A “spirit of place” means that special something that tells you that you couldn’t be anywhere else. Another term for Spirit of Place is genius loci, the prevailing character or atmosphere of a place.
For me, place means the collective, multi-dimensional, seen and unseen conscious energies of land, water, directions, individuals, communities and watersheds. Each place has its own interactive network of residents, ancestors, plants, animals, systems, and nature running its countless unseen conscious frequencies. Systems that interact with other place components can include human, ecological and utility systems: road access/circulation, water supply, legal, financial, business, ecological, communication and electrical transmission systems.
Imagine all those place-based energies displayed on a three-dimensional mind map, then add additional layers to represent the spiritual dimensions of that location.
That’s a quick description and mental image to express what Spirit of Place means to me. See the Blogs on this website for more discussion on this and related topics.