Pagan Journeys > Beginner's Chat

earth based beliefs

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Spinster:
I'm pretty comfortable with the Runes, and decided to look into the ogham. Reading up on it brought to light a dilemma I've had for years. When reading about the trees, I realized that many of them do not grow where I am now living. The last time I saw a spruce was 2,000 miles ago.
I would like to maintain my Celtic heritage by following the practices of my ancestors as much as possible. But I'm in another culture and climate. Should I try to replace certain trees or plants with native ones? Should I try to do without? Or should I adopt practices of the local indigenous people who honored nature here?
I am just at a standstill. Glad for any input.
Thanks.

vordan:
Where are you roughly geographically? What is around you?

BronwynWolf:
The neat thing about the Celts is they did adapt what they could not bring with them. Look at pumpkins vrs turnips at Samhain. The pumpkins grow larger and are easier to work with, so in the New World, pumpkin it became.

earthmuffin:
I'd probably do a little of both. If, say, a certain wood is important and you can get it for a tool, then I would get it. Adapt and make use of what is native where you are when you cannot.

dragonspring:
I would agree that doing both would be helpful.  I would study the correspondences and try to find materials that are similar to those native in the Celtic area you are interested in.     Keep in mind that the Celts were pretty widespread and as Bron said, they had to adapt as well.  Learning about what correspondences the indigenous people used can help you select substitutes.

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