This was originally written and posted to my Patreon on October 6th, 2019.

Over on Instagram yesterday [that is to say, Oct 5, 2019], @aceoftarot story-shared an old post of mine talking about rocks & the ethical ick of much of the crystal trade. She also shared a recent post by @witch.mountain on a similar theme.

Just a few days ago, @etshipley and I dm’d on this topic, too, and about the sometimes-shocking lack of awareness that shop owners have — people who source and sell spirit-tools, but who are more or less intentionally ignorant about issues of spiritual appropriation and exploitative extractioneering.

And today [October 2019], half-dazed by the awe-inducing landscape of Arizona, Utah, and the mindblowing geology of Zion National Park, I couldn’t help but observe the amount of non-biodegradable nylon and polyester fabrics clinging to the bodies of all these outdoorsy hikers and eco tourists. It’s hard to articulate this without sounding judgey or shamey, so let me state outright that I absolutely have fallen and continue to fall prey to the idea that All The Stuff that goes with a hobby or interest is some level of required in order to be a “real” [fill in the blank with a title for someone into a more-or-less niche thing]. For example, the aesthetic of the camper, the trail runner, the national park-passport stamp collector — this is an aesthetic of high-tech, superlite, oil-industry-byproduct microfleece and compression tights and waterbottle backpacks, and the requisite boots/trail shoes come with a minimum of half an inch of plastic cushioning between foot and earth.

Are all of those higher-tech bits of gear really necessary to have an enjoyable, relatively safe day hike or camping weekend?

I mean, nah, not really.

card from the Supra Oracle by Uusi Design studio; photo taken at Zion National Park, October 2019

Crystals and other spiritually-oriented objects have a similar thing, I think. Just as weekend daytrip hikers don’t really need cutting-edge gear made of different kinds of plastic, those who are mildly or aesthetically interested in magick, spirituality, and healing don’t exactly need the biggest, fanciest crystal collections in order to engage with those practices.

This kind of need-based thinking is important because the commodifying aestheticization of pretty much any realm of interest paves a path to capitalistic, exploitive abuse of the tools associated with that interest. That can then lead to unintentionally hypocritical material relationships with those interests — like ecologically-invested hikers leaking microplastics every time they wash their recycled polyfleece jackets.

Appreciating, admiring, and communing with nonhuman nature via activities like camping and hiking does not necessitate a whole carload of new gear made of nylon, plastic, and polyester.

Deep healing does not require all of the tools ever used by all the cultures that aren’t your own.

Potent magic does not require the most expensive herbs, the most precious metals, the rarest gems.

Meditation does not require a hand-knotted gemstone mala or a Japanese cushion.

Energetic space clearing does not require white sage, an abalone shell, and a turkey feather fan.

The aesthetic & material-collection identity of “spiritual” is not the same as actually engaging with & serving Spirit.

For camping, magic, and spirituality, what tools & gear provide is an enhancement of whatever the user brings to the table. Whatever the user brings to the table is likely to be more than sufficient for most folks’ actual needs.

This is important because time in nonhuman nature and engaging with spirituality and/or magic should not come with high paywalls and do not need to be the handmaidens of capitalism. These are things that, to me, should be radically accessible.

This past winter [that is, winter 2018-2019], one of the repeated lessons I worked with was simple, but not easy:

You already have everything you need.

This can be hard to integrate when things feel austere, when money is tight, when loneliness sets in, when clingy-anxious attachment to outcomes roars louder than basic trust in the path.

It’s even harder when, from every angle, there are different people talking about this tool or that tool, this technique, that deck, this school of thought, that reading, this course, that herb, this healer, that medicine, on and on.

But it’s true.

You already have everything you need to take your next step, no matter how tiny, towards wherever it is you’re going: towards healing trauma, towards shedding oppressive conditioning, towards finding greater harmony with the cycles of this planet, towards a feeling of working /with/ rather than /against/ the challenges of life, towards a more equitable socioeconomic reality, towards justice, towards freedom.

Towards Spirit, whatever that means for you.

You don’t need more than a sharpenable intention. It helps to also have a willingness to learn & change & learn again, the whetstone of experience to hone your discernment, and hands that are open to the gifts of life.

Other tools can help. Other people’s wisdom and insight will come in handy (and when I say “people,” you should know I don’t just mean humans).

The next time you find your hand twitching towards your wallet in an attempt to find solace in a shiny new spirit-tool, check in with your intentions, check in with your discernment. Will this genuinely support you where you are along the path? Or is it a distraction from the work you already know you need to do?

You cannot buy a connection with g-d, with Spirit, with cosmos, with magic. You can invest yourself in the path, though — with or without money.

Along a stretch of the Mississippi River, summer 2018

you are the only necessary tool