The Commodification of Enchantment

I recently read Making Magic by Briana Saussy, and one quote that really leaped out at me was about outsourcing our imaginations to the TV, books and movies. The reason this hit home so hard was because I absolutely do this. I've always been a bookworm, but nowadays if I have free time I will usually escape into a book rather than do anything else (ah, that'd be why my mending pile never gets any smaller).

Not that reading alone has atrophied my daydreaming muscles! I strongly suspect that social media and the ever-present temptations of the internet have their part to play. But there is a definite and noticeable difference - for a decade or so now I have been finding it a struggle to write fiction, and I can't visualise as clearly or as easily as I used to, both of which are slightly unhelpful for a writer and a practising Pagan. 

I remember a few years ago when I committed to following the weekly exercises in The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, I baulked at the idea of a week without reading or other media input. Yet when I gritted my teeth and did it, I found it did me good (much like not shopping). I did consider doing the same thing again a while ago, but decided I couldn't go without my Kindle at the time as it was keeping me sane during the Spud's nighttime feeds. Perhaps soon. (Though, I'm also still restricting my shopping/spending and also changing my eating habits to help with an ongoing condition... Perhaps trying to cut back on everything at once is a terrible idea? But I digress.)

Unfortunately, it's not just my imagination that I've been outsourcing. When I was in the middle of my intended shopping ban and living near the nature reserve, I really felt connected to nature and thus to my spirituality. Since moving to town, I've noticed it's become more common for me, when I want to 'feel spiritual', to pop to the shops for a copy of Kindred Spirit, or drop into my local esoteric store - which opened a few months ago, just around the corner from my house. And I must admit it is an excellent store run by lovely people, but it certainly doesn't help with this whole non-shopping gig I seem to have been trying and failing at for forever.

I don't want my spirituality to be a thing that I buy. I'm very aware that I have a huge (H U G E) reading stack of books on all kinds of appropriately mystical knowledge, but neither the mental focus or the mental and physical space to put much of this knowledge into action. I'm at risk of becoming an armchair occultist.

The only saving grace here is that at least I've spotted the behaviours. I've been finding it extremely hard to recommit to a long-term shopping ban plan (say that one ten times fast). There always seems to be some exciting trip or event on the horizon where I might just see something I can't live without. Usually it's clothes I want to keep on buying, but at the moment I'm actually at peace with my wardrobe (since I started making more effort to dress the way I really want). Books are currently my biggest weakness - my TBR pile is getting out of control again, and I need to slow down and stop obsessively seeking novelty so that I can better enjoy what I already have!

I also need to go back to getting my hands muddy. Since the weather turned colder it's been easy to abandon my morning sit on the patio, in fact having much time in the garden at all, and our daily walks seem to have redirected from the riverside to the high street... For someone who bangs on about nature-based spirituality, I have developed an embarrassingly indoorsy streak. Well, enough of that. Back to poking around fox paths and wandering in the moonlight, because even if wild nature was a thing that could be bottled and sold, some things should never be commodified.