as individuals have a level of control over it, how we can learn to weave our parts of the web to be more in harmony with the universe around us and how we can even help to mend the parts that are broken, untagle the parts that have become crossed and sick.

Lets first look at one example of the web that is more obvious.

The Food Chain
A plant gets eaten by a caterpillar, the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, that gets eaten by a bird, the bird gets eaten by a cat, the cat eventually passes away and rots into the ground becoming fertilzer for a plant grows.... we all know about the food chain from school.

But The balance is so fragile that it can be upset with the simplest of events, say for instance that the butterfly evades the bird, the bird will go hungry and starve, the cat won't have a bird to catch, thankfully the earth still gets her meal. but now the balance in the creatures in that area is upset, but the beauty of nature is that it always finds a way to restore that balance no matter how bad the damage is, if the cat has passed on, other birds can repopulate the area, but without the natural predator to keep them in check, the butterfly population declines and the bird population balances out, and before long, some predator will arrive. It all runs smoothly..... up to a point.

Upsetting the Balance

Think of natural cycles, the water cycle, the oxygeon cycle. these are dependant on a timeless balance in nature. Trees evolved to remove carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with oxygeon, as well as this, trees contribute to rain. Not only this but trees provide homes for the vast majority of creatures on earth. What if man cut down all the trees, wether it be to burn them to keep warm or to build houses or to use the logs to move great stones to make their temples. there would be no butterfly, no bird and the cats look tasty, and when they're gone... well humans can't eat grass. Funnily enough this happened before. Look up the history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

It's not that Humans maliciously cut the trees down to harm the earth, it's jus that we have the disability of ignorance (some might call it innocence) where we did not always know what would happen when we did something. And it is because of this that we were given knowledge of the web of creation, that we may be better able to see the outcome of our actions before we take the action. One of the primary skills of a Druid is being able to read the patterns in the web that have been layed down before, we can see the outcome of a specific action under specific circumstances. And then to use that knowledge to guide their community.

So What Went Wrong?

Nowadays however there are a lot of things that stand in the way of most people from seeing the web, or even knowing that it's there and in a way, we're back in the age before we even knew about it. From the bastardisations of certain religions comes the belief that the earth and all her creatures are there for man to use as he wills and that they are devoid of spirit. Believe me, nothing is devoid of spirit. The Greedy echoes of Rome that permeate through the modern western world either blind us to the web or even make it that those who DO or SHOULD know about it, such as politicians, simply not care.

So what effect does this renewed ignorance to the web have on it? It doesn't matter whether you believe in the web or not, you are still a part of it, and religion and science can prove that. With every breath you take, every action, even every thought you affect the web in some subtle but irreversible way. Also the more effort you put into something, the stronger the vibrations and the greater the effects. As humans we are (apparently) the only beings on earth that have any conscious control on how we affect the web, we can choose whether we will be harmful or healing, we can even choose (to some extent) how harmful or healing we will be, however, as there are so many other inhabitants out there, some conscious of what we may plan or do, some not, their actions, thoughts and words also affect what we do, either strengthening or dissipating an effect. it follows then that the more people who focus on one particular goal, the more easily the goal will be reached and the more powerful effect it will have on the web. This is why organised religion has so much power in the world, enough people believe that the world is theirs to ruin, the world get's ruined, enough people think the world is there to be loved and healied, it is loved and healed.

Of course the beauty of the web is that whatever goes into it, also comes out of it, if good things are put in, the web remains healthy and good things come out. On the flip side, if bad things go in, the web get's sick, tangled and broken and bad things come out.

A good person becomes aware of how the affect the web and seek to affect it in the most beneficial ways the can for the benefit of community, earth and environment and is content with the good that comes from that. But of course it is not possible to live an entirely good life, and we often have to make choices that harm another being, that's just life I'm afraid.

Now of course the web is broken and tangled by our more recent decent into ignorance and environment to the extent that our Ice caps and glaciers are melting, the Sahara Desert is expanding southward by 30 miles a year and not only are the animals, birds, fish etc endangered by our actions, but our species is in danger too. Only we can stop that. We are risking global Catastrophie in the form of Desertification, extinction and of course, more likley now than anything else, a fierce and terrible Ice age that will herald an end to many species of plant, tree, animal, bird, insect, fish, reptile, amphibian and possibly to us.

Of course an Ice Age will end at some point, (hundreds if not thousands of years in the future) and it will herald a fresh new beginning, the balance will have been restored and humanity will either have become extinct or will have been so affected by what it has done that it will be living in very close harmony with the earth, most likely with a complete lack of modern technology, almost as if in the stone age...... yes it's a cycle I believe we have been through more than once, when will we choose to change our ways and learn our lesson and "move into the next stage of evolution."

I believe it's no co-incidence that many of the Pagan versions of "Hell" such as the Norse Helheim are frozen wastes of rot and a perpetual death, where there is nothing to eat and nothing to do. And isn't it funny that some of the ancient cultures, including the Aztecs and the ancient Jews have records of environmental disaters that have returned humanity to the basics such as the Great flood in the Bible. Was the story of Adam and Eve eating the apple and being kicked out of Eden a metaphor for humanity achieving so much wisdom and yet not caring for "god's" creation? If so, how many times have we gone through this?

If you have read this far without at least deciding to do something to change your lifestyle and help the environment then you are either a perfect model of environmental friendliness or you are part of the problem.

I have deliberately left the spiritual part of this page until the bottom as I feel it is in fact the least important part of it. The destruction of the environment and the merciless abuse of the life forms of earth (henceforth refered to as our wild relations) was made easy by the de-personalising of everything but humanity. Once the dogmatic monotheistic religions which stated man was the only being with a soul and that the beasts and birds were there almost as slaves to us and the environment was for us to use as we wished and had no spirit, we didn't care about them. Then after a time we forgot we were ever related and the death of the planet was made almost certain. I am not blaming practitioners of Christianity, or other religions like it, nor am I blaming the religion itself, nor the god behind them, it was man, blinded by greed and fear, that made these once beautiful paths into the blind paths they are now, they have been so mercilessly stripped of what was good in them to meet the needs of the people of power that they no longer resemble what they once were. There is no devil but greed and laziness.

Religion and spirituality are humanities greatest source of inspiration and comfort. And it is religion which (whether we believe in it or not) has driven us to get where we are now, it is religion that fires us and even if you believe in no greater thing than yourself, it is what keeps you going and striving for greatness in the eyes of what you believe in, your god, your ancestors, your community or yourself.

I mentioned that certain people are gifted with an ability to see, feel and interact with the web of Creation, the truth is, everyone can do it, some with years of practice, some are just born with the ability. In truth it is a heightened sensitivity and knowledge of the patterns in all things, we all have a knowledge of some of these patterns, the fire triangle, the water and food cycles, even the making and baking of bread are all cycles that make up the web. Let us use the bread as a very brief example. A baker knows that if she puts flour, water and yeast together, she'll get basic bread, she knows what happens if there is too much water, or too little yeast, she is "foreseeing" the outcome of her actions. It's simple. On a more "scientific" note, a weatherman, having spent many years observing the clouds and patterns of weather is able to foresee the approaching weather, an ability that seems almost magical to people that haven't taken the time to learn these things for themselves. The Shaman, Druid, Witch or other person with the ability to see the more spiritual parts of the web have spent years and years...... and years training themselves to see the outcome of their actions as far down the line as they can, and they are thus able to see what has caused a situation and how to rectify it, whether that situation is a possesion caused by the loss of a soul part or whether it is a storm that was caused by a fluctuation in the air, caused by a butterfly flapping its wings. All things in the web are magical.

Excercise

I would like to help you gain an insight into the web of existence and this is really as basic an insight as there is and yet one of the most eye opening and beautiful ones.

I want you to go outside, and touch the earth, or the concrete, the grass, whatever is outside your door and I want you to think about all the things that have come together to create it, the soil is made from eroded rock and decomposed organic matter, what kind of rocks were they? how were they eroded? how old are they? What decomposed to make the soil? what plants? what animals? what people? how magical a mix of histories, experience and spirit is right under your feet? Contrete is made from stone, cement and water, the same things apply to them. Grass feeds from the soil and the sunlight, and the same things apply to them. Next time you drink water, question where has it been on it's journey across the earth, it didn't just magically spring from your tap, it's been here a LONG time and seen many things. When you eat, think about where the plants came from, how they were harvested, who harvested them, who packed them, who sold them, your food probably came from south america, be thankful to those guys and gals in brazil for your coffee and the people in argentina for your corned beef, and be thankful for the plants and animals that you eat, for withouth them you would starve, be thankful for the forests or grass that fed them, for without them, there would be no plant or animal for you to eat.

It's a sad fact that some people don't realise where their food came from, some kids actually believed that meat was made somewhere, they didn't know it came from an animal, they never stop to think where it came from or how it got to them, and yet if you tell a kid that the star fruit they are eating came all the way from south america, land of the inca, of jaguars and giant snakes, they are suddenly filled with wonder and sometimes excitement.

Finally, when you breath, think, how many beings have shared that breath with you, it's the same air that has been inside the lungs of the person next to you, and it's the same air that has been through a tree, the same air that was taken in the puff of a native american peace pipe, the same air that has travelled on the sound of a celtic war chant and the same air that has lifted an eagle, and even been inside a dinosaur (or come out of the rear end of one.) You have shared breath with great historical figures, Chingis Khan, Julius Ceasar, Vercingatorix, Chief Red Cloud, William Shakepeare we can share their greatness, just as, we can learn from the mistakes of others who have shared it, like Hitler. You even share breath with me. We are all connected, we are all family and I love, honour and respect you all.

With my love to you, my Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Great Tribe of Humankind,

Happy Weaving

Sunbird