Forms of invocation

Here we offer approaches to invocation of living presence drawn from previous inquiries into panpsychic experience. These are examples only, not intended as definitive, but as possible starting places for your own exploration. We are sure that both individually and collectively you will find your own authentic narratives and gestures. But a starting place may be helpful.

Allow sufficient time for the busy mind to come to rest; find some way of marking the time you spend with River as different from the everyday.

Introduce yourself by name (given names plus any ceremonial Names you may carry).

Ask permission to engage with River (and pay attention to any response).

You may also wish to recognize the ancestors and Indigenous guardians of the place

Find a way to make clear to River what you wish from an encounter.

Take time to get acquainted; don’t be demanding, don’t rush into expecting a dramatic response.

Maybe start by simply offering attentive love.

You may find it helpful to explore the physical boundaries of River, the relationship with the land, natural and human history

Keep a record as you go, but remember that while writing, taking photos, may enable encounter, they may equally create distance and objectify.

As your acquaintance with River develops you may draw on some of the following

Opening ceremonial space e.g., by calling the Four Directions. This can help to create a different space from the everyday and taken-for-granted

Bowing to River to offer your openness to the wider whole

Meditation practices

Intentional walking River as pilgrimage

Singing, drumming, chanting, prayer (invocation implies ‘calling upon’)

Offering gifts: paper boats with written invocations, collections of petals; water drawn from another source; pebbles.

Engaging physically with River—immersion, in a boat

Be open to suggestions in the gestures and responses coming from River

Be playful, open to taking up and running with unexpected suggestions/gestures/responses coming from River.

Remembering that living beings communicate in poetic form, in a language of things, pay attention to response in whatever mode. Explore what it means to be open but not expectant. Response from the living presence of River is not to be taken for granted but is a moment of grace. It may well take a form quite different from what you imagine and take you by surprise.

Finally, we ask you to take care of yourselves. Rivers and water call for respect. And in places where there are few other human persons, take care of your personal security.