Pride in your place of birth.....

Something that I have been thinking about a lot of late is my sense of place. For many years I felt that at best I could say I was an occupant of planet Earth, but that was about it. I felt rootless and adrift, not in any negative way particularly, but simply that nowhere really felt any more special than anywhere else, but that changed about six months ago, and I wanted to share the experience as I feel that it made a positive impact in my life. I was asked, as a leading member of my spiritual community, to contribute to a multi-faith sonic art installation being created by South African artist James Webb, and as part of that process I was recorded carrying out an Earth healing ritual invoking ancestral spirits and deities and giving something of my spirit back to the planet.

In doing this I had a flash of inspiration as I started the ritual. I never prepare for these types of things other than a self cleansing procedure and getting myself into the correct mental state as I have been carrying out rituals of one sort or another for a number of years and have a fairly well defined procedure that I follow. I began the ritual as I usually do, but having invoked the spirits of my personal deities the inspiration was that I should invoke the memories of the pioneering industrialists who founded the city of my birth. I don't know why this felt appropriate, but as I worked through it I felt increasingly connected to the land around me, the space that I occupied and my place within it. After the recording, I walked home and as I did so the feeling of connectedness to my surroundings continued to grow.

I will confess to being a bit of a history bore, and I know a little about the heritage of my home town, the key people in the building of it, the development of it over time. I'm from Birmingham in the United Kingdom and it is, by UK standards a fairly modern city having developed predominantly during the early years of the industrial revolution. Most of the key players within the area are industrialists and, as was common at the time, philanthropists. You can find out more about some of them here but in the main they were a force for good within the region. So, there I am walking along feeling more and more a part of my home towns history and I was walking through a part of the city called Digbeth, past the site of the former Birds Custard factory, an old industrial zone close to the city centre, and I began to think about the city as it currently is, and the wealth of talent and industry that we still have, even when the industrial base in the UK is in steep decline. I thought of the technical innovations that have allowed Birmingham companies to remain successful and to grow and maintain the wealth of the city and I had a moment of quiet pride. The first time that this has happened for me, which is a very pleasant experience. When I think of companies like Stephens Plastic Mouldings I think of quality and innovation and the commercial drive that made my city the great city that it is today.....