Where Have They All Gone?

As spiritual practitioners and seekers, a huge part of our practice is to have an awareness of what is happening in the natural world around us. It is, after all, what we draw upon - it feeds and sustains us, grounds and embraces us and provides a space where we can connect with the worlds within it. We work with the herbs, flowers, roots, fruits, fungi and trees - they are our allies and co-creators of magick in our practices. We are The Earth's human caretakers and it is our responsibility to ensure She and her inhabitants are nurtured and protected.

If we are paying attention we will have noticed that things are just not quite right this Summer. Grey skies, fluctuating temperatures, long standing plants and trees suffering stress, disease or death, less flowers, shorter flowering times and massively reduced insect numbers. There are lots of contributing factors- from *trails in the skies (no longer a conspiracy theory and very much a reality but too long to address - I have added a short addition at the bottom of the page for those interested) to the land grab of green spaces and destruction of hedgerows by developers, there are many disrespectful actions inflicted upon The Land.

WE ARE BOUND

A riot of hanging herbs drying in the VOLVA APOTHECARY

It is always important for the witch to have strong boundaries. This includes knowing what is within our control and what is not. As I type this I am watching my neighbour spread herbicides in the crevices of their outdoor space, which consists mainly of concrete. No sign of green is allowed. No seedling, no weed, no flower. This activity in killing plant and insect life is, unfortunately, outwith my control. While education is key in understanding our impact on the natural world, it is a sad reality that many do not care. Education will not change this mindset and a concrete 'garden' is a strong sign of such. The owners of concrete spaces and swathes of outdoor green plastic carpet are actively, and often quite deliberately, killing the natural world - killing life. The other day I was out tidying my garden - a small green oasis filled with trees, ferns , fruits and flowers whose lushness stops passersby due to its striking and unexpected presence among the manicured lawns and driveways of suburbia- when the aforementioned neighbour spotted me. They said one sentence that sums up the mindset that I am talking about; an ignorance that no education or rationalisation can change. The hardness of a heart that refuses to be touched by beauty, preferring to eradicate it, and the emptiness of a soul that no longer knows, nor cares, what life is. A savage and cruel place to be indeed, dear ones. Their greeting to me was 'There's nothing worse than plants that grow'. Quite the statement.

I am resolute in my defence of the Green World but we all must recognise where we direct our energies and recognise when they are being pulled from us. There is nothing that I can say to such a person that would benefit me or my garden in any way, quite the opposite in fact. I ignored and continued going about my business caring for the ones who care for us, who offer joy, healing, beauty and magick in this life.

RUE THE DAY

With this experience in mind, I thought to write a post looking at the ways that we as individuals contribute to our environment.

So for this Lughnasadh, the beginning of the First Harvest, let's explore an aspect that lots of people, both in this country and internationally, are commenting on - the massively reduced number of insects this Summer. There is no Harvest without insects. This is a big problem and one that will have drastic repercussions in many different ways, from food shortages to spiritual warfare, in the near future. I do not consider this to be an exaggeration; we have been in a spiritual war for many years and we are continually disrespecting The Land. The Insect World is absolutely crucial to our own survival and is very - very - closely connected with The Fae. And when we ignore the The Fae, we rue the day.

THE CONCRETE JUNGLE

It is a hard thing to take responsibility for our impact on our surroundings but we can't complain about a lack of insects when we don't provide an ecosystem for them, or we actively remove their feeding sources and homes.

We are often pointing the finger and laying the blame at the door of Big Bad Business. They need to have corporate responsibility for their impact on the environment - ofcourse they do - but let's look closer to home. It doesn't take much to see how our residential outdoor spaces have changed dramatically. Shrubs, trees and plants are removed to make way for plastic green carpets, plastic flowers, plastic topiary and slabbing, gravel and driveways. Cities are becoming more built up, more populated and with less available green space. In the existing spaces of community gardens and allotments, engagement is often dwindling or irregular, and when parks are utilised they are often not only not left the way we found them but adversely impacted upon with litter and debris.

If we ourselves are destroying habitats and not making concerted efforts to provide food and shelter for insects in our own outdoor spaces- whether that's a garden, pots or window boxes - we cannot be lamenting that their numbers are down and expect to lay the responsibility to rectify elsewhere. Do not underestimate the positive impact a few native shrubs, perennials and wildflowers in one garden can bring. I've done it and witnessed it. It won't happen overnight but it will happen. It will create an ecosystem and that ecosystem will nurture other ecosystems and so on. Build it and they will come.

PLASTIC NOT SO FANTASTIC

The impact that a garden whose plant life has been removed in favour of a plastic abomination cannot be underestimated. In doing this, we have destroyed the existing feeding sources and nesting homes for insects. This cognitive disconnect means we do not see that we are the destroyers of our own home and the killers of our neighbours. Personally I will be dancing in celebration in my plant filled garden when this fashion ends.

If you don't have time to maintain a lawn, you will definitely not have time to maintain plastic grass. You'll still get weeds. You'll still get moss. Except you'll spend more time, money, energy and chemicals trying to eradicate these than you would on a lawn. I have seen vacuums and cleaning machines specifically for plastic 'grass'; it is a huge industry with businesses whose sole income depends on providing this plastic turf and are dependent on this fashion continuing. They will tell you anything including that it's environmentally friendly. The last thing in the world you will have is something friendly to the environment; no drainage means increased flooding; plastic means shedding microplastics into water courses; there is no adequate facility to recycle it; it will kill insects and deter beneficial wildlife; it destroys ecosystems. In addition to this, you'll have a stinking unhygienic mess of an area that's often hotter than asphalt in the summer and no one - not the kids or the dog - will want to walk on it, never mind play on it or enjoy the space. All of those expensive outdoor suites will be of no use if, when sitting out, there's the stench of a cocktail of hot plastic, dog urine and dangerous chemicals and you need a hazmat suit to venture out.

If you know anyone considering this awfulness, please direct them to this bit of the blog post before they spend an atrocious amount of money on something that will kill everything, be unsightly in a year or two and will be incredibly hard to dispose of ethically. It is literally one of the worst things anyone can do to an outdoor space, and ruin any enjoyment of it for themselves and their family.

GOING UNDERGROUND

Plastic carpet kills all life underneath it because of the increased heat and lack of water and air. It doesn't allow for beneficial insects including worms. Worms are one of the best things you can have in your garden. They draw fallen leaves from the grass down into the soil, breaking them down. You're left with lovely aerated soil, healthy grass that fosters insects and life to feed the birds - and you've done nothing but leave nature to its own devices.

Natural grass grows in the summer months, needing regular cuts to keep it short (or sow a wildflower meadow instead!) but needs very little the rest of the year. It dissipates heat so it is lovely and cool to walk on in the Summer. It is the perfect place to energetically ground and it is right outside your door. It is soft on the feet and beautifully tactile and it is a perfect meditation surface for these very reasons.

As a professional gardener, I hear many reasons why people feel they cannot develop spaces or grow plants to encourage insects. I've outlined some of the them here and what can be done easily, cheaply and simply.

'SAVE THE BEES!'

The other day I came across a post on FB from a well known environmental activist organisation with a meme that strongly suggested that by signing their petition to save the bees it will make you a little more intellectually elevated. That's some ego stroking right there.

Signing petitions is a very easy, accessible form of online activism but it is no match for action. I hear a lot of people say SAVE THE BEES! Yes, we need to both halt eradication of their feeding sources and encourage their numbers so what are you doing to help? 'The answer is usually 'I've signed petitions.'.

Petitions aren't going to get us out of this mess. Hoping to appeal to the conscience of those without consciences - those who made, and are continuing to make, decisions that have led to actions that actively reduce insect numbers, in exchange for power or money - is fruitless (pun intended).

'I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT PLANTS'

Part of this Spring's Dandelion harvest - and leaving some for the bees!

When I ask people to consider sowing and growing some insect friendly plants, often the answer is 'Oh, but I don't know anything about plants! I just kill them!'. Folks, if you really care about dwindling insect numbers, you better start learning because the petitions, governments, institutions and Big Business are not going to save the bees. You are. 

Getting to know plants and gardening is like everything else you don't know anything about - you begin with the basics and you learn from there. There are lots of factions within gardening that will lead you to believe you need to know about storing Agapanthus or the tilth of soil. These have their place in horticulture (which is a science) but for personal gardening, learning as you go is best. A secret that gardeners don't tell you is that gardening is life long learning - we don't know it all and we're always learning something new too. I studied both Horticulture and Garden Design and knowing Latin names from a book or how to measure a curve did not make me a gardener. I'm still crap at Latin names and lacking in lots of areas of horticulture. So what makes you a gardener? Gardening.

Gardening is also the perfectionist's nightmare - it is unpredictable and does its own thing. You can only influence so much. You go along for the ride and care for a garden when it dictates you do. It tells you what to do, not the other way around. Get comfortable with serving it. This is an invaluable lesson for the witch because it is an absolutely fundamental cornerstone of craft. We humans have a tendency to consider ourselves more important than everything else. In my 25 years of professional practice, I have seen - countless times - the damage done by unskilled, ego led, power hungry craft. This is not the way of the practitioner. Nature is an incredible teacher - you will be shown many teachings and if you're determined to cultivate wisdom, be humble in Her presence and open to learning the many lessons, however hard, is the way.

Start small if you feel intimidated by starting to grow. An indoor plant. A strawberry plant. A scatter of seeds on a pot of soil or in a window box. Every little bit you do makes a difference!

'I LOVE FLOWERS BUT I HATE WEEDS'

Oxeye Daisy here in the Medicine Garden. A big one for self seeding and is often considered a weed by many. Look how cheery she is!

Gardening is the practice of curating a natural space. That is, we decide what we'd like in that space and what we don't want there. Often we don't want things that we consider to be weeds; that is, plants we have not chosen to grow but grow in our gardens nonetheless. Fair enough, we choose what we want in our own garden and each garden is as individual as each person.

These 'undesirables' however are usually wild, their seeds having been scattered in the wind or dropped by birds, and they are beneficial for insect life, more so than cultivated or hybridised commercial flowers and plants. If however these are not what you'd like in your garden, do look at how you see them and how you're removing them.

Look at where these practices might be contributing to reducing insect numbers. Are you removing things like dandelions at the time when bees desperately need this early spring food to survive? Leave the dandelion flowers as they are as they offer so much to an array of insect life. To stop them from spreading, cup your hand over their seed clock that appears once the flowers have gone and gently pinch it off, with the seeds cupped in the palm of your hand.

Are you using chemical herbicides and pesticides? If so, stop now. There is absolutely no need for them - there are natural ways to control pests and diseases. If the mere sight of a 'weed' makes you instantly reach for the chemical 'gun', this does not align with attracting bees and other beneficial insects. No one can claim to 'save the bees' by signing an online petition and still spray weedkiller. Sorry, no. While picking out undesirable plants doesn't offer the public virtuousness of petition signing, it's a more effective way to create tangible, positive and lasting change.

'I DON'T KNOW WHAT PLANTS TO GROW'

This year's Hellebore in the Medicine Garden

If you don't know what plants are best to attract insects, employ someone who does know to help you or explore this yourself. There are thousands of resources out there covering every conceivable aspect of gardening, including plants to attract insects. The world is at our fingertips - everything you could ever want to know about gardening is right there. What insects would you like to attract - hoverflies, butterflies, bees, ladybirds? All of them? Great! Different insects feed in different ways and that's why they enjoy different flowers of different scents, shapes and colours. But you don't need to know this starting off, or even at all - let someone else who has done the research do this for you. Want to attract butterflies? Then search for 'plants to attract butterflies' - there will be a whole range of different plants of size and colour. Pick one that will fit your space, will do well where you're thinking of putting it and that takes your fancy.

'I CAN'T AFFORD IT'

Those Insta reels you see with immaculate influencers presenting aspirational gardening have cost them an absolute fortune, you better believe it. Acreage costs money. Huge barns cost money. Designer dungarees cost money. Gardening can be expensive, there's no doubt about it; I will not pretend that it can be - I'd have a nerve, frankly. But it doesn't have to be.

A Tomato plant from your mum's neighbour. A cutting from a friend's Rosemary. If you can't afford to buy plants, there are lots of folk who swap and share plants, seeds and cuttings - ask some neighbours, family or friends or join a group, either in person or online.

A packet of wildflower seeds costs a couple of pounds and takes no skill at all to sow - read the packet for the instructions and sowing times, open and scatter. Done. And when the flowers go over, collect the seeds for sowing next year and you don't have to buy them again.

FAMILY WORSHIP

Sleepy feline companion dozing on the therapy table while I work in The Apothecary

We have plants we can use as medicine and food by the grace of The Divine - The God, The Goddess, The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, The Water, The Air, The Earth, The Fire, The Insects, The Fae and so many more beautiful family members. Greet them every day, and offer your thanks.

Remember, all of this is you. We lose any aspect of these glorious brothers and sisters, we lose a part of ourselves.

Andrea

VOLVA & The Green Goddess Gardener

All content Copyright VOLVA and contributors 2024

*CLIMATIC CRISIS

Now, this is contentious issue. I'm not going to go into detail on climate change. What I will outline is my experience of the testimonies of farmers and gardeners around the country. There is most certainly a change but none of the farmers I have seen are considering this to be natural climate change. They are looking at the weather, the skies and how these are affecting crops and grass for animal feed. Gardeners are seeing fewer insects on plants that are known to attract them, with late flowering, shorter flowering times and less flowers. There is something going on. We cannot quite pinpoint what these are in the bigger picture but many are looking to sky trails as a contributing factor. While I did not want to go into details about this here, it would be foolish of me to ignore this on a post about dwindling insect numbers. What I will say about this is that I have observed a considerable number of these and their impact on the skies and sunlight. Below is a photograph of a rare blue sky this Summer. You will see that there are at least two trails. Within 30 minutes, the area of the sky where these trails began became grey. Within an hour, the visible sky was all grey - the blue had gone. And disappeared for another few days. There is layer effect I feel, like a blanket over the sky and this is almost sitting behind the clouds. When the clouds lift, there is still a grey blanket. I feel this is a veil of some kind over the sky, not necessarily that the blue sky has gone. I mention this briefly here because the idea that there are chemical trails in the sky being released by quiet planes - inaudible from the ground - is still considered a mad concept, in spite of the many shared photos and videos from around the world, others who are investing their time in tracking the unusual flight patterns of planes and the growing confirmation that there is weather and climate engineering happening in this way.

I am seeing the impact of whatever is causing the plants to struggle and its effect on insects too. The numbers and varieties are just not there this year. There are plants in my garden that are showing the signs of stress, disease and nutrient deficiencies even when they are fed, watered and cared for. There are some that have inexplicably died. Long standing, hardy, tough plants. The quality of the flowers are not the same and this I feel this is also impacting the insects.