Samhain is marked on my landscape by a hard frost–usually occurring in the last two weeks of October. As I wrote about last week, we had our first freeze just this past week and it is the most profound shift … | Continue reading
As I write this, we have our last day before a freeze–the day before death comes to our landscape. On my landscape, in temperate Western Pennsylvania (USDA Zone 6), we’ve had almost no frosts to speak of–the summer has seemed … | Continue reading
There is something magical about putting your hands in the soil. The cool, damp feeling, the smell of earthy loam, the crumbling of the loam between your fingers. Touching soil, the building block of life, grounds you in a way … | Continue reading
Recently I had some local homesteaders visit who wanted to see our homestead and the various systems we’ve been building. At one point, I uprooted a dandelion that was growing in a bed and the whole root just came right … | Continue reading
My post from last week generated an incredible amount of discussion from people from all walks of life. So rather than continue to talk about soil (which is now scheduled for next week), I wanted to take another week to … | Continue reading
The Fall equinox is traditionally regarded as a time of reaping the harvest and also a time of balance between the dark half and the light half of the year. As is customary this time of year, I’ve been reflecting … | Continue reading
Soil is one of the most sacred things on the planet–the soil is the foundation of all life on earth. The soil, including the living organisms in the soil, provides the basic conditions for plants to be abundant, to resist … | Continue reading
I’ve been homesteading for about 12 years now, first in Michigan at a 3-acre homestead, and now with my partner here in Western Pennsylvania on five beautiful acres where we practice land healing, forest regeneration, permaculture, bioregional animsim, tend our … | Continue reading
Being a druid, nature-based spiritual practitioner, living an earth-honoring lifestyle, or another awakened path individual can be tough, especially when you are isolated and alone. Some people prefer being solitary practitioners, and even if there are others and groups around, … | Continue reading
In the physical world, you learn how to protect yourself. For someone who lives in a city, this may mean things like knowing how to cross the street safely so you don’t get hit by a car; learning how to … | Continue reading
Humans have been working with plants for both physical and metaphysical purposes since long before recorded history. From the most ancient human remains and other archeological evidence, we know our human ancestors carried a wide variety of plant and fungi … | Continue reading
I think it is easy to forget in this day and age that so many of our traditional art forms are directly rooted in the living earth, and reconnecting with those ancient forms can bring us closer to nature. This … | Continue reading
The longer that I’ve really embraced animism, not only as a life philosophy but as an active spiritual path, the more I realized that to be an animist is to radically turn your world upside down on every level. Being … | Continue reading
One of the things that the rise of AI has done is asked all people who create to really investigate the benefits of that creation, and weigh them with the potential efficiency of AI. For example, right now I’m about … | Continue reading
It has been a hard week for many in North America, and around the globe. About half of the United States is having record-breaking heat, up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 Celsius) in a heat dome that shows and is … | Continue reading
When people think of “rituals” particularly in pagan traditions, I think there’s often this idea of scripts, robes, and a lot of formality and preparation. These rituals are rooted in history: a good deal of neopaganism (including druidry and wicca) … | Continue reading
Walking through a sacred garden or a wild place always brings such joy; working with the herbs, drawing their wisdom, and seeing which herbs reach out for healing and health. Today, in honor of the upcoming Summer Solstice, I will … | Continue reading
When we think about the building blocks of a new human society, a human society that doesn’t destroy the planetary biosphere, that nurtures and supports human beings and communities, that fosters our creativity and innovation—I think it starts in fostering … | Continue reading
A few weeks ago, we had the Mid-Atlantic Gathering of US Druids (MAGUS 2023). This gathering has been going on since 2017, and it seems like every year gets better! Since the start of MAGUS, we have been experimenting with … | Continue reading
In the druid tradition, in multiple modern druid orders, we associate animals or fish with the four directions. The classic ones are: The Great Bear in the North The Hawk in the East The Stag in the South The Salmon … | Continue reading
When I feel lost and feel like the hope is gone in the world, I go spend time with some mushrooms. Mushrooms, more than any other organism on this planet, give me hope. So much so, I’ve been doing an … | Continue reading
As the head of a druid order, people often ask me, “What’s the best way to learn to be a druid?” or “What books should I pick up?” or “How do I get started in nature spirituality?” and my answer … | Continue reading
In my ongoing work as a land healer, I find that I regularly need a retreat from my battered bruised landscape. Why? Because this work is really difficult. Lately, it seems more so–we have large swaths of forests where I … | Continue reading
A lot has happened since my initial post on the topic of AI and the bardic arts in mid-October. At this point, AI is being discussed in many different places by many different communities and groups. AI is all the … | Continue reading
In the last three posts in this series, we explored spirit journeying: preliminary and preparatory work, connecting with a spirit journey guide, and establishing your inner grove. All of these things were meant to set you up for the journeys … | Continue reading
In the last two posts, we explored the preliminaries for spirit journeying: the preliminaries such as addressing issues like safety, believability, focus, and visualization and also doing an initial journey to find a guide that can assist you as part … | Continue reading
Walking in the world with spirits, journeying with them, and experiencing their teachings is a tremendous way to deepen your own spirituality and connection to nature. In the druid tradition, we primarily focus on relationships to nature, so spirit journeying … | Continue reading
Spirit Journeying is a technique that we use commonly in the druid tradition, but it certainly is not unique to only our tradition. In fact, spirit journeying is what I’d consider being a core human spiritual practice, being used by … | Continue reading
Hi everyone! Today I interrupt our regularly scheduled blog posts to bring you my big update–the Earth-Centered Spiritual Journaling course is now ready and open! I offer details about the course and how to sign up in this blog post. … | Continue reading
There is a growing movement of people reconnecting to nature through the foraging and creation of wild pigments–pigments from the earth allow us to connect, grow and heal. This is so much more than foraging for colors from nature to … | Continue reading
Please note: This article appeared first in my new column, “Roots, Shoots, and Spirits” in the Winter 2022 issue Plant Healer Quarterly, a magazine for empowered herbalists and culture shifters. Folks can buy a year subscription or sign up for … | Continue reading
The average human being will sleep approximately 229,961 hours over the course of their life. Dreaming, including working on dream recall and lucid dreaming, can offer us gateways to cultivating a rich inner life and in supporting our spiritual and … | Continue reading
Traditionally, Imbolc is a celebration of the first stirrings of spring coming back into the land. For people living in temperate parts of North America, particularly on the eastern seaboard, the timing can be challenging–we are in deep winter and … | Continue reading
I’m really excited to announce the release of my new book: The Sacred Actions Journal: A Wheel of the Year Journal for Sustainable and Spiritual Practices. The Sacred Actions Journal is a follow-up to my 2021 book Sacred Actions: Living … | Continue reading
What do Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory (the painting with the melting clocks), Elias Howe’s invention of the lockstitch sewing machine in 1845, and the Beatles’ song Yesterday, have in common? They all were ideas that first emerged in dreams. … | Continue reading
The Winter Solstice has long been a time of feasting and fires, especially with regional and special foods, a tradition that has global significance in many cultures. I’ve always enjoyed this time as a chance to dig into some really … | Continue reading
It is hard to deny both the increasing challenge of climate change nor its impact on local ecosystems, local people, and all of us living in this age. While both druidry and Wicca (and many other neopagan practices) share the … | Continue reading
In nature, monocrops are extremely unhealthy ecosystems–they are in a perpetual state of damage and cannot support other life. A monocrop is where only one thing grows, and that thing is the same as far as the eye can see–acres … | Continue reading
Linden is always a joy to find anywhere you go. A tree with a gentle spirit and incredibly useful offerings, the Linden is there for you. I remember meeting Linden for the first time when I was young with my … | Continue reading
One of the great joys and challenges of our present time is finding a way into a deeper connection with our ancestors, the living earth and her processes, and our own human gifts. A lot of this practice is slowing … | Continue reading
One’s spiritual journey is full of so many twists and turns, particularly if you are taking up the druid path. Druidry is a path that really focuses on individual relationships with the living earth, and thus, you will find a … | Continue reading
A person walks into a garden at as the sun rises. As it is the spring equinox, the soil is still mostly bare, although the stinging nettles are peeking through the earth to enjoy the first of the morning rays. … | Continue reading
Friends and grove members are welcomed into a candlelit home, and with the fire in the hearth blazing. Each person brings a dish to share–steaming piles of local foods in season: a beautiful roast beef, pumpkin soup, sourdough bread, baked … | Continue reading
A garden full of life, joy, wildness, and spirit–where the vegetables, herbs, fruits, and nuts grow fat with the joy of being nurtured, where the spirits are working with the gardener for the good of all, and where all is … | Continue reading
A few weeks ago, I received a text message from one of my most tech-savvy friends. The message described how he was exploring Stable Diffusion, an AI art generator and found my work in the database as well as the … | Continue reading
“That’s a pretty wild and unkempt garden you have there. Did you lose control?” a visitor to my land once said. “Yes, I responded, it is wonderful.” When you look at pictures of gardens online, in gardening magazines, etc. things … | Continue reading
Where we live–the spaces we inhabit, and how they are designed, make an enormous difference in how we are able to address climate change and sustainability. Modern houses are commonly disconnected both from the land where they are placed but … | Continue reading
A fundamental issue in practicing nature-based spirituality has to do with not only your relationship to the land but the relationship of the land in relation to your blood ancestors. Many druids, including those of caucasian descent in North America … | Continue reading