“Unty” [un-tee] is another word for Aunt/Uncle. I’ve chosen it as my working title for a couple of reasons: 1. I feel that this land is just as magical as any other and deserves to be recognized in its uniqueness, and 2. I feel like this type of relationship best describes how I can contribute to that recognition. All that is a high-falutin’ way of saying that I ain’t no Granny and I sure ain’t your mama, but I’m up for adventure on this spiritual road trip so let’s go!
Most titles people use, like witch, priest, shaman, etc, describe not only a type of personal practice but also a relationship to community. For example, the priest/ess facilitates communication between the gods and people, but you might go to a witch for more tangible solutions to problems. I am a druid by “formal” training and am currently an Ovate grade initiate in the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. I do sometimes call myself a Druid. Druidry is the foundation for much of my personal practice and I am active in druid communities. But being a druid does not completely describe my relationship to the community and land in this place where I was born, and my parents were born, and their parents were born, and hundreds of my ancestors lie buried, with its own unique natural and human histories, ancestors, and communities.
Thus, I wanted a new word, a relationship word, a magical word. I hope that others might want to serve community this way, too. This is what I see as the definition and goals of an Unty:
1. Collecting information about the plants, animals, rocks, ecosystems, weather, astronomy, natural and human history, lore, folkways, stories, and wisdom that comes from the geographical region of Oklahoma.
2. Forming relationships with the unique spirits of place, ancestors, and whatever entities your path recognizes, in the manner of your own path and cosmological understanding.
3. “I might know a guy” – Local Spiritual Networking: Need to find an emergency car part on the cheap, call your weird uncle. Need to find somebody to help with recurring dreams about a nun carrying a cow skull down Turner Falls, call your weird Unty.
4. Experimentation – “What are the correspondences of hourglass selenite?” “Is Artemisia ludoviciana a good substitute for sage, or for mugwort?” “Where can I go in the city to safely meditate under the full moon?” There is no book. How else are we gonna know?
5. Back-up spiritual advisor – Sometimes, no matter how open or cool they are, we just need to talk to someone who isn’t Mom or Dad, who isn’t responsible for holding a particular Tradition, maybe someone who is more readily available, or has a different perspective.
I don’t envision an organized collective of Unties with rules and membership cards. I would love to have a loose network of like-minded people to share with and maybe occasionally get together with. What would a meeting of Unties be? A Brunch of Unties? A Bonfire of Unties? J I hope to find out.
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