What do you collect in nature, and what for?

[Orion Altair]

Hello everyone. So basically since I was 5-6, I've had a fascination with bones. I would never kill an animal for it's bones, but when I would go for walks in the paddocks, I would find myself drawn to picking up skulls and other bones as I explored in the woods. Later in life, I started realising that to me, the bones where a way of connecting with the soul or life force of that animal, and the energy of the natural untamed earth. I also collect other things like twigs, leaves, stones and things from the beach like shells and coral.

 

[Yazata]

I brought a large chunk of coal home yesterday. My city was built up because of the coal mines last century and when I looked at it I suddenly realized I never really thought about that and felt I needed some of it. Maybe the old people wanting me to remember what this country was. Washed it (probably had some dog piss on it..) and placed it near the front door where I have a small pile of larger or rounded pebbles I bring back occasionally.

 

[Accipeveldare]

Hello everyone. So basically since I was 5-6, I've had a fascination with bones. I would never kill an animal for it's bones, but when I would go for walks in the paddocks, I would find myself drawn to picking up skulls and other bones as I explored in the woods. Later in life, I started realising that to me, the bones where a way of connecting with the soul or life force of that animal, and the energy of the natural untamed earth. I also collect other things like twigs, leaves, stones and things from the beach like shells and coral.

I always loved foraging for wild sage, rosemary, and mint. I would take the sage and bundle it up to burn and the rosemary was for cooking. The mint was my specialty, however, due to my passion for making tea.

 

[Orion Altair]

I always loved foraging for wild sage, rosemary, and mint. I would take the sage and bundle it up to burn and the rosemary was for cooking. The mint was my specialty, however, due to my passion for making tea.

Interesting! And what a relaxing experience to be foraging and picking herbs...

Post automatically merged: Jul 21, 2026

I brought a large chunk of coal home yesterday. My city was built up because of the coal mines last century and when I looked at it I suddenly realized I never really thought about that and felt I needed some of it. Maybe the old people wanting me to remember what this country was. Washed it (probably had some dog piss on it..) and placed it near the front door where I have a small pile of larger or rounded pebbles I bring back occasionally.

"Maybe the old people wanting me to remember what this country was." Thats a powerful/beautiful and somewhat emotional thing. I can see why you thought to pick it up.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

Hello everyone. So basically since I was 5-6, I've had a fascination with bones. I would never kill an animal for it's bones, but when I would go for walks in the paddocks, I would find myself drawn to picking up skulls and other bones as I explored in the woods. Later in life, I started realising that to me, the bones where a way of connecting with the soul or life force of that animal, and the energy of the natural untamed earth. I also collect other things like twigs, leaves, stones and things from the beach like shells and coral.

I occasionally pick up small smooth stones. I don't know why.

 

[Zelator2148]

When I first got into geomancy, I preferred Israel Regardie's approach of using a number of small identical objects as "lots" to be pulled from a bowl in order to generate the odd and even figures. In support of this, I spent many hours on our daily walks along the local country roads looking for round, smooth stones of the same size. It took me a few years to collect sixteen that were "just right." (I arbitrarily picked sixteen as sufficient to minimize tactile recognition of how many I'm pulling.) I considered stones to be close enough to the original idea of using a patch of earth and a wand to make the "dots."

 

[darthreverened999]

I always wanted to collect animals bones for the same reason

 

[Thebes]

I have the problem that I'm a bit of a magpie. Oh, that's an interesting rock. Toss a feather or stick in a pocket of my bag. I use what I find for odd charms usually. I don't always take something I find due to the situation, but I keep an eye open for interesting things like Church parking lot Mugwort and a perimeter of St John's-wort around a cemetery.

 

[Kepler]

Invasive species
Broken glass and hazards
To dispose of negative outcomes and foster positive ones.

Mud
from a sacred lake said to have spiritual properties.
Just looked in the box of stuff from that trip. The unused mud is now fine dust. There's two bottles that were filled with water from the lake, but are now minerals in one and about 20 ml in the other. After a little over a decade that's pretty good. There's even some sage left...

Crafting materials, fragrances, food for rituals.

 

[glaive]

Hagstones (stones with a hole worn through them) from the beach! Dirt/gravel from certain locations, non-holed stones that are interesting, sticks, herbs (especially edible invasives), thorns, lake/river water. I pick up any coins or money I see and pass it on to the next person asking for a donation.

 

[darthreverened999]

I have the problem that I'm a bit of a magpie. Oh, that's an interesting rock. Toss a feather or stick in a pocket of my bag. I use what I find for odd charms usually. I don't always take something I find due to the situation, but I keep an eye open for interesting things like Church parking lot Mugwort and a perimeter of St John's-wort around a cemetery.

Im the same way

 

[Accipeveldare]

I have the problem that I'm a bit of a magpie. Oh, that's an interesting rock. Toss a feather or stick in a pocket of my bag. I use what I find for odd charms usually. I don't always take something I find due to the situation, but I keep an eye open for interesting things like Church parking lot Mugwort and a perimeter of St John's-wort around a cemetery.

Sometimes when i pick up something from nature, i leave something behind as a sort of trade off. Like "Hey I love this feather!" so then I buy it by putting something small in its place of the same value. (usually a pinch of pipe tobbaco or something. I love walking with my pipe) I am a firm believer in the natural order and of transactional energy. If you take something, you should give something.

Its just as when you invite someone into your home. They get to be a guest, you get their respect.

 

[Firetree]

Hello everyone. So basically since I was 5-6, I've had a fascination with bones. I would never kill an animal for it's bones, but when I would go for walks in the paddocks, I would find myself drawn to picking up skulls and other bones as I explored in the woods. Later in life, I started realising that to me, the bones where a way of connecting with the soul or life force of that animal, and the energy of the natural untamed earth. I also collect other things like twigs, leaves, stones and things from the beach like shells and coral.

Guess what this one is ... no iits not a small spirit man 'ju-ju ' ;

......

Spoiler

That is the underside ..... here is a front on ;

Guessed it yet ?

Spoiler

Post automatically merged: Jul 22, 2026

- I would make various agricultural brews and teas ; one ( 'fuzzy brew' - to supply potassium and phosphorus ) is basically a barrel full of water with dead animals in it . I would collect road kill and anything dead and put it in . After it 'settles' and you strain the liquid off there is a collection of bones in the bottom .

I also have some other sourced ones ... like a great ibis skull worth long beak attached , found on a river gravel bank .

here is an interesting one ; a diamond python skull ; its vertebrae continue inside its skull, fused to the top inside and run down, getting smaller, to the front of the head , making a tube 'outlet' near the mouth - the snake flicks its tongue out and back and inserts the end of its tongue up this tube into ;

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[Orion Altair]

Sometimes when i pick up something from nature, i leave something behind as a sort of trade off. Like "Hey I love this feather!" so then I buy it by putting something small in its place of the same value. (usually a pinch of pipe tobbaco or something. I love walking with my pipe) I am a firm believer in the natural order and of transactional energy. If you take something, you should give something.

Its just as when you invite someone into your home. They get to be a guest, you get their respect.

That makes a lot of sense, I am going to keep that in mind in future! I have done it a couple times before, but not often enough!

Post automatically merged: Jul 22, 2026

Guess what this one is ... no iits not a small spirit man 'ju-ju ' ;

......

Spoiler

That is the underside ..... here is a front on ;

Guessed it yet ?

Spoiler

Post automatically merged: Jul 22, 2026

- I would make various agricultural brews and teas ; one ( 'fuzzy brew' - to supply potassium and phosphorus ) is basically a barrel full of water with dead animals in it . I would collect road kill and anything dead and put it in . After it 'settles' and you strain the liquid off there is a collection of bones in the bottom .

I also have some other sourced ones ... like a great ibis skull worth long beak attached , found on a river gravel bank .

here is an interesting one ; a diamond python skull ; its vertebrae continue inside its skull, fused to the top inside and run down, getting smaller, to the front of the head , making a tube 'outlet' near the mouth - the snake flicks its tongue out and back and inserts the end of its tongue up this tube into ;

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

I have an ibis too in great condition with beak! That is a good way to get the bones.

Post automatically merged: Jul 22, 2026

I occasionally pick up small smooth stones. I don't know why.

I like those too. As well as jagged ones. Apparently it takes 10-100 years depending on water conditions and pH/composure to get a stone smooth like that.

 

[Amadeus]

I like to walk in forests but I don't really collect anything. A few people told me about collecting fossils and meteorites somewhere in the US.
I guess if I were closer to sea I'd probably collect seashells and maybe if really lucky, amber. It is possible to find amber in the coastal areas of the eastern part of the EU. Some day... some day.

I can share a weird case here, about collecting "things in nature". My mother knows somebody whose husband went crazy. He goes in the nature, into forests and large parks and finds useless things like old broken furniture, car doors, random junk. Then he drags all these things back home. There is barely any room left, it is almost impossible to move around. This man kind of does a great deed, he cleans nature. Feel sorry for the wife though, having to go through all that. Awful nightmare, he's been doing it for over a decade. Hard to understand what goes on in the mind of somebody like that... "oh an old broken bed and a car door, what a great addon to my home!"

 

[lucentnova]

I pick up whatever calls my attention: bones, sticks, feathers, leaves, eggs, shells, etc. Some I have an immediate use, some get set aside for when the time to use it reveals itself.

 

[Firetree]

Wood too - river driftwood . Sometimes its been carved by termites , then had grubs eat tunnels through it , or maybe its a root ball - then bashed and polished by floods and swirling river sand , then buried for who knows how long ? then a flood will uncover it and wash it up .

If you are lucky you will find some of the local famous and valuable red cedar . Like this 'flaked off' outer piece of red cedar from an ancient giant tree , exposed after floods in the eroded river bank after major floods ;

or a root system ;

 

[Frenchen]

Hello everyone. So basically since I was 5-6, I've had a fascination with bones. I would never kill an animal for it's bones, but when I would go for walks in the paddocks, I would find myself drawn to picking up skulls and other bones as I explored in the woods. Later in life, I started realising that to me, the bones where a way of connecting with the soul or life force of that animal, and the energy of the natural untamed earth. I also collect other things like twigs, leaves, stones and things from the beach like shells and coral.

I do pick up flowers like daisies and dry them. I then use it to make tea to put in my hair. So far it worked better than any conditioner i ever used

 

[Orion Altair]

I like to walk in forests but I don't really collect anything. A few people told me about collecting fossils and meteorites somewhere in the US.
I guess if I were closer to sea I'd probably collect seashells and maybe if really lucky, amber. It is possible to find amber in the coastal areas of the eastern part of the EU. Some day... some day.

I can share a weird case here, about collecting "things in nature". My mother knows somebody whose husband went crazy. He goes in the nature, into forests and large parks and finds useless things like old broken furniture, car doors, random junk. Then he drags all these things back home. There is barely any room left, it is almost impossible to move around. This man kind of does a great deed, he cleans nature. Feel sorry for the wife though, having to go through all that. Awful nightmare, he's been doing it for over a decade. Hard to understand what goes on in the mind of somebody like that... "oh an old broken bed and a car door, what a great addon to my home!"

Oh my... It would probably be better to just take it to a runnish yard/trash collection point right? Cleans nature and doesn't mess up the house!

Post automatically merged: Jul 24, 2026

I do pick up flowers like daisies and dry them. I then use it to make tea to put in my hair. So far it worked better than any conditioner i ever used

That is great, I'd like to learn how to do that! The more stuff we can learn to make ourselves naturally, the better! Awesome.

Post automatically merged: Jul 24, 2026

Wood too - river driftwood . Sometimes its been carved by termites , then had grubs eat tunnels through it , or maybe its a root ball - then bashed and polished by floods and swirling river sand , then buried for who knows how long ? then a flood will uncover it and wash it up .

If you are lucky you will find some of the local famous and valuable red cedar . Like this 'flaked off' outer piece of red cedar from an ancient giant tree , exposed after floods in the eroded river bank after major floods ;

or a root system ;

Wow... They all look intricate and earthy. Nice.

 

[PolishPig]

Currently, mostly wildflower clippings once the sun has scorched them! I'm quite partial to flower magic in this phase of my life, which I never really felt drawn to before now. I'm known to dart across 4 lanes of traffic and scare my passengers when I see some nice flowers on the side of the highway

I've always been a little collector as far back as I can remember. Bones and acorns were my personal favorites. I grew up in a spiritual house but was never given explicit instruction on practices. I just made effigies and mobiles in the middle of the woods as any creepy 7 year old does...