Witches worship the Great Mother, the Earth. To make this love and worship real, in Proteus, we work for Her protection and healing, both magically and practically, as our own best talents lead us. This work begins with getting to know Her as She manifests in our own local environment. So, we ask our students to complete this assignment before their formal magical training begins.

1. Trace the water that you drink from precipitation to tap.
2. What sort of soil is predominant in this place? What are its geological and hydrological associations?
3. Name five native edible plants in your region and the season(s) that they are available.
4. How long is the growing season where you live?
5. What was the total precipitation in your area last year (July - June)?
(Slack: one inch or centimeter for every twenty inches or centimeters)
6. Name five birds that live in your area. Which are migratory and which are year-around residents?
7. How did the indigenous people of your area obtain their subsistence from nature?
What use have humans made of this land during the past two centuries?
8. Where does your garbage go and how does it get there?
9. From what direction do winter storms generally come in your region?
10. What primary ecological event/process influenced the land form where you live?
Bonus question: what is the evidence?
11. What species have become extinct in your area?
12. When do the deer rut in your region, and when are their young born?
13. What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom where you live?
14. Name five grasses in your area. Are any of them native?
15. What species of plant typically live in close association in your region?
16. How recently was the Moon full?
17. What kind of energy do you primarily use? where does it come from? and at what cost to the natural environment?
18. Where is there "wilderness" in your bioregion?
19. What are the primary sources of pollution in your region?
20. What are the major "natural" sounds you are aware of in any particular (name it) month or season?
This questionnaire was adapted by Chas Clifton (and re-adapted by Iontas and Gwyneth) from "Where You At - A Bioregional Quiz" by Leonard Charles, Jim Dodge, Lynn Milliman and Victoria Stockley, first published in the Winter, 1981 issue of Coevolution Quarterly and subsequently reprinted in Home! A Bioregional Reader (New Society Publishers, ISBN 0-86571-188-7, 1990). We present this questionnaire in this form for purposes of private religious study. Copyright for "Where You At" is held by Whole Earth Review.
Stolen from: wicca.drak.net/proteus/touch.htm

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