First of all, what is the Year of Aun? To find out, visit the Nordic Animism Youtube channel.
When I was young, I lived in Lincolnshire. A very rural county, not really known too well outside of its borders for anything other than farming. Mostly arable farming, though I did live near many fields of (dairy) cows, a piggery and a turkey farm. Back then, I felt a really strong connection to the land. I appreciate my mature mind might well be embellishing this a little. After all, what did I know back then of spirituality or, indeed, the mundane world at large? I was a socially-awkward teenage boy who'd rarely ventured further than perhaps the 20 miles to the nearest market towns.
Back then, however, I did feel a certain connection to the land as something more than just "the area in which I lived". I felt a connection to the earth, where a good portion of the food I ate was grown. When I fell over and scraped my knees (as kids are wont to do), it was that same earth that my blood fell upon and soaked into. When my elder relatives died, it was the earth into which they were buried. Or, in some cases, it was the air around us into which their ashes scattered. As the descendant of farmers and farm workers, it was that same land that my ancestors had worked for generations. It felt like it was a part of my DNA.
Fast forwarding to the present day, I'm sitting in the spare bedroom of my house before a laptop, working from home. "The new normal", apparently. In my youth. I've tried re-engaging with some of the hobbies I used to enjoy. I've renewed my contact with old friends. But nothing quite seems to quell that feeling of something missing. Perhaps it is that connection to the land that I miss?
For my Year of Aun plans, I think I will focus upon rebuilding that connection to place that I felt as a boy. Albeit this time across the Pennines in the northwest. Lancashire is very similar to Lincolnshire it a lot of ways. Lots of hills and large city-sprawls notwithstanding.
#AUN2023
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