What is the Land Guardians Network?
The intention of this experimental LGN is to help grow the relationship between the human and the more-than-human guardians of estates, large farms, nature reserves, wildlife corridors, and other significant landscapes in South Africa.
It is mainly aimed at supporting the human custodians in exploring ways of working more deeply and consciously with the unseen, more-than-human elements of Nature who support the vitality of their landscape.
Origins
The idea for the Land Guardians network arose in April 2025 during the Be The Earth Festival, held at Boschendal Estate in the Western Cape.
I have been working professionally with landscape-level ecosystem intelligence for about 5 years through Ecofluency, building on my academic research in subtle agroecologies and my practice of Nature communication of about 13 years. So I was not surprised when I heard a request from the land itself to create this network. Seth Tabatznik (co-founder of Be The Earth Foundation) has kindly agreed to be an advisor in creating this network.
Who are the more-than-human land guardians?
These unseen elements are the beings who exist beyond the physical realm, who are responsible for ensuring the operational vitality of the manifest realm. This can be at any level of ecosystem, from the internal terrain of our digestive system, to the regional landscape of a country. For this network, the focus is at the landscape level.
Of course, these include human ancestors, but there are a wide range of more-than-human aspects of Nature who hold great power and wisdom in forming landscapes that allow for greater biodiversity and ecosystem prosperity.
Recognising that there could be differences in language preferences for these intangible forces, we invite that these elements could go by many different names, e.g. guardian spirits, overarching intelligences, overlighting angels, Genius Loci, guiding essences, devas, to name a few.
Why Work with the Unseen?
When humans collaborate with these elements, including the geobiological energies of the land, they fulfil their role as a keystone species in thriving ecosystems, orchestrating things that other species cannot.
But this requires us to enter into conscious dialogue with these more-than-human elements of the landscape, in order to co-create the stewardship of landscape management practices in ways that enhance biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and collective wellbeing.
What’s next for the Land Guardians Network?
To find out how this experimental initiative could best support human land custodians, we host a series of free conversational online calls on a monthly basis. The aim is of these calls is twofold:
find out what land guardians need in order to develop their relationship with the more-than-human guardians of the landscapes that they steward, which will inform educational material and facilitation frameworks in online and in-person gatherings for land guardians
allow a community of practice to emerge, enabling custodians to step into deeper collaboration, both with each other with the unseen guardians of the places they care for
Email Saskia directly at saskia (at) ecofluency.org if you have any questions.
The role of Ecofluency in land communication
Nature communication predates all other forms of language, and has been practiced by indigenous peoples worldwide for millennia. It rests on the principle that clear communication with any aspect of Nature is both possible and fundamental to finding harmony in all relationships, and to engender trust and facilitate healing and transformation.
This is because we are Nature, and so we are in relationship with the rest of Nature all the time, which includes the materials with which houses have been built, the ecosystems surrounding the buildings, the air, water, microbes and everything else on our beloved Earth.
Ecofluency is the science, art and magic of communicating with Nature, using an expanded spectrum of sensory awareness. This modern version of Nature communication through Ecofluency invites us to acknowledge the bi-directionality of our participation with the rest of Nature, as well as equips people with the skills to cultivate reciprocity and co-create practical solutions with the more-than-human world.
While Nature communication can be done in situ, it happens beyond time and space, allowing one to seek counsel from the wisdom and intelligence of Nature wherever, whenever.
It complements logic, rather than replaces it, and brings the more-than-human to the table as a stakeholder, creating more truly holistic practical decisions on all levels. Through this lens, land management can be more efficient, supporting both ecological regeneration and evolution for all of life on our beloved Earth.
For now, this is a private network focused on land in South Africa. It may eventually grow into a network and community of practice worldwide, but in the meantime, please do let us know if you think of anyone else, locally or elsewhere, who might be interested in working consciously with the spirit of their landscapes.
We hope you’ll join us!
With gratitude,
Saskia and Seth
