a guide disguised as my uncle told me to collect some dirt

[lithe_forager]

awhile back before i was to move to Austin, TX from Virginia. someone in my dream took the shape of my uncle and told me to bring a jar of dirt from my home to Texas. There was no explanation why or what should i do with it, but its been sitting in my cupboard for awhile and i am wondering what kind of spells would require dirt? or maybe there is some kind of meaning or lore behind it? every time i try and look it up, all the websites are pirates of the Caribbean fan pages
help a witch out? what am i supposed to do with this?

[Siona]

Dirt has some uses in hoodoo and other folk magic paths - graveyard dirt and crossroads dirt come up a lot. But you can also use dirt from a hospital for healing, dirt from a library for knowledge, etc...

But that doesn't really sound like your case! Did you live in Virginia very long, perhaps born there, or felt any special connection to the land? It may just be you were told to get the dirt to have a link to your old homeland.

[Shub Niggurath]

Dreams can be sometimes misleading. It's a wild guess but maybe it's not literally about the physical dirt? Maybe it's relating to some kind of issues or memories related to your previous home that you were asked to take with you, as in - not cut away from them but maybe work or reflect on them later?
A new home is a symbol of a new beginning. And the dirt from your previous home could symbolize the past.
I might be wrong about this but that's what popped up in my head when I read your post.

[lithe_forager]

yeah its dirt from my parents house where i grew up. lived in a lot of other places but Virginia is where i was born. Texas has been really tough on me since i got here, and really missing the mountains. do you think it was a sign that i should've stayed there? there was also a woodpecker that stared straight into me when i got in the car to leave.

[Siona]

I don't think it's necessarily a sign that you should have stayed. Sometimes people who work closely with the land will bring a jar of earth, or a stone, from their home with them when they have to move (or even sometimes just when they travel!), so they can have that reminder of their old home, and so they can still connect with the energy of that land if they need or want to. Maybe that's what the dirt is, a physical reminder that you'll always be connected to the place you grew up, even if you move away, or maybe even just something to hold if you find yourself homesick. You could even use some of the dirt in a ritual to bless your new home, bringing a bit of old to the new.

[lithe_forager]

thank you everyone for your insight. i can admit to being homesick and am trying to make this place my new home. i think i was reading into it as things i wanted to hear. i will meditate on it some more and hopefully will get an answer. i would like to use some of it in spells but maybe for very dire or special occasions. geez so many feelings brought up thinking about my dirt again. haha i appreciate everyone's response thank you. i think i will put it next to my bed tonight, see what it stirs up.

[Vesca]

I don't think it's necessarily a sign that you should have stayed. Sometimes people who work closely with the land will bring a jar of earth, or a stone, from their home with them when they have to move (or even sometimes just when they travel!), so they can have that reminder of their old home, and so they can still connect with the energy of that land if they need or want to. Maybe that's what the dirt is, a physical reminder that you'll always be connected to the place you grew up, even if you move away, or maybe even just something to hold if you find yourself homesick. You could even use some of the dirt in a ritual to bless your new home, bringing a bit of old to the new.

I actually do this myself. I keep rocks from where I've lived previously, in places that I've been able to call a home in the past. Mostly because I've moved so often that not everywhere is going to be home, not everywhere will ever feel like home. But it reminds me of what I once had, and that it will always be there no matter where I end up.